What If You Had The Chance To Find The Secret Of Life?

Free Excerpt From:-The Lost Scroll and the Secret of Life-

2009-05-17T03:11:00.000-07:00

Chapter 1

† † † † † † †

    The train pulled away from the station, slowly picking up speed. Steam coming from the locomotive's engine caught John's eye. He hadn’t been on a steam train since he was a young boy. Looking back at the small village, he felt as though he must have overlooked something. Could it be that he hadn’t looked hard enough? After all, the old man who started this whole search had told him the ancient scroll would be there.

    Maybe the trip across Asia was well worth it even if the scroll is never found. No, it can't be lost forever, thought John. Looking across the fields, he could see the foothills of a great mountain. The peak of the mountain was out of view high up in the clouds; it vaguely reminded him of something.

    He figured he had plenty of time to think; the train ride was scheduled to last fourteen hours. Rather than sleeping right away, he decided to go to the dining car to see what was on the menu. It was evening, and the Sun was setting. As he walked through the corridor, a young woman with long, dark brown hair approached his way. He found her to be attractive, but there was no time for flirting; he had to get some dinner before the dining car closed.

    The woman glanced at him with a slight smile as she squeezed past him in the narrow corridor. He noticed she was carrying a map. Having a map was not unusual on a long train ride, but for some reason, he felt there was some significance to it. Oh well, he thought as he arrived at the dining car. He sat down at one of the tables, and after ordering his meal, he gazed out the window as the train chugged along through the lush, green valley. Thoughts of why he was there began to run through his mind.

    The old man who had given him instructions for finding the scroll had passed away a few weeks prior. For John, all that remained of him was the memory of their conversation. But who would have thought that a chance meeting in a small café in San Francisco would lead to a global search? He could clearly remember the last thing the old man had said to him before they parted—“There will be others along your path. They will not be searching for the same things as you, but they will cross your path. You must not let their issues interfere with your search … even if it seems they are willing to get to their ends at any cost!”

    He wasn’t sure what the old man had meant by his last remarks, but then again, he wasn’t really sure why he accepted this odd assignment of searching for a lost scroll in the first place. The fact that the old man had shown up just as John was reading an article about ancient artifacts made him feel as if there was some destiny involved.

    There has to be a reason why the old guy just sat down at my table that day. Just then, the train’s whistle brought his attention back to the present. The waiter brought his dinner and cautioned him that the plate was hot. John immediately reached out and touched the plate. It was indeed very hot. “Story of my life,” he said to the waiter as he tried to cool his burned finger by grabbing a glass of iced water. “I guess that’s why I’m here. I can’t let anything get past me without figuring it out for myself.” The waiter didn’t have a clue what John was talking about, but he smiled politely and left the table.

    The Sun had set, and the sky above Nepal was a medium dark blue. John loved that time of day. The twilight setting always seemed full of energy as nightfall came. As he ate his dinner, he looked out at the last he would see of Nepal.

    There was no reason to come back anytime soon. He’d spent two weeks traveling through all the small villages described to him by the mysterious old man in San Francisco. Although there had been people in a few of the villages who seemed somewhat familiar with a lost scroll, there was no one who could give him information that would lead to its finding.

    It doesn’t matter now anyway. He knew he had to get back to Malaysia. There was a small trinket shop in Kuala Lumpur he needed to go to; he’d stopped there to ask for directions to his hotel when he first arrived several weeks prior. The woman behind the counter had pointed him in the right direction, but she did more than that; she’d handed him a piece of paper with the word “Bidur” written on it.

    Bidur turned out to be the town where John had switched trains to get to Nepal. It was also the same town he was headed for again as he made his way back to Kuala Lumpur. He planned to visit the woman in the trinket shop to ask her why she’d handed him the paper. For some reason, he hadn’t found it odd when she first gave it to him, but his curiosity was growing. After dinner, he returned to his cabin. He was exhausted and slept for the rest of the trip.

    The train’s whistle blew loudly as it pulled into the station in Bidur. John woke up and quickly gathered his backpack and maps. As he hurried off the train, he saw the woman who had passed him in the corridor the previous night. She was walking into the station carrying what looked like a soft leather briefcase—the type used to transport large documents or photos. Again, he thought about saying something to her, but nothing specific came to mind. After all, he was on a crazy quest for some ancient scroll; there was no time for meeting new people.

    The next train arrived at the station. The words Kuala Lumpur were hand-written in chalk on a sign hanging from the train’s boarding platform. This train was much newer than the one John had just been on. As the crowd of people boarded, he looked around to see who was getting on. The woman he’d seen on the last train was more intriguing to him than he first thought. This time she was nowhere to be seen. He got on the train and found a seat. This trip would be much shorter; he expected to be in Kuala Lumpur in a couple of hours.

† † † † † † †

    Once there, he made his way to the small shop where he hoped to find the woman who had given him the strange piece of paper. After all, when she’d handed him the note, even he didn’t know he would be going to Bidur. Unfortunately, the woman was not there. John only spoke English and the elderly man behind the counter did not. He began to realize how little he knew about the world he lived in. There he was on the other side of the world, and he knew nothing about the culture. He began to wonder about all the places he’d never been and how many languages there were. It all made him feel somewhat ignorant, but he figured he would learn as he continued his trip.

    He’d booked a flight from Malaysia to London in advance—before he’d gone to Nepal. As he rode in a taxi toward the airport, the driver pulled over to pick up another fare. That seemed strange to him. He was not accustomed to sharing taxicabs without prior agreement. The man who got in seemed to be in a hurry. He sat in the back next to John without hesitation.

    “Are you going to the airport?” John asked the man.
    “Yes, I am,” he replied with an accent that John could only guess was from India.
    “Well, I guess that’s fine then. My name is John.”
    “I am Arun,” was the man’s reply.

    John knew that Arun means “sun” or “dawn” from an article he’d read. He felt good about possibly knowing something outside of his regular area of expertise. He was born in Northern California, and although he traveled a bit, he’d never taken much interest in other cultures in the past. He was still young—only thirty two years of age—so he figured he had plenty of time to expand his experiences. He thought he would see if his taxi companion would engage in a bit of personal conversation.

    “Where are you from?” John asked.
    “I was born in India, but now I live in the United States.”
    “I’m from the U.S. too!” exclaimed John. He felt silly about his outburst once he realized it was pretty obvious to Arun that he was an American.
    “What part of the States do you live in?” asked Arun.

    John was a bit surprised that he would ask him such a personal question, but he quickly realized it was probably the most likely thing a person would ask.

    “In San Francisco,” he answered.
    “Ah,” said Arun. “I live in St. Helena.”

    St. Helena is only about an hour north of San Francisco. What a coincidence! This man who just happened to flag down the same taxi in Malaysia was practically a neighbor! It was too odd; it made John feel really funny about the whole incident. He remembered the piece of paper the woman in the trinket shop had given him—the one with the town of Bidur written on it. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the paper. Once he looked at it more closely, he breathed a sigh of relief; he saw that it was actually a very faded coupon from a local food market. It was probably owned by the woman’s family, and she was simply giving him the opportunity to buy something at a discount. The word “Bidur” had probably just been written on it by a traveler who had the coupon prior to him.

    As he realized there was no strange coincidence with the piece of paper, he felt better about the chance meeting with Arun. After all, why shouldn’t a person born in India who had moved to the U.S. decide to visit Malaysia? Silly, thought John as he reflected upon how the strange feeling of fear had come across him just a minute earlier.

    “Are you going back home today?” asked Arun.
    “No, London. I’m going to London.”
    “Ah, I see. Sounds like you travel much.”
    “No. I never really get beyond California ... except maybe once a year for a visit to another state.”
    “Well, at least London is an exception to that rule,” Arun replied with a smile.

    Rule? What does he mean by rule? John figured that was just the way Arun saw it.

† † † † † † †

    At the airport, the two men exchanged goodbyes, and John headed for the ticket counter. Once he boarded the plane, he took a window seat as it appeared the flight was not fully booked. He wasn’t even sure exactly which seat was his, but he didn’t think anyone would mind if he took an empty one next to the window. It was time for take-off, and as he looked outside, he thought of the old man he’d met a few months prior in San Francisco. There he was just sitting in a café reading when the old man had asked if he could join him. After some small talk, the man began telling him about a lost scroll. He talked about how important the information contained in the scroll was. At first, John had just let the old man talk, but then something caught his attention. The old man had said—“It contains the secret of life itself.”

    How could this old man have known the secret of life? What did he mean by “the secret of life” anyway? John was a bit skeptical—but very interested. The old man died just a few weeks after their meeting in the café. John found out about it one day when he went to the address the man had given him. He had hoped to get more information from him before he left on his search for the scroll. The landlady told him about the old man’s passing. John felt rather sad for a bit—even though he’d hardly known the man. He figured it was probably just his time, and that was good enough to make him feel better again.

    It looked as if he would just have to work with what he had. The old man had given him instructions to go to Nepal and seek the scroll, but he didn’t say how to go about actually finding it. He also said one thing that didn’t make sense to John—“The scroll was written for you.” If the scroll was in Nepal, and if it was written for him, why could he not find it? He was right there. He’d gone to every village that even remotely resembled the description given by the old man—but still nothing.

    The flight to London was rather uncomfortable. John flew coach since he wasn’t independently wealthy; although, he did have a little over ten thousand dollars, which he’d saved up ever since he began to work in his younger years. It seemed that at least some of that money was going to get dwindled away with all of the trips he was taking.

    Uncomfortable seating seemed to be the trend in those brand new planes; after all, it was 1949 and the world was much too modern to be concerned with old fashioned things like comfort.

    London is where he was supposed to go after he found the scroll. He was supposed to take it to a man who would explain to him why it was “written for him.” The man’s name was Brendan. Although John hadn’t found the scroll, he decided to go to the address given to him anyway.

    When he arrived, he saw that it was a jewelry shop located just across a city square. As he made his way across, he was shocked to see who was walking out of the shop; it was the woman from the train!

    What could this mean? How could such a coincidence take place amidst all the other unlikely events? All of a sudden, John snapped to attention. He believed he knew what was going on. The woman was also after the scroll! That’s the only reason she would be there. And the maps—that explains the maps she was carrying on the train from Nepal. Maybe she already found it. Of course! That’s why she was in the jewelry shop just now. She’s got my scroll. He believed it was his, and he was ready to go take it!

    He watched her for a moment as she made her way across the square. There were dozens of tourists shopping in the area, and he began walking after her to make sure she didn’t disappear into the crowd. He wasn’t sure whether he should confront her right then or follow her in case she went to a hiding spot with the scroll. The woman walked to a small coffee shop and ordered a drink. Once she was seated at a table outside, John decided he would make his move.

    As he approached, he could see she had her briefcase with her; it was lying on the seat to her right. He thought about just running past her and grabbing it. What am I doing? A few weeks prior, he was a common young man running a small computer research business out of his apartment in San Francisco, and now here he was considering stealing a woman’s briefcase in London and making a run for it back to the U.S.!

    Once he realized how silly he’d been acting, he decided to simply ask the woman if she knew anything about the scroll. He walked right up to her table.

    “Excuse me, may I ask you a question?”
    “You just did,” she said with a genuine smile.

    He somehow felt that she wouldn’t mind if he sat down. He grabbed the chair to her left and pulled it to himself. Once he was seated across from her, he continued.

    “You were on the train from Nepal with me. I passed you in the corridor on the way to the dining car.”
    “Was that you?” she remarked—surprised. “What a coincidence. Do you live in London?”
    “No. I’m here to …” He paused. “I’m sorry, my name is John.” He held out his hand to introduce himself.
    “I’m Marianne,” she said as she shook his hand.

    Marianne was in her late twenties. John found her to be very pretty. He decided he should take it slowly with questions about the scroll.

    “Are you visiting London?” he asked.
    “Yes, I am.”
    “I saw you come out of the jewelry shop and I thought you were …” He paused again being cautious not to divulge too much just yet, but Marianne didn’t notice.
    “Oh, that’s my father’s shop. I drop by now and then to see if he could have coffee with me. He was a bit too busy today.”
    “Your father’s shop? But what about the …” John paused a third time—Marianne noticed.
    “What about the what?” she asked.

    John figured he’d better come clean and tell her what he was up to. After all, what could it hurt? If she knew something, maybe she could help him.

    “Do you know anything about a lost scroll?”
    “A scroll?”
    “Yeah, I was in Nepal because I was supposed to look for some ancient scroll, but I didn’t find much information about it.”

    Marianne thought for a moment. “I don’t know about a scroll, but my father has been looking for a special vase for the past couple of years. I’ve been helping him search. There was supposed to be a man in Tibet who would help me find it, but he didn’t show up.”

    “Sounds kind of like what happened to me,” replied John, “but in my case, I didn’t even know whether I was supposed to meet anyone. I went–”
    “Look, I have to be somewhere soon,” Marianne interjected, “but I’d love to meet with you again and talk more about this. How about lunch tomorrow? That is, of course, if you’re still going to be in London.”

    John agreed, and Marianne wrote down the name of a restaurant and directions to its location. She handed him the directions, and they both gestured a polite goodbye. He watched as she walked across the city square and past the boutique shops. As soon as she was out of view, he headed straight for her father’s jewelry shop.

    As he walked toward the shop, he noticed a car stopped in front. It didn’t seem unusual for a car to be near the shops, but this one was stopped on the wrong side of a roped-off walkway designated for tourists. Another thing that caught John’s attention was the man in the driver’s seat; he kept looking over his shoulder toward the front door of the shop. The car’s rear door was wide open.

    As he got closer, he saw three men coming out of the shop. Two of them were big and intimidating, and they were wearing black overcoats. They were grasping the shoulders of the third man; he appeared to be in his mid-fifties and was wearing eyeglasses and a sweater. He looked as if he could be someone’s father. Marianne’s dad! What’s going on? The two bigger men were shoving the third man toward the open door of the car! John got close enough that he could hear the conversation between the men. His heart began to race as he quickly figured out that something was wrong. He stood in front of a bread shop’s window two doors down. He made sure not to appear obvious about his interest in what they were doing as he watched what was happening in the window’s reflection.

    The man in the sweater was looking back at the jewelry shop as the two bigger men pushed him into the back seat of the car. “That shop is my life,” he pleaded. “Please, just let me lock it up.” The men seemed to ignore his plea, and one of them got into the back seat next to him. The other one sat in front next to the driver. After the car made its way around the roped off area, it sped away down the main street leading out of the city square.

    What just happened? Could that have been Marianne’s dad? John was beginning to feel afraid, but he was also very curious—intrigued is what he was.

    The shop! The shop wasn’t locked. He remembered that the man had wanted to lock it before they took him. He quickly walked over to the front door and peeked in...

END OF FREE EXCERPT

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About the Book:

2009-05-16T23:57:00.000-07:00

The Lost Scroll and the Secret of Life has already been regarded by many people from coast to coast as having the adventure and suspense of "Indiana Jones" and the intrigue of "The Da Vinci Code," while at the same time being completely different and original in every way.

What you will see at the end of the book is astonishing.

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What People Are Saying:

2009-05-16T20:27:00.000-07:00

"An enthralling tale from start to finish, once begun you will not want to put it down."
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"This book is a page turning adventure!"
Shena Lawson--Amazon Book Review

"Fascinating ... I couldn't put it down."
Josh Jourdan, Producer, WPVM FM

"An exciting mystery that captured my interest and kept it throughout the entire book!"
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Roman Empire or Roman Church?

2009-05-11T20:00:00.000-07:00

It is not immediately apparent that the Roman Catholic Church we see today is an extension of the ancient Roman Empire, but that is exactly what it is.

In the first centuries of the Empire, Rome had little to do with what has come to be known as the Church. In the fourth century, however, things changed in an instant. It was 312 A.D. when the pagan Emperor Constantine claimed to have seen a vision in the sky, a Christian vision, that eventually led to the acceptance of the people's growing Christian beliefs. It led also, of course, to the very Roman Catholic Church that exists today.

To understand the magnitude of this change, and its far reaching consequences, we have to look at what came before the Church.

Rome was an empire that subsumed and assimilated the beliefs of the lands and peoples that it conquered. Mythological Greek and Persian gods were tolerated, even venerated, by the emperors of Rome. The Persian Sun god, Mithra, came to be identified with Sol Invictus, the Roman Unconquered Sun.

It was Emperor Constantine who proclaimed the Day of the Venerable Sun, or Sunday, as an official day of rest in the Empire. I'll go out on a limb here and assume that pretty much everyone reading this has heard of the day of the week named Sunday. Yes, it is a day of worship...worship of the Sun!

After 313 A.D., the empire evolved from one that killed Christians into one that killed those who were not Christian. And we think politicians today switch sides on a whim...how'd you like to see your congressman go from representing you to trying to kill you!?

By the way, the term Catholic comes from the Greek Katholikos, which means Universal. Constantine wanted an empire under one universal religion, not for the well being of the citizens, but rather to prevent any future rebellion against the empire itself. It was, after all, a tumultuous time around Rome in those days.

Anyway, I could go on for pages on this topic, but maybe small doses would be more appropriate. This stuff can come across as offensive to some, although that is never my intention. I'll get back to Rome later, after enough time passes to allow for those who might take offense to do their own research and see that the above is based on ample evidence.

Tom Jankovic

Still Looking For The Secret of Life?

Try Looking Here: Find The Scroll

Is It All Sun Worship?

2009-05-11T17:37:00.000-07:00

Picture this: You are living in the year 3500 B.C. There is no Internet, no TV, no electricity (well, not man-made anyway), and the Sun is about to set. What are you going to do now? American Idol is still more than 5000 years away, so what is everyone going to watch tonight?

The Stars?

That's right, the night sky was the main event, the feature presentation every night for our ancestors. It's little wonder then that the constellations came to be identified and arranged into what we know today as the Zodiac.

No, I don't believe that the position of the stars has anything to do with how my day is going to go, but in 3500 B.C., it meant everything. Venus in particular.

Yes, I know Venus is a planet, not a star, but our ancestors didn't. As a matter of fact, Venus is responsible for quite a few things: The widespread use of the pentagram in esoteric teachings, the design of buildings in Rome, and even the design of Washington D.C...maybe.

I say maybe because I often read essays and books where the authors present ideas as facts, but the reality is that we do not have any proof... but we do have evidence.

Anyway, getting back to Sun and Star worship, it becomes quite apparent as you research ancient civilizations that the people living in those times studied the movement and positions of the stars quite extensively. And if you thought that all of our ancestors believed the Earth was in the center of the universe and that the Sun orbits around it, think again. Ancient astronomers knew better, but the Roman Catholic Church forbade such "heresy."

Every culture and civilization from Sumer and other Mesopotamian peoples to Rome, Greece, and Persia had some version of a mythical sun, moon, or star deity which they worshiped, prayed to, or feared.

The Sun became Helios in Greece, Sol Invictus in Rome, and Jesus Christ in Christianity. Oops, did I just say Jesus was a mythical sun god? Not exactly. Jesus, or Yeshua as his name would have been in his native Aramaic language, quite likely did exist from a historical perspective, but the depictions you may have seen of him with a halo of light beaming from behind his head are purely borrowed from one or more sun gods.

In a town of Israel named Tiberias, a synagogue was discovered with mosaics of traditional Jewish artwork, a menorah, a twelve constellation zodiac, and the Greek sun god, Helios. If you look at the depiction of Helios, you will understand where the now famous image of Jesus came from.

Is this evidence enough to claim that all religions stem from Sun and Star worship?

Definitely Not. There are countless other sources to cite.

Am I going to list them all here?

No, for two reasons:

1) Even if I had all of the sources available to me, it would take the rest of my life to do it.
2) You shouldn't be taking my word for it anyway ... I believe researching for yourself and coming to your own conclusions is important if you are to experience any sort of real discovery.

Tom Jankovic

Still Looking For The Secret of Life?

Try Looking Here: Find The Scroll

Do All World Religions Really Have a Single Common Source?

2009-05-11T17:28:00.000-07:00

Lately there has been an upsurge of worldwide interest in religions and their origins. Regardless of whether you loved, hated, or didn't care to read The Da Vinci Code, that book is still responsible for quite a bit of the increase in discussions about the Roman Church. Yes, I realize The Da Vinci Code was based on a hoax, but that doesn't take away from the hundred-million-plus people who have now been exposed to the possibility that the Church may have secrets to hide.

If you go back far enough, to ancient Sumerian times, you might begin to notice similarities between all the various world religions. Even the biblical story of the Flood has its counterpart in the Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient Mesopotamian tale of a mythical king and his trusted friend. Not all historians agree as to which story came first, but the vast majority that I have read believe the Epic of Gilgamesh came first.

If this is true, then the way we interpret what is written in the bible must change if we are to have a clearer understanding of the messages that our ancient ancestors were trying to impart.

Tom Jankovic

Still Looking For The Secret of Life?

Try Looking Here: Find The Scroll

The Decision to Seek--Part 1 of the Enlightenment Series

2009-05-11T00:01:00.000-07:00

Every seeker has experienced it: That moment when something important in your life was just not going the way you had thought it would. Or worse, doubt crept in and you felt like there was no hope of life ever being joyful or satisfying. It is enough to push some people into despair. Or is it? Despair, or the loss of hope, is a form of pain. If I put my finger on a hot stove, I will feel pain. Is that pain bad?

Pain is a guidance system. It’s kind of like driving one of those cars in a theme park where you are allowed to steer left and right as you head down the road, but if you stray too far toward the curbside, the metal bump-guards will gently (or in some cases violently) push you back on course. That is pain. It is there to nudge you back on course. So a person does not get pushed into despair; despair pushes the person away from what would surely become more painful if not corrected.

This is an article on Enlightenment, so why all this talk of pain? Well, in order to get anywhere, or do anything, we first need a motivating force. Pain just happens to be the method of choice utilized by the Source, or God, if you insist on using that confusing term.

Since we’re on the subject of God, let’s take a few paragraphs to clear things up right from the start. The word God and referring to “Him” as “He” is like telling children that there is a man named Santa Claus; it serves a good purpose, and it’s cute for a while, but eventually you realize the truth and drop the false idea. I think that if you are still reading this, you probably agree that God is not an old man with a long white beard sitting in a cloud somewhere.

Ascribing a masculine gender to the Source is mostly an English language issue. Most other cultures refer to the Source as an ineffable, immanent Being, not some guy looking down on us from a place called heaven. Even Yeshua (you most likely know him as Jesus) referred to the Source as Alaha in his native Aramaic language. Alaha, in Aramaic, means “the Only Being.”

Aramaic is an old language scarcely used today. It is the language spoken by Yeshua, but a translation into Greek, and then into Latin, and finally into English gave us “Jesus.” Interesting name, but if you had yelled it out while standing behind Yeshua, he probably would not know to whom you were speaking.

Anyway, let’s get back on the road to Enlightenment. That’s the whole problem for most seekers. They are on a road to Enlightenment, but they never arrive. You will never arrive at or find anything that can be called Enlightenment simply because you already are That which is seeking. You always have been. Whew, a lot to swallow so early on the trip.

At this point, you may be wondering who the heck I am to be telling you all of this. Well, I am nobody and Everything all at once. So are You. That’s the big secret. I just told you the Truth, so if you got it, you can give this article to a person who really needs it and go about your blissful way. Or not. If realizing Truth meant being in a constant blissful state, it would defeat the very purpose of forgetting who you are in the first place. You did, after all, forget who you are. That is why you are in this situation. You decided to identify with an apparently limited individual you call “me,” but so did the rest of “us.” Now you are playing the game of finding my way back home.

That is a big part of why you decided to seek; it’s part of a game You designed for yourself. If you noticed the capitalized “You” versus the lower-case “yourself,” that’s good. It’s important. One of the hardest things about discussing Enlightenment is that I have to refer to myself in the process. As you will soon see, there is a big difference between “I” the person writing this and the greater I Am that we all experience. Yes, it is a big difference, yet in the end it is all One and the same. Confused? Good, that means you actually read it correctly. Don’t worry; it gets easier as you go along.

Back to your decision to seek. I’m not going to tell you something stupid like you are here reading this because it was meant to be. Yes, yes I realize that it’s true that it was meant to be, otherwise you wouldn’t be here doing it, but you don’t need me to tell you the obvious. Actually, my goal is to show you that you don’t need me to tell you anything.

Still Looking For The Secret of Life?

Try Looking Here: Find The Scroll

Tom

Who Doesn't Know?--Part 2 of the Enlightenment Series

2009-05-10T17:30:00.000-07:00

I don’t know much about a lot of things. I don’t know how to work on cars, or the mathematical equation to solve the long standing physics problem of uniting quantum theory with gravity. I don’t know these things—but I know that I don’t know. Wait a minute. Who said that? Who knows that I don’t know?

You are about to discover (or maybe not) the biggest secret that every seeker is after. It’s another chance for you to get it so you can give this article to someone who needs it and go about your life. Ready? Here it is: It’s You. That’s the answer. Satisfied? O.K., I’m sorry for the silly word play, but you might have noticed that capitalized You again. That is part of the so-called big secret.

Try this. Think of something that you realize you know very little about. As you are pondering what you don’t know, simply take a step back and see that you know that you don’t know. There is something there (it’s not a thing, but it would sound stupid if I wrote there is nothing there). That something is aware of everything, even the things you are unaware of. What is it? More on this later.

Some people begin to experience a shift in their awareness without asking for it, and it can be quite frightening if you are not ready for it. Actually, you will never be forced to experience something you did not ask for, but you may have asked without realizing it. It may present itself to you gently, or you might feel like you are going loony. After all, how do you deal with experiencing an awareness that is aware of your lack of awareness?

Not to worry. It all becomes really clear, eventually. Oh, and if you get dizzy reading all this stuff, it’s normal (assuming you don’t have a medical condition that makes you dizzy). It just means you are actually understanding it. Yes, being confused is a sign of understanding, not the other way around. Niels Bohr, a famous physicist and contemporary of Albert Einstein once said, “If quantum mechanics hasn't profoundly shocked you, you haven't understood it yet.” The same can be said of Enlightenment.

Remember, we are tackling the big issues first so that later we can enjoy our everlasting bliss, right? O.K. seriously, more on this strange Awareness that looms over us. That is what you are after. You may not know it just yet, but it is not some spooky being that is separate from you. It Is You who is doing the looming. The problem is that path you are on. You need to get off that road leading toward Truth and see that you are already there.

Not to beat a dead horse, but I hope you realize I have spilled the proverbial beans completely. Yup, I’ve given away all the secrets of the Universe in the first few posts on Enlightenment. So why go on? What reason would you have to continue? Well for one, you might not have gotten it yet, and secondly, if you think you do have it, then you definitely are not There yet.

If you’re thinking who the heck I am to tell you that you’re not There yet, don’t worry; I’m not There either. Nobody is. Once that becomes crystal clear to you, then you will be there (sorry, couldn’t resist).

Alright, back to who or what is aware of what we don’t know. When we speak about ourselves as I —as in, “I am going to the store,”— it usually refers to the seemingly separate person, or body, whose reflection I see when I look in the mirror. It’s probably the same for you; if it’s not, you are either a Self-realized master, or you need a new mirror. Now, I said it is usually this individual I to which we refer when we use that term; it is necessary to speak this way if we are to function normally in the world. Imagine walking around saying the great Oneness projects this apparently limited and separate individual being that is going to the store instead of just saying I.

So I hope we agree that we must use the term I when referring to ourselves if we are going to have any form of normal communication. Just realize that the Awareness you call I is the very same Awareness I call I. It is not similar, it is the One and the same I.

A good example of this is those little model train cities, or those little miniature towns you can build where each little house has its own light inside. Are there dozens of little light bulbs spread around inside various houses, or could there possibly be just One Light underneath the entire structure illuminating all the houses, making them appear as if they were all separate from the rest? Ponder that analogy for a minute, and you may just catch a glimpse of Reality.

We will be seeing a lot of I throughout the rest of this series, so why don’t we get into something else for a bit: Science. Let’s find out what the other side has to say about all of this.

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Tom

The Hard Problem--Part 3 of the Enlightenment Series

2009-05-09T08:04:00.000-07:00

The Hard Problem. That’s the term used in psychology and philosophy for describing Consciousness. By the way, I am lumping psychology, philosophy, and any other sophi-ology into the category of science. The word philosophy comes from the Greek word philosophia (philo- loving and sophia- knowledge, wisdom) and simply means love of knowledge or wisdom. Science is, after all, the pursuit of knowledge.

In reality, Western science and Eastern mystical traditions both study the same thing; they just go about it in different ways. For instance, a Buddhist monk may meditate in silence and discover his Oneness with everything, while a physicist peers beyond the atom and finds there is no such thing as a boundary between so-called solid objects. So for the sake of not getting into boring technical jargon explaining how this is true, I will leave it at that. If you want proof that it’s true, there are dozens of books in the science section of most bookstores written by physicists explaining the same thing.

Back to Consciousness. It’s called the Hard Problem because, well, it’s a hard problem. No one has been able to figure it out. And they won’t. That’s the trouble with science; with all its many achievements, it can do nothing to solve the problem of what consciousness is precisely because of what it is designed to do. Science studies things, events, and even ideas. Consciousness is none of those. Consciousness Is what is doing the studying. That is why physicists, who I admire for all their incredible intelligence, get so frustrated. When it takes decades to resolve something which, once resolved, seems obvious and simple, it can be very frustrating. I’ve got some tough news for these hard working folks: It ain’t gonna get any easier.

As long as scientists keep trying to look for consciousness out there in the world, they will never find it. When I say out there, I don’t just mean out there away from the body. Out there also includes the brain. You may say, “but my brain is in here, inside my head, not out there somewhere.” Yes, you can say your brain is inside to you, but to a scientist trying to find the consciousness part of your brain, it is a seemingly separate object. I say seemingly because as we shall soon see, you cannot find a defining line that separates an object from anything else.

Try this thought experiment: Picture your brain sitting in front of you on a table. If you could remove a thin slice and set it down next to the larger portion, which would you say contains your consciousness? (I know, you might die if you really did that; please bear with me). Most people would probably say the larger portion contains your consciousness. Now it may seem silly to you to try and find consciousness in the brain in this manner, but this is similar to how scientists go about it. Needless to say, they haven’t found anything called consciousness in all that gray matter.

There is a more sophisticated method that is used to study matter. Physicists can now peer so deeply beyond the atom that they have found that nothing is really solid. Everything is just a bunch of dense energy all mixed together like soup. We just perceive things to be separate and solid because of the way our brains interpret that energy. But wait a minute; our brains are also made of atoms, which are made of this dense energy, which is being interpreted by our… what’s going on here? How could a non-solid thing like the brain perceive other non-solid things like chairs and tables as being solid if they are all made of the same energy?

That is where science hits a brick wall, and a solid wall it is. Science cannot solve the consciousness problem because Consciousness Is what is trying to do the solving. You can never find the most fundamental element of Consciousness by looking for it because You are always That which is looking (notice all those capitals & italics?).

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Tom

The Eastern Mystical View--Part 4 of the Enlightenment Series

2009-05-08T17:53:00.000-07:00

If you thought science was all convoluted and confusing, wait until you see the Eastern take on things. The oldest stuff you’ll find to read on Eastern Mysticism is called Vedanta. Vedanta just means the culmination of all knowledge in the Vedas and the Vedas are ancient Indian scriptures pertaining to the Self. Most of this stuff is written in Sanskrit and I don’t speak it, so I won’t pretend to be able to pronounce all the words correctly (fortunately, it’s all been translated). Yeah, I’ve read the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, and many of the other classic Indian texts. Don’t get me wrong, I have tremendous respect for Indian culture, but it is not immune to the same type of confusion found in Western religion.

In Hinduism for example, Brahman is the word used to describe The Absolute, or what some might call The Source. This is not to be confused with Brahma, who is the Hindu god of creation (did you think this was going to be simple?). Brahman is considered the One Reality without a second. This may surprise some folks because in Hinduism there are many gods. This is actually a misconception; all the various entities defined as gods are actually the many aspects that Brahman takes on. Now before you Vedanta buffs start yelling at me, I realize that the Absolute, or Brahman, cannot be said to have aspects because the Source of all aspects cannot itself have aspects. That’s the problem with trying to write about this stuff; you have to use inherently dualistic language to describe the Oneness of everything.

Don’t get too caught up on all this Sanskrit talk. It’s just a language. Saying Source is the same as saying Brahman, or Allah, or God, or Pizza. It’s all the same thing. Speaking of languages, remember how that Aramaic speaking guy named Yeshua became known as Jesus? You know, the one who saved us all because the Church said we were born dirty and sinful. That Yeshua, the one who the Roman Empire crucified and then blamed the Jews for the killing (crucifixion was prohibited by Jewish law, but it was the method of choice by the Roman Empire during that time). Well, he was born in the land of Israel which is on the Eastern continent of Asia. So how did Christianity become a Western religion anyway? Oh well, that’s another article. Anyway, Yeshua spoke Aramaic, but his sayings in the New Testament were written in Greek; and that’s after they were translated from Latin. By the time the English translation came about, the message was completely lost. If you trace the steps and get back to the original Aramaic, and then translate it directly from Aramaic into English, you get a completely different story. I won’t get into it too much here, but I will say this: Yeshua, or if you prefer Jesus, was a pretty cool dude who taught some really amazing things.

The most important part of Eastern Mysticism for our purposes is called Advaita Vedanta. Advaita means “not two.” Again, don’t worry too much about terminology as it is also correct to simply say Oneness. I am merely using the Sanskrit term out of respect for those who have long ago realized what we are now discussing here. There is one reason to get a little familiar with the original terminology; it is said that the word Advaita, or not-two, is used because if you simply say Oneness it implies something else exists, such as “two-ness,” which would contradict the very notion of there being a single Entity, of which we are all an aspect. This is a matter of semantics, and it should not hinder you from understanding what is being said. Oneness is oneness; if you want to imply duality, you can simply say two.

Advaita is just one subset of Vedanta. There is even a Dvaita school of Vedanta (not the type of school as in that place we all went to as children so that we can learn lies about history, but rather as in a school of thought). Contrary to the Advaita school of not-two, Dvaita means . . . you guessed it, two! Now what the heck is two doing hanging out with Oneness? That’s the whole problem with adhering strictly to scriptures; they were written by people with ideas of their own. Buddha once said that one should not believe in anything anyone says, not even he, unless it resonates within you as being true. I agree. So why should you believe anything I say? You shouldn’t if it sends bullshit signals up and down your spine. You don’t have to worry about that anyway because we all have a truth sensor built right inside us; Intuition. You have known most of the things you are reading here since you were a very young child. It’s just that you’ve forgotten them as you listened, watched, learned, and eventually accepted all that crap our teachers, parents, and the media have lovingly taught us. Our parents, teachers, and . . . well maybe not the media, but the first two undoubtedly meant well when they told us all that crap about how hard life is, how you must struggle to get by, and how we were born in sin (only if you’re Christian, everyone else gets a free pass). They taught us this garbage because it’s what they were told when they were children.

O.K., so I brought up the “C” word again in a discussion about Eastern traditions. The reason Christianity became a Western religion is because in the fourth century, the Roman Emperor Constantine claimed to have had a "Christian" vision, and the empire later converted from paganism. Otherwise, our old friend Yeshua would be hanging out with Buddha somewhere in Tibet.

Wait a minute, they lived 500 years apart, how could they hang out together? The time difference makes it impossible, right? Hmmm.

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Tom

What Time Is It—or What Is Time? Part 5 of the Enlightenment Series

2009-05-07T08:04:00.000-07:00

This is a topic you may need to read a couple of times in order for it to even seem like it were written in English. In physics, scientists have shown how sub-atomic particles can be said to travel either forward or backward in time. That may seem very sci-fi to some, but it is scientific nevertheless. I’m not going to sit here and ramble on with mathematical equations regarding time (mostly because I suck at mathematical equations), but that is o.k. because you don’t need them to understand what time really is.

Time doesn’t exist in the way we think it does. A better way to phrase that might be: Time only exists because we think. Let me explain. What we call time is merely change; the changing of seasons, the ticks on a clock, or the Sunrise and Sunset. When things change position or appearance, it takes time to go through the change. This is going to be one of those slippery slopes like the I versus me discussion from earlier.

The reason it is so difficult to explain how time doesn’t really exist is because you constantly have to say how it takes time for things to change. You also have to say things like before the change took place, or after that happened. You can see where this is going. Anyhow, let’s give it a chance . . . we might just have a good time.

The best way to explain time (it’s actually kind of a lame example, but I haven’t found a better one yet) is the analogy of a kaleidoscope. When you look through a kaleidoscope and turn the round thing at the front end, the pattern of colors changes. The pieces of plastic that make up the pattern are always there; they don’t disappear when you change the pattern. They just change form. Now I realize that it takes time to effect the change in pattern, but just forget time for a moment and focus on the pattern itself. Imagine that the center of the pattern is the Present Moment. As you go out toward the circumference, that area is the Past. The Future is yet to be so you cannot see it (remember, I warned you about the need to use terms referring to time when trying to explain the absence of time). Now, when you change the pattern, you are changing All That Is. You cannot change just the center (the present moment) without changing the rest of the pieces toward the circumference (the past). Wait a minute. Did he just say change the past? I can picture you thinking that now as I write this. I’ll get into that in a bit.

What is going on with time if it behaves in this way? Well, first of all, you might be saying to yourself, “That was a lame example because as you go out toward the circumference of the kaleidoscope, you will eventually hit a boundary, and there cannot be a boundary to the past.” For one, I did say it was a lame example, but it’s what we’ve got to work with if we are going to use our minds to try and figure it out. Secondly, if you really did think there was no boundary to the past, then you are ahead of the game.

It’s the mind. That’s the problem with trying to understand time. We usually use our intellectual faculty to try and figure out something outside of it. You know, like the old saying about a fish trying to understand the water within which it lives. So which is it? Is there time or not? There will always be time while you are thinking. It is only when thought stops that time stops. Whoa, who just opened that giant can of worms? We’ve just let loose about three new topics in those last couple of sentences. Now we have to deal with thought, thinking, and what the heck they have to do with time. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of time to get into it.

Warning: The Next Three Paragraphs are full of Strange Technical Science Stuff

There are several schools of thought in the world of science regarding time. There is one side which says we live in what’s called a “block” universe where nothing actually moves, but it is rather our Consciousness that moves around pre-set “events” (kind of like still pictures) giving the illusion of moving objects. Now what is science doing using Consciousness as a tool to study time when it admittedly does not know what Consciousness is? Anyway, another view that is currently gaining a lot of attention is what is called a “multi-verse.” That is the idea that there are a lot of universes all over the place (where would they be?) and that ours is just one that happened to have the correct conditions for life to exist. Isn’t that oddly similar to how the ancient Greeks thought our solar system was the universe, and a few hundred years ago scientists thought our galaxy was the universe? Then they discovered billions of galaxies all around us (I wonder if they thought those were a bunch of universes too?).

I brought up the multi-verse scenario above because it leads into another big idea in science: Parallel Universes (hang in there; we are getting to the part about time). This idea suggests that there are a bunch of universes not around us, but rather in parallel dimensions. In this line of thinking, if you make a decision and take a course of action, that is what happens in this universe, but in a gazillion other universes, you did something else, only slightly differently in each one. If this seems strange to you, then you are probably using your intuition. Sure, this kind of stuff is great for Hollywood; they get to make exciting movies about worm-holes and time warps, but it is a bizarre way of looking at the Universe.

So what does all this have to do with time? Well, notice how all these scenarios require space. The block universe has Consciousness moving around an area of space. The multi-verse requires space for all its different universes. And the Parallel Universes have not only space, but possibly an infinite amount of it within which all the different events take place (that actually makes some sense). So what? We are talking about time, not space. Well, time is nothing but the movement of space. That sounds really strange, and rather than trying to prove it, I’ll leave it to the two people who can better explain it: Dr. Milo Wolff, a Physicist who worked at both MIT and the United Nations and Geoff Haselhurst, a very smart dude who independently discovered the same thing as Mr. Wolff. I don’t personally know either of these two guys, so look them up on the Internet sometime (I would say Google It, but that might get me into trouble … oops).

O.K., Strange Technical Science Stuff Is Over Now

So before you think this is turning into an article on science, I’ll leave the subject of time with this: It doesn’t exist. Only space and motion exist. Space can also be called Consciousness and the motion is the dense energy, as discussed in physics, turning into the apparently solid objects you and I see all around us. Maybe a bit more on this later.

Wait another minute. Didn’t I promise you a few paragraphs ago that I would get back to the changing the past issue? And what about the issue of thoughts and thinking as being the cause of time? Well o.k., let’s change the past right now. A few moments ago, you may have thought about the previous paragraphs I just mentioned. Maybe you remember reading them. I remember writing them. But when are all of these events taking place; the writing, the reading, and the remembering? Or better yet, where are they taking place? Right Here. You remember reading the paragraphs in the same space where you originally read them. Not necessarily in the same place, but in the same space. There are not two spaces where things occur. Everything that exists is in one and the same Space. When you think back to a time in the past, it is all occurring in the same space. Thoughts produce a transfer of energy through space, and the movement of space creates what we eventually interpret as physical objects (the vibration of atoms described in the older quantum physics). So to sum it up, when you think about the past, you cause an ever so slight movement of space, which causes change that you interpret as time. If you change your thoughts about the past, you change the space in which those thoughts are occurring, thereby changing what you refer to as the past. It all sounds very complicated, but that’s only because we have to use words to explain it. It is much easier to understand time in a state some people reach during Meditation. Ah, sounds like a new topic to me . . .

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Tom

"Just Stop Thinking"--Part 6 of the Enlightenment Series

2009-05-06T08:11:00.000-07:00

The word meditation means to contemplate something; to think about it. That is odd considering most people who use the term, when discussing spirituality, use it to describe not thinking.

You may have heard a lot of back and forth stuff about meditation—whether it is the act of thinking or a non-thinking state—and this can be confusing if you have never meditated (or even if you have). Let’s clear it up right here. Meditation is misunderstood in the same way prayer is misunderstood; to pray is not to ask for something, it is to be a certain way. If you desire happiness, you will not get it by asking for it, it will be your experience when you decide to be happiness. If you want wealth and good health, you must first feel wealthy and healthy within the core of your being (a complex way of saying feel it strongly and believe it). Yeshua used to say this all the time. True meditation is the same way; you do not meditate to reach a certain state, meditation is the way your experience is unfolding.

The other type of meditation is the one most people think of. It is the type utilized to experience Oneness; like where you sit or lie down and quiet the mind either by contemplating something or by allowing thoughts to stop all together. The goal here is to allow the mind to become still, like a pond with absolutely no waves (not an easy thing to do; try it sometime). Once this happens, you actually do experience a state of Oneness where you feel that there is no separation between you and the world around you.

What I just described in the last paragraph is a huge sticking point for most seekers. It is in fact the reason they are still seeking and are not at the understanding referred to as Realization. You see, experiencing and feeling something, such as a state of Oneness, is not Oneness Itself; it is Oneness having an experience. I know that sounds strange, if not outright confusing. That is why I will attempt to make it as clear as possible here (this stuff clear? Yeah, right).

True meditation is contemplating something—anything, an idea, an object, a sound—and accepting it exactly as it is. It is doing the dishes, taking out the trash, washing your car. It is profound, yet it is more simple and ordinary than our complex minds can process. It is the understanding that everything is perfect just as it is (the word perfect is from Latin perfectus and actually means completed). Your experience is presented to you in completed form; there is nothing that needs to be added or removed. This is easy to accept when you are experiencing what you perceive as positive, but it can be challenging when things aren’t going exactly as you had hoped. When you can see, and when you really understand, that everything in your life is as is should be, then you will have arrived.

Before you start thinking that this is the only idea of meditation (or that this is a bunch of bullshit), realize that I am only referring to meditation in reference to the concept of Oneness. Sure, you can go out and meditate on the beach at sunset or on a soft mat in a yoga class in order to get to a certain state. What I am saying is all of that stuff is great for the purpose of having an experience of some state, but it is not what true meditation is.

Hold on another minute there folks, didn’t I just refer to Oneness as a concept in the last paragraph? Isn’t Oneness an indefinable Absolute rather than just a concept? Hold that thought for later.

Back to meditation and who is meditating. It is not easy for the mind to understand how anything other than an experience can exist because that’s what the mind does; it experiences. Or so it would seem. The key here is who is having an experience. This is the final understanding (I know, here we go again with all this big Truth stuff being brought up so early on the trip). The trip is the problem; call it the path, the road to enlightenment, whatever you like, but the idea that you have to get to a place other than where you are now is what is apparently holding you back in the first place. That probably seems like it’s becoming a mantra around here; all this talk of “you are already there” and “enlightenment is not something you can get, it’s something you are.” Well, by the time you get to the end of this series, I sure hope you see that you really are already That. Wait, I just wrote time in that last sentence. At the end of the last article, I promised to tell you how meditation can make it easier to understand what time really is. So let’s get to it.

If you want to get a better understanding of time, you’ll have to use that other type of meditation; the one I implied was not the real form of meditation. Boy, this Enlightenment Series is full of contradictions (in physics, they call that a paradox. That’s just an ugly word used to describe an apparent contradiction that seems impossible to solve at first, but once solved, it becomes clear as day). That’s what this is, a paradox. Once you meditate in the other way, you can reach a state that will show you how the true way is the only real way. Anyway, to understand time, you may reach a point during the “non-thinking” type of meditation where you literally feel as if your body is a flowing stream of energy connected to everything. Not just connected to, but actually a part of All That Is. Once this happens, you may understand that there is no such thing as time but only movement and rest. Literally, movement and rest such as in breathing in and out. You may feel an energetic inflow and outflow surging through what you would normally call your body, but in this case, it is just a certain area of activity in space, not a separate solid body. Or you might just fall asleep.

Just remember that even if you master the act of meditation, anything you experience during the thought-free state is still an experience. What seekers are after is the understanding of what is doing the experiencing. Now would probably be a good time to explain what I meant a couple of paragraphs ago when I referred to Oneness as just a concept. Let’s make it the next topic, shall we?

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Tom

A Real Concept--Part 7 of the Enlightenment Series

2009-05-05T09:08:00.000-07:00

What is real and what is just a concept? Everything that you can see, touch, taste, hear, and smell—basically everything coming in through the senses— is a concept. Also, everything you think, do, imagine, and feel is a concept. So what, then, is not a concept? Well it’s Reality, of course. There, we’re done—we’ve solved it. Now we can go to the movies.

O.K., seriously, everything you experience is just a concept. Even experiencing a state of Oneness is a concept. So how the heck do we get to Reality if everything we do is just a concept? We don’t. Reality is the Source of everything. It is where ideas come from. It is also where things come from. This is a really tough subject to write about because even saying “It is where things come from” is misleading because It is not a place. If It were, we would be able to talk about getting to It; how can you get to a place, thing, or state of Being that you already are?

Reality is the ultimate Subject. Not a subject as in a topic to discuss, but rather the Subject that experiences an object (or an event, or anything). Maybe the earlier comment about going to the movies wasn’t so misplaced after all. Let's take a look:

When you are at the movies, you see images on a screen. Those images may appear to be moving around, but as you probably know, it is actually a bunch of still pictures flickering on and off (or moving on a reel in the old days) at about twenty-four frames per second. Our slow monkey-brains cannot process that on and off pattern quickly enough, and so we have the impression of motion. The images also may appear to be of separate people and things, but a quick glance over your shoulder will reveal a single source of light transporting these images to that screen. Now here is where you have to do something difficult: Take yourself completely out of the theater. Don’t even picture a single person in there. The only things left are the screen and the light. The screen can be thought of as space, the light is the dense energy vibration (science again) that makes up what we perceive as matter, or solid objects, and the Subject, the non-thing watching the movie, is Reality (also known as the Source, God, or a hundred other names).

That’s all there is. The images on the screen are you and me and everyone else. The Source is both where the images came from and the Subject enjoying the show. Done.

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Tom

Darwin Was Not an Enemy--Part 8 of the Enlightenment Series

2009-05-04T22:30:00.000-07:00

Many people have heard of Charles Darwin and his famous written work, On the Origin of Species. His theory of evolution was interpreted as saying that humans evolved from apes rather than being created by God. This caused a huge change in worldview as far as spirituality was concerned, and it drew a very definitive line in the Creation vs. Evolution debate. Those who felt Darwin was correct would take a hard stance against those who believed the world was created in six days by God. Well, I’ve got good news for you (or bad news if you consider that all the confusion of the last 150 years was unnecessary), Darwin never claimed that a Divine Source did not exist.

In the last paragraph of On the Origin of Species, Darwin writes, “There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one.” Then, a year after the first edition was published (first edition came out in 1859), Darwin released the second edition, but he added the words “by the Creator” after the word “breathed” from the above quote. Now just what do you suppose could have happened? After years of developing the theory of evolution, did he simply change his mind? I don’t think so. He added these three words to clear up confusion which undoubtedly arose as a result of the first edition. He did, after all, study theology at Cambridge University.

What does this have to do with you and enlightenment? I just wanted to make sure we went over the fact that the past 150 years have been spent debating over a non-issue. Evolution and Creation go hand in hand like Yeshua and Mary Magdalene. Oops, I hope I didn’t offend the Vatican. They would never allow a man like Jesus to be intimate with a woman. How dare I think such a horrific thought?

Anyway, don’t take my word for it. Go to any library or bookstore and take a peek at the last paragraph of Darwin’s famous book, but make sure you see both the first and second editions. I’m not sure what caused people to assume Darwin didn’t believe in a Creator. Maybe everyone read only the first edition, and when the second edition came out, no one bothered to find out what had been added or removed.

Actually Creator is probably not the best word to use as far as we are concerned here. The Source is what It is (or isn’t) no matter what name you give It. Creator seems to imply a separate being, and Enlightenment is all about the Oneness of everything. This can cause more confusion, as if we don’t have enough to deal with. If you insist on thinking of the Source as a Creator, than all you really need to do to resolve the Evolution vs. Creation issue is to understand that the Creator did cause life to come into existence, it just happened to be apes before humans (and a whole mess of smaller creatures before that).

For the more open minded folks, the ones who are really interested in Enlightenment more than anything else, you will probably begin to understand that the Source was being apes prior to becoming humans. The only problem is we have to use the term “prior to.” There we go creating time again.

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Tom

From Creating to BE-ing --Part 9 of the Enlightenment Series

2009-05-03T22:53:00.000-07:00

Now that we've gone over Creation and Creating, let's take a look at what all this Creativity is doing:

Being is what you are doing right now. Yeah, I know that sounds stupid; of course you are being, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this. That is the so-called little you being what you are. Many teachers of enlightenment will refer to a Greater Being. This small you/Big You dichotomy is silly. It just reinforces the idea of separation. I’m not going to refer to you as a little you. That sounds insulting, and since we are all part of the same Being, I have no desire to do that to you.

Being is what is going on all around you. The wall is being a wall, the spider hiding under your bed is being a spider. That may sound ordinary, and ultimately it is, but the issue here concerning you is who is being. Most people would probably say “I am.” Is that the same I Am that Moses had an experience with; you know, that burning bush he came across that spoke to him? I Am That I Am? You bet it is. Most people will hear a story like that and completely misunderstand what happened (I did for a great portion of my life). You must realize that when Moses came down from that mountain, he must have told some people about what he had experienced. He must have because otherwise nobody would have written about it, and we wouldn’t have heard of it (unless someone just made it all up). Anyway, whoever wrote that particular book of the Bible— I can’t remember which one it is—describing Moses’ experience with the burning bush obviously used his or her imagination. Moses clearly had an experience some would call enlightenment. He had the realization of Awareness that he could only describe as I Am. Then he must have realized the he is That I Am (the I Am That I Am often quoted from the Bible). Before you start throwing rocks at me, I am not changing what was said earlier regarding how Enlightenment is not an experience, I am just referring to what Moses must have felt looking at that bush and realizing he is that Being.

This can be a bit challenging to envision (like the rest of this stuff was easy?). There are a few analogies that are helpful. These are not mine, but if they help you understand, I’ll use ‘em. There is the river analogy: Picture a strong river rushing downstream, and at a certain location, you see a whirlpool forming. The whirlpool is there for a relatively long duration. The river is who you really are, and the seemingly separate person you imagine yourself to be is the whirlpool. The whirlpool consists entirely of You (remember, you’re the river), yet it is constantly changing as new, fresh water swirls around and away from the whirlpool. The whole time, you can see the form of the whirlpool, yet it is never the same water twice. At the same time, it is always the same water as it is never separate from the river.

That leads to the second water analogy of Being (this one isn’t mine either, but it helps). You are the ocean. The ocean moves and creates billions of apparently distinct entities called waves. You identify with each wave as a separate entity and eventually each wave begins to call itself “I.” I am this wave, and you are that wave. At any time, was even a single wave not the ocean?

These are great analogies, and you can most likely find others that will resonate with your view on this matter. One that was particularly helpful for me early-on comes from a controversial author named Ken Wilber. He is a popular writer and has deep intellectual insights, but I don’t necessarily agree with everything he writes. One item of his that I did find profound was his method of coming to realize Being. He stated that if you keep backing up (not literally, you might hurt yourself), you will eventually come to a point where there is nowhere left to back up to. At that point, any experience (any thought, person, event, or thing) will be in front you. Since there is nothing left to back up to, you realize that you are the ultimate Subject that is having all these experiences. There is no me there (as an object), seeing other things. There is only Being having experiences.

These are not perfect descriptions of Being. That is difficult to achieve using inherently dualistic language. There is one other method offered in countless discussions on enlightenment; since it is so prevalent, I will just touch on it briefly. It is known as the Silent Witness. This is where you attempt to view everything in your experience from the standpoint of an impartial observer. You watch everything as if it were a movie of sort. You do not judge anything, not even your own actions. You just observe. Eventually, you might come to the realization that you actually are this Silent Witness and the person who you have identified with your whole life is merely one of the actors in the movie. Anyway, that is how it’s supposed to go. Try it if you like, but don’t make it a way to get enlightened because that will only keep you from it.

I’ve saved the best analogy for last as far as Being is concerned. I say it is the best because if you have ever had a dream while sleeping, then you have already done it. Say you have a dream and in that dream you are talking with a friend. You then get into a terrible fight with him or her, and all of a sudden you wake up. Does the fight still matter? Did it really happen? Did you actually speak with your friend, and did he or she actually have a choice as to how to act? It was you imagining it in vivid form while asleep. The friend was your imagination, the fight was your imagination, and you were your imagination. That is what life is. Some people have referred to it as God’s dream. You have even been hearing it in a song ever since you were a small child: "Row row row your boat gently down the stream, merrily merrily merrily merrily life is but a ____."

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Determined to Have Free Will--Part 10 of the Enlightenment Series

2009-05-02T20:39:00.000-07:00

This is a debate that has been going on for centuries. Do we have free will, or is everything we think, say, and do pre-determined? No matter which you believe, you’re going to have fierce competition from the evidence presented in the opposing view. Do you really want to know the answer? It’s o.k. if you don’t. You can skip ahead to the next topic and still ultimately reach the understanding you are searching for. If you choose to continue, you will see that you may not have had a choice anyway. This can be a tough reality to accept, but if you have been absorbing what has been said so far, you might already have an idea of Who is calling the shots.

The person you identify with (the apparent person if we are going to keep a strict understanding going here) believes he or she has free will, and for good reason. You make choices all the time, don’t you? You have to decide what to eat, what to wear, what to do for leisure, and so on. These would all seem to indicate free will. In Reality, there is no such thing as free will for us. The only free will is the will of the Source to live and act through us as It chooses.

I can hear it now, the moans and groans of those who insist they have their own free will. “But I can choose whatever I want,” is a common reply. Not only that, you can even say your decision is to not make any decision thereby proving that you are in control. Nice try.

The reality here is that you can’t not choose. You have absolutely no choice but to choose, even if what you choose is to not make a choice. Confusing? Perhaps, but let’s try and clear things up. This is a topic that can really turbo-charge the realization of Oneness because of its harsh affect on the so-called ego. The ego is difficult to convince of anything different from its own way (ego is just a bunch of beliefs and ideas you have been holding onto your whole life. It is not a real entity that is somehow running your life). Going back to what was said about not being able to not choose: We all like to believe that we are responsible for the good achievements in our lives while at the same time we feel badly about the negative things we have done. This is where the reality of not having free will becomes a two-edged sword. If we have no free will, then we are seemingly not responsible for the so-called bad things we may have done, but neither do we get to claim credit for the good things. I say seemingly not responsible because I don’t want to give the impression that you can go rob a bank now and claim that it wasn’t your choice. If you do rob a bank, the police will have no choice but to put you in jail.

Enough preparation for the Truth, let’s just get to it. The you that you believe yourself to be is just a character in the play. What can we say, the Source loves drama (it’s easier for some to envision this if they think “God loves drama,” and that’s fine too). The Source is just playing here in this giant virtual reality game we call the world. No, I don’t mean that literally; I’m not saying God is playing a video game and controlling you with a keyboard (He uses a joystick . . . kidding). The term used in Vedantic tradition to describe this is Maya and means illusion. This is not to say that the world is not real. It is real in a sense, but the illusion is that we are all separate creatures with volition of our own.

Hard to swallow, huh? It should be; it means death to the seemingly separate, individual ego. Not to worry, death of the ego means liberation. Not that you need liberating. You have always been free, just not in the way you may have thought. Wait a second. Free? How can I say you’re free while discussing the topic of no free will? You are free, but I don’t mean you, Bob, Frank, and Lucy from up the block—a bunch of separate people; I am talking about what You really are. You are the Source playing out all of the roles in the play, and you are the stage and also the audience. You (the Source) have just decided to forget that you are doing all this in order to make it seem real so that You can have more fun experiencing the play. Deep stuff. If you feel a bit dizzy right now, it could be simply because you have understood, and if that is the case, then it is quite normal (I’m not a doctor, so please get proper medical care if you are dizzy because of something else).

Does this mean you should stop making choices? Absolutely not. Since you cannot not choose, you may as well make the best choices you know how. You can continue to live life and enjoy every moment. That is why You (again, the Source) are here living as everyone and everything, in order to have the experience (however apparent it may be) of making choices. Please don’t go out and rob a bank and say I said it was O.K.

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Tom

Creating the Life You Desire---Part 11 of the Enlightenment Series

2009-05-01T23:07:00.000-07:00

O.K., this topic is going to be a bit longer than most of the others. There are a few reasons for this. First of all, I am grouping several topics into this one because they are closely related. Secondly, it is a fun topic for most people because you get to see how it is actually possible to create almost anything you want in life. Hold on a minute there. This is the Enlightenment series. What does creating stuff have to do with Oneness and Realization?

Let me explain. Just because we are all merely aspects of One Source does not mean that these aspects are not supposed to have any fun; quite the contrary! Life is experience; life is change, and it can be a really exciting change when you see what is really going on. So what are these closely related topics? They have come to be known by many names, most recently as Creative Visualization, Conscious Creation, and The Law of Attraction. Yes, the Law of Attraction is a real way to create your life despite the fact that it is currently being over-hyped in the media as a result of Oprah Winfrey’s recommendation of a book and DVD series called “The Secret.” Don’t get me wrong, I have seen The Secret DVD, and it is full of great insights. It is just that when a concept such as creating your own reality hits the mainstream, it usually begins to look more like a passing fad rather than a real, useful tool.

Before we go further, understand that this is not new. Some people might think that the Law of Attraction was discovered fairly recently, like quantum physics or hot dogs. The understanding that we create our own experience goes back thousands of years. Both Buddha and Yeshua (that’s Jesus in case you forgot the whole Aramaic thing) have taught what is now referred to as the Law of Attraction. Buddha has stated, “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.”

I will attempt to explain what these ideas are referring to without the typical “you can be rich too” attitude currently sweeping the world of self-help literature. Again, that is not to say that you cannot become wealthy if that is what you were meant to do. Maybe realizing Truth and becoming wealthy is what your future holds. Let’s take a look.

What does all this mean? What is the Law of Attraction? It is just a popular term being used today to describe the fact that what we focus on determines not only what we experience, but what we will experience more of. You know, like if you keep thinking about little green men from Mars, you will see more of them. O.K. seriously, within the stems of our brains we have a network of cells that make up the Reticular Activating System or RAS. This is the part of the brain responsible for filtering out what enters your consciousness. It has been estimated that at any given moment there can be as many as 400,000,000,000 bits of data entering your five senses, yet your brain only processes about 2000 of them each second. The rest are filtered out so as to prevent sensory overload (kind of like a computer. Maybe God is playing a video game after all).

What’s this got to do with the Law of Attraction? Well, as you have seen earlier, what you are conscious of is the pattern of neurons firing as a result of electro-chemical signals reaching the brain. This is just a technical way of saying that you experience whatever you allow into your consciousness. The Reticular Activating System functions as the filter, and you tell it what to allow by repeatedly thinking about things.

Another way to allow an experience into your consciousness is by making it more real than just a thought. You may have heard the story of the famous actor Jim Carrey who had written himself a check for ten million dollars years before he had “made it big.” As a matter of fact, he was struggling financially at the time he had written that check. His father had always encouraged him to stay positive and to never give up. He dated the check several years in the future and wrote the words “for acting services rendered” in the memo section. Years later, just shortly before the date on the check, Carrey received ten million dollars for his role in the movie Ace Ventura. There are several versions of the story regarding the amount of money and which movie it was for, but Carrey did state in an interview that he actually did do it. Whatever the exact amount was isn’t important; the point is he wrote it down on a piece of paper. When you write something down, you take something that was once only an image in your mind and you make it real; a tangible thing in our physical world. Your Reticular Activating System (RAS) reacts to that, and all of a sudden, you become acutely aware of anything in your immediate surroundings that has anything remotely to do with your goal. You might notice an ad for the job of your dreams that you would have missed had you not advised your RAS to keep an eye out for it, or you might overhear someone say something in a bookstore that would lead you exactly to what you have been searching for. This is not some sort of magical thinking, it’s simply the same thing as when you or someone you know buys a new car; all of a sudden, you see that type of car everywhere. That’s your RAS in action.

Hey, what happened to Enlightenment? Now we are talking about parts of the brain and how to get stuff in our lives. What does all this have to do with Realizing and Understanding Truth? Well, when you Understand Truth, you also understand that all this so-called physical stuff is nothing but Your mind in action. Yup, everything you see around you, even the most solid seeming item, is nothing but an appearance in the Source’s dream of life. So if everything is just the Source (You) imagining, why not imagine good things like making the world the best you believe it can be and enjoying a bunch of cool stuff too? Notice again the capitalized You and then the lower-case you. Don’t let this confuse you. The Source is who You are (who is not the real word for it, but then there is no word suitable to describe the ineffable), but the seemingly separate you that you see in the mirror is the character through which the Source creates and experiences all the wonderful (and terrible) things in life. It’s all part of the play.

So what other stuff can we create? Well, what have you experienced in your dreams? I don’t just mean your hopes and dreams but also your dreams while you sleep. I’m not saying that you can instantly create anything you dream of in this seemingly physical world. But I am saying this: If you can clearly imagine something long enough, you can experience it in your outer world (it’s not really an outer world). Everything you see around you is a result of the beliefs you hold in your mind. We never see Reality; what we see is the image created in our minds resulting from the reactions in the brain, which are in turn formed by the five senses. This may seem like just a complex way to describe the acts of seeing, hearing, and so forth. It is not. The world out there is an illusion. Not to say there is nothing going on. Of course there are events happening, otherwise we wouldn’t be experiencing them. The illusion is the idea that there is a separate world out there existing independently of Consciousness. There is not a chair, a table, and Consciousness. There is only Consciousness being the chair, the table, and the apparent person sitting there eating ice cream. That is what an event is, the movement of Consciousness within Itself. I know that sounds complex. The mind cannot understand this because the mind is within Consciousness. “How can the eye see itself?” goes the old Zen saying. Yeah, yeah, I know . . . the eye can see itself in a mirror. But that is not the eye; it is merely a reflection of the eye.

More on dreaming: What you experience while you dream at night is not as different from waking reality as you might think. Dreams are nothing but uninhibited thoughts experienced instantly. That is why your dreams can sometimes seem so random and bizarre, such as when you dream of being in one place with a certain person one minute, then all of a sudden you find yourself in different place, doing something completely unrelated to the previous event. If you could imagine something while awake and completely believe in its existence as a possible reality, you would be able to instantly manifest whatever you desire. The problem is that most, if not all, human beings suffer from a stinky little bugger we call doubt.

Here’s another way to help understand what Reality is: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be in a three dimensional virtual reality game where all you have to do is think about something in order to see it projected all around you? Well take a look around you, because that is in essence what the world really is. No, I’m not saying we’re just playing a video game (that’s God’s job, remember?). Basically, everything you think of is reflected in the three dimensional world around you. I can hear it now, “But I didn’t think of my tire going flat in the rain.” O.K., maybe Buddha should have elaborated a little. Not just what you are thinking, but what you are being at your core is what you will experience. And even then, it won’t be exactly what you are thinking that will be reflected around you; it will be the essence of how you are vibrating. Vibrating? How do I vibrate, and what kind of batteries does it require? I know this sounds a little bit on the new age side, but that is after all what everything is; the vibration, or movement, of space.

There are so many different ways to change your vibration, which in turn changes what you will experience, that this topic could go on to become an entire book. Since we are discussing Enlightenment, I’ll summarize some of the easiest ways to create your experience (there are more than enough books on the market explaining the Law of Attraction in detail). Basically, you will always get more of the same, unless you direct your focus to something different. So what does that mean? Well, if you look at your life and you are completely content with everything, then you need not do a thing but be grateful for all that you have. If, however, you would like to see something different (such as better health, more money, meeting new people to share time with) then all you need to do is visualize it in as clear and vivid imagination as possible. Before you say, “Yeah sure” and discard all of this, realize that there is scientific evidence to support the thousands of years of Eastern traditions that have been promoting this belief. Einstein himself has said, “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s forthcoming attractions.” Professional athletes and business executives use this Truth to excel in what they enjoy doing. Imagine. That’s all you have to do to put the circumstances you desire in motion.

Does that mean all you have to do is vividly imagine something and it will pop up out of thin air? Well, yes and no. First of all, everything you see around you has popped up out of thin air (O.K., not popped, but more like slowly coalesced out of the dense wave energy that comprises all things). You won’t see things falling out of the sky into your lap, but you may be very surprised at some of the events that will take place when you really put these ideas into practice. It is not uncommon for amazing coincidences to begin occurring fairly quickly. I have seen very many examples of these so-called coincidences in my life, but it’s not just me saying this either. Famous people like Oprah Winfrey, Jack Canfield (the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” guy), Michael Jordan and literally dozens of others have attested to the power of the imagination to create your reality.

So what? So a bunch of coincidences begin to happen. How does that help you get what you desire? The coincidences are the clues, the road markers, letting you know which way will lead to your desire. I have seen results take months to occur, but I have also seen amazing things happen in fewer than fifteen minutes. It all depends on how clear you are about your desired outcome, and how strongly you believe it will come to pass.

One of the simplest methods to use is the one whereby you think of the world (or the Universe, if you prefer that term), as you own private manufacturing machine and your imagination is the tool used to order whatever experience you wish. Just remember, you cannot experience a good outcome for yourself by wishing something negative for someone else. Just remember this: In Oneness, anything you imagine for anyone, including others, is actually a request for an experience that you yourself will have. So imagine good things for everyone, because they all really are a part of You. Oh, by the way, the currency you must use to pay for all these wonderful experiences is none other than belief. As Yeshua has said, “Be it done unto you as you believe.”

So as you go around placing orders for your castles and limousines, you may begin to notice a few things. First of all, you may not immediately get any castles or limos, but additionally, you might begin to feel that it is simply not fair for some people to have so much while you are working your butt off visualizing your future into being. For instance, how come Donald Trump has so many billions of dollars while your share is much smaller? Don’t get caught up on envy. It won’t get you any closer to your desires (in fact, it will push you away from experiencing what you desire). Remember, Donald Trump is the Source being Trump, and you are the Source being you. The one and the same Source. Leave that be, and be who you are. Besides, maybe you are meant to become wealthy ... after all you are here reading about how it works, aren’t you? Just be sure to help others along the way; that’s the quickest way to succeed in anything.

To sum up the Law of Attraction, Conscious Creation, and Creative Visualization, I’ll merely say this: More of the same. That’s what you will get; more of whatever dominates your imagination. Repetition is the key. If you don’t like the way something is, think constantly of how you desire it to be. There are some pitfalls. You cannot think in the negative; that is to say, you must not think “I don’t want to get a flat tire.” The universal manufacturing machine cannot process a negative; it will only process, “I want flat tire.” It’s kind of like the old saying, “Don’t think of a pink elephant.” Of course, you will then immediately think of one. Just remember to phrase everything in the positive aspect such as, “I have a great car in good working order” rather than “I hope my car doesn’t break down.” I know it can be hard to visualize a car in good working order if you are cruising around in a rust-bucket dragging a muffler, but you must understand that your situation will only change for the better if you believe you already have it. As Yeshua has said, when you pray, you must believe you have received the thing you desire in order to have it come. Actually, most people do not know what true prayer is. It is closely related to Conscious Creation, so let’s make that the next topic.

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THE BABYLONIAN LEGENDS OF THE CREATION

2008-05-28T17:30:00.000-07:00

THE BABYLONIAN LEGENDS OF THE CREATION

AND THE

FIGHT BETWEEN BEL AND THE DRAGON

TOLD BY ASSYRIAN TABLETS FROM NINEVEH

DISCOVERY OF THE TABLETS.

The baked clay tablets and portions of tablets which describe the
views and beliefs of the Babylonians and Assyrians about the Creation
were discovered by Mr. (later Sir) A.H. Layard, Mormuzd Rassam and
George Smith, Assistant in the Department of Oriental Antiquities in
the British Museum. They were found among the ruins of the Palace and
Library of Ashur-bani-pal (B.C. 668-626) at Kuyûnjik (Nineveh),
between the years 1848 and 1876. Between 1866 and 1870, the great
"find" of tablets and fragments, some 20,000 in number, which Rassam
made in 1852, was worked through by George Smith, who identified many
of the historical inscriptions of Shalmaneser II, Tiglath-Pileser III,
Sargon II, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and other kings mentioned in the
Bible, and several literary compositions of a legendary character,
fables, etc. In the course of this work he discovered fragments of
various versions of the Babylonian Legend of the Deluge, and portions
of several texts belonging to a work which treated of the beginning of
things, and of the Creation. In 1870, Rawlinson and Smith noted
allusions to the Creation in the important tablet K.63, but the texts
of portions of tablets of the Creation Series at that time available
for study were so fragmentary that it was impossible for these
scholars to find their correct sequence. During the excavations which
Smith carried out at Kuyûnjik in 1873 and 1874 for the proprietors of
the _Daily Telegraph_ and the Trustees of the British Museum, he
was, he tells us, fortunate enough to discover "several fragments of
the Genesis Legends." In January, 1875, he made an exhaustive search
among the tablets in the British Museum, and in the following March he
published, in the _Daily Telegraph_ (March 4th), a summary of the
contents of about twenty fragments of the series of tablets describing
the creation of the heavens and the earth. In November of the same
year he communicated to the Society of Biblical Archaeology [1]
copies of:--(1) the texts on fragments of the First and Fifth Tablets
of Creation; (2) a text describing the fight between the "Gods and
Chaos"; and (3) a fragmentary text which, he believed, described the
Fall of Man. In the following year he published translations of all
the known fragments of the Babylonian Creation Legends in his
"Chaldean Account of Genesis" (London, 1876, 8vo, with photographs).
In this volume were included translations of the Exploits of Gizdubar
(Gilgamish), and some early Babylonian fables and legends of the gods.

[Footnote 1: See the _Transactions_, Vol. IV, Plates I-VI, London,
1876.]

PUBLICATION OF THE CREATION TABLETS.

The publication of the above-mentioned texts and translations proved
beyond all doubt the correctness of Rawlinson's assertion made in
1865, that "certain portions of the Babylonian and Assyrian Legends of
the Creation resembled passages in the early chapters of the Book of
Genesis." During the next twenty years, the Creation texts were
copied and recopied by many Assyriologists, but no publication
appeared in which all the material available for reconstructing the
Legend was given in a collected form. In 1898, the Trustees of the
British Museum ordered the publication of all the Creation texts
contained in the Babylonian and Assyrian Collections, and the late
Mr. L. W. King, Assistant in the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian
Antiquities, was directed to prepare an edition. The exhaustive
preparatory search which he made through the collections of tablets in
the British Museum resulted in the discovery of many unpublished
fragments of the Creation Legends, and in the identification of a
fragment which, although used by George Smith, had been lost sight of
for about twenty-five years. He ascertained also that, according to
the Ninevite scribes, the Tablets of the Creation Series were seven in
number, and what several versions of the Legend of the Creation, the
works of Babylonian and Assyrian editors of different periods, must
have existed in early Mesopotamian Libraries. King's edition of the
Creation Texts appeared in "Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in
the British Museum," Part XIII, London, 1901. As the scope of this
work did not permit the inclusion of his translations, and commentary
and notes, he published these in a private work entitled, "The Seven
Tablets of Creation, or the Babylonian and Assyrian Legends concerning
the creation of the world and of mankind," London, 1902, 8vo. A
supplementary volume contained much new material which had been found
by him since the appearance of the official edition of the texts, and
in fact doubled the number of Creation Texts known hitherto.

[Illustration: Babylonian map of the world, showing the ocean
surrounding the world and making the position of Babylon on the
Euphrates as its centre. It shows also the mountains as the source of
the river, the land of Assyria, Bît-Iakinu, and the swamps at the
mouth of the Euphrates. [No. 92,687.]]

THE OBJECT OF THE BABYLONIAN LEGEND OF THE CREATION.

A perusal of the texts of the Seven Tablets of Creation, which King
was enabled, through the information contained in them, to arrange for
the first time in their proper sequence, shows that the main object of
the Legend was the glorification of the god Marduk, the son of Ea
(Enki), as the conqueror of the dragon Tiâmat, and not the narration
of the story of the creation of the heavens, and earth and man. The
Creation properly speaking, is only mentioned as an exploit of Marduk
in the Sixth Tablet, and the Seventh Tablet is devoted wholly to the
enumeration of the honorific titles of Marduk. It is probable that
every great city in Babylonia, whilst accepting the general form of
the Creation Legend, made the greatest of its local gods the hero of
it. It has long been surmised that the prominence of Marduk in the
Legend was due to the political importance of the city of Babylon. And
we now know from the fragments of tablets which have been excavated in
recent years by German Assyriologists at Kal'at Sharkât (or Shargat,
or Shar'at), that in the city of Ashur, the god Ashur, the national
god of Assyria, actually occupied in texts[1] of the Legend in use
there the position which Marduk held in four of the Legends current in
Babylonia. There is reason for thinking that the original hero of the
Legend was Enlil (Bel), the great god of Nippur (the Nafar, or Nufar
of the Arab writers), and that when Babylon rose into power under the
First Dynasty (about B.C. 2300), his position in the Legend was
usurped at Babylon by Marduk.

[Footnote 1: See the duplicate fragments described in the Index to
Ebeling, _Keilschrifttexte aus Assur_, Leipzig, 1919 fol.]

[Illustration: Excavations in Babylonia and Assyria.]

VARIANT FORMS OF THE BABYLONIAN LEGEND OF THE CREATION.

The views about the Creation which are described in the Seven Tablets
mentioned above were not the only ones current in Mesopotamia, and
certainly they were not necessarily the most orthodox. Though in the
version of the Legend already referred to the great god of creation
was Enlil, or Marduk, or Ashur, we know that in the Legend of
Gilgamish (Second Tablet) it was the goddess Aruru who created Enkidu
(Eabani) from a piece of clay moistened with her own spittle. And in
the so-called "bilingual" version[1] of the Legend, we find that this
goddess assisted Marduk as an equal in the work of creating the seed
of mankind. This version, although Marduk holds the position of
pre-eminence, differs in many particulars from that given by the Seven
Tablets, and as it is the most important of all the texts which deal
directly with the creation of the heavens and the earth, a rendering
of it is here given.

[Footnote 1: The text is found on a tablet from Abû Habbah, Brit.
Mus., No. 93,014 (82-5-22, 1048).]

THE "BILINGUAL" VERSION OF THE CREATION LEGEND.

1. "The holy house, the house of the gods in the holy place had not
yet been made.

2. "No reed had sprung up, no tree had been made.

3. "No brick had been laid, no structure of brick had been erected.

4. "No house had been made, no city had been built.

[Illustration: The Bilingual Version of the Creation Legend. [No. 93,014.]]

5. "No city had been made, no creature had been constituted.

6. "Enlil's city, (i.e., Nippur) had not been made, E-kur had not been
built,

7. "Erech had not been made, E-Aena had not been built,

8. The Deep[1] (or Abyss) had not been made, Eridu had not been built.

[Footnote 1: APSÛ. It is doubtful if APSÛ here really means the great
abyss of waters from out of which the world was called. It was, more
probably, a ceremonial object used in the cult of the god, something
like the great basin, or "sea," in the court of the temple of King
Solomon, mentioned in I Kings, vii, 23; 2 Kings, xxv, 13, etc.]

9. "Of the holy house, the house of the gods, the dwelling-place had
not been made.

10. "All the lands were sea

11. "At the time that the mid-most sea was [shaped like] a trough,

12. "At that time Eridu was made, and E-sagil was built,

13. "The E-sagil where in the midst of the Deep the god
Lugal-dul-azaga [1] dwelleth,

[Footnote 1: This is a name under which Marduk was worshipped at
Eridu.]

14. "Babylon was made, E-sagil was completed.

15. "The gods the Anunnaki he created at one time.

16. "They proclaimed supreme the holy city, the dwelling of their
heart's happiness.

17. "Marduk laid a rush mat upon the face of the waters,

18. "He mixed up earth and moulded it upon the rush mat,

19. "To enable the gods to dwell in the place where they fain would
be.

20. "He fashioned man.

21. "The goddess Aruru with him created the seed of mankind.

22. "He created the beasts of the field and [all] the living things in
the field.

23. "He created the river Idiglat (Tigris) and the river Purattu
(Euphrates), and he set them in their places,

24. "He proclaimed their names rightly.

[Illustration: Terra-cotta figure of a god. From a foundation deposit
at Babylon. [No. 90,9961]]

25. "He created grass, the vegetation of the marsh, seed and shrub;

26. "He created the green plants of the plain,

27. "Lands, marshes, swamps,

28. "The wild cow and the calf she carried, the wild calf, the sheep
and the young she carried, the lamb of the fold,

29. "Plantations and shrub land,

30. "The he-goat and the mountain goat ...

31. "The lord Marduk piled up a dam in the region of the sea (i.e., he
reclaimed land)

32. "He ... a swamp, he founded a marsh.

33. "... he made to be

34. "Reeds he created, trees he created,

35. "... in place he created

36. "He laid bricks, he built a brick-work,

37. "He constructed houses, he formed cities.

38. "He constructed cities, creatures he set [therein].

39. "Nippur he made, E-Kur he built.

40. "[Erech he made, E-Anna] he built.

[The remainder of the text is fragmentary, and shows that the text
formed part of an incantation which was recited in the Temple of
E-Zida, possibly the great temple of Nabu at Borsippa.]

[Illustration: Bronze figure of a Babylonian god. [No. 91,147]]

THE LEGEND OF THE CREATION ACCORDING TO BEROSUS AND DAMASCIUS.

Versions in Greek of the Legends found by George Smith had long been
known to classical scholars, owing to the preservation of fragments of
them in the works of later Greek writers, e.g., Eusebius, Syncellus, and
others. The most important of these is derived from the History of
Babylonia, which was written in Greek by BEROSUS, a priest of
Bel-Marduk, i.e., the "Lord Marduk," at Babylon, about 250 B.C. In this
work Berosus reproduced all the known historical facts and traditions
derived from native sources which were current in his day. It is
therefore not surprising to find that his account of the Babylonian
beliefs about the origin of things corresponds very closely with that
given in the cuneiform texts, and that it is of the greatest use in
explaining and partly in expanding these texts. His account of the
primeval abyss, out of which everything came, and of its
inhabitants reads:--

[Illustration: Babylonian Monster. [No. 108,979.]]

"There was a time in which there existed nothing but darkness and an
abyss of waters, wherein resided most hideous beings, which were
produced on a two-fold principle. There appeared men, some of whom
were furnished with two wings, others with four, and with two
faces. They had one body but two heads; the one that of a man, the
other of a woman; and likewise in their several organs both male and
female. Other human figures were to be seen with the legs and horns of
goats; some had horses' feet; while others united the hind-quarters of
a horse with the body of a man, resembling in shape the hippo-centaurs.
Bulls likewise were bred there with the heads of men, and dogs with
four told bodies, terminated in their extremities with the tails of
fishes; horses also with the heads of dogs; men too and other animals,
with the heads and bodies of horses and the tails of fishes. In short,
there were creatures in which were combined the limbs of every species
of animals. In addition to these, fishes, reptiles, serpents, with
other monstrous animals, which assumed each other's shape and
countenance. Of all which were preserved delineations in the temple of
Belus at Babylon."

[Illustration: Babylonian Demon. [No. 93,089.]]

[THE SLAUGHTER OF THE QUEEN OF THE ABYSS.]

"The person, who presided over them, was a woman named OMUROCA; which
in the Chaldean language is THALATTH; in Greek THALASSA, the sea; but
which might equally be interpreted the Moon. All things being in this
situation, Belus came, and cut the woman asunder: and of one half of
her he formed the earth, and of the other half the heavens; and at the
same time destroyed the animals within her. All this (he says) was an
allegorical description of nature."

[THE CREATION OF MAN.]

"For, the whole universe consisting of moisture, and animals being
generated therein, the deity above-mentioned[1] took off his own head:
upon which the other gods mixed the blood, as it gushed out, with the
earth; and from whence were formed men. On this account it is that
they are rational and partake of divine knowledge."

[Footnote 1: The god whose head was taken off was not Belus, as is
commonly thought, but the god who the cuneiform texts tell us was
called "Kingu."]

[BELUS CREATES THE UNIVERSE.]

"This Belus, by whom they signify Jupiter, divided the darkness, and
separated the Heavens from the Earth, and reduced the universe to
order. But the animals not being able to bear the prevalence of light,
died. Belus upon this, seeing a vast space unoccupied, though by
nature fruitful, commanded one[1] of the gods to take off his head,
and to mix the blood with the earth; and from thence to form other men
and animals, which should be capable of bearing the air. Belus formed
also the stars, and the sun, and the moon, and the five planets. Such,
according to Polyhistor Alexander, is the account which Berosus gives
in his first book." (See Cory, _Ancient Fragments_, London, 1832,
pp. 24-26.)

[Footnote 1: The god whose head was taken off was not Belus, as is
commonly thought, but the god who the cuneiform texts tell us was
called "Kingu."]

In the sixth century of our era DAMASCIUS the SYRIAN, the last of the
Neo-Platonic philosophers, wrote in Greek in a work on the Doubts and
Solutions of the first Principles, in which he says: "But the
Babylonians, like the rest of the Barbarians, pass over in silence the
One principle of the Universe, and they conceive Two, TAUTHE and
APASON; making APASON the husband of TAUTHE, and denominating her the
mother of the gods. And from these proceeds an only-begotten son,
MOYMIS, which I conceive is no other than the Intelligible World
proceeding from the two principles. From these, also, another progeny
is derived, DACHE and DACHUS; and again, a third, KISSARE and ASSORUS,
from which last three others proceed, ANUS, and ILLINUS, and AUS. And
of AUS and DAUCE is born a son called Belus, who, they say, is the
fabricator of the world, the Demiurgus." (See Cory, _Ancient
Fragments_, London, 1832, p. 318.)

THE SEVEN TABLETS OF CREATION. DESCRIPTION OF THEIR CONTENTS.

In the beginning nothing whatever existed except APSÛ, which may be
described as a boundless, confused and disordered mass of watery matter;
how it came into being is unknown. Out of this mass there were evolved
two orders of beings, namely, demons and gods. The demons had hideous
forms, even as Berosus said, which were part animal, part bird, part
reptile and part human. The gods had wholly human forms, and they
represented the three layers of the comprehensible world, that is to
say, heaven or the sky, the atmosphere, and the underworld. The
atmosphere and the underworld together formed the earth as opposed to
the sky or heaven. The texts say that the first two gods to be created
were LAKHMU and LAKHAMU. Their attributes cannot at present be
described, but they seem to represent two forms of primitive matter.
They appear to have had no existence in popular religion, and it has
been thought that they may be described as theological conceptions
containing the notions of matter and some of its attributes.

[Illustration: Terra-cotta figure of a Babylonian Demon. [No. 22,458.]]

After countless aeons had passed the gods ANSHAR and KISHAR came into
being; the former represents the "hosts of heaven," and the latter the
"hosts of earth."

After another long and indefinite period the independent gods of the
Babylonian pantheon came into being, e.g., ANU, EA, who is here called
NUDIMMUD, and others.

[Illustration: Bronze figure of a Babylonian Demon. [No. 93,078.]]

As soon as the gods appeared in the universe "order" came into being.
When APSÛ, the personification of confusion and disorder of every kind,
saw this "order," he took counsel with his female associate TIÂMAT with
the object of finding some means of destroying the "way" (_al-ka-at_) or
"order" of the gods. Fortunately the Babylonians and Assyrians have
supplied us with representations of Tiâmat, and these show us what form
ancient tradition assigned to her. She is depicted as a ferocious
monster with wings and scales and terrible claws, and her body is
sometimes that of a huge serpent, and sometimes that of an animal. In
the popular imagination she represented all that was physically
terrifying, and foul, and abominable; she was nevertheless the mother of
everything, [1] and was the possessor of the DUP SHIMATI or "TABLET OF
DESTINIES". No description of this Tablet or its contents is available,
but from its name we may assume that it was a sort of Babylonian Book of
Fate.[2] Theologically, Tiâmat represented to the Babylonians the same
state in the development of the universe as did _tôhû wâ-bhôhû_ (Genesis
i. 2), i.e., formlessness and voidness, of primeval matter, to the
Hebrews She is depicted both on bas-reliefs and on cylinder seals in a
form which associates her with LABARTU, [3] a female devil that prowled
about the desert at night suckling wild animals but killing men. And it
is tolerably certain that she was the type, and symbol, and head of the
whole community of fiends, demons and devils.

[Footnote 1: _Muallidat gimrishun_.]

[Footnote 2: It is probable that the idea of this Tablet is perpetuated
in the "Preserved Tablet" of the Kur'ân (Surah x, 62), on which the
destiny of every man was written at or before the creation of the world.
Nothing that is written (_maktûb_) there can be erased, or altered, or
fail to take effect.]

[Footnote 3: (_Cun. Texts_, Part XXIV, Plate 44, l. 142).]

[Illustration: Terra-cotta plaque with a Typhonic animal in
relief. [No. 103,381.]]

In the consultation which took place between APSÛ and TIÂMAT, their
messenger MU-UM-MU took part; of the history and attributes of this
last-named god nothing is known. The result of the consultation was that
a long struggle began between the demons and the gods, and it is clear
that the object of the powers of darkness was to destroy the light. The
whole story of this struggle is the subject of the Seven Tablets of
Creation. The gods are deifications of the sun, moon, planets and other
stars, and APSÛ, or CHAOS, and his companions the demons, are
personifications of darkness, night and evil. The story of the fight
between them is nothing more nor less than a picturesque allegory of
natural phenomena. Similar descriptions are found in the literatures of
other primitive nations, and the story of the great fight between
Her-ur, the great god of heaven, and Set, the great captain of the hosts
of darkness, may be quoted as an example. Set regarded the "order" which
Her-ur was bringing into the universe with the same dislike as that
with which APSÛ contemplated the beneficent work of Sin, the Moon-god,
Shamash, the Sun-god, and their brother gods. And the hostility of Set
and his allies to the gods, like that of Tiâmat and her allies, was
everlasting.

[Illustration: between Marduk (Bel) and the Dragon. Drawn from a
bas-relief from the Palace of Ashur-nasir-pal, King of Assyria,
885-860 B.C., at Nimrûd. [Nimrûd Gallery, Nos. 28 and 29.]]

At this point a new Text fills a break in the First Tablet, and
describes the fight which took place between Nudimmud or Ea, (the
representative of the established "order" which the rule of the gods had
introduced into the domain of Apsû and Tiâmat) and Apsû and his envoy
Mummu. Ea went forth to fight the powers of darkness and he conquered
Apsû and Mummu. The victory over Apsû, i.e., the confused and boundless
mass of primeval water, represents the setting of impassable boundaries
to the waters that are on and under the earth, i.e., the formation of
the Ocean. The exact details of the conquest cannot be given, but we
know that Ea was the possessor of the "pure (or white, or holy)
incantation" and that he overcame Apsû and his envoy by the utterance of
a powerful spell. In the Egyptian Legend of Ra and Aapep, the
monster is rendered spell-bound by the god Her-Tuati, who plays in it
exactly the same part as Ea in the Babylonian Legend.

When Tiâmat heard of Ea's victory over Apsû and Mummu
she was filled with fury, and determined to avenge the death
of Apsû, her husband.

The first act of TIÂMAT after the death of Apsû was to increase the
number of her allies. We know that a certain creature called
"UMMU-KHUBUR" at once spawned a brood of devilish monsters to help her
in her fight against the gods. Nothing is known of the origin or
attributes of UMMU-KHUBUR, but some think she was a form of TIÂMAT. Her
brood probably consisted of personifications of mist, fog, cloud, storm,
whirlwinds and the blighting and destroying powers which primitive man
associated with the desert. An exact parallel of this brood of devils is
found in Egyptian mythology where the allies of Set and Aapep are
called "Mesu betshet" i.e., "spawn of impotent revolt." They are
depicted in the form of serpents, and some of them became the "Nine
Worms of Amenti" that are mentioned in the Book of the Dead
(Chap. Ia).

Not content with Ummu-Khubur's brood of devils, Tiâmat called the
stars and powers of the air to her aid, for she "set up" (1) the
Viper, (2) the Snake, (3) the god Lakhamu, (4) the Whirlwind, (5) the
ravening Dog, (6) the Scorpion-man, (7) the mighty Storm-wind, (8) the
Fish-man, and (9) the Horned Beast. These bore (10) the "merciless,
invincible weapon," and were under the command of (11) Kingu, whom
Tiâmat calls "her husband." Thus Tiâmat had Eleven mighty Helpers
besides the devils spawned by Ummu-Khubur. We may note in passing
that some of the above-mentioned Helpers appear among the Twelve Signs
of the Zodiac which Marduk "set up" after his conquest of Tiâmat,
e.g., the Scorpion-man, the Horned Beast, etc. This fact
suggests that the first Zodiac was "set up" by Tiâmat, who with her
Eleven Helpers formed the Twelve Signs; the association of evil with
certain stars may date from that period. That the Babylonians regarded
the primitive gods as powers of evil is clear from the fact that
Lakhamu, one of them, is enumerated among the allies of Tiâmat.

The helpers of Tiâmat were placed by her under the command of a god
called KINGU who is TAMMUZ. He was the counterpart, or equivalent, of
ANU, the Sky-god, in the kingdom of darkness, for it is said in the text
"Kingu was exalted and received the power of Anu," i.e., he possessed
the same power and attributes as Anu. When Tiâmat appointed Kingu to be
her captain, she recited over him a certain spell or incantation, and
then she gave him the TABLET OF DESTINIES and fastened it to his breast,
saying, "Whatsoever goeth forth from thy mouth shall be established."
Armed with all the magical powers conferred upon him by this Tablet, and
heartened by all the laudatory epithets which his wife Tiâmat heaped
upon him, Kingu went forth at the head of his devils.

When Ea heard that Tiâmat had collected her forces and Was determined
to continue the fight against the gods which Apsû and Mummu had begun,
and that she had made her husband Kingu her champion, he was
"afflicted" and "sat in sorrow." He felt unable to renew the fight
against the powers of darkness, and he therefore went and reported the
new happenings to Anshar, representative of the "host of heaven," and
took counsel with him. When Anshar heard the matter he was greatly
disturbed in mind and bit his lips, for he saw that the real
difficulty was to find a worthy antagonist for Kingu and Tiâmat. A gap
in the text here prevents us from knowing exactly what Anshar said and
did, but the context suggests that he summoned Anu, the Sky-god, to
his assistance. Then, having given him certain instructions, he sent
him on an embassy to Tiâmat with the view of conciliating her. When
Anu reached the place where she was he found her in a very wrathful
state, and she was muttering angrily; Anu was so appalled at the sight
of her that he turned and fled. It is impossible at present to explain
this interlude, or to find any parallel to it in other ancient
Oriental literature.

[Illustration: Shamash the Sun-god rising on the horizon, flames of
fire ascending from his shoulder. The two portals of the dawn, each
surmounted by a lion, are being drawn open by attendant gods. From a
Babylonian seal cylinder in the British Museum. [No. 89,110.]]

When Anu reported his inability to deal with Tiâmat, a council of the
gods was called, and Ea induced his son, Marduk to be present. We next
find Anshar in converse with the god Marduk, who offers to act as the
champion of the gods and to fight Tiâmat and her allies. Marduk being a
form of the Sun-god, the greatest of all the powers of light, thus
becomes naturally the protagonist of the gods, and the adversary of
Tiâmat and her powers of darkness. Then Anshar summoned a great council
of the gods, who forthwith met in a place called "Upshukkinaku", which
may be described as the Babylonian Olympus. It was all-important for
Marduk to appear at the council of the gods before he undertook his
task, because it was necessary for him to be formally recognised by them
as their champion, and he needed to be endowed by them with magical
powers. The primitive gods Lakhmu and Lakhamu, and the Igigi, who may be
regarded as star-gods, were also summoned. A banquet was prepared, and
the gods attended, and having met and kissed each other they sat down,
and ate bread and drank hot and sweet sesame wine. The fumes of the wine
confused their senses, but they continued to drink, and at length "their
spirits were exalted." They appointed Marduk to be their champion
officially, and then they proceeded to invest him with the power that
would cause every command he spake to be followed immediately by the
effect which he intended it to produce. Next Marduk, with the view of
testing the new power which had been given him, commanded a garment to
disappear and it did so; and when he commanded it to reappear it did so.

[Illustration: Shamash the Sun-god setting (?) on the horizon. In his
right he holds a tree (?), and in his left a ... with a serrated
edge. Above the horizon is a goddess who holds in her left hand an ear
of corn. On the right is a god who seems to be setting free a bird
from his right hand. Round him is a river with fish in it, and behind
him is an attendant god; under his foot is a young bull. To the right
of the goddess stand a hunting god, with a bow and lasso, and a
lion. From the seal-cylinder of Adda ..., in the British Museum. About
2500 B.C. [No. 89,115.]]

Then the gods saluted him as their king, and gave him the insignia of
royalty, namely, the sceptre, the throne and the _pala_, whatever that
may be. And as they handed to him these things they commanded him to go
and hack the body of Tiâmat in pieces, and to scatter her blood to the
winds. Thereupon Marduk began to arm himself for the fight. He took a
bow, a spear, and a club; he filled his body full of fire and set the
lightning before him. He took in his hands a net wherewith to catch
Tiâmat, and he placed the four winds near it, to prevent her from
escaping from it when he had snared her. He created mighty winds and
tempests to assist him, and grasped the thunderbolt in his hand; and
then, mounting upon the Storm, which was drawn by four horses, he went
out to meet and defeat Tiâmat. It seems pretty certain that this
description of the equipment of Marduk was taken over from a very
ancient account of the Fight with Tiâmat in which the hero was Enlil,
i.e., the god of the air, or of the region which lies between heaven
and hell. Marduk approached and looked upon the "Middle" or "Inside" or
"Womb" of Tiâmat [1], and divined the plan of Kingu who had taken up his
place therein. In the Seventh Tablet (l. 108) Marduk is said to have
"entered into the middle of Tiâmat," and because he did so he is called
"Nibiru," i.e., "he who entered in," and the "seizer of the middle."
What the words "middle of Tiâmat" meant to the Babylonian we are not
told, but it is clear that Marduk's entry into it was a signal mark of
the triumph of the god. When Kingu from the "middle of Tiâmat" saw
Marduk arrayed in his terrible panoply of war, he was terrified and
trembled, and staggered about and lost all control of his legs; and at
the mere sight of the god all the other fiends and devils were smitten
with fear and reduced to helplessness. Tiâmat saw Marduk and began to
revile him, and when he challenged her to battle she flew into a rage
and attempted to overthrow him by reciting an incantation, thinking that
her words of power would destroy his strength. Her spell had no effect
on the god, who at once cast his net over her. At the same moment he
made a gale of foul wind to blow on her face, and entering through her
mouth it filled her body; whilst her body was distended he drove his
spear into her, and Tiâmat split asunder, and her womb fell out from it.
Marduk leaped upon her body and looked on her followers as they
attempted to escape. But the Four Winds which he had stationed round
about Tiâmat made all their efforts to flee of no effect. Marduk caught
all the Eleven allies of Tiâmat in his net, and he trampled upon them as
they lay in it helpless. Marduk then took the TABLET OF DESTINIES from
Kingu's breast, and sealed it with his seal and placed it on his
own breast.

[Footnote 1: Or perhaps the "belly of Tiâmat." The Egyptians
distinguished a portion of the heavens by the name of "Khat Nut," "the
belly of Nut," [Heiroglyphics] and two drawings of it are extant. The
first shows an oval object rimmed with stars and the other a
pear-shaped object, with a god inside it. (See Brugsch, _Inschriften
(Astronomische)_ Leipzig, 1883, p, 146.) [Illustration]]

Then returning to the dead body of Tiâmat he smashed her skull with
his club and scattered her blood to the north wind, and as a reward
for his destruction of their terrible foe, he received gifts and
presents from the gods his fathers.

The text then goes on to say that Marduk "devised a cunning plan,"
i.e., he determined to carry out a series of works of creation. He
split the body of Tiâmat into two parts; out of one half he fashioned
the dome of heaven, and out of the other he constructed the abode of
Nudimmud, or Ea, which he placed over against Apsu, i.e., the deep. He
also formulated regulations concerning the maintenance of the same. By
this "cunning plan" Marduk deprived the powers of darkness of the
opportunity of repeating their revolt with any chance of success. Having
established the framework of his new heaven and earth Marduk, acting as
the celestial architect, set to work to furnish them. In the first place
he founded E-Sharra, or the mansion of heaven, and next he set apart and
arranged proper places for the old gods of the three realms--Anu,
Bel and Ea.

[Illustration: Tablet sculptured with a scene representing the worship
of the Sun-god in the Temple of Sippar. The Sun-god is seated on a
throne within a pavilion holding in one hand a disk and bar which may
symbolize eternity. Above his head are the three symbols of the Moon,
the Sun, and the planet Venus. On a stand in front of the pavilion rests
the disk of the Sun, which is held in position by ropes grasped in the
hands of two divine beings who are supported by the roof of the
pavilion. The pavilion of the Sun-god stands on the Celestial Ocean, and
the four small disks indicate either the four cardinal points or the
tops of the pillars of the heavens. The three figures in front of the
disk represent the high priest of Shamash, the king (Nabu-aplu-iddina,
about 870 B.C.) and an attendant goddess. [No. 91,000.]]

The text of the Fifth Tablet, which would undoubtedly have supplied
details as to Marduk's arrangement and regulations for the sun, the
moon, the stars, and the Signs of the Zodiac in the heavens is wanting.
The prominence of the celestial bodies in the history of creation is not
to be wondered at, for the greater number of the religious beliefs of
the Babylonians are grouped round them. Moreover, the science of
astronomy had gone hand in hand with the superstition of astrology in
Mesopotamia from time immemorial; and at a very early period the oldest
gods of Babylonia were associated with the heavenly bodies. Thus the
Annunaki and the Igigi, who are bodies of deified spirits, were
identified with the stars of the northern and southern heaven,
respectively. And all the primitive goddesses coalesced and were grouped
to form the goddess Ishtar, who was identified with the Evening and
Morning Star, or Venus. The Babylonians believed that the will of the
gods was made known to men by the motions of the planets, and that
careful observation of them would enable the skilled seer to recognize
in the stars favourable and unfavourable portents. Such observations,
treated from a magical point of view, formed a huge mass of literature
which was being added to continually. From the nature of the case this
literature enshrined a very considerable number of facts of pure
astronomy, and as early as the period of the First Dynasty (about 2000
B.C.), the Babylonians were able to calculate astronomical events with
considerable accuracy, and to reconcile the solar and lunar years by the
use of epagomenal months. They had by that time formulated the existence
of the Zodiac, and fixed the "stations" of the moon, and the places of
the planets with it; and they had distinguished between the planets and
the fixed stars. In the Fifth Tablet of the Creation Series (l. 2) the
Signs of the Zodiac are called _Lumashi_ [1], but unfortunately no list
of their names is given in the context. Now these are supplied by the
little tablet (No. 77,821) of the Persian Period of which a reproduction
is here given. It has been referred to and discussed by various
scholars, and its importance is very great. The transcript of the text,
which is now published (see p. 68) for the first time, will be
acceptable to the students of the history of the Zodiac. Egyptian,
Greek, Syriac and Arabic astrological and astronomical texts all
associate with the Signs of the Zodiac twelve groups, each containing
three stars, which are commonly known as the "Thirty-six Dekans." [2]
The text of line 4 of the Fifth Tablet of the Creation Series proves
that the Babylonians were acquainted with these groups of stars, for we
read that Marduk "set up for the twelve months of the year three stars
apiece." In the List of Signs of the Zodiac here given, it will be seen
that each Sign is associated with a particular month.

[Footnote 1: This is the original of the Syriac word for the Signs of
the Zodiac _malwâshê_ (plural of _malwâshâ_). The Syrians
added to it an _m_, thus giving it a participial form.]

[Footnote 2: [Greek: Dekanoi] also called [Greek: prosopa], [Greek:
horoskopoi], [Greek: philokes] and [Greek: episkopoi]. They were well
known to the Egyptians, who, as early as the fourteenth century B.C.,
possessed a full list of them. See Lepsius, _Chronologie_,
Berlin, 1848, and Brugsch, _Thesaurus (Astronomische und
Astrologische Inschriften)_, Leipzig, 1883.]

[Illustration: Tablet inscribed with a list of the Signs of the
Zodiac. [No. 77,821.]]

At a later period, say about 500 B.C., the Babylonians made some of
the gods regents of groups of stars, for Enlil ruled 33 stars, Anu 23
stars, and Ea 15 stars. They also possessed lists of the fixed stars,
and drew up tables of the times of their heliacal risings. Such lists
were probably based upon very ancient documents, and prove that the
astral element in Babylonian religion was very considerable.

The accompanying illustration, which is reproduced from the Boundary
Stone of Ritti-Marduk (Brit. Mus., No. 90,858), supplies much
information about the symbols of the gods, and of the Signs of the
Zodiac in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar I, King of Babylon, about 1120
B.C.. Thus in Register 1, we have the Star of Ishtar, the crescent of
the Moon-god Sin, and the disk of Shamash the Sun-god. In Reg. 2 are
three stands (?) surmounted by tiaras, which represent the gods Anu,
Enlil (Bel) and Ea respectively. In Reg. 3 are three altars (?) or
shrines (?) with a monster in Nos. 1 and 2. Over the first is the
lance of Marduk, over the second the mason's square of Nabû, and over
the third is the symbol of the goddess Ninkharsag, the Creatress. In
Reg. 4 are a standard with an animal's head, a sign of Ea; a
two-headed snake = the Twins; an unknown symbol with a horse's head,
and a bird, representative of Shukamuna and Shumalia. In Reg. 5 are a
seated figure of the goddess Gula and the Scorpion-man; and in Reg. 6
are forked lightning, symbol of Adad, above a bull, the Tortoise,
symbol of Ea (?), the Scorpion of the goddess Ishkhara, and the Lamp
of Nusku, the Fire-god. Down the left-hand side is the serpent-god
representing the constellation of the Hydra.

The mutilated text of the Fifth Tablet makes it impossible to gain
further details in connection with Marduk's work in arranging the
heavens. We are, however, justified in assuming that the gaps in it
contained statements about the grouping of the gods into triads. In
royal historical inscriptions the kings often invoke the gods in
threes, though they never call any one three a triad or trinity. It
seems as if this arrangement of gods in threes was assumed to be of
divine origin. In the Fourth Tablet of Creation, one triad
"Anu-Bel-Ea" is actually mentioned, and in the Fifth Tablet, another
is indicated, "Sin-Shamash-Ishtar." In these triads Anu represents the
sky or heaven, Bel or Enlil the region under the sky and including the
earth, Ea the underworld, Sin the Moon, Shamash the Sun, and Ishtar
the star Venus. When the universe was finally constituted several
other great gods existed, e.g., Nusku, the Fire-god, Enurta,
[1] a solar god, Nergal, the god of war and handicrafts, Nabu, the god
of learning, Marduk of Babylon, the great national god of Babylonia,
and Ashur, the great national god of Assyria.

[Footnote 1: Formerly known as Ninip.]

When Marduk had arranged heaven and earth, and had established the gods
in their places, the gods complained that their existence was barren,
because they lacked worshippers at their shrines and offerings. To make
a way out of this difficulty Marduk devised another "cunning plan," and
announced his intention of creating man out of "blood and bone" DAMI
ISSIMTUM. We have already quoted (see p. 11) the statement of Berosus
that man was created out of the blood of a god mixed with earth; here,
then, is the authority for his words. Marduk made known to Ea his
intention of creating man, and Ea suggested that if one of the gods were
sacrificed the remainder of them should be set free from service,
presumably to Marduk. Thereupon Marduk summons a council of the gods,
and asks them to name the instigator of the fight in which he himself
was the victor. In reply the gods named Kingu, Tiâmat's second husband,
whom they seized forthwith, and bound with fetters and carried to Ea,
and then having "inflicted punishment upon him they let his blood." From
Kingu's blood Ea fashioned mankind for the service of the gods.

Now among the texts which have been found on the tablets at Kal'at
Sharkât is an account of the creation of man which differs from the
version given in the Seven Tablets of Creation, but has two features in
common with it. These two features are: (1) the council of the gods to
discuss the creation of man; (2) the sacrifice which the gods had to
make for the creation of man. In the variant version two (or more) gods
are sacrificed, _Ilu Nagar Ilu Nagar_, i.e., "the workmen gods," about
whom nothing is known. The place of sacrifice is specified with some
care, and it is said to be "Uzu-mu-a, or the bond of heaven and earth."
Uzu-mu-a may be the bolt with which Marduk locked the two halves of
Tiâmat into place.

The Anunnaki, wishing to give an expression of their admiration for
Marduk's heroism, decided to build him a shrine or temple. To this
Marduk agreed, and chose Babylon, i.e., the "Gate of God," for its site.
The Anunnaki themselves made the bricks, and they built the great temple
of E-Sagila at Babylon. When the temple was finished, Marduk re-enacted
the scene of creation; for, as he had formerly assigned to each god his
place in the heavens, so now he assigned to each god his place in
E-Sagila. The tablet ends with a long hymn of praise which the Anunnaki
sang to Marduk, and describes the summoning of an assembly of the gods
to proclaim ceremonially the great Fifty Names of this god. Thus the
gods accepted the absolute supremacy of Marduk.

From the above it is clear that a dispute broke out between Marduk and
the gods after he had created them, and the tradition of it has made its
way into the religious literatures of the Hebrews, Syrians, Arabs, Copts
and Abyssinians. The cuneiform texts tell us nothing about the cause of
the dispute, but tradition generally ascribes it to the creation of man
by the supreme God; and it is probable that all the apocryphal stories
which describe the expulsion from heaven of the angels who contended
against God under the leadership of Satan, or Satnael, or Iblîs, are
derived from a Babylonian original which has not yet been found. The
"Fifty Names," or laudatory epithets mentioned above, find parallels in
"Seventy-five Praises of Ra," sung by the Egyptians under the XIXth
dynasty, [1] and in the "Ninety-nine Beautiful Names of Allâh," which
are held in such great esteem by the Muhammadans. [2] The respect in
which the Fifty Names were held by the Babylonians is well shown by the
work of the Epilogue on the Seventh Tablet, where it is said, "Let them
be held in remembrance, let the first-comer (i.e., any and every man)
proclaim them; let the wise and the understanding consider them
together. Let the father repeat them and teach them to his son. Let them
be in the ears of the herdsman and the shepherd."

[Footnote 1: See Naville, _La Litanie du Soleil_, Paris, 1875,
Plate ii ff.]

[Footnote 2: See _Kur'ân_, Surah vii, v. 179. That there were
ninety-nine Beautiful Names of God rests on the authority of Abû
Hurairah, who repeats the statement as made by Muhammad the Prophet.]

The object of the writer of the Fifty Names was to show that Marduk
was the "Lord of the gods," that the power, qualities and attributes
of every god were enshrined in him, and that they all were merely
forms of him. This fact is proved by the tablet (No. 47,406), [1]
which contains a long list of gods who are equated with Marduk in his
various forms.[2] The tendency in the later Babylonian religion to
make Marduk the god above all gods has led many to think that
monotheistic conceptions were already in existence among the
Babylonians as early as the period of the First Dynasty, about 2000
B.C. It is indisputable that Marduk obtained his pre-eminence in the
Babylonian Pantheon at this early period. But some authorities deny
the existence of monotheistic conceptions among the Babylonians at
that time, and attribute Marduk's kingship of the gods to the
influence of the political situation of the time, when Babylon first
became the capital of the country, and mistress of the greater part of
the known world. Material for deciding this question is wanting, but
it may be safely said that whatever monotheistic conceptions existed
at that time, their acceptance was confined entirely to the priests
and scribes. They certainly find no expression in the popular
religious texts.

[Footnote 1: Published by King, _Cuneiform Texts_, Part XXV,
Plate 50.]

[Footnote 2: Thus he is equated with En-Urta, Nergal, En-lil, Nabû,
Sin, Shamash, Adad, etc.]

Both the source of the original form of the Legend of the Fight
between Ea and Apsu, and Marduk and Tiâmat, and the period of its
composition are unknown, but there is no doubt that in one form or
another it persisted in Mesopotamia for thousands of years. The
apocryphal book of "Bel and the Dragon" shows that a form of the
Legend was in existence among the Babylonian Jews long after the
Captivity, and the narrative relating to it associates it with
religious observances. But there is no foundation whatsoever for the
assertion which has so often been made that the Two Accounts of the
Creation which are given in the early chapters in Genesis are derived
from the Seven Tablets of Creation described in the preceding
pages. It is true that there are many points of resemblance between
the narratives in cuneiform and Hebrew, and these often illustrate
each other, but the fundamental conceptions of the Babylonian and
Hebrew accounts are essentially different. In the former the earliest
beings that existed were foul demons and devils, and the God of
Creation only appears at a later period, but in the latter the
conception of God is that of a Being Who existed in and from the
beginning, Almighty and Alone, and the devils of chaos and evil are
His servants.

[Illustration: Marduk destroying Tiâmat, who is here represented in the
form of a huge serpent. From a seal-cylinder in the British Museum.
[No. 89,589.]]

Among the primitive Semitic peoples there were probably many versions of
the story of the Creation; and the narrative told by the Seven Tablets
is, no doubt, one of them in a comparatively modern form. It is quite
clear that the Account of the Creation given in the Seven Tablets is
derived from very ancient sources, and a considerable amount of literary
evidence is now available for reconstructing the history of the Legend.
Thus in the Sumerian Account the narrative of the exploits of the hero
called ZIUSUDU [1] begins with a description of the Creation and then
goes on to describe a Flood, and there is little doubt that certain
passages in this text are the originals of the Babylonian version as
given in the Seven Tablets. In the Story of ZIUSUDU, however, there is
no mention of any Dragon. And there is reason to think that the Legend
of the Dragon had originally nothing whatever to do with the Creation,
for the texts of fragments of two distinct Accounts [2] of the Creation
describe a fight between a Dragon and some deity other than Marduk. In
other Accounts the Dragon bears a strong resemblance to the Leviathan of
Psalm civ, 26; Job xli, 1. In the one text he is said to be 50 _biru_
[3] in length, and 1 _biru_ in thickness; his mouth was 6 cubits (about
9 feet) wide, and the circumference of his ears 12 cubits (18 feet). He
was slain by a god whose name is unknown, and the blood continued to
flow from his body for three years, three months, one day and one night.
In the second text the Dragon is 60 _biru_ long and his thickness is 30
_biru_; the diameter of each eye is half a _biru_, and his paws are 20
_biru_ long. Thus there is every reason for believing that the Legend as
it is given in the Seven Tablets is the work of some editor, who added
the Legend of the Creation to the Legend of the Dragon in much the same
way as the editor of the Gilgamish Legends included an account of the
Deluge in his narrative of the exploits of his hero. All forms of the
Legend of the Creation and of the Dragon were popular in Babylonia, and
one of them achieved so much notoriety that the priest employed recited
it as an incantation to charm away the toothache.

[Footnote 1: See Poebel, _Historical Texts_, No. 1.]

[Footnote 2: See King, _Cuneiform Texts_, Part XIII, Plate 33;
and Ebellog, _Assurtexte_, I, No. 6.]

[Footnote 3: The _biru_ was the distance which a man would travel
in two hours.]

The literary form of the text of the Seven Tablets fulfils the
requirements of Semitic poetry in general. The lines usually fall into
couplets, the second line being the antiphon of the first, e.g.:--

"When in the height heaven was not named,
And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name."

Each line, or verse, falls into two halves, and a well-marked caesura
divides each line, or verse, into two equally accented parts. And the
half-lines can be further resolved into two halves, each containing a
single accented word or phrase. This is proved by tablet Spartali ii,
265A, where the scribe writes his lines and spaces the words in such a
way as to show the subdivision of the lines. Thus we have:--

_enuma_ | _elish_ || _lâ nabû_| _shamamu_
_shaplish_| _ammatum_|| _shuma_ | _lâ zakrat_

Here there is clearly a rhythm which resembles that found in the poems
of the Syrians and Arabs, but there are many instances of its
inconsistent use in several parts of the text. Both rhyme and
alliteration appear to be used occasionally.

THE SEVEN TABLETS OF CREATION.--TRANSLATION.

FIRST TABLET.[1]

[Footnote 1: This translation is made from transcripts of the British
Museum fragments (_Cuneiform Texts_, Part XIII), and transcripts
of the Berlin fragments (Ebeling, _Keilschrifttexte aus Assur_,
Nos. 117, 118).]

1. When the heavens above were yet unnamed,[1]

[Footnote 1: The name of an object was the object itself, and it was
believed that nothing could exist apart from its name.]

2. And the name of the earth beneath had not been recorded,

3. Apsu, the oldest of beings, their progenitor,

4. "Mummu" Tiâmat, who bare each and all of them--

5. Their waters were merged into a single mass.

6. A field had not been measured, a marsh had not been searched out,

7. When of the gods none was shining,

[Illustration: Portion of a tablet inscribed in Assyrian with a text
of the First Tablet of the Creation Series. [K. 5419C.]]

8. A name had not been recorded, a fate had not been fixed,

9. The gods came into being in the midst of them.

10. The god Lakhmu and the goddess Lakhamu were made to shine, they
were named.

11. [Together] they increased in stature, they grew tall.

12. Anshar and Kishar came into being, and others besides them.

13. Long were the days, the years increased.

14. The god Anu, their son, the equal of his fathers, [was created].

15. The god Anshar made his eldest son Anu in his own image.

16. And the god Anu begat Nudimmud (Ea) the image of himself.

17. The god Nudimmud was the first among his fathers,

18. Endowed with understanding, he who thinketh deeply, the orator

19. Exceedingly mighty in strength above his father Anshar who begat
him.

20. Unrivalled amongst the gods his brothers ...

21. The confraternity of the gods was established.

22. Tiâmat was troubled and she ... their guardian.

23. Her belly was stirred up to its uttermost depths.

24. ...........

25. Apsu (the watery abyss) could not diminish their brawl

26. And Tiâmat gathered herself together ...

27. She struck a blow, and their works ...

28. Their way was not good,...

29. At that time Apsu, the progenitor of the great gods,

30. Shouted out and summoned Mummu, the steward of his house, saying

31. "[O] Mummu, my steward, who makest my liver to rejoice,

32. "Come, to Tiâmat we will go."

33. They went, they lay down [on a couch] facing Tiâmat.

34. They took counsel together about the gods [their children].

35. Apsu took up his word and said,

36. To Tiâmat, the holy (?) one, he made mention of a matter,
[saying],

37. "... their way ...

38. "By day I find no peace, by night I have no rest.

39. "Verily I will make an end of their way, I will sweep them away,

40. "There shall be a sound of lamentation; lo, then we shall rest."

41. Tiâmat on hearing this

42. Was stirred up to wrath and shrieked to her husband,[1]

[Footnote 1: Tiâmat's wrath was roused by Apsu, who had proposed to slay
the gods, her children. She took no part in the first struggle of Apsu
and Mummu against the gods, and only engaged in active hostilities to
avenge Apsu.]

43. ... unto sickness. She raged all alone,

44. She uttered a curse, and unto [Apsu, spake, saying,],

45. "Whatsoever we have made we will destroy.

46. "Verily their way shall be filled with disaster; lo, then we shall
rest."

47. Mummu answered and gave counsel unto Apsu,

48. The counsel of Mummu was ... and dire [in respect of the gods]:

49. "Come, [do thou destroy] their way which is strong.

50. "Then verily by day thou shalt find peace, [and] by night thou
shalt have rest."

51. Apsu heard him, his face grew bright,

52. For that they were planning evil against the gods, his children.

53. Mummu embraced his neck ...

54. He took him on his knee, he kissed him ...

55. They (i.e. Mummu and Apsu) planned the cursing in the
assembly,

56. They repeated the curses to the gods their eldest sons.

57. The gods made answer ...

58. They began a lamentation...

59. [Endowed] with understanding, the prudent god, the exalted one,

60. Ea, who pondereth everything that is, searched out their [plan].

61. He brought it to nought (?), he made the form of everything to
stand still.

62. He recited a cunning incantation, very powerful and holy.

[In the British Museum tablets lines 63-108 are either wanting
entirely, or are too broken to translate, and the last 130 lines of
the Berlin fragment are much mutilated. The fragments of text show
that Ea waged war against Apsu and Mummu. Ea recited an incantation
which caused Apsu to fall asleep. He then "loosed the joints" of
Mummu, who in some way suffered, but he was strong enough to attack Ea
when he turned to deal with Apsu. Ea overcame both his adversaries and
divided Apsu into chambers and laid fetters upon him. In one of the
chambers of Apsu a god was begotten and born. According to the
Ninevite theologians Ea begat by his wife, who is not named, his son
Marduk, and according to the theologians of the City of Ashur, Lakhmu
begat by his wife Lakhamu a son who is no other than Anshar, or
Ashur. A nurse was appointed to rear him, and he grew up a handsome
child, to the great delight of his father. He had four ears and four
eyes, a statement which suggests that he was two-headed, and resembled
the Latin god Janus.]

109. They formed a band, and went forth to battle to help Tiâmat.

110. They were exceedingly wroth, they made plots by day and by night
without ceasing.

111. They offered battle, fuming and raging.

112. They set the battle in array, they uttered cries[1] of hostility,

[Footnote 1: Literally, "they excited themselves to hostility."]

113. Ummu-Khubur,[1] who fashioned all things,

[Footnote 1: A title of Tiâmat.]

114. Set up the unrivalled weapon, she spawned huge serpents,

115. Sharp of tooth, pitiless in attack (?)

116. She filled their bodies with venom instead of blood,

117. Grim, monstrous serpents, arrayed in terror,

118. She decked them with brightness, she fashioned them in exalted
forms,

119. So that fright and horror might overcome him that looked upon
them,

120. So that their bodies might rear up, and no man resist their
attack,

121. She set up the Viper, and the Snake, and the god Lakhamu,

122. The Whirlwind, the ravening Dog, the Scorpion-man,

123. The mighty Storm-wind, the Fish-man, the horned Beast
(Capricorn?)

124. They carried the Weapon[1] which spared not, nor flinched from
the battle.

[Footnote 1: These nine monsters with the Weapon (Thunderbolt?) and
Kingu form the Eleven Allies of Tiâmat, and it is clear that she and
her Allies represent the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac. When Marduk
destroyed Tiâmat and her associates, he found it necessary to fix the
stars, the images of the great gods, in their places, as the Twelve
Signs of the Zodiac. (See the Fifth Tablet of Creation, p. 55.)]

125. Most mighty were Tiâmat's decrees, they could not be resisted,

126. Thus she caused eleven [monsters] of this kind to come into
being,

127. Among the gods, her first-born son who had collected her company,

128. That is to say, Kingu, she set on high, she made him the great
one amongst them,

129. Leader of the hosts in battle, disposer of the troops,

130. Bearer of the firmly grasped weapon, attacker in the fight,

131. He who in the battle is the master of the weapon,

132. She appointed, she made him to sit down in [goodly apparel]

133. [Saying], "I have uttered the incantation for thee. I have
magnified thee in the assembly of the gods.

134. "I have filled his [_sic_, read 'thy'] hand with the
sovereignty of the whole company of the gods.

135. "Mayest thou be magnified, thou who art my only spouse,

136. "May the Anunnaki make great thy renown over all of them."

137. She gave him the TABLET OF DESTINIES, she fastened it on his
breast, [saying],

138. "As for thee, thy command shall not fall empty, whatsoever goeth
forth from thy mouth shall be established."

139. When Kingu was raised on high and had taken the heavens
(literally, the god Anutum)

140. He fixed the destinies for the gods his sons,

141. Open your mouths, let the Fire-god[1] be quenched,

[Footnote 1: The god here alluded to is Mardak, who, in one aspect, is
a fire-god; see Tablet IV, II. 39, 40.]

142. He who is glorious in battle and is most mighty, shall do great
deeds.

SECOND TABLET.

1. Tiâmat made solid that which she had moulded.

2. She bound the gods her children with [evil bonds].

3. Tiâmat wrought wickedness to avenge Apsu.

4. When ... had harnessed his chariot he went to meet Ea,

5. Ea hearkened to his story,

6. He was sorely afflicted and abode in sorrow,

7. The days were long, his wrath died down.

8. He went his way to the dwelling of Anshar, his father,

9. He went into the presence of Anshar, the father who begat him,

[Illustration: Portion of a tablet inscribed in Assyrian with a text
of the Second Tablet of the Creation Series. [No. 40,559.]]

10. Whatsoever Tiâmat had devised he repeated unto him,

11. Mother Tiâmat who gave us birth hath sown these things.

12. She hath set in order her assembly, she rageth furiously,

13. All the gods have joined themselves to her.

14. They march by her side together with those whom ye have created.

15. They formed a band and went forth to battle to help Tiâmat,

16. They were exceedingly wroth, they made plots by day and by night
without ceasing,

17. They offered battle, fuming and raging,

18. They set the battle in array, they uttered cries of defiance.

19. Ummu-Khubur,[1] who fashioned all things,

[Footnote 1: See above.]

20. Set up the unrivalled weapon, she spawned huge serpents

21. Sharp of tooth, pitiless in attack (?)

22. She filled their bodies with venom instead of blood,

23. Grim, monstrous serpents arrayed in terror.

24. She decked them with brightness, she fashioned them in exalted
forms,

25. So that fright and horror might overcome him that looked upon
them,

26. So that their bodies might rear up, and no man resist their
attack.

27. She set up the Viper, and the Snake, and the god Lakhamu,

28. The Whirlwind, the ravening Dog, the Scorpion-man,

29. The Storm-wind, the Fish-man, the Horned Beast.

30. They carried the Weapon which spared not, nor flinched from the
battle.

31. Most mighty were Tiâmat's allies, they could not be resisted.

32. Thus she caused eleven [monsters] of this kind to come into being.

33. Among the gods, her first-born son who had collected her company,

34. That is to say, Kingu, she set on high, she made him the great one
amongst them.

35. Leader of the hosts in battle, disposer of the troops,

36. Bearer of the firmly-grasped weapon, attacker in the fight,

37. He who in the battle is the master of the weapon,

38. She appointed, she made him to sit down in [goodly apparel]

39. [Saying], "I have recited the incantation for thee, I have
magnified thee in the assembly of the gods,

40. "I have filled his [_sic_, read 'thy'] hand with the
sovereignty of the whole company of the gods.

41. "Mayest thou be magnified, thou who art my only spouse,

42. "May the Anunnaki make great thy renown over all of them."

43. She gave him the TABLET OF DESTINIES, she fastened it on his
breast, [saying]--

44. "As for thee, thy command shall not fall empty, what goeth forth
from thy mouth shall be established."

45. When Kingu was raised on high and had taken the heavens
(literally, "the god Anutum")

46. He fixed the destinies for the gods his sons, [saying],

47. "Open your mouths, let the Fire-god be quenched,

48. "He who is glorious in battle and is most mighty shall do great
deeds."

49. When Anshar heard that Tiâmat was stirred mightily,

50. ... he bit his lips

51. ... his mind was not at peace

[Lines 52-54 too fragmentary for translation.]

An'shar then addresses Ea and says:--

55. "Thou hast slain Mummu and Apsu

56. "But Tiâmat hath exalted Kingu--where is the one who can meet her?

[Lines 57 and 58 imperfect; lines 59-71 wanting.]

72. Anshar spake a word unto his son [Anu]:--

73. "... this is a difficulty, my warrior

74. "Whose power is exalted, whose attack cannot be stayed,

75. "Go and stand thou in the presence of Tiâmat,

76. "That her spirit [be quieted], her heart softened.

77. "But should she not hearken unto thy word,

78. "Speak thou our word unto her so that she may be abated."

79. [Anu] heard the order of his father Anshar.

80. He took the straight road to her, and hastened on the way to her.

81. Anu drew nigh, he searched out the plan of Tiâmat,

82. He could not prevail against her, he turned back.

Lines 83 and 84 contain Anu's report to Anshar, but they are too
fragmentary to translate; line 85 reads:--

83. He (Anu) went to his father Anshar who begat him,

84. He spake unto him a word [concerning Tiâmat]

85. [She laid] hands upon me that withered me up."

86. Anshar was distressed, he looked down upon the ground,

87. He turned pale; towards Ea he lifted up his head.

88. All the Anunnaki assembled at their posts.

89. They shut their mouths, they sat in lamentation.

90. [They said], "Nowhere is there a god who can attack Tiâmat.

91. "He would not escape from Tiâmat's presence with his life."

92. The Lord Anshar, the Father of the gods, [spake] majestically,

93. He lifted up his heart, he addressed the Anunnaki, [saying]

94. "He whose [strength] is mighty [shall be] an avenger for [us]

95. "The ... in the strife, Marduk the Hero."

96. Ea called Marduk to the place where he gave oracles,

97. Marduk came and according to his heart he addressed him,

98. [Saying], "O Marduk, hear the counsel and advice of thy father,

99. "Thou art the son who refresheth his heart,

100. "Draw nigh and enter the presence of An-shar,

101. "Stand there [with joy], when he looketh upon thee he will be at
rest."[1]

[Footnote 1: Lines 83, 84, 88-101 are translated from the British
Museum fragments and the Berlin fragments; lines 88-101 contain the
equivalent to the whole gap in the British Museum tablet.]

113. The Lord [Marduk] rejoiced at the word of his father,

114. He approached and took up his place before Anshar.

115. Anshar looked upon him and his heart was filled with gladness.

116. He (i.e., Anshar) kissed his (Marduk's) lips, and his
(Anshar's) fear was removed. [Then Marduk said]

117. "My father, let not the opening of thy mouth be closed,[1]

[Footnote 1: i.e., "let what thou sayest prevail."]

118. "I will go, I will make to take place all that is in thy heart.

119. "Anshar, let not the opening of thy mouth be closed,

120. "I will go, I will make to take place all that is in thy heart."
[Anshar says to Marduk]

121. "What man is the cause of the battle which made thee go forth

122. "... Tiâmat, who is a woman, pursueth thee with weapons.

123. "Rejoice our [hearts] and make us glad.

124. "Thou thyself shalt soon trample upon the neck of Tiâmat,

125. "Rejoice our [hearts] and make us glad.

126. "Thou thyself shalt soon trample upon the neck of Tiâmat.

127. "My son, who dost comprehend everything,

128. "Cast deep sleep upon Tiâmat with thy holy spell.

129. "Betake thyself to thy march with all speed.

130. "..."

131. The Lord [Marduk] rejoiced at the word of his father,

132. His heart leaped with joy, to his father he spake, [saying],

133. "O Lord of the gods, Overlord of the Great Gods,

134. "Should I as your avenger

135. "Slay Tiâmat and bestow life upon you,

136. "Summon a meeting, proclaim and magnify my position,

137. "Sit ye down together in friendly fashion in Upshukkinaku.

138. "Let me issue decrees by the opening of my mouth even as ye do.

139. "Whatsoever I bring to pass let it remain unaltered,

140. "That which my mouth uttereth shall never fail or be brought to
nought."

THIRD TABLET.

1. Anshar opened his mouth, and

2. Unto the god Gaga, his envoy, spake a word [saying],

3. "O Gaga, my envoy, who makest glad my liver.

4. "I will despatch thee unto the gods Lakhmu and Lakhamu.

[Illustration: Portion of a tablet inscribed in Assyrian with a text
of the Third Tablet of the Creation Series. [No. 93,017.]]

5. "Thou must know and understand the [intention of my heart]

6. "... are brought before thee

7. "... all the gods.

8. "Let them make a council, let them sit down to a feast

9. "Let them eat bread, let them heat sesame wine.

10. "Let them issue decrees to Marduk as their avenger.

11. "Get thee gone, Gaga, take up thy stand before them.

12. "All that I am now going to tell thee do thou repeat to them
[saying],

13. "'[O ye gods], Anshar your son hath charged me,

14. "'The intention of his heart he hath made me to know in this
wise:--

15. "'Mother Tiâmat who gave us birth hath sown these things,

16. "'She hath set in order her assembly, she rageth furiously,

17. "'All the gods have joined themselves to her.

18. "'They march by her side together with those whom ye have created.

19. "'They formed a band and went forth to battle to help Tiâmat.

20. "'They were exceedingly wroth, they made plots by day and by night
without ceasing.

21. "'They offered battle, foaming and raging.

22. "'They set the battle in array, they uttered cries of defiance.

23. "'Ummu-Khubur, who formed all things,

24. "'Set up the unrivalled weapon, she spawned huge serpents,

25. "'Sharp of tooth, pitiless in attack (?)

26. "'She filled their bodies with venom instead of blood.

27. "'Grim, monstrous serpents arrayed in terror.

28. "'She decked them with brightness, she fashioned them in exalted
forms,

29. "'So that fright and horror might overcome him that looked upon
them,

30. "'So that their bodies might rear up, and no man resist their
attack.

31. "'She set up the Viper, and the Snake, and the god Lakhamu,

32. "'The Whirlwind, the Ravening Dog, the Scorpion-man,

33. "'The Storm-wind, the Fish-man, the Horned Beast.

34. "'They carried the Weapon which spared not, nor flinched from the
battle,

35. "'Most mighty were Tiâmat's allies, they could not be resisted.

36. "'Thus she caused Eleven [monsters] of this kind to come into
being.

37. "'Among the gods, her first-born son who had collected her
company,

38. "'That is to say, Kingu, she set on high, she made him the great
one among them,

39. "'Leader of the hosts in the battle, disposer of the troops,

40. "'Bearer of the firmly-grasped weapon, attacker in the fight.

41. "'He who in the battle is the master of the weapon,

42. "'She appointed, she made him to sit down in [goodly apparel]

43. "'[Saying]: I have recited the incantation for thee, I have
magnified thee in the assembly of the gods.

44. "''I have filled his (i.e., thy) hand with the sovereignty
of the whole company of the gods.

45. "''Mayest thou be magnified, thou who art my only spouse,

46. "''May the Anunnaki make great thy renown over all of them."'

47. "She gave him the TABLET OF DESTINIES, she fastened it on his head
[saying]:

48. "'As for thee, thy command shall not fall empty, what goeth forth
from thy mouth shall be established.'

49. "When Kingu was raised on high and had taken the heavens
(literally, the god Anutum),

50. "He fixed the destinies for the gods, his sons, [saying]:

51. "'Open your mouths, let the Fire-god be quenched.

52. "'He who is glorious in battle and is most mighty shall do great
deeds.'

53. "'I sent the god Anu, but he could not prevail against her.

54. "'Nudimmud (i.e., Ea) was afraid and turned back,

55. "'Marduk, your son, the envoy of the gods, hath set out.

56. "'His heart is stirred up to oppose Tiâmat.

57. "'He opened his mouth, he spoke unto me [saying]:

58. "'Should I as your avenger

59. "'Slay Tiâmat, and bestow life upon you,

60. "'Summon a meeting, proclaim and magnify my position,

61. "'Sit ye down together in friendly fashion in Up-shukkinaku.

62. "'Let me issue decrees by the opening of my mouth even as ye do,

63. "'Whatsoever I bring to pass let it remain unaltered.

64. "'That which my mouth uttereth shall neither fail nor be brought
to nought.'

65. "Hasten ye therefore, issue your decrees speedily

66. "That he may go to meet your mighty enemy."

67. Gaga departed and hastened upon his way

68. To the god Lakhmu and the goddess Lakhamu, the gods his fathers,
reverently

69. He did homage, and he kissed the ground at their feet.

70. He bowed down, stood up, and spake unto them [saying]:

71. "[O ye gods], Anshar your son hath charged me,

72. "The intention of his heart he hath made me to know in this
wise:--

73. "Mother Tiâmat who gave us birth hath sown these things,

74. "She hath set in order her assembly, she rageth furiously.

75. "All the gods have joined themselves to her.

76. "They march by her side together with those whom ye have created,

77. "They formed a band and went forth to battle to help Tiâmat.

78. "They were exceedingly wroth, they made plans by day and by night
without ceasing.

79. "They offered battle, foaming and raging.

80. "They set the battle in array, they uttered cries of defiance.

81. "Ummu-Khubur, who formed all things,

82. "Set up the unrivalled weapon, she spawned huge serpents,

83. "Sharp of tooth, pitiless in attack (?)

84. "She filled their bodies with venom instead of blood,

85. "Grim, monstrous serpents, arrayed in terror,

86. "She decked them with brightness, she fashioned them in exalted
forms,

87. "So that fright and horror might overcome him that looked upon
them,

88. "So that their bodies might rear up, and no man resist their
attack.

89. "She set up the Viper, and the Snake, and the god Lakhamu,

90. "The Whirlwind, the Ravening Dog, the Scorpion-man,

91. "The Storm-wind, the Fish-man, the Horned Beast,

92. "They carried the Weapon which spared not, nor flinched from the
battle.

93. "Most mighty were Tiâmat's allies, they could not be resisted.

94. "Thus she caused Eleven [monsters] of this kind to come into
being.

95. "Amongst the gods, her first-born son who had collected her
company,

96. "That is to say, Kingu, she set on high, she made him the great
one among them.

97. "Leader of the hosts in the battle, disposer of the troops,

98. "Bearer of the firmly-grasped weapon, attacker in the fight,

99. "He who in the battle is the master of the weapon

100. "She appointed, she made him to sit down in [goodly apparel],

101. "[Saying]: 'I have recited the incantation for thee, I have
magnified thee in the assembly of the gods.

102. "'I have filled his (i.e., thy) hand with the sovereignty
of the whole company of the gods.

103. "'Mayest thou be magnified, thou who art my only spouse.

104. "'May the Anunnaki make great thy renown over all of them.'

105. "She gave him the TABLET OF DESTINIES, she fastened it on his
head [saying]:

106. "'As for thee, thy command shall not fall empty, what goeth forth
from thy mouth shall be established.'

107. "When Kingu was raised on high, and had taken the heavens
(Anutum)

108. "He fixed the destinies for the gods, his sons, [saying]:

109. "'Open your mouths, let the Fire-god be quenched,

110. "'He who is glorious in battle and is most mighty shall do great
deeds.

111. "'I sent the god Anu, but he could not prevail against her.

112. "'Nudimmud (i.e., Ea) was afraid and turned back.

113. "'Marduk, your son, the envoy of the gods, hath set out.

114. "'His heart is stirred up to oppose Tiâmat.

115. "'He opened his mouth, he spoke unto me, [saying]:

116. "'Should I as your avenger

117. "'Slay Tiâmat, and bestow life upon you,

118. "'Summon a meeting (i.e., council), proclaim and magnify my
position,

119. "'Sit down together in friendly fashion in Upshukkinaku,

120. "'Let me issue decrees by the opening of my mouth, even as ye do,

121. "'Whatsoever I bring to pass let it remain unaltered.

122. "'That which my mouth uttereth shall neither fail nor be brought
to nought."'

123. "Hasten ye therefore, issue your decrees speedily

124. "That he may go to meet your mighty enemy."

125. The gods Lakhmu and Lakhamu heard, they wailed loudly,

126. All the Igigi gods wept bitterly [saying]:

127. "Who were [our] enemies until [the gods] were posted [in heaven]?

128. "We cannot comprehend the work of Tiâmat."

129. They gathered themselves together, they went,

130. All the great gods, who issue decrees.

131. They entered in, they filled [the court] before Anshar.

132. Brother [god] kissed brother [god] in the [divine] assembly,

133. They held a meeting, they sat down to a feast,

134. They ate bread, they heated the [sesame wine],

135. The taste of the sweet drink confused their ...

136. They drank themselves drunk, their bodies were filled to
overflowing,

137. They were overcome by heaviness [of drink], their livers
(i.e., spirits) were exalted,

138. They issued the decree for Marduk as their avenger.

FOURTH TABLET.

1. They founded for him a majestic canopy,

2. He (i.e., Marduk) seated himself in the seat of kingship in
the presence of his fathers [who said unto him]:

3. "Thou art honourable by reason of thy greatness among the gods.

4. "Thy position is unrivalled, the words thou utterest become Anum
(i.e., as fixed as the sky).

5. "Thou art honourable by reason of thy greatness among the gods.

6. "Thy position is unrivalled, the words thou utterest become Anum
(i.e., as fixed as the sky).

7. "From this day onward thy command shall not be abrogated.

8. "The power to exalt to heaven and to cast down to the earth both
shall be in thy hand,

9. "That which goeth forth from thy mouth shall be established,
against thy utterance shall be no appeal.

10. "No one among the gods shall overstep thy boundary,

11. "Worship, which is the object of the sanctuary of the gods,

12. "Whensoever they lack [it] shall be forthcoming in thy sanctuary,

13. "O god Marduk, thou art our avenger.

14. "We have given unto thee sovereignty over the whole creation,

15. "Thou shalt sit down, in the council thy word shall be exalted,

16. "Thy weapon shall never fall [from thy hands], it shall break the
head of thy foe.

17. "Lord, whosoever putteth his trust in thee, spare thou his life,

18. "And the god who deviseth evil, pour thou out his soul."

19. Then a cloak (literally, one cloak) was set in their midst,

20. They addressed the god Marduk their first-born [saying]:

21. "Thou, Lord, shalt hold the foremost position among the gods.

22. "Decree thou the throwing down[1] and the building up,[2] and it
shall come to pass.

[Footnote 1: _I.e._, the destruction of Tiâmat.]

[Footnote 2: _I.e._, the establishing of a new creation to take
the place of the old.]

23. "Speak but the word, and the cloak shall disappear,

24. "Speak a second time and the cloak shall return uninjured."

25. Marduk spoke the word, the cloak disappeared,

26. He spoke a second time, the cloak reappeared.

27. When the gods his fathers saw the issue of the utterance of his
mouth

28. They rejoiced and adored [him, saying], "Marduk is King."

29. They conferred upon him the sceptre, the throne, and the symbol of
royalty (?)[1]

[Footnote 1: The meaning of _pal-a_ is unknown.]

30. They gave him the unrivalled weapon, the destroyer of the enemy
[saying]:

31. "Go, cut off the life of Tiâmat.

32. "Let the wind carry her blood into the depth [under the earth]."

33. The gods, his fathers, issued the decree for the god Bel.

34. They set him on the road which leadeth to peace and adoration.

35. He strung [his] bow, he set ready his weapon [in the stand],

36. He slung his spear, he attached it to [his belly],

37. He raised the club, he grasped it in his right hand.

38. The bow and the quiver he hung at his side.[1]

[Footnote 1: This equipment of the charioteer is shown on the
bas-reliefs.]

39. He set the lightning in front of him.

40. His body was filled with a glancing flame of fire.

41. He made a net wherewith to enclose Tiâmat.

42. He made the four winds to take up their position so that no part
of her might escape,

[Illustration: Portion of a tablet inscribed in Babylonian with a text
of the Fourth Tablet of the Creation Series. [No. 93,016.]]

43. The South wind, the North wind, the East wind, the West wind.

44. He held the net close to his side, the gift of his father Anu,

45. He created the "foul" wind, the storm, the parching blast,

46. The wind of "four," the wind of "seven," the typhoon, the wind
incomparable

[Illustration: Portion of a tablet inscribed in Assyrian with a text
of the Fourth Tablet of the Creation Series. [K. 3437.]]

47. He despatched the seven winds which he had made,

48. To make turbid the inward parts of Tiâmat; they followed in his
train.

49. The Lord raised up the wind storm, his mighty weapon.

50. He went up into his chariot, the unequalled and terrible
tempest.[1]

[Footnote 1: Compare Psalms xviii, 7-15; civ, i ff.]

51. He equipped it, he yoked thereto a team of four horses,

52. Pawing the ground, champing, foaming [eager to] fly,

53. ... [the odour] of their teeth bore foetidness,

54. They were skilled [in biting], they were trained to trample under
foot.

[Lines 55-57 too fragmentary to translate; they continue the
description of Marduk's equipment.]

58. His brightness streamed forth, his head was crowned [thereby].

59. He took a direct path, he hastened on his journey.

60. He set his face towards the place of Tiâmat, who was ...

61. On his lips ... he restrained

62. ... his hand grasped.

63. At that moment the gods were gazing upon him with fixed intensity,

64. The gods, his fathers, gazed upon him, they gazed upon him.

65. The Lord approached, he looked upon the middle of Tiâmat,

66. He searched out the plan of Kingu, her husband.

67. Marduk looked, Kingu staggered in his gait,

68. His will was destroyed, his motion was paralysed.

69. And the gods his helpers who were marching by his side

70. Saw the [collapse of] their chief and their sight was troubled.

71. Tiâmat [shrieked but] did not turn her head.

72. With lips full of [rebellious words] she maintained her
stubbornness

73. [Saying], "... that thou hast come as the Lord of the gods,
[forsooth],

74. "They have appointed thee in the place which should be theirs."

75. The Lord raised up the wind-storm, his mighty weapon,

76. [Against] Tiâmat, who was furious (?), he sent it, [saying]:

77. "[Thou hast made thyself] mighty, thou art puffed upon high,

78. "Thy heart [hath stirred thee up] to invoke battle

79. "... their fathers ...

80. "...

81. "[Thou hast exalted Kingu to be [thy] husband,

82. "[Thou hast made him to usurp] the attributes of Anu

83. "... thou hast planned evil.

84. "[Against] the gods, my fathers, thou hast wrought evil.

85. "Let now thy troops gird themselves up, let them bind on their
weapons.

86. "Stand up! Thou and I, let us to the fight!"

87. On hearing these words Tiâmat

88. Became like a mad thing, her senses became distraught,

89. Tiâmat uttered shrill cries again and again.

90. That on which she stood split in twain at the words,

91. She recited an incantation, she pronounced her spell.

92. The gods of battle demanded their weapons.[1]

[Footnote 1: I.e., the gods were impatient to begin the fight.]

93. Tiâmat and Marduk, the envoy of the gods, roused themselves,

94. They advanced to fight each other, they drew nigh in battle.

95. The Lord cast his net and made it to enclose her,

96. The evil wind that had its place behind him he let out in her
face.

97. Tiâmat opened her mouth to its greatest extent,

98. Marduk made the evil wind to enter [it] whilst her lips were
unclosed.

99. The raging winds filled out her belly,

100. Her heart was gripped, she opened wide her mouth [panting].

101. Marduk grasped the spear, he split up her belly,

102. He clave open her bowels, he pierced [her] heart,

103. He brought her to nought, he destroyed her life.

104. He cast down her carcase, he took up his stand upon it,

105. After Marduk had slain Tiâmat the chief,

106. Her host was scattered, her levies became fugitive,

107. And the gods, her allies, who had marched at her side,

108. Quaked with terror, and broke and ran

109. And betook themselves to flight to save their lives.

110. But they found themselves hemmed in, they could not escape,

111. Marduk tied them up, he smashed their weapons.

112. They were cast into the net, and they were caught in the snare,

113. The ... of the world they filled with [their] cries of grief.

114. They received [Marduk's] chastisement, they were confined in
restraint,

115. And [on] the Eleven Creatures which Tiâmat had filled with
awfulness,

116. The company of the devils that marched at her ...

117. He threw fetters, he ... their sides.

118. They and their resistance he trod under his feet.

119. The god Kingu who had been magnified over them

120. He crushed, he esteemed him [as little worth] as the god Dugga,
(as a dead god?).

121. Marduk took from him the TABLET OF DESTINIES, which should never
have been his,

122. He sealed it with a seal[1] and fastened it on his breast

[Footnote 1: By impressing his seal on the Tablet Marduk proved his
ownership of the Tablet, and made his claim to it legal.]

123. After he had crushed and overthrown his enemies,

124. He made the haughty enemy to be like the dust underfoot.

125. He established completely Anshar's victory over the enemy,

126. The valiant Marduk achieved the object of Nudimmud (Ea),[1]

[Footnote 1: This is an oblique way of saying that Marduk succeeded
where Ea failed.]

127. He imposed strict restraint on the gods whom he had made captive.

128. He turned back to Tiâmat whom he had defeated,

129. The Lord [Marduk] trampled on the rump of Tiâmat,

130. With his unsparing club he clave her skull.

131. He slit open the channels (i.e., arteries) of her blood.

132. He caused the North Wind to carry it away to a place underground.

133. His fathers (i.e., the gods) looked on, they rejoiced, they were
glad.

134. They brought unto him offerings of triumph and peace,

135. The Lord [Marduk] paused, he examined Tiâmat's carcase.

136. He separated flesh [from] hair,[1] he worked cunningly.

[Footnote 1: The word is _kupu_, i.e., "reed" or "sedge."
It is possible that Marduk skinned Tiâmat.]

137. He slit Tiâmat open like a flat (?) fish [cut into] two pieces,

138. The one half he raised up and shaded the heavens therewith,

139. He pulled the bolt, he posted a guard,

140. He ordered them not to let her water escape.

141. He crossed heaven, he contemplated the regions thereof.

142. He betook himself to the abode of Nudimmud (Ea) that is opposite
to the Deep (Apsu),

143. The Lord Marduk measured the dimensions of the Deep,

144. He founded E-Sharra, a place like unto it,

145. The abode E-Sharra, which he made to be heaven.

146. He made the-gods Anu, Bel and Ea to inhabit their [own] cities.

FIFTH TABLET.

1. He appointed the Stations for the great gods,

2. He set in heaven the Stars of the Zodiac which are their
likenesses.

3. He fixed the year, he appointed the limits thereof.

4. He set up for the twelve months three stars apiece.

5. According to the day of the year he ... figures.

6. He founded the Station of Nibir (Jupiter) to settle their
boundaries,

7. That none might exceed or fall short.

8. He set the Station of Bel and Ea thereby.

9. He opened great gates under shelter on both sides.

10. He made a strong corridor on the left and on the right.

11. He fixed the zenith in the heavenly vault (?)

12. He gave the god Nannar (i.e., the Moon-god) his brightness
and committed the night to his care.

[Illustration: Portion of a tablet inscribed in Assyrian with a text
of the Fifth Tablet of the Creation Series. [K. 3567.]]

13. He set him for the government of the night, to determine the day

14. Monthly, without fail, he set him in a crown (i.e., disk)
[saying]:

15. "At the beginning of the month when thou risest over the land,

16. "Make [thy] horns to project to limit six days [of the month]

17. "On the seventh day make thyself like a crown.

18. "On the fourteenth day ...

[Lines 19-26 dealt further with Marduk's instructions to the Moon-god,
but are too fragmentary to translate. After line 26 comes a break in
the text of 40 lines; lines 66-74 are too fragmentary to translate,
but they seem to have described further acts of Creation.]

75. The gods, his (Marduk's) fathers, looked on the net which he had
made,

76. They observed how craftily the bow had been constructed,

77. They extolled the work which he had done.

78. [Then] the god Anu lifted up [the bow] in the company of the gods,

79. He kissed the bow [saying]: "That ..."

80. He proclaimed [the names] of the bow to be as follows:--

81. "Verily, the first is 'Long Wood,' the second is ...

82. "Its third name is 'Bow Star in heaven' ..."

83. He fixed a station for it ...

[Of the remaining 57 lines of this tablet only fragments of 17 lines
are preserved, and these yield no connected sense.]

SIXTH TABLET.

1. On hearing the words of the gods, the heart of Marduk moved him to
carry out the works of a craftsman.

2. He opened his mouth, he spake to Ea that which he had planned in
his heart, he gave counsel [saying]:

3. "I will solidify blood, I will form bone.

4. "I will set up man, 'Man' [shall be] his name.

5. "I will create the man 'Man.'

6. "The service of the gods shall be established, and I will set them
(i.e., the gods) free.

7. "I will make twofold the ways of the gods, and I will beautify
[them].

8. "They are [now] grouped together in one place, but they shall be
partitioned in two."[1]

[Footnote 1: Reading, _ishtenish lu kuppudu-ma ana shina lu
uzizu_.]

9. Ea answered and spake a word unto him

10. For the consolation of the gods[1] he repeated unto him a word of
counsel [saying]:

[Footnote 1: _I.e._, "to cause the gods to be content,"]

11. "Let one brother [god of their number] be given, let him suffer
destruction that men may be fashioned.

12. "Let the great gods be assembled, let this [chosen] one be given
in order that they (i.e., the other gods) may be established."

13. Marduk assembled the great gods, [he came near] graciously, he
issued a decree,

14. He opened his mouth, he addressed the gods; the King spake a word
unto the Anunnaki [saying]:

15. "Verily, that which I spake unto you aforetime was true.

16. "[This time also] I speak truth. [Some there were who] opposed
me.[1]

[Footnote 1: Literally "they (indefinite) opposed me."]

17. "Who was it that created the strife,

18. "Who caused Tiâmat to revolt, to join battle with me?

19. "Let him who created the strife be given [as sacrifice],

20. "I will cause the axe in the act of sinking to do away his sin."

21. The great gods, the Igigi, answered him,

22. Unto the King of the gods of heaven and of earth, the Prince of
the gods, their lord [they said]:

23. "[It was] Kingu who created the strife,

24. "Who made Tiâmat to revolt, to join battle [with thee]."

25. They bound him in fetters [they brought] him before Ea, they
inflicted punishment on him, they let his blood,

26. From his blood he (i.e., Ea) fashioned mankind for the
service of the gods, and he set the gods free.

27. After Ea had fashioned man he ... laid service upon him.

28. [For] that work, which pleased him not, man was chosen: Marduk ...

29. Marduk, the King of the gods, divided ... he set the Anunnaki up
on high.

30. He laid down for Anu a decree that protected [his] heart ... as a
guard.

31. He made twofold the ways on the earth [and in the heavens?]

32. By decrees ...

33. The Anunnaki who ...

34. The Anunnaki ...

35. They spake unto Marduk, their lord, [saying]:

36. "O thou Moon-god[1] (Nannaru), who hast established our splendour,

[Footnote 1: See _Cuneiform Texts_, Part XXIV, Plate 50, where it
is said that the god Sin is "Marduk, who maketh bright the night."]

37. "What benefit have we conferred upon thee?

38. "Come, let us make a shrine, whose name shall be renowned;

39. "Come [at] night, our time of festival, let us take our ease
therein,

40. "Come, the staff shall rule ...

41. "On the day that we reach [thereto] we will take our ease
therein."

42. On hearing this Marduk ...

43. The features of his face [shone like] the day exceedingly.

44. [He said],[1] "Like unto ... Babylon, the construction whereof ye
desire

[Footnote 1: Lines 44 and 45 announce Marduk's determination to build
Babylon.]

45. "I will make ... a city, I will fashion a splendid shrine."

46. The Anunnaki worked the mould [for making bricks], their bricks
were ...

47. In the second year [the shrine was as high as] a hill, and the
summit of E-Sagila reached the [celestial] Ocean.

48. They made the ziggurat[1] [to reach] the celestial Ocean; unto
Marduk, Enlil, Ea [shrines] they appointed,

[Footnote 1: This is the word commonly used for "temple-tower." The
famous ziggurat of E-Sagila here mentioned was built in Seven Stages
or Steps, each probably having its own distinctive colour. It was
destroyed probably soon after the capture of Babylon by Cyrus (539
B.C.) and when Alexander the Great reached Babylon he found it ruins.]

49. It (i.e., the ziggurat) stood before them majestically: at the
bottom and [at the top] they observed its two horns.[1]

[Footnote 1: This is the first known mention of the "horns" of a
ziggurat, and the exact meaning of the word is doubtful.]

50. After the Anunnaki had finished the construction of E-Sagila, and
had completed the making of their shrines,

51. They gathered together from the ... of the Ocean (Apsu). In
BAR-MAH, the abode which they had made,

52. He (i.e., Marduk) made the gods his fathers to take their
seats ... [saying]: "This Babylon shall be your abode.

53. "No mighty one [shall destroy] his house, the great gods shall
dwell therein.

[After line 53 the middle portions of several lines of text are
obliterated, but from what remains of it it is clear that the gods
partook of a meal of consecration of the shrine of E-Sagila, and then
proceeded to issue decrees. Next Marduk assigns seats to the Seven
Gods of Fate and to Enlil and Anu, and then he lays up in E-Sagila the
famous bow which he bore during his fight against Tiâmat. When the
text again becomes connected we find the gods singing a hymn of praise
to Marduk.]

94. "Whatever is ... those gods and goddesses shall bear(?)

95. "They shall never forget, they shall cleave to the god (?)

96. "... they shall make bright, they shall make shrines.

97. "Verily, the decision (concerning) the Black-headed [belongeth to]
the gods

98. "... all our names have they called, he (Marduk) is most holy
(_elli_)

99. "... they proclaimed and venerated (?) his names.

100. "His ... is exceedingly bright, his work is ...

101. "Marduk, whose father Anu proclaimed [his name] from his birth,

102. "Who hath set the day at his door ... his going,

103. "By whose help the storm wind was bound ...

104. "Delivered the gods his fathers in the time of trouble.

105. "Verily, the gods have proclaimed his sonship.

106. "In his bright light let them walk for ever.

107. "[On] men whom he hath formed, the created things fashioned by
his fingers

108. "He hath imposed the service of the gods, and them he hath set
free

109. "...

110. "... they looked at him,

111. "[He is] the far-seeing _(maruku)_ god, verily ...

112. "Who hath made glad the hearts of the Anunnaki, who hath made
them to ...

113. "The god Marudukku--verily, he is the object of trust of his
country ...

114. "Let men praise him ...

115. "The 'King of the Protecting Heart,' (?), hath arisen and hath
[bound] the Serpent ...

116. "Broad is his heart, mighty [his] belly.

117. "King of the gods of heaven and of earth, whose name our company
hath proclaimed,

118. "We will fulfil (?) the utterance of his mouth. Over his fathers
the gods,

119. "Yea, [over] the gods of heaven and earth, all of them,

120. "His kingship [we will exalt].

121. "[We] will look unto the King of all the heaven and the earth at
night when the place of all the gods is darkness (literally sadness).

122. "He hath assigned our dwelling in heaven and in earth in the time
of trouble,

123. "He hath allotted stations to the Igigi and the Anunnaki.

124. "The gods themselves are magnified by his name; may he direct
their sanctuaries.

125. "ASAR-LU-DUG, is his name by which his father Anu hath named him.

126. "Verily, he is the light of the gods, the mighty ...

127. "Who ... all the parts of heaven and of the land

128. "By a mighty combat he saved our dwelling in the time of trouble.

129. "ASAR-LU-DUG, the god who made him (i.e. man) to live, did
the god ... call him in the second place

130. "[And] the gods who had been formed, whom he fashioned as though
[they were] his offspring.

131. "He is the Lord who hath made all the gods to live by his holy
mouth."

[Lines 132-139 are too fragmentary to translate, but it is clear from
the text that remains that Lakhmu, and Lakhamu, and Anshar all
proclaimed the names of Marduk. When the text again becomes connected
Marduk has just been addressing the gods.]

140. In Up-shukkinaku[1] he appointed their council for them.

[Footnote 1: From this text it seems clear that Up-shukkinaku was the
name of a chamber in the temple of E-Sagila. This name probably means
the "chamber of the shakkanaku," i.e., the chamber in which the
governor of the city (_shakkanaku_) went annually to embrace the
hands of the god Bel-Marduk, from whom he thereby received the right
of sovereignty over the country.]

141. [They said]:--"Of [our] son, the Hero, our Avenger,

142. "We will exalt the name by our speech."

143. They sat down and in their assembly they proclaimed his rank.

144. Every one of them pronounced his name in the sanctuary.

SEVENTH TABLET.

1. O ASARI,--giver of plantations, appointer of sowing time,

2. Who dost make grain and fibrous plants, who makest garden herbs to
spring up.

3. O ASARU-ALIM--who art weighty in the council-chamber, who art
fertile in counsel,

4. To whom the gods pay worship (?) reverent ...

5. O ASARU-ALIM-NUNA--the adored light of the Father who begat him,

6. Who makest straight the direction of Anu, Bel, [and Ea].[1]

[Footnote 1: This line seems to imply that Marduk was regarded as the
instructor of the "old" gods; the allusion is, probably, to the "ways"
of Anu, Bel and Ea, which are treated as technical terms in
astrology.]

7. He is their patron who fixed [their] ...

8. Whose drink is abundance, who goeth forth ...

9. O TUTU--creator of their new life,

10. Supplier of their wants, that they may be satisfied [or, glad],

11. Let but [Tutu] recite an incantation, the gods shall be at rest;

12. Let but [the gods] attack him (i.e., Tutu) in wrath, he
shall resist them successfully;

13. Let him be raised up on a high throne in the assembly
of the gods....

14. None among the gods is like unto him.

15. O god TUTU, who art the god ZI-UKKINA, life of the host of the
gods,

16. Who stablished the shining heavens for the gods,

17. He founded their paths, he fixed [their courses].

18. Never shall his deeds be forgotten among men.

19. O god TUTU, who art ZI-AZAG, was the third name they gave
him--holder (i.e., possessor) of holiness,

20. God of the favourable wind, lord of adoration and grace,

21. Creator of fulness and abundance, stablisher of plenty,

22. Who turneth that which is little into that which is much.

23. In sore straits we have felt his favouring breeze.

24. Let them (the gods) declare, let them magnify, let them sing his
praises.

25. O TUTU, who art the god AGA-AZAG in the fourth place--let men
exult.

26. Lord of the holy incantation, who maketh the dead to live,

27. He felt compassion for the gods who were in captivity.

28. He riveted on the gods his enemies the yoke which had been resting
on them.

29. In mercy towards them he created mankind,

30. The Merciful One in whose power it is to give life.

31. His words shall endure for ever, they shall never be forgotten,

32. In the mouth of the Black-headed[1] whom his hands have made.

[Footnote 1: Here the title "Black-headed" refers to all mankind, but
it is sometimes used by the scribes to distinguish the population of
the Euphrates Valley from foreign peoples of light complexions.]

33. O God TUTU, who art the god MU-AZAG in the fifth place--let their
mouth recite a holy incantation [to him],

34. Who by his own holy incantation hath destroyed all the evil ones.

[Illustration: Portion of a tablet inscribed in Assyrian with a text
of the Seventh Tablet of the Creation Series. [K. 8522.]]

35. O god SHAZU, the wise heart of the gods, who searchest the inward
parts of the belly,

36. Who dost not permit the worker of evil to go forth by his side,

37. Establisher of the company of the gods ... their hearts.

38. Reducer of the disobedient ...

[Lines 39-106 are wanting. The positions of the fragmentary lines
supplied by duplicate fragments are uncertain; in any case they give
no connected sense.]

107. Verily, he holdeth the beginning and the end of them,[1]
verily ...

[Footnote 1: Compare the language of the Kur'ân (Surah II, v. 256),
"He (Allah) knoweth what is before them and what is behind them."]

108. Saying, "He who entered into the middle of Tiâmat resteth not;

109. "His name shall be 'Nibiru' the seizer of the middle.

110. "He shall set the courses of the stars of the heavens,

111. "He shall herd together the whole company of the gods like sheep.

112. "He shall [ever] take Tiâmat captive, he shall slit up her
treasure (variant, life), he shall disembowel her."[1]

[Footnote 1: These lines suggest that the fight between Marduk and
Tiâmat was recurrent; it is incorrect to translate the verbal forms as
preterites.]

113. Among the men who are to come after a lapse of time,

114. Let [these words] be heard without ceasing, may they reign to all
eternity,

115. Because he made the [heavenly] places and moulded the stable
[earth].

116. Father Bel proclaimed his name, "Lord of the Lands."

117. All the Igigi repeated the title.

118. Ea heard and his liver rejoiced,

119. Saying, "He whose title hath rejoiced his fathers

120. "Shall be even as I am; his name shall be Ea.

121. "He shall dispose of all the magical benefits of my rites,

122. "He shall make to have effect my instructions."

123. By the title of "Fifty times" the great gods

124. Proclaimed his names fifty times, they magnified his going.

EPILOGUE.

125. Let the first comer take them and repeat them;

126. Let the wise man and the learned man meditate upon all of them;

127. The father shall repeat them to his son that he may lay hold upon
them.

128. Let them (i.e., the names) open the ears of the shepherd and the
herdsman.[1]

[Footnote 1: "To open the ears"--to give understanding.]

129. Let [man] rejoice in Marduk, the Lord of the Gods,

130. That his land may be fertile and he himself abide in security.

131. His word is true, his command altereth not.

132. No god hath ever brought to the ground that which issueth from
his mouth.

133. They (i.e., the gods) treated him with contempt, he turned
not his back [in flight],

134. No god could resist his wrath at its height.

135. His heart is large, his bowels of mercy are great.

136. Of sin and wickedness before him ...

137. The first comer utters his complaint of humiliation before him.

[Lines 138-142 are too fragmentary to translate.]

NOTES.

1. There are in the British Museum several fragments of Neo-Babylonian
copies of the Seven Tablets of Creation, the exact position of which is
at present uncertain. One of these (S. 2013) is of some importance
because it speaks of one object which was in the "upper Tiâmat", and of
another which was in the "lower Tiâmat". This shows that the Babylonians
thought that one half of the body of Tiâmat, which was split up by
Marduk, was made into the celestial ocean, and the other half into the
terrestrial ocean, in other words, into "the waters that were above" and
"the waters that were beneath" the firmament respectively.

2. When George Smith published his _Chaldean Account of Genesis_
in 1876, he was of opinion that the Creation Tablets in the British
Museum contained descriptions of the Temptation of Eve by the serpent
and of the building and overthrow of the Tower of Babel. The
description of Paradise in Genesis ii seems to show traces of
Babylonian influence, and the cylinder seal, Brit. Mus. No. 89,326,
was thought to be proof that a Babylonian legend of the Temptation
existed. In fact, George Smith printed a copy of the seal in his book
(p. 91). But it is now known that the tablet which was believed to
refer to man's eating of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge (K. 3, 473
+ 79-7-8, 296 + R. 615) describes the banquet of the gods to which
they invited Marduk. In like manner the text on K. 3657, which Smith
thought referred to the Tower of Babel, is now known to contain no
mention of a tower or building of any sort. It was also thought by him
that K. 3364 contained a set of instructions which God gave to Adam
and Eve after their creation, but it is now known and admitted by all
Assyriologists that the text on this tablet contains moral precepts
and has nothing to do with the Creation Series. Enquiries are from
time to time made at the Museum for tablets which deal with the
Temptation of Eve, and the destruction of the Tower of Babel, and the
Divine commands to Adam and Eve; it is perhaps not superfluous to say
that nothing of the kind exists.

LIST OF THE NAMES OF THE STARS OR SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC, WITH A LIST
SHOWING THE MONTH THAT WAS ASSOCIATED WITH EACH STAR IN THE PERSIAN
PERIOD.

BY SIDNEY SMITH, M.A., and C.J. GADD, M.A., Assistants in the Department.

No. 77,821 (85-4-30, 15).

Determinative Modern
Month. of Star. Name of the Sign of the Zodiac. Equivalent

[Cuneiform] Goat.
[Cuneiform] Bull.

[Cuneiform] Twins.
[Cuneiform] Crab.
[Cuneiform] Lion.
[Cuneiform] Virgin.
[Cuneiform] Scales.
[Cuneiform] Scorpion.
[Cuneiform] Bow.
[Cuneiform] Capricornus
[Cuneiform] Water-bearer
[Cuneiform] The Fishes.

Month.
|
| Determinative of Star.
| |
| | Name of the Sign on the Zodiac.
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | TRANSLITERATION.
| | TRANSLATION.
| |
1 Nisannu (kakkab) (amel) Agru....
The Labourer.

2 Airu " Kakkab u (kakkab) Alap shame
The Star and the Bull of heaven.

3 Simanu " Re'u kinu shame u (kakkab) tu'ame rabuti
The faithful shepherd of heaven and the Great Twins.

4 Duuzu " AL.LUL. (shittu)[1]....
The Tortoise.

5 Abu " Kalbu rabu....
Great Dog (Lion).

6 Ululu " Shiru....
Virgin with ear of corn.

7 Tashritum " Zibanitum....
....

8 Arah shamna " Akrabu....
The Scorpion.

9 Kislimu " PA.BIL.SAG....
Enurta (the god).

10 Tebetum " SUHUR.MASH....
The Goat-fish.

11 Shabatu " Gula....
The Great Star

12 Addaru " DIL.GAN.u rikis nuni
The star ... and the Band of Fishes.

[Footnote 1: The Egyptian Sheta]

I have been assisted in the preparation of this monograph by
Mr. Sidney Smith, M.A., Assistant in the Department.

E.A. WALLIS BUDGE.

DEPARTMENT OF EGYPTIAN AND ASSYRIAN ANTIQUITIES, BRITISH MUSEUM.
_June_ 1, 1921.

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Title: The Babylonian Legends of the Creation

Author: British Museum

Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9914]
[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
[This file was first posted on October 31, 2003]
[Date last updated: July 21, 2005]

Edition: 10

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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