cultural exchanges and living naturally

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> "> The Gnostics were the desert Ascetics who LIVED like Jesus

> said

> > to live, in the desert wandering and meditating. "

>

> Did Jesus REALLY say we should live like that?

 

he who would follow me, take up your cross etc. So no, not actually

so bluntly, i think he recognized that not all people were made for

the priesthood or to be wandering mystics like himself and his

diciples, but this is the life the most favored prophets in the bible

lived, not to mention in every other culture throughout the world(that

i'm aware of, no exception).

he did multiple times refer to leaving family life and following

after him, separating oneself from their parents and family to follow

him and wander through the desert, but then that is ONLY if you wanted

to really Follow Jesus and his teachings...the Nazars(remember Jesus

is called a Nazarene, or Jesus of Nazareth) were desert wanderers,

much like the Beduin desert peoples today(who prefer living as Abraham

did) Someone who takes a Vow to be a Nazar now in Judaism wanders and

seeks seclusion, and can rejoin society, but for however long the vow

lasts they disconnect themselves from society so that they can get

closer to God, kinda like a Vision Quest in Native American culture,

and others.

someone in ancient times who took the vow of a Nazar, wouldn't

cut their nails or Hair or beard etc. and basically they would

renounce living the urban life for closeness with 'God'. This is

Mirrored in Hindu Culture where Sadhus(wandering monastics) are see

performing deep meditation techniques designed to move them beyond

absorbtion in the physical body and consequintly the physical world,

some take this to extremes called 'Tapas'-literally burning(the idea

of burning away ones' sins through devotion to God). This form of

devotion is called Tapasya and it's root 'Tap' is shared in

Aramaic(same letters as Hebrew, in fact where Hebrew came from, the

Canaanites/Phoenicians), meaning to Burn, sometimes associated to

ovens, now did the Aramaic come from the Sanskrit or the Sanskrit come

from the Aramaic? who knows? it is known that the Indo-Aryans and

Sanskrit shares language simility with Greek, and the Greeks adapted

their Aleph-bet from Aramaic/Phoenician, but it doesn't prove that the

other side of the equation in the East did the same, in fact it is

quite different in form.

This 'Tap' is associated with Sacrificial practices in the

Caananite culture, possibly what was called 'passing through the fire'

in the Bible, and when associated with Child Sacrifice was condemned,

but perhaps that was because the Canaanites lost touch with what was

actually symbolized by that word and that practice from their original

cultural exchange with the Indo-Aryans, who maintained the original

meaning and value?

now Abraham lived the desert wandering life and he was called out

of Chaldea and met a Canaanite, in Caanan, called melechTzedek or

literally 'Righteous King'-in Hebrew. the word Tzedek is only used in

the bible to refer to someone who has achieve the status of

Prophet/Seer, in other words a Very Pious person. from him Abraham

learned much we can gather from the bible and this man was a Canaanite.

ok so anyways, my point is things may appear to be one way because

there has been much bias within biblical scholarship, and even though

millions of people follow these various religions of the West, they

still don't research areas that deserve to be taken notice of, and

that finally, Yes Jesus did teach the Renounciation of material wealth

and urban life to live a more pure life if someone Was Serious About

Following Him and his Teachings...and i don't want to forget the other

point and that is that other cultures Do Have spiritual teachings of

inestimable value and are still practicing them outside the western

religions, in fact, they may well be mirrors of one-another, just

separated from one another in the far distant past..not of lesser value.

Light In Extension,

Justice