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Secret History #24: Empire of Church

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This lecture traces the evolution of the Roman Empire, its division into Western and Eastern halves, and the subsequent rise of the Byzantine Empire and the Catholic Church, ultimately leading to the emergence of Islam and the fragmentation of Western Europe. It also delves into theological debates within Christianity and the philosophical implications of dogma and logic.

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Okay, good morning class. Um, so we have

five more classes in the semester and

the four last classes are the most important.

important.

So what what I will do this class is set

up the uh background and context for the

last four classes. So um what I want to

do first is review what what we've

learned so far. Okay, so we discussed

the um Roman Republic.

the Roman Republic

and it was essentially an oligarchy.

Okay, so oligarchy just means rule by

the few. So it's very much like Sparta.

It is a war society.

And at this point in history,

the fact that the Roman Republic was an

oligarchy, basically it had about 100

families that commanded it. Okay? And

It was actually to the advantage of um

Rome because at this time Rome was small

um it was poor. It was at war. Okay. So

in other words,

even though there was nobility, they

were not that much better off than other

people and everyone knew each other. So

they were very um open, energetic and

cohesive society. And so over time they

became the most dominant society in the

Mediterranean. They defeated um

Carthage, they defeated the Greeks. But

the fact that Rome is an oligarchy is a

huge problem because now they are corrupt,

um unequal

and stagnant. And one way that we know is

um Roman women just start to refuse to

have children. Okay, so they were dying

as a society.

And at this point in history, what

should happen is that they should build

an imperial bureaucracy,

a centralized centralized

um system in order to better manage the

empire. Well, they couldn't really do

that because the oligarchy, the

families, which now are about 50, okay?

They refused to give up power. So rather

than a centralized

um bureaucracy, the Roman Empire was in

many ways

um a system in which different families

have different territories. And what

this led to was constant civil war.

And remember um it started with Sula and

then it went on to Julius Caesar and

after Julius Caesar August of Caesar

became the first among equals but he

still failed to set up the bureaucracy.

Okay. And so it kept on leading to war.

Eventually what happened was that

Constantine decided this system doesn't

work. So what what I need to do is I

need to reinvent the Roman people. And

you do that by moving the capital from

Rome to a new place he calls Conanopole.

Okay? Which now becomes the Basantine Empire.

Okay? And the Russian Empire

now because it's a new culture, it can

now become a bureaucracy. In fact, their

official language becomes Greek. It's a

Okay? And this this is what we call the

At the same time, while this is

happening, you have a massive migration

of the steps people. Okay, they're

coming into Europe from many different

locations. Why is this happening?

Because in China, the Han dynasty is

waging a war against the steps demonatic

people. Okay, the people who call the Shongu

Shongu

then so they're forced westwards which

forces the other steps people to migrate

into Europe and into Central Asia.

Okay. So these people are called the Goffs

Goffs

and this is a huge problem for Rome

because their people are not having

children and they have all these massive

migration coming in from the steps.

And so what the Romans decided to do is

divide and rule. And so what this means

is that a lot of them are absorbed into

the army as mercenaries and as soldiers

in order to defend the border in order

to fight these civil wars.

Now remember last class we talked about

the rise of the Catholic Church. Okay.

And we discussed how the Catholic Church

was in many ways being supported by

these noble families. Not all of them

supported the Catholic Church, but some

of them did. And those that did had a

huge advantage because now what they can

do is absorb

these new migrants into the society

where they're at the top and the uh

migrants are at the bottom. Okay. Then

the question then is why would the

migrants agree to this? The reason why

is in the society it is very egalitarian.

And for war purposes they would they

would elect a war leader. Okay.

But with this system with the Catholic

church system there this war leader can

now become a nobility.

Okay. They can now join the 50 families

to form a new nobility.

Okay. Does that make sense guys? All

right. All right. So at this point in

history when Constantine sets up the

Bison Empire now the Roman Empire is

a western part [snorts]

And these two parts are going to have

very different fates. The eastern part

is still part of the Middle East. Okay,

the Lavant, Anatolia, Egypt and so it is

the wealthiest part of

um the empire and as such it engages in

wars with the um Persian Empire. Okay.

And this will define most of its

history. Its capital Consenopol was

designed to be invincible. You could not

lay siege to it. You could not conquer

it. And as such, the Bison Empire was

stable. In fact, it lasted for about a

thousand years, which is very very

impressive. Okay. And as I said, it's

very wealthy. And so therefore it's

really able to dominate um

the world through

mainly trade and diplomacy.

Okay. So it became an imperial

bureaucracy. It fought wars but it

usually used a lot of mercenaries

because it had a lot of wealth.

All right. So that's the Eastern Empire.

And guess what guys? This is very

similar to China. Okay. So, think about

China. When you think about the Bison

Empire, they're not the same, but

they're very similar in how they

organize the society. The Western Empire

is very different because it's the

poorest part of Europe. The other thing

about this region is that there are lots

of natural barriers. [snorts]

[snorts]

And so, you have like these competing societies

societies emerging,

emerging,

okay? different cultures, different

societies, and they're protected by

mountains, by forests, by rivers. So,

there's a lot of diversity. There's a

lot of diversity within the western

uh empire. And so, the power that

And as

Western Europe increases in power and

Eastern Europe uh in decreases in power,

the Catholic Church will increase in

power as well. Okay. How the Catholic

Church come dominate Western Europe?

Because the west because Catholic Church

Okay. So you kings, you compete for who

rules the earth. But we, the Catholic

Church, we decide who goes to heaven.

Okay? So the Catholic Church becomes the

dominant power in Western Europe. In

fact, you can say that they are the

empire now. But they are a spiritual empire,

empire,

a divine empire that is out of history

and which speaks for God. And as such

they become a very powerful

empire as well. Okay. And this leads to

tremendous conflicts throughout Western

Europe. Okay. But there's a problem with

the Catholic church and we discussed

this last class with the Catholic Church.

Church.

Remember Jesus came to tell us that

there's a divine spark in us. And as

long as we try to glow this divine

spark, we can be with God. And the c the

Catholic Church says, "No, no, no. This

divine spark, it is that of the devil

and we must imprison it." Okay? And this

works most of the time. But now and then

you have religious leaders who arise and

said, "No, no, no. The divine spark is

within us." And so this leads to a lot

of conflict. And ultimately the solution

the Catholic Church proposes is the idea

of crusades

where warriors go and

um kill those who believe in the divine

spark. And then they set up a secret

in order to

search for those who oppose the Catholic

Church. Okay. the inquisition. Um the

the the major idea is

if you believe in the divine spark,

you're not an evil person, you're a

stupid person because you don't know

better. So the idea of acquisition is to

educate you in the truth which is divine

spark is that of Satan, that of the

devil and therefore you must obey the

Catholic Church. But if you insist

on defying the Catholic Church, then you

are a heretic and therefore you must

burn at the stake before you can pollute

other people. Okay? Now eventually what

will happen is that as a conflict in

Western Europe gets worse and worse

certain states will break away from the

control of the Catholic Church and they

will embrace a new religion called

Protest Protestantism. Okay.

And this something we'll discuss next class.

class.

Okay. So that's a history of Western

Europe. Okay. So now I want to talk

about Constantine and the rise of the

Bentim Empire. So Constantine

is what he does that's very important is

that he makes Christianity the official

religion of Rome. So before Constantine

you had Christian emperors but they did

not make Christian the official religion

but he made Christian the official

religion. Okay. The problem though we

discussed this last class is that

Christian it's a franchise model. So

different churches teach different things

things

and so Constantine was like no we can't

have this debate if we if we'll make

this the official religion what we need

to do is

have one orthodoxy

a unified ideology. Okay. All right. So

at this time in history there are two

major debates or two major source source

of confusion. The first is what we call christologology.

christologology.

What this is is the question of like

what's the nature

of Jesus. Okay remember the story is

that Jesus is in heaven then he comes to

earth. Mary gives birth to Jesus. Then Jesus

Jesus

preaches his message, the gospel.

Then he is killed and he is resurrected

and then he returns to heaven. Okay,

that's the official story of

Christianity. But there are lots of

problems with the story as you can

imagine. If Jesus is the vine, how did

Mary give birth to Jesus? Right? If

you're a human woman and you give birth

to a god, that means that you're God

yourself. Okay? Right? So, who is Mary

and what is her power? Second question

then is, is Jesus divine or is he human?

Okay? Because if he's human, he dies.

That's a sacrifice, right? But if you're

divine, you can't die. So, his death and

his resurrection doesn't make any sense.

Okay. So, so this is a problem

Christologology. Is Jesus human or is he

divine? And there are different

interpretations. Okay. The first

interpretation is Jesus is divine in

heaven, but he's human in the world.

Okay, does that make sense? So, yes,

Mary gave birth to Jesus, but she gave

birth to the human Jesus and not the

divine Jesus because you cannot give

birth to divine God. Okay? And that's

why his death makes sense because the

because the Jesus who died was the human

Jesus but once he died and he was

resurrected then he went to heaven.

Okay, that's that's one explanation that

Jesus is really human. Another

explanation is no Jesus is divine. So

Mary the death doesn't really matter.

Okay, he's just divine. Okay, so both

are possibilities.

What the church says officially is Jesus

is human and divine at the same time.

Okay, this is the official

ideology of the church. This makes no

sense, guys. All right, but that's what

um you're taught. And so there are a lot

of course people who are like this is a

stupid idea. Okay. And these people are

And they were persecuted by the Catholic

Church. And so they went to Persia.

Okay? They went to the Middle East. They

went to Persia. They went to Arabia

where they spread the message of Jesus.

They taught Jesus as a human as opposed

to a God. They taught that Jesus was a

messenger. Okay? Which is what I taught

you, right? that he's really a messenger

of the monad.

All right. So, does that make sense?

Okay. Now, now the second debate is

actually more confusing than the first

debate. Okay. And it has to do with the

nature of the three powerful forces,

right? The three gods. You have God, the

ultimate God, and you have Jesus and you

have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is

God expressed in the world. Okay? So,

when you have a when someone speaks to

you, you think it's God. It's actually

not God. It's the Holy Spirit. All

right. So now the question is what's the

relationship between these three God,

Jesus and Holy Spirit? And again there

are different explanations and they kind

of make sense. Okay. So the first is the

idea of modalism.

Modalism is the is the idea that Jesus

and God and Holy Spirit are just

different modes of the same thing. They

just change. So when Jesus is is in

heaven, he's God. When Jesus comes to

earth as a human, he's just Jesus. And

then when Jesus wants to communicate

with us, he's the Holy Spirit. Okay? So

remember, but Paul talked to Jesus, but

Paul didn't really talk to Jesus. Paul

talked to the Holy Spirit. Okay? So it's

the same force but expressed

differently. Okay, that makes sense,

right? Second is the idea of partialism.

Partialism is just the idea that

God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit all part of

the same divine force. Okay? something

of an ocean, right? The Pacific Ocean.

The Pacific Ocean is huge, but there are

different parts to it, right? So that's

the idea of partial that makes sense

too, right? Okay. The third idea is the

idea of Arinism. Aryanism [snorts]

and Aryanism is just the idea that God

came first

and therefore and then afterwards he

created Jesus. So in other words, Jesus

is God, but he's second to the real God.

Okay, that makes sense as well, right?

Now, there are problems with all three. Okay,

the first problem

is if you read the Bible, Jesus talks to

God. Jesus talks to the Holy Spirit.

That's kind of confusing because why

would Jesus talk to himself? Okay, so

there's a lot of inconsistencies

in the Bible. Okay, so this doesn't

really work.

Partialism doesn't work either because

if you think about it, if God, Jesus,

and Holy Spirit are part of a divine

aspect, then that divine aspect should

be God, right? Not these three. Okay,

that doesn't this doesn't really make

sense. And arenism doesn't really make

sense because the entire point of

Christianity is to say that Jesus is

God, right? We worship Jesus, not God.

So if you're saying that God's superior,

why shouldn't we worship God instead of

Jesus? Okay. So this is problemat

problematic as well. So what Constantine

did was he organized all the bishops of

the different churches to come to Nikia.

It's called the council of Nikia.

Okay. In order to

come up with a solution to this problem.

And their solution is actually even more

problematic than these three. Okay? And

it's called the Holy Trinity. So, let's

go over the Holy Trinity.

What the Holy Trinity says is this. God,

Jesus,

they are separate. Okay?

But they are equal.

They are separate, but they're part of

the same thing. Okay? They're both

separate and they are

equal to each other. Okay? Now, if you

think about it, it makes actually no

sense whatsoever. The only solution this

this holy trinity is both nothing and

everything at the same time. It becomes

reality on to itself. Okay.

Okay.

And the only way to understand this is

to accept this as a reality.

All right? So I know there's confusion

confusion but think of the idea of

money. Right?

Okay. So the idea of money is both

nothing and everything. Okay? Money is

nothing but it can be everything at the

same time as well because it symbolizes

wealth. Okay? Does that make sense?

Right? So none of this actually makes

any sense. And the only way that it

makes sense is if you force it to make

sense. If you just memorize it. So think

of math class. Okay guys, I'm not sure

if you appreciate this, but the entire

point of math class is to make you

stupid. Okay? Why? Because it is

impossible for you to reason

using mathematics. Because mathematics

doesn't really apply to the world. So

only thing that you can do is just

memorize the formulas and apply the

formulas to each other. Okay? And that

just requires massive memorization and

regurgitation. That's why if you think

about it, the best ma ma mathematicians

are always in their 20s or 30s because

you because your brain has to be like

really energetic in order to process

this information. But the older you get,

the less capable you are in mathematics.

Okay? Does it make sense? This is really

important guys. The more math you learn,

the stupid you become. Okay? But this

goes against say um philosophy or

teaching, right? The older you get, the

worse you become. Why? Because the

information that you're learning, you

can apply to reality and then figure out

what information makes sense as you as

you test this information against

reality. Okay.

All right. Okay. So then the question

then is

why would they do this?

And the answer is very simple. To make

you stupid. Okay. So, so let's let let's

just use a an analogy. Let's do a

thought experiment. The sky is blue,

right? So, we know the sky is blue. And

now we're like, okay, why is the sky

blue? And is it always blue? And why are

certain things blue? Okay, from this I

from this verb principle, the sky is

blue. You can now start to ask more

questions. You can based on this idea

start to reason out more things. Okay,

does that make sense? But let's just say

I change. I say the sky is red.

You're like, "No, the sky is blue." I'm

say, "No, no, the sky is red." If you do

not say the sky is red, you are a

heretic. I will burn you at the steak.

You're like, "Okay, all right. So, what

you're saying is this. You're saying

that blue is red. Red is blue." And I'm

and I'm like, "No, no, no. Blue is blue.

Red is red. the sky is is red and you're

like that makes no sense and it's like

okay well then I don't care because if

you do not say the sky is red I will

burn you to sick okay I will fail you in

school okay you understand so another

way of saying this is your brain

uh the way it process information is by

using logic right okay so think think

about building

Okay, think of a building. Okay, well,

this makes sense, right? You're just

stacking build like blocks on top of

each other to build a building, right?

But let's just say I make you I say,

"No, no, this is what the building looks

like. Okay, this is empty." You're like,

"Well, that makes no sense."

Okay. So, what I've done by forcing the

idea of the holy trinity onto you is

I've basically taken a part of your

logical system of of your brain and

emptied it out. So, it's impossible for

you to connect things. Okay? Because

from this, what you can do is say, well,

now I can just keep on building more

things, right?

But if the principle is there's a layer

that's that is unseen or unobable, you

can't build on top of it. Okay. So your

brain ceases to be able to process and

be creative. Okay. Does that make sense? Yeah.

Yeah.

And I saw like people who learn math

well and also like they have strong

ability in computer science. They all

like work in Silicon Valley and they are

wealthy. But I think that also aligns

our concept that they are pursuing the

materialistic and they are you know the

world is ruled by Satan. Is that true?

>> Yeah. Okay. Um we'll talk about this

later. Okay. But but yeah, if you work

in Silicon Valley, uh you are a

materialistic person who is incapable of

of thinking spiritually. Yes, that that

is correct. Also like also remember like

people who do computer computer

engineering and do mathematics

like they're at the best in their 20s

and 30s by the time they reach over 40

they kind of burn out. Okay? Because you

know for for your brain to process all

this um eventually burns out. Okay? Does

that make sense? So again, I hate to say

this, but math makes you stupid. All right.

right.

All right. Um, is is that clear, guys?

Any questions? Okay. But as you can see,

what's happening is that because people

are forced to learn this, they don't

want to learn this. And this starts a

series of wars within the Roman Empire

because Constantine and the Bison Empire

is going to enforce this orthodoxy onto

every Christian church and it starts a

series of wars. Okay. At the same time

Assassin Persia. Okay. Egypt,

the Levant,

Okay, so guys, this is really important.

This is a time in history, this this

about 500 to 600 where there's a lot of

conflict going on. Okay, remember the

first major conflict is between

Bisantine and Sassin Persians. Okay. The

second major conflict is the church

orthodoxy against

um the independent church franchises.

Okay. So the B empire is trying to

enforce the orthodoxy on all

different churches who refuse to who

refuse the Holy Trinity because it's

such a silly idea. Okay. What this is

going to do is it's going to force Christians

Christians over

over

to the Sassin as well as Arabia, the

desert. Okay? And these these are called

Nestorians. Now, and again, they believe

that Jesus is a divine messenger as

opposed to

um God on earth. Okay?

Also, we have the Jews as well. Okay?

because the Jews keep on resisting

against the Romans because the the

Romans forced the Jews to obey

Christianity and so the Jews escape into Arabia.

Arabia.

Okay. And at the same time the Jews want

Right now, what's interesting is that

most people don't know this, but Arabia

is at this point in history the most

energetic, open, and cohesive society

um in the Middle East. Okay. So, first

of all, it's open because Arabia has

always been a point of trade between uh

the Levant Egypt and uh the inner valley

civilization. Okay. India.

Okay. So Arabia they uh do a lot of

trading but they also uh great are great

fighters because they're great

mercenaries. Why?

Because as the Sassin and the Romans

fight more and more the Arabians are

recruited in as mercenaries for their

armies and as such they learn the most

innovative warfare and they're poor as

well. So they're really good fighters.

Okay. And now what's happening is that

the Arabians, the Arabs are be are are

being exposed to new religions, the

netoring Christianity as well as

Judaism. Okay. And both preach the

Okay. So Arabia is rising in energy but

the bison empire

and the assassinated Persians are

decreasing in energy. Okay. The bison

are fighting too many wars and they're

imposing too much orthodoxy which is

turning people into slaves. And because

the sass are fighting the the

bisonantines in war and as the bison

become more orthodox and become more

bureaucratic the sass are forced to

become much more bureaucratic as well.

Much more orthodox as well. And so the

Neestorans are also being persecuted by

the Sass the Sassin. So the Jews want

Jerusalem to return and assassin says to

the Jews, "Hey, if you fight for us,

we'll return Jerusalem to you." Okay?

And so the Bisantines, so the Jews went

back to Jerusalem and that piss off the

Bisantine. So they come and they kill a

lot of Jews. Now the thing about the

Jewish tradition is they believe that

when they're most persecuted, when all

hope is lost, their Messiah will come to

save them. Okay? So the Jews are like,

"Oh my god, the Messiah is coming. The

Messiah is coming." Okay. The historians

also believe the Messiah is coming as

well. They believe that Jesus is going

to return. And all it will take is for

one charismatic leader to emerge

in the Arabian desert to say, "I'm

Messiah. Follow me. What I will promise

you is this. I promise you that you will

have the right to believe in whatever

religion you want because the divine

spark is in you

and you know how to best celebrate God

by yourself. I promise religious

tolerance for the Jews, for the

Christians, for the Arabs, for everyone.

Okay? And so what will happen is this

leader will emerge and his name is Muhammad.

And Muhammad will unite Arabia and then

he will unite the Netorians. He will

unite the Jews and they will together

fight to get Jerusalem back. They will

fight to get to against Persia. And

guess what happens?

They basically win without much

resistance because there's so much

anger, so much opposition towards the

Sassin Empire as well as the Bison

Empire. Plus, both empires are

exhausted. And so this gives us the

Islamic revolution, right? Okay.

The Arabs are able to sweep through and

conquer most of the world very very

quickly. But when they do so, what

happens is that Muhammad dies. And now

what's going to happen is they have lots

of different factions, right? The

Nisorans, the Jews, the Arabs as well.

And they're going to fight a civil war

amongst themselves as well. And then

from the civil war will emerge a new

religion that we call Islam.

Okay, but remember this is really important.

important.

Mohamad himself did not preach Islam.

All he preached was I'm Messiah. I'm the

messenger of God like Jesus and I

will promote religious tolerance. We'll

have a community of believers and

followers in Jesus. But it doesn't

matter if you're Jew. It doesn't matter

if you're Christian. It doesn't matter

what type Christianity you are. You're

free to believe whatever you want

because that's what God wants.

>> I think it work on the although like

Muhammad said that you have the right to

believe in your divine spark but I think

they all walk on the same road as Paul

because they all formed an religion

because they follow Muhammad but not

follow themselves.

>> Okay. So this is really important idea

you guys need to understand the

messenger of God. Okay, the leader the messiah

messiah

he's never like I'm God follow me. He's

always like, "I'm a messenger of God."

And the me message of God is, "You are

divine children." That's divine spark is

in you. You should not be slaves. I will

free you from slavery. I will free you

from tyranny. I will free you from

poverty. Okay? That's always the

messenger. That that's always the

message. What will happen later on after

some time is you have a figure like

polymer emerge who needs I can turn this

into my own empire and then organiz

religion becomes organized okay that's

always the process so think of zor thusa

when he first came he was preaching a

message he was he was a poet prophet so

was Jesus so is homer so was Muhammad

but later on

people will turn his words into to an

empire. Okay, that's always the process.

Okay.

So, so, so we can um better understand

what happened. Okay. So as we discussed before

before

at this point at this point in history

the Roman Empire it's huge but please

remember that it's on a bureaucracy and

therefore each re region is controlled

by a certain noble family okay the patricians

patricians

okay and and these are like the 50 top

families in Rome and there there aren't

that many Okay. And then what will

happen is there are certain families

that will adapt well to the change in

the Roman Empire mainly by

by embracing ca Catholic religion. Okay.

By being early investors in the Catholic

Church and as such they will continue on

to today. We call these people the black

All right. So as I mentioned the there

are different migrants coming in from

the steps. The Huns, the Germanics, the

Slavs, they're basically all the steps

people. Okay, but they will come into

different regions and they will absorb

and they will absorb into Europe

differently. Okay, in the north they're

much more independent and this is where

the Vikings are. Okay, these are where

the Germans are. They're very

independent independent people. But as

they approach the Roman Empire, they are

assimilated and absorbed by the Roman

nobility using the Catholic religion.

Okay? And so the people at the very

bottom here, they become uh Christians.

Okay? But they become different types of

Christians and eventually they'll fight

fight the Bisantines because the

Bisonines want to enforce an Orthodox

Okay? And uh this is what Europe looks

like when the Western Empire falls.

Okay, as you can see, there are

different societies as well. And again,

what makes this possible is the fact

that Western Europe, it has a lot of

mountains. So it's pretty easy to defend

Okay, so this is Constantine and he is

going to make Christianity the official

religion of the Roman Empire when he

becomes emperor. Okay. So, so again even

even though even even after Julius

Caesar the Romans cannot stop cannot

help but keep on fighting civil wars and

Constantine wins one of them becomes

emperor and he moves the capital from

Rome all the way to Constantinople.

Okay, this is really important because

now he can establish a new culture

called the Bisantine Empire. Okay, they

call themselves Romans but they're not

really Romans and more like Greeks.

Another major difference is this. Rome

is over in Western Europe. Consenapole

is off in Eastern Europe. And so now

it's and now Rome is now able to defend

its wealthy provinces of Anatolia and

Egypt much more effectively. Okay. The

other thing about Kipole that's really

important is it's pretty easy to defend.

Okay? Because it's by the sea and if you

build high walls, it's almost impossible

for people to invade uh Kanole. This is

the Hag Sophia which is the official

church of the new religion. Okay. Today

we call it Eastern Orthodox

but back then it was just the Catholic

church. Okay. And this is the Haga Sophia.

Sophia.

Um this is what Kimple looks like at its

peak. And what's really important to

understand is it's very wealthy but as

you can see it's surrounded by these

seaw walls which makes it impossible to

defend. And that's why it was able to

Okay. Uh the council nikia is where they

make the holy trinity the official

doctrine of the Catholic church. Even

today, guys, if you're a Christian, you

still recite it. All right. It's called

the Nasin Creed. So, can can you read

it? Um Alec,

we believe in one God, the Father

Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and

of all things visible and invisible. And

in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of

God, the only begotten, begotten of the

Father before all ages, light of light,

true God of true God, forgotten not

made, of one essence with the Father, by

whom all things were made, whom for us

men and for all salvation, come down

from heaven, and was inc incarnate of

the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and

became man, and he was crucified for us

under Pontius

Pate. died and suffered and was buried.

And the third day he rose again

according to the scriptures and ascended

into heaven and sits at the right hand

of the father and he shall come again

with glory to judge the living and the

dead whose kingdom shall have no end and

in the holy spirit.

>> Right? So this what this does is

establish the idea that Jesus, God, holy

spirit are separate but they are one and

the same. They are different but they

are co-equal. Right? If you actually

study this next scene creed, you'll find

a lot of inconsistencies. Okay? So Jesus

Christ is a son of God, but um he is um

one with God as well. Okay? So if you

think about it, um it doesn't really

make much sense. Okay? But again, the

nin creed is something that you don't

argue over because you argue over it,

you're a heretic. You'll be burned at

the stake. is something that you just

you must memorize. It's like a math

formula basically. Okay. In in math

class, you're not allowed to question a

formula. You're just forced to memorize

the formula. Okay. [clears throat]

[clears throat]

Okay. So, as you can see, what's

happening is that the migrants are being

settled throughout Europe. Okay.

But uh but but once they're being

settled through Europe, the conflict

between these noble families in in in

Rome then become a conflict amongst

All right. So after the council of Nikia

announced the holy trinity, there's

still a lot of resistance to it. In

fact, you know, even by the year 500,

which which is about 180 years after the

council of Nikia, most of Europe is

actually they don't really believe in

the Holy Trinity. Okay? So, Iran just

means you don't believe in the Holy

Trinity. Catholic means you do. And as

you can see, this part which is

controlled by the Bison Empire, it's it

is it's able to enforce the Holy

Trinity, but most other parts are not

able to enforce the Holy Trinity. Okay,

this is really important idea to

understand. The idea of the Holy Trinity

only takes force a few hundred years

after it is announced. But in the

beginning, there's a lot of resistance

to the idea of the Holy Trinity. The Ban

Empire must fight these wars to enforce

it. Okay? And it will because as Banan

Empire becomes stronger and stronger,

you can see these [clears throat] green

arrows. It's going to fight all these

wars in order to expand the idea of the

Holy Trinity. Okay? And Kasambo can do

this because it's very wealthy and it

doesn't really fear any enemies because

Okay. As you can see, it's almost

impossible to attack Constanible from by sea.

All right. And the Bing Empire under

Justinian will

expand and expand and enforce the Holy

Trinity on all churches. Okay. And by

565 it is at the peak of its power.

But as we discussed when the empire

become reaches its peak it's usually

it's probably going to fall really

All right. So because of resistance holy

trinity Christians are forced into the

Persian Empire and into the Arabian

desert. Okay. At first they're welcome

by the Persians because these tend to be

very well educated Christians who

contribute a lot to the empire. [music]

But over time uh the Zoroastrians see

the Christians as a threat and conflict

arises between Christians and the Zoroastrians.

Zoroastrians.

The Christians will also go into the uh

Arabian desert as well to promote

Christianity. Okay. As you can see how

many how Christianity spreads the story

in Christianity also spreads to China

All right. Um one thing that you need to

understand is that even though we don't

we don't really discuss Arabia a lot,

it's a very important part of the world

throughout of history because it's a

trade center. Okay. So if you're India

and you want to bring goods into Egypt,

the best thing to do is to uh sell into

Muscat and then uh have Arabian nomads

carry the goods all the way to Mecca and

then go into Egypt. Okay. So the Arabian

desert, we don't talk much about it, but

it is a crossroads of empire and it's a

crossroads of culture as well. And there

are Jews in the Arabian desert because

um as the Romans persecute the Jews, the

the Jews go escape into Arabia because the

the

um Romans don't like sand. Okay, the

Romans what they're really good at is

besieging cities, but they hate fighting

sand. That's why the Romans cannot can

All right. So, uh this is another map

that shows the extent of the trade as

Um so, as you can see the Arabian

desert, it's connecting the world,

right? Because like you look at India

and and India is now able to connect the

world through the Arabian desert. Okay?

Okay. It backs as Europe, the

Mediterranean and Egypt through the

Okay. So, what's going to happen is that

once Muhammad comes into place and he

unites the Arabian desert into a new

community of followers, okay, they they

will spread really quickly throughout

the world. And as you can see,

there are now um over a billion Muslims

in the world. And you can see how many

Um so there's a lot of conflict between

the Roman Empire, the Bisantines and the

Assassin as well. Okay. There are lots

of lots of major battles. These wars are

exhausting both empires. And this is

this is going to enable the Arabs to um

rise in power because as these two

empires fight and their energy

decreases, this energy is being

transferred to to the Arabs. Okay?

Because a lot of wealth is being

transferred to the Arabs. But also a lot

of mercenaries are learning how to fight

uh from the Bantine from the Bison as

All right. So um the major event that

sparks the uh Arab revolution is the

persecution of the Jews. Okay. So um

Alan, can you read please?

>> The Persian army reinforced by Jewish

force led by Nihama Ben Hasher and

Benjamin of Turbaris would capture

Jerusalem without resistance.

>> Okay. So the Jews want to return to

Jerusalem. Remember the Romans kicked

the Jews out of Jerusalem. So they make

a deal with the Persians, okay? They

basically say to the Persians, if you

support us, we'll support you in the

fight against the Romans. And that's

what happened. But once that happens,

there are lots of Christians within

Jerusalem and they call the Bisantines

for help. And

And

um so the Bisonines come and they take

they went back to the city because the

Christians help them. and they start

masking masking a lot of Jews. Okay.

>> The capture of Jerusalem was interpreted

by Jewish writer in the Masonic context.

Sacrifices may even have been renewed on

the temple mount. Control of the city

was handled to Nihama Ben Hashiel and

Benjaming of Turbus. Nahama was then

appointed the ruler of Jerus Jerus

Jerusalem. She began making arrangement

for the building of the third temple and

sorting out genealologies of established

new high priesthood.

>> Okay. So this is almost the Bible where

the Jews were kicked out of Jerusalem by

the Babylonians

um and the temple was burned down. And

so what so what the Jews believe is like

now the new Messiah will return. We have

to rebuild the third temple because in

their religion the Messiah will return

all Jews to Jerusalem and build the

third temple. Okay.

>> All right. Keep on going.

>> Yeah. After only a few months, a

Christian revolt occurred. Nahama Ben

Hash and his council of 16 righteous

were killed along with many other Jews.

Some throwing themselves off the city

walls. Following the outburst of

violence in Jerus Jerusalem, the

surviving Jews fled to Shambara's

encampment encampment at >> Cesyia.

>> Cesyia.

>> Ciceria Christians were able to briefly

retake the city before the walls were

breached by Sahabas forces who lay siege

to the city. Sources vary on how long

the siege lasted. Depending on the

source, it lasted 19, 20 or 21 days.

>> Okay. Right. So the Jews take reach take

over Jerusalem and they want to build

rebuild their temple and the Christians

are angry because they think this is my

city. The Christians rebel and the

Protestants help them and the Jews are

massacred and a lot and a lot escape.

Where they go? They go to the Arabian

desert. Why do they go to the Arabian

desert? Because they they believe the

Messiah is going to come. And so they

preach that hey the Messiah is coming.

Okay? And in the Arabian desert, there's

a man who believes he's the Messiah. His

name is Muhammad. Okay.

All right. Keep on reading.

>> Jews were expelled from Jer Jerusalem

and were not allowed to settle within

the three mile radius. A general mass

massacre of the Jewish population

ensued. The massacre devastated the

Jewish communities of the Gal Galilea

and Jer Jer Jerusalem. Only those Jews

who could flee to the mountains of Egypt

are said to have been spared.

>> Okay. So this is Wikipedia. Okay. All

right. So the first thing that

Muhammad's going to do is announce the

constitution of Medina, which is say

that I'm the prophet. I am the Messiah.

But what I promise you is religious

openness and tolerance. It doesn't

matter if you're Jew. It doesn't matter

if you're Christian. It doesn't matter

if you're Arab. You can practice

whatever religion you want. It's and

it's called the constitution of Medina.

Okay? That's a promise that Muhammad

Okay? And we know this from the Quran.

So, we're going to read the Quran

together, which the holy book of the

Muslims. And what we'll see is that

Muhammad is clearly promising

tolerance for all religious uh factions.

Doesn't matter what religion you are,

you're you're allowed to practice

whatever you want. Okay. So, Alan, can

you read please?

>> Oh, people of the book, why do you argue

about Abraham when the Torah and the

Gospel were not revealed until after

him? Why you not reason? Here you are.

You argue about things you know. But why

do you argue about things you know, do

you do not know? A knows, Allah knows,

and you do not know. Abraham was neither

a Jew nor a Christian but he was a

monotheist a Muslim and he was not of

the polytheist. The people mo most

deserving of Abraham are those who

follow him and these prophet and those

who believe Allah is the guardian of the believers.

believers.

>> Okay. So the legend is that Muhammad

when he was 40 he went into the desert

and in the desert he was meditating and

he had a revelation an angel Gabriel

visited him and spoke the truth of the

universe. The Quran is just a writing

down of all these revelations. Okay. And

one major revelation is Gabriel Gabriel

tells to tells Muhammad you're all

children of God. You're all descendants

of Abraham.

Therefore, why are you guys fighting?

You guys should be working together. Okay?

Okay?

All these differences don't matter.

What's important is for you all to

remember that you all believe in the one

true God. That's what matters. And um

these differences

don't really matter. Okay. Okay. Keep on reading.

reading.

>> Yeah. They dis disbelieve with who those

who say Allah is the Messiah, the son of

Mary. But the Messiah himself said, "Oh

children of Israel, worship Allah, my

Lord and your Lord. Whoever has as sides

others with Allah. Allah has forbidden

him paradise and his dwelling is the

fire. The rondors have no saviors."

>> Okay, so this is really important. What

the Quran is saying is this Jesus is not

God. God is God. God is Allah. Jesus is

a messenger. Okay. And the messenger

himself Jesus himself said worship God.

Don't worship me. Okay. So this is a

netorian decision, right? Okay. Jesus is

human. In heaven he's divine but on

earth he's human. Okay. Keep on going.

They disbelieve those who say Allah is a

third of three. But there is no dainty

act except the one God. If they do not

refrain from what they say, a painful

torment will be before those among them

who disbelieve.

>> Okay, so this is saying that the Holy

Trinity is sacrilege. It's blessing. It

makes no sense, man. God is God. God

isn't one of three. Okay. God is just

God. Keep on going. Why they not repent

to Allah as ask forgiveness? Allah is

forgiving and merciful. The Messiah son

of Mary was only a m messenger before

whom other messengers had passed away

and his mother was a woman of truth.

They both used to eat food. Note how we

make clear the re revelation to them

that note how delude they are. Okay. To

say that Mary is divine. You say that

Jesus is divine. It's all superstitious.

They're all just messengers of the one

true God like Moses and like uh like

Moses before him. Okay. And now like

Muhammad today. Okay, Moses, Jesus, and

Muhammad are all messages of God. Jesus

was the penultimate and Muhammad is the

last. Okay, the final messenger of God.

All right, keep on keep with him are the

keys of the unseen. None knows them

except he and he knows everything on

land and in the sea. Not a leaf falls,

but he knows it. And there is not a

single grain in the darkness of earth,

nor is there anything wet or dry, but is

in a clear record.

It is he who takes you by night, and he

knows what you earn by day. Then he

raises you up in it until a fixed them

term is fulfilled. Then to him is your

return. Then he will inform you of what

you used to do. He is a conqueror over

his servant and he send guardians over

you until when death overtakes one of

you our envoys take him away and they

never fail. Then they are brought back

to Allah the true master. Unquestionably

he is the judgment and he is the swift

swift test of reck reckers.

>> This is establishing the monad right as

god. The monad is the universe. The

monad is everything. It's divine. Okay,

stop saying Jesus is God. That makes no sense.

sense.

All right. Okay. So, as we discussed,

now the Iranian desert, it's energized.

People are energetic [clears throat]

because people's thirst for religious

liberation. Okay. The Christians, the

Jews all unite behind Muhammad. And very

quickly, they're able to once he's able

to unite the Arabs. Okay. They're now

really quickly able to expand outwards.

They retake Jerusalem.

and they conquer the Persian Empire very

very quickly because both of these

empires the bisonines and the assassins

are exhausted. The main advantage of the

bisines is they have still have console

which is impossible to conquer. Okay. So

consoles like um is safe but every falls

to the Arabs.

Okay. And as you can see how fast their

conquest is and this is only about 100

years. Okay. They're able to basically

conquer most of the Roman Empire. They

take Spain, they take Northern Africa,

they conquer Persia. Okay, it's a really

rapid conquest because at this point in

history, people are just sick of empires

and they're looking for religious liberation.

liberation.

Okay? And over time, but over time as

Muhammad dies, the Muslims will fight

amongst themselves and they will

establish different um empires called

caliphats and they will break up as

well. Okay? And this will give time for

the basicines to

um reestablish themselves and then

Western Europe will become more and more powerful.

Now the Arabs will establish something

called the Islamic Golden Age. And this

marks a time of tremendous peace and

prosperity for the world because the

Muslims are able to establish trade

networks throughout the world. Okay?

Why? Well, because when you do trade,

the biggest problem is one of trust,

right? How can I trust you to take my

money to somewhere else? But if you're a

Muslim, you are you must swear to Allah.

Okay? So religion requires you to be

trustworthy and that allows Muslims to

work together and establish trade routes

throughout the world. But you can't

really trust someone who's not Muslim,

but you trust someone who is Muslim.

Okay? So these Muslims go all around the

world and including into China and as such

such

um the Islamic Empire is able to

establish trade throughout the world

which brings tremendous prosperity to

Um as and as you can I'm not sure you

don't understand Islam but Islam is a

beautiful simple religion that builds

trust and community. Uh this is Mecca

and this is the Haj where

Muslims come from all the world and they

circle around the kebab the the cube. Okay.

Um so Islam consider itself as the

ultimate religion because it improves on

both Judaism and Christianity. Okay.

Christians believe they are improving on

Judaism. Islams Muslims believe they're

an improvement on Christians and Jews as well.

Okay. Now let's talk about the Western

Empire. Okay. Because that's where our

focus will be for the next um for for

the rest of semester. 476

the GS destroy Rome. Why? Because

because the power now is being shifted

from the empire to Catholic Church.

Okay. So the empire doesn't really have

have that much power.

So what happens is that it recruits

mercenaries to fight for them but it

can't really pay the mercenaries. So the

mercenaries in response go and sack

Rome. Okay. By this time in history Rome

is no longer a power. It doesn't it

Augustine who is the main architect of

the Catholic Church. Okay. He takes

Paul's ideas and systemize it. He

teaches us in the city of God that

Catholic Church is out of history. It is

beyond history. It is divine. Okay? So

the kings can fight over the land, but

it's the church who will decide who goes

to heaven and who burns in hell. And

that's the power of the church. One

thing to remember about um Europe is

like there are lots of geographic

barriers which allows for diversity

within Europe. Okay, that's why Europe

has so many countries because it

historically it's been very hard to

and this allows for tremendous diversity

and it creates a lot of conflict as well

which drives innovation. Okay, so this is when the when the Roman Empire falls

is when the when the Roman Empire falls in in the west uh there are lots of

in in the west uh there are lots of different groups fighting for remains.

different groups fighting for remains. Now what's really important to

Now what's really important to understand about history is when we say

understand about history is when we say the Roman Empire rises and it falls.

the Roman Empire rises and it falls. This is our understanding of them. Okay.

This is our understanding of them. Okay. But from their perspective, the empire

But from their perspective, the empire never fell because these warlords think

never fell because these warlords think that I'm the empire now. Okay? And so

that I'm the empire now. Okay? And so what's going to happen is that they're

what's going to happen is that they're going to be compete for the legacy of

going to be compete for the legacy of Rome.

And eventually this leads to the rise of a new power

a new power um the Franks. Okay, so the Franks are

um the Franks. Okay, so the Franks are expanding throughout Europe and they see

expanding throughout Europe and they see themselves as the here to the Roman

themselves as the here to the Roman Empire. But how do you prove that you

Empire. But how do you prove that you are here to Roman Empire? How do you

are here to Roman Empire? How do you legitimize yourself? Well, you need to

legitimize yourself? Well, you need to get the Catholic Church on your side.

get the Catholic Church on your side. Right?

Right? So in about 800 Charlemagne who is the

So in about 800 Charlemagne who is the king of Franks, he is crowned Holy Roman

king of Franks, he is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope. Okay. And from now

Emperor by the Pope. Okay. And from now on it is the Catholic Church, the Pope

on it is the Catholic Church, the Pope who decides who will be the Holy Roman

who decides who will be the Holy Roman Emperor. There's a negoti negotiating

Emperor. There's a negoti negotiating going on but on public for the public

going on but on public for the public the Holy Roman Empire is always anointed

the Holy Roman Empire is always anointed by God.

Okay, this is Charlemagne and uh today he is buried in the Aken Cathedral.

he is buried in the Aken Cathedral. Okay, one of the most beautiful

Okay, one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. His body is

buildings in the world. His body is still there. Okay, the king cathedral

still there. Okay, the king cathedral and this this is what it looks like

and this this is what it looks like inside.

Okay, now the Catholic Church because of this power is now able to anoint the

this power is now able to anoint the Holy Roman Empire. it becomes wealthy.

Holy Roman Empire. it becomes wealthy. Okay. Okay. So, can you read this Ellen

Okay. Okay. So, can you read this Ellen from the Bible?

from the Bible? >> Yeah. Then Jesus said to his disciples,

>> Yeah. Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Assuredly I said to you that it is hard

"Assuredly I said to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of

for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again, I say to you, it is

heaven. And again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye

easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter

of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." So, as I keep on

the kingdom of God." So, as I keep on telling you, Jesus himself was very

telling you, Jesus himself was very anti-rich. Okay? He believed that the

anti-rich. Okay? He believed that the rich people because they were too

rich people because they were too focused on material acquisitions could

focused on material acquisitions could never go into heaven. Okay. But the

never go into heaven. Okay. But the paradox is that

paradox is that the Catholic Church becomes extremely

the Catholic Church becomes extremely wealthy. Okay. If you go to the Vatican,

wealthy. Okay. If you go to the Vatican, you can still go go back and you visit

you can still go go back and you visit St. Pet Basilica. It is one of the most

St. Pet Basilica. It is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. It's

beautiful buildings in the world. It's extremely wealthy. Inside, guys, it's

extremely wealthy. Inside, guys, it's all gold. Okay. All right. Right. So the

all gold. Okay. All right. Right. So the Vatican is has been historically the

Vatican is has been historically the wealthiest organization in the world

wealthiest organization in the world and it was able to do this because

and it was able to do this because um Western Europe started to become very

um Western Europe started to become very wealthy over time. Okay. So from about

wealthy over time. Okay. So from about a,000 to about 1300 the population of

a,000 to about 1300 the population of Europe doubles because of technology

Europe doubles because of technology innovation because the climate is

innovation because the climate is warming allowing for agriculture

warming allowing for agriculture um because of the rise of cities and

um because of the rise of cities and because Europe is trading with everyone.

because Europe is trading with everyone. Okay. So at this time uh Europe is

Okay. So at this time uh Europe is becoming more more wealthy which makes

becoming more more wealthy which makes the Catholic Church really really

the Catholic Church really really wealthy. Okay. These are different urban

wealthy. Okay. These are different urban centers of um Europe at this time and

centers of um Europe at this time and they engage mainly in trade.

they engage mainly in trade. Okay. So, the church becomes a much more

Okay. So, the church becomes a much more powerful idea than the empire. Okay.

powerful idea than the empire. Okay. Why? Well, with an empire, it's the

Why? Well, with an empire, it's the emperor who's in charge, right? But the

emperor who's in charge, right? But the emperor is still a human being and

emperor is still a human being and therefore he can change his mind and he

therefore he can change his mind and he doesn't really know what what he's

doesn't really know what what he's doing. But in the church, the person in

doing. But in the church, the person in charge is God who is perfect, immunable,

charge is God who is perfect, immunable, and eternal. Okay? So, this is the

and eternal. Okay? So, this is the ultimate authority, the church. Second

ultimate authority, the church. Second is what is the mandate? Well, an empire

is what is the mandate? Well, an empire demands

demands that you work hard, your labor, but the

that you work hard, your labor, but the church demands your soul, your

church demands your soul, your obedience.

obedience. Okay? Therefore, the church is able to

Okay? Therefore, the church is able to extract more wealth from you. The last

extract more wealth from you. The last thing is, okay, let's say you don't obey

thing is, okay, let's say you don't obey the empire. What's the wor worst thing

the empire. What's the wor worst thing that can happen to you? Well, the empire

that can happen to you? Well, the empire puts you to death. Okay, not a big deal.

puts you to death. Okay, not a big deal. But the church, what it can do is send

But the church, what it can do is send you in hell for all of eternity. Okay,

you in hell for all of eternity. Okay, that's why the the Catholic Church

that's why the the Catholic Church becomes the most powerful organization

becomes the most powerful organization ever in human history and it's still

ever in human history and it's still true today.

true today. [snorts]

[snorts] All right. So, what makes the um

All right. So, what makes the um Catholic Church so powerful? What

Catholic Church so powerful? What becomes a divine bureaucracy? Okay. Um

becomes a divine bureaucracy? Okay. Um and what it does is establish a very

and what it does is establish a very strict hierarchy.

strict hierarchy. So the idea of the church is that God is

So the idea of the church is that God is distant and God demands your obedience.

distant and God demands your obedience. Right? So remember Augustine, city of

Right? So remember Augustine, city of God, remember Paul, right? So um one

God, remember Paul, right? So um one thing is that when you go to church, the

thing is that when you go to church, the priest doesn't speak in your language,

priest doesn't speak in your language, the vernacular, it speaks in Latin. And

the vernacular, it speaks in Latin. And you don't really understand the

you don't really understand the language. Okay? You're not allowed to

language. Okay? You're not allowed to read the Bible because at this time most

read the Bible because at this time most people are illiterate. Um the Holy

people are illiterate. Um the Holy Trinity makes no sense. But again,

Trinity makes no sense. But again, you're not asked to debate it. You're

you're not asked to debate it. You're not asked to question it. You're just

not asked to question it. You're just you just have to memorize it. Um there

you just have to memorize it. Um there are lots of rituals

are lots of rituals to the Catholic Church. Some of these

to the Catholic Church. Some of these rituals are just really weird. So for

rituals are just really weird. So for the example of the Eucharist where you

the example of the Eucharist where you believe that you're actually eating the

believe that you're actually eating the body and blood of Jesus through the idea

body and blood of Jesus through the idea of sub transubst

of sub transubst trans substitation okay um the church is

trans substitation okay um the church is powerful because it can determine who

powerful because it can determine who goes to heaven and hell and for how how

goes to heaven and hell and for how how long and ultimately if you don't if you

long and ultimately if you don't if you are a king you don't obey the church the

are a king you don't obey the church the pope can excommunicate you which which

pope can excommunicate you which which is say I remove I remove you from the

is say I remove I remove you from the Christian community and therefore any

Christian community and therefore any other king can come and kill you and

other king can come and kill you and it'll be good in the eyes of God. Okay,

it'll be good in the eyes of God. Okay, does that make sense? So this is how why

does that make sense? So this is how why the church is so powerful but also

the church is so powerful but also explain helps us explain why the church

explain helps us explain why the church is so corrupt as well. They have too

is so corrupt as well. They have too much power

and ultimately they will use this power in order to enrich themselves. Okay,

in order to enrich themselves. Okay, remember the Catholic church people who

remember the Catholic church people who control the Catholic Church are

control the Catholic Church are descendants of the Roman nobility. Okay.

descendants of the Roman nobility. Okay. They will use Catholic Church to en

They will use Catholic Church to en enrich themselves. They say something

enrich themselves. They say something called indulgences. And the idea is

called indulgences. And the idea is let's say you're a rich person and you

let's say you're a rich person and you did a lot of bad things and now you're

did a lot of bad things and now you're afraid you you'll burn in hell, right?

afraid you you'll burn in hell, right? Well, Jesus will say, "Too bad." But the

Well, Jesus will say, "Too bad." But the Catholic Church says, "Give us a lot of

Catholic Church says, "Give us a lot of money and we'll give you an indulgence."

money and we'll give you an indulgence." Okay? Basically, you know, a uh ticket

Okay? Basically, you know, a uh ticket to purgatory. All right? And so, as you

to purgatory. All right? And so, as you can see, there's a lot of corruption

can see, there's a lot of corruption going on. something called simony where

going on. something called simony where you can buy and sell positions in

you can buy and sell positions in Catholic church very similar to the

Catholic church very similar to the imperial bureaucracy of China right uh

imperial bureaucracy of China right uh they're selling holy relics

they're selling holy relics priests are not really divine they get

priests are not really divine they get married uh they sell their positions to

married uh they sell their positions to nobles

nobles um and the kings are the ones who can

um and the kings are the ones who can appoint leaders of the church as well

appoint leaders of the church as well okay so there's this negotiation going

okay so there's this negotiation going on between the Catholic church and the

on between the Catholic church and the kings as well

kings as well um the parish the parishioners no matter

um the parish the parishioners no matter how poor they are they're forced to pay

how poor they are they're forced to pay a tax. They they pay a tax to the

a tax. They they pay a tax to the Catholic Church and not to the king.

Catholic Church and not to the king. Okay? As you can imagine, the king is

Okay? As you can imagine, the king is not really happy about about this

not really happy about about this because a third of his land, most of his

because a third of his land, most of his tax revenue, it's being taken over by

tax revenue, it's being taken over by the Catholic Church. So that's why a lot

the Catholic Church. So that's why a lot of kings will eventually start to rebel

of kings will eventually start to rebel against the Catholic Church. Okay? Um

against the Catholic Church. Okay? Um the church controls one-third of all

the church controls one-third of all land in Europe tax-free.

land in Europe tax-free. Okay? And this leads to feudalism.

Okay? And this leads to feudalism. All right.

All right. Um, so at the same time though, even

Um, so at the same time though, even though the Catholic Church is so

though the Catholic Church is so powerful in Europe, it still has a

powerful in Europe, it still has a legitimacy problem. Okay? Meaning like

legitimacy problem. Okay? Meaning like how does it prove that it is truly

how does it prove that it is truly divine?

divine? Well, you have some certain problems.

Well, you have some certain problems. The first problem is the Muslims occupy

The first problem is the Muslims occupy the Holy Land. Okay? If you are truly if

the Holy Land. Okay? If you are truly if you truly represent God, why is

you truly represent God, why is Jerusalem in the hands of the Muslims?

Jerusalem in the hands of the Muslims? Okay. Also, Spain is part of Europe, but

Okay. Also, Spain is part of Europe, but Muslim Spain is actually much more

Muslim Spain is actually much more wealthy and innovative than the rest of

wealthy and innovative than the rest of Europe.

Europe. Um, 1054, the Eastern Orthodox Church

Um, 1054, the Eastern Orthodox Church led by the Byzantines break with

led by the Byzantines break with the Catholic Church. Okay? Because both

the Catholic Church. Okay? Because both want want to be the ultimate center of

want want to be the ultimate center of the world. But the Bison says that we're

the world. But the Bison says that we're the center and the Romans say, "No,

the center and the Romans say, "No, we're the center." Okay? Um

we're the center." Okay? Um and there's corruption going on. Okay,

and there's corruption going on. Okay, everyone says corruption, but there's

everyone says corruption, but there's also lots of religious leaders who are

also lots of religious leaders who are rebelling against Catholic Church

rebelling against Catholic Church because they want to unleash a divine

because they want to unleash a divine spark. Okay, so there's all this legitim

spark. Okay, so there's all this legitim legitimacy problems going on.

legitimacy problems going on. And so there are different solutions.

And so there are different solutions. Okay, one solution the Catholic Church

Okay, one solution the Catholic Church does is that it persecutes Jews.

does is that it persecutes Jews. Okay. So the Catholic Church allows Jews

Okay. So the Catholic Church allows Jews to exist just so that the Catholic

to exist just so that the Catholic Church can scapegoat

Church can scapegoat the Jews. And throughout this time, as

the Jews. And throughout this time, as you can see, Jews are being persecuted

you can see, Jews are being persecuted mainly by being forced out of their

mainly by being forced out of their homes where they lived for hundreds of

homes where they lived for hundreds of years. Okay? And a lot of them are

years. Okay? And a lot of them are forced to go east into the Muslim Empire

forced to go east into the Muslim Empire and to go to Spain. Okay?

and to go to Spain. Okay? But over time there's being expelled

But over time there's being expelled from these regions.

Um this is another map that shows the persecution of the Jews. As as you can

persecution of the Jews. As as you can see they're forced to go uh east. Okay.

see they're forced to go uh east. Okay. And often there are lots of massacres as

And often there are lots of massacres as well. Okay. So the black spots, okay,

well. Okay. So the black spots, okay, the skull spots are areas in which they

the skull spots are areas in which they were massacred. they were blamed for

were massacred. they were blamed for certain crimes. Okay.

All right. Um so this is a map that shows the pil the

so this is a map that shows the pil the pilgrimages of Christians into the holy

pilgrimages of Christians into the holy land. Okay. And again, it's a source of

land. Okay. And again, it's a source of embarrassment for the Christians that

embarrassment for the Christians that their holy land is occupied by Muslims

their holy land is occupied by Muslims and they have to pay a tax with Muslims

and they have to pay a tax with Muslims and they go into the holy land.

Um, right now the Holy Land, Jerusalem is being controlled by the Sojic Turks,

is being controlled by the Sojic Turks, okay? The Ottoman Empire.

All right? And that's why Pope Orin the second will eventually call for the

second will eventually call for the crusades to liberate the holy land from

crusades to liberate the holy land from the Muslims. Okay. So can you read

the Muslims. Okay. So can you read please? All who die by the way, whether

please? All who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against

by land or by sea, or in battle against a penguins, shall have immediate

a penguins, shall have immediate remission of sins. Or what a disgrace if

remission of sins. Or what a disgrace if such a despise and base raised, which

such a despise and base raised, which worship demons should conquer a people

worship demons should conquer a people which has the face of only potent god

which has the face of only potent god and is made glorious with the name of

and is made glorious with the name of Christ.

Christ. >> Okay.

Let those who have been accustomed unjustly to wage private warfare against

unjustly to wage private warfare against the faithful now go against the infidels

the faithful now go against the infidels and end with victory this war which

and end with victory this war which should have been begun long ago. Let

should have been begun long ago. Let those who for a long time have been

those who for a long time have been robbers now become knights. Let those

robbers now become knights. Let those who have been fighting against the

who have been fighting against the brothers and relevates now fight in a

brothers and relevates now fight in a proper way against the barbarians. that

proper way against the barbarians. that those who have been serving as

those who have been serving as mercenaries for small pay now obtain the

mercenaries for small pay now obtain the eternal reward.

eternal reward. >> Okay, so this is this is Pope Orb saying

>> Okay, so this is this is Pope Orb saying the crusades. It's to go and fight the

the crusades. It's to go and fight the demons. And if you fight a demon, it

demons. And if you fight a demon, it doesn't matter who you are. You could be

doesn't matter who you are. You could be poor, you could be rich, you could be a

poor, you could be rich, you could be a sinful person, you could be a nobody,

sinful person, you could be a nobody, but now it's just your opportunity to go

but now it's just your opportunity to go to heaven. Okay? The like when you go to

to heaven. Okay? The like when you go to fight the demons, you will all be

fight the demons, you will all be guaranteed access to heaven. no matter

guaranteed access to heaven. no matter who you are, no matter what you did.

who you are, no matter what you did. And so, uh, a lot of people go and join

And so, uh, a lot of people go and join the crusades for lots of different

the crusades for lots of different reasons, especially those who've

reasons, especially those who've committed crimes before. Okay? So, guess

committed crimes before. Okay? So, guess what? A lot of people join the crusades

what? A lot of people join the crusades are criminals because here's your

are criminals because here's your opportunity to uh get good with the

opportunity to uh get good with the church. Okay?

church. Okay? That's why we see a lot of abuse during

That's why we see a lot of abuse during the crusades. Okay? So, as you can see,

the crusades. Okay? So, as you can see, lots of people are now joining the

lots of people are now joining the crusades in order to liberate the Holy

crusades in order to liberate the Holy Land

Land and eventually they succeed. Okay? Even

and eventually they succeed. Okay? Even though a lot of criminals,

though a lot of criminals, um they're still very good fighters

um they're still very good fighters because they have religious devotion.

because they have religious devotion. Okay? They're very energetic.

And unfortunately, um they're too energetic. So they have

um they're too energetic. So they have tendency to massacre people when they

tendency to massacre people when they succeed because they literally see the

succeed because they literally see the Muslims

Muslims and the Jews as demons. That's what the

and the Jews as demons. That's what the pope taught them.

pope taught them. Um one organization that developed

Um one organization that developed during the crusades is called the

during the crusades is called the Knights Templars. Okay, this is very

Knights Templars. Okay, this is very important. We'll be discussing Knights

important. We'll be discussing Knights Templars later on. Okay, but the Knights

Templars later on. Okay, but the Knights Templars is really the first

Templars is really the first multinational bank because these

multinational bank because these pilgrims are going to holy land and they

pilgrims are going to holy land and they need to bring money with them to fund

need to bring money with them to fund the journey. But if they take a lot of

the journey. But if they take a lot of money with them, then they'll get

money with them, then they'll get robbed, right? So what they'll do is

robbed, right? So what they'll do is they'll give the money to nice templars

they'll give the money to nice templars and then when they get to Jerusalem, the

and then when they get to Jerusalem, the nice templars will give the money back

nice templars will give the money back to them. Okay? So they're a bank

to them. Okay? So they're a bank basically and then they can use this

basically and then they can use this money to start investing throughout of

money to start investing throughout of Europe and so they become a very wealthy

Europe and so they become a very wealthy organization.

organization. The problem is that because in Jerusalem

The problem is that because in Jerusalem and away from the authority of Catholic

and away from the authority of Catholic Church, they start to embrace new ideas.

Church, they start to embrace new ideas. They start to discover the true nature

They start to discover the true nature of Jesus from the Muslims and from other

of Jesus from the Muslims and from other Christians in that area. And so the

Christians in that area. And so the church thinks that they become more

church thinks that they become more corrupt over time. And that's why

corrupt over time. And that's why their leader Jack De Mole, he is burnt

their leader Jack De Mole, he is burnt at the stake. And in 1307, the

at the stake. And in 1307, the organization is banned by the Catholic

organization is banned by the Catholic Church. But a lot of the survivors they

Church. But a lot of the survivors they will go over to other places and they

will go over to other places and they will and they will form the basis of a

will and they will form the basis of a secret society we call the Freemasons.

secret society we call the Freemasons. Okay. So we'll discuss the Freemasons

Okay. So we'll discuss the Freemasons later on.

Okay. There's also something called the albborene

albborene crusade. So there are still individuals

crusade. So there are still individuals who believe in the divine spark. Okay.

who believe in the divine spark. Okay. And these people call are called

And these people call are called cathars. And the church sees him as a

cathars. And the church sees him as a threat and that's why they launch a

threat and that's why they launch a crusade against these caththers. Okay.

crusade against these caththers. Okay. So can you can you read Alan?

So can you can you read Alan? Seaman and many of his soldiers made

Seaman and many of his soldiers made determined effort to convert the Cather

determined effort to convert the Cather perfect but failed.

perfect but failed. >> Okay. So again the Catholic Church is if

>> Okay. So again the Catholic Church is if you disagree with us it doesn't mean

you disagree with us it doesn't mean you're a heretic. It just means you're

you're a heretic. It just means you're stupid. So our so we first want to

stupid. So our so we first want to educate you in what is right. Okay. The

educate you in what is right. Okay. The Cathers believed that no, the divine

Cathers believed that no, the divine spark is in me. I know the truth for

spark is in me. I know the truth for myself. You can never convince me. Okay,

myself. You can never convince me. Okay, keep keep on going. Ultimately, only

keep keep on going. Ultimately, only three women recented. The 140 who

three women recented. The 140 who refused were burned at the stake. Some

refused were burned at the stake. Some entered the flames voluntarily, not

entered the flames voluntarily, not awaiting their executioners.

awaiting their executioners. >> So if you believe in the divine spark,

>> So if you believe in the divine spark, okay, you believe you've discovered

okay, you believe you've discovered truth. You're not afraid of death. So

truth. You're not afraid of death. So you so the the Catholics are saying like

you so the the Catholics are saying like if you don't we can't we'll burn you at

if you don't we can't we'll burn you at the stake. The Catholics are like good

the stake. The Catholics are like good keep on going.

keep on going. >> In August the crusade proceeded to

>> In August the crusade proceeded to besiege the stronghold of Teras despite

besiege the stronghold of Teras despite sales sies from period rocker de decap

sales sies from period rocker de decap decaparate. The siege wears solid. The

decaparate. The siege wears solid. The occupants of Terminal suffered from a

occupants of Terminal suffered from a shortage of water and ro Roman Real

shortage of water and ro Roman Real Duris agreed to a temporary truce. The

Duris agreed to a temporary truce. The Cathers were briefly relieved by an

Cathers were briefly relieved by an intense rainstorm and so Reman refused

intense rainstorm and so Reman refused to surrender. Ultimately, the defenders

to surrender. Ultimately, the defenders were not able to break the siege and on

were not able to break the siege and on 22 November the Cathers managed to

22 November the Cathers managed to abandon the city and escape. By the time

abandon the city and escape. By the time operations resumes in uh 1002 1,211,

operations resumes in uh 1002 1,211, the actions of honored armory and seaman

the actions of honored armory and seaman de Montford had alignate alienated

de Montford had alignate alienated several important lords including

several important lords including Raymond D. Tollos who has been

Raymond D. Tollos who has been excommunicated again.

excommunicated again. >> Okay. So as you can see what's really

>> Okay. So as you can see what's really important to understand is the crusade

important to understand is the crusade against cathars is not just a religious

against cathars is not just a religious crusade. It's also one of geopolitics

crusade. It's also one of geopolitics where the local lords resent the power

where the local lords resent the power of the Catholic church and so they

of the Catholic church and so they support the caththers. Okay. All right.

support the caththers. Okay. All right. So, and this is going to happen

So, and this is going to happen throughout Europe. So, um um the

throughout Europe. So, um um the response of the church is to establish a

response of the church is to establish a new society led by Francis of Aisi

new society led by Francis of Aisi called the Dominicans. Okay. The

called the Dominicans. Okay. The Dominicans which goes which goes and and

Dominicans which goes which goes and and basically tries to figure out who the

basically tries to figure out who the Caththers are. Okay. by interrogating

Caththers are. Okay. by interrogating everyone.

All right? And this leads to of course the equition.

the equition. Okay?

Um and so the idea is that if you disagree

and so the idea is that if you disagree with church orthodoxy, they will figure

with church orthodoxy, they will figure it out. And if you refuse to recant, if

it out. And if you refuse to recant, if you refuse to obey, they will burn you

you refuse to obey, they will burn you at the stake. Okay? So at this time in

at the stake. Okay? So at this time in history because of the inquisition,

history because of the inquisition, because of the power of the Catholic

because of the power of the Catholic Church, Western Europe is one of the

Church, Western Europe is one of the least innovative places in the world.

least innovative places in the world. Okay?

All right. And at first this is fine, but

And at first this is fine, but eventually

eventually um bad things start to happen in Europe.

um bad things start to happen in Europe. Okay? So the little the little ice age

Okay? So the little the little ice age begins, then you have the great famine,

begins, then you have the great famine, then you have more wars, then you have

then you have more wars, then you have benetry. Okay? And then of course you

benetry. Okay? And then of course you have the black death. So if the Catholic

have the black death. So if the Catholic Church represents the will of God and

Church represents the will of God and all this is happening

all this is happening then is God really happy with the

then is God really happy with the Catholic Church, right?

Catholic Church, right? So this is a black death which kills

So this is a black death which kills about a third of the European

about a third of the European population. And people because they're

population. And people because they're religious, they think that this is the

religious, they think that this is the will of God. It's because the Catholic

will of God. It's because the Catholic Church, it's corrupt. It's evil. It's

Church, it's corrupt. It's evil. It's stagnant. That's why God is punishing

stagnant. That's why God is punishing us. Okay.

Um and this will lead to conflict within Europe where the Catholic Church is

Europe where the Catholic Church is actually broken into different parts as

actually broken into different parts as well. Okay. So there are some who

well. Okay. So there are some who believe that uh Rome is the true center

believe that uh Rome is the true center center of the Catholic Church and there

center of the Catholic Church and there are other people who believe that Ammon

are other people who believe that Ammon okay is the true center of the Catholic

okay is the true center of the Catholic church and this creates even more

church and this creates even more legitimacy problems with the Catholic

legitimacy problems with the Catholic Church.

All right and then you have individuals who will emerge to challenge the

who will emerge to challenge the orthodoxy of the Catholic Church. Okay.

orthodoxy of the Catholic Church. Okay. So this is this is Freight Dosina. We

So this is this is Freight Dosina. We don't read [snorts]

don't read [snorts] uh John White is a British person who

uh John White is a British person who was um he didn't he was not punished

was um he didn't he was not punished when he was alive but afterwards after

when he was alive but afterwards after he died they decided he was a heretic.

he died they decided he was a heretic. So what they did was they dug up his

So what they did was they dug up his body and then burned him up the stake to

body and then burned him up the stake to make sure he he burned in hell. Okay.

make sure he he burned in hell. Okay. Uh Jen Hus will lead a revolution. Okay.

Uh Jen Hus will lead a revolution. Okay. And this is called the Husk wars.

And this is called the Husk wars. And none none succeed. But then another

And none none succeed. But then another man will emerge called Martin Luther who

man will emerge called Martin Luther who will eventually lead a successful

will eventually lead a successful revolution against Catholic Church. And

revolution against Catholic Church. And this is called Protestantism.

this is called Protestantism. Protestatismism. Okay. And we'll discuss

Protestatismism. Okay. And we'll discuss Martin Luther next class. Next class.

Martin Luther next class. Next class. Next class we will discuss the rise of

Next class we will discuss the rise of capitalism. All right. Any questions

capitalism. All right. Any questions guys? Yes.

guys? Yes. Like there's a case of my mother friend

Like there's a case of my mother friend telling me that she uh her her her

telling me that she uh her her her husband has a uh severe cancer and they

husband has a uh severe cancer and they tr they try to pray to the Catholic

tr they try to pray to the Catholic church and like later the cancer just

church and like later the cancer just disappears and they said it is miracle

disappears and they said it is miracle by the c Catholic church and they all

by the c Catholic church and they all believe in the cath catholic church. Can

believe in the cath catholic church. Can it explain the miracle like is there

it explain the miracle like is there really really miracle there?

really really miracle there? >> Okay. Yeah. Okay, back to your question.

>> Okay. Yeah. Okay, back to your question. Okay, so this is what we call the

Okay, so this is what we call the placebo effect.

Okay, the placebo effect is basically um

um you feel really sick

you feel really sick and you're like, "Doctor, doctor, I'm

and you're like, "Doctor, doctor, I'm really sick. I'm going to die. Is there

really sick. I'm going to die. Is there any medicine that that can save me?" And

any medicine that that can save me?" And I'm a doctor and I I don't want to say

I'm a doctor and I I don't want to say there is no medicine. Uh, so I say,

there is no medicine. Uh, so I say, "Okay, well here here's some here here's

"Okay, well here here's some here here's here's a medicine. Okay, it might help

here's a medicine. Okay, it might help you, but this but this medicine does

you, but this but this medicine does nothing. You take this medicine and then

nothing. You take this medicine and then you feel better. You you get better."

you feel better. You you get better." And this happens a lot. Okay, it's

And this happens a lot. Okay, it's called it's called the placebo effect.

called it's called the placebo effect. So why does this happen? It happens

So why does this happen? It happens because if you if you understand that

because if you if you understand that mind leads to matter

then your reality is shaped by your

your reality is shaped by your perception your belief. Okay. So if you

perception your belief. Okay. So if you believe that this medicine

believe that this medicine can improve your body then it will have

can improve your body then it will have effects. Okay. The question though is

effects. Okay. The question though is how much do you really believe in this

how much do you really believe in this medicine?

medicine? Okay. So you can argue that cancer it's

Okay. So you can argue that cancer it's really a question of loss of faith.

really a question of loss of faith. What is cancer? Cancer is a splitting of

What is cancer? Cancer is a splitting of cells, right? So why is your body

cells, right? So why is your body literally falling apart? It's because

literally falling apart? It's because you've stopped believing in yourself.

you've stopped believing in yourself. You've stopped believing in the purpose

You've stopped believing in the purpose of life. You've stopped believing that

of life. You've stopped believing that you have relevance in the world.

you have relevance in the world. Okay. So, when you say, "I want to cure

Okay. So, when you say, "I want to cure my cancer. I want to cure my cancer."

my cancer. I want to cure my cancer." What you're really saying is, "I want to

What you're really saying is, "I want to find a new faith. I want to believe in

find a new faith. I want to believe in myself again. I want to reestablish my

myself again. I want to reestablish my relevance in the world." Okay? Does that

relevance in the world." Okay? Does that make sense? So, you have the desire.

make sense? So, you have the desire. Once you have the desire, then the cure

Once you have the desire, then the cure makes sense.

makes sense. Okay? So,

Okay? So, >> so, so, so another way of saying this

>> so, so, so another way of saying this is, okay, let's just say that you don't

is, okay, let's just say that you don't feel well, right? Well,

feel well, right? Well, if your parents make you go see a

if your parents make you go see a psychiatrist,

psychiatrist, you probably won't feel better. But if

you probably won't feel better. But if you yourself want to get better and you

you yourself want to get better and you go see a psychiatrist, you'll probably

go see a psychiatrist, you'll probably get better. Okay? So

get better. Okay? So why this person why he or she improved

why this person why he or she improved his or her cancer is because

his or her cancer is because um of faith.

um of faith. Okay? She won't get better.

Okay? She won't get better. So if you're able to orientate your mind

So if you're able to orientate your mind in a certain way, you're capable of

in a certain way, you're capable of tremendous miracles. Another another

tremendous miracles. Another another idea is that idea of meditation, right?

idea is that idea of meditation, right? If you're able to control your thoughts,

If you're able to control your thoughts, if you're able to calm yourself down,

if you're able to calm yourself down, your body will heal a lot faster. Okay?

your body will heal a lot faster. Okay? Does that make sense?

Does that make sense? >> Right. Okay. Any more questions?

>> Right. Okay. Any more questions? Okay. Great. So next class we will we'll

Okay. Great. So next class we will we'll discuss capitalism.

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YouTube Transcript:Secret History #24: Empire of Church