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Secret History #12: Heaven on Earth | Predictive History | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Secret History #12: Heaven on Earth
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Summary
Core Theme
This content challenges common historical narratives by arguing that ancient humans were driven by religious impulses, a desire for differentiation, and curiosity, rather than materialism. It posits that societal structures and achievements, like pyramid construction, were rooted in shared vision, spiritual purpose, and community, contrasting this with modern society's focus on individualism and profit.
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So we continue
um our run through h a run through of
human history today. So last class we
did cave paintings and what I will do
from now on is I will highlight some
YouTube comments
um for for us to review what we learned
last class but also um as a chance for
us to better engage the YouTube
audience. Okay. So this comment comes to
us from Gary Zorakiski
and he talks about the K paintings. He
says that um it is possible they created
art everywhere the paintings only
survived in the caves and the answer is
absolutely. So back then during the ice
age they made these cave paintings as a
ritual as a celebration of their
religion to express their imagination.
They really didn't care about leaving a
legacy that comes later. Okay. So that's
a very important comment. So thank you.
Um, this man says that when I was
talking about Beethoven, uh, he points
out that Beethoven wasn't born deaf. He
became deaf much later as an adult. And
that is true. Um, so but one thing about
Beethoven that people don't really
discuss is that he probably had symphysicia.
symphysicia.
Okay? And this is just a fancy word
meaning the mixing of senses. So some
people are born with a special talent
and so what happens is that their senses
get mixed up. So when people hear things
they actually see things. Okay. So the
classic example is that they have pitch
perfect. So there are some people
musicians when they hear something they
they exactly what the pitch is. Is it C
um minor D uh major? Okay. And the
reason why is when they hear something
they see a color. Okay. So they mix the
audio sense with a visual sense and
that's part of the situation with
Beethoven as well. So a lot of really
talented people in life what happens is
that they mix up their senses. Okay.
Um, another person is Leonard Uler who
was a mathematician
and uh this YouTuber says that the
pirate the pirate bay he says that uh he
probably did his best work after he went
blind and the reason why is that when
you go blind um you're able to imagine
much more strongly and much more deeply.
Okay so he's able to see the math in his
head. Okay. Um, this man says that I
also learned from indigenous people that
they don't produce trash and garbage.
And that's something that's very true
for most of of human history. For most
of human history, we saw ourselves as
part of nature. And so when you go to
someone's house, you don't leave trash.
Um, same thing for primive people, okay?
They saw themselves as interconnected
with nature. And so they have to respect
nature and therefore
um they had to keep it clean. Okay. All
right. So from now on we'll just have
highlight some YouTube comments. Okay.
So let's talk about heaven on earth. So
we did the ice age and now what's
happening is that the um planet it's
warming up and allows for agriculture.
It allows for settlements. Okay. So now
we will discuss today what happens
during this time as the population grows
and as we settle down to form
um cities.
Okay. So let's review what we learned
last class because in this class we
don't learn facts or places. Um we learn
about ideas and concepts. So if you want
to understand human history, you need to
internalize certain concepts. So in
history class um in our culture, you're
taught certain myths about who we are.
Okay? So I'm going to go over some of
these myths and show you they're wrong.
Explain why we have these myths. Okay?
So the first myth is that we are
materialistic. We like money, sex, and
power. Okay. The truth of the matter is
that throughout most of human history,
we had three goals or three concerns.
The first is that we have a religious
impulse and we want to express this
religion through art, through music,
through dance. And when I mean by
religion, I mean that we have three
questions in our heads. The first
question is where do we come from?
Second question is why are we here? And
the third question is where are we
going? That's why we had religion to
answer these three questions. Okay? And
that's why we still have religion today.
Second thing about us is that we're all
diverse and we want to differentiate
ourselves. We want to stand out. The
last thing is we are curious and we want
to explore. That's fun fundamentally who
we are. Then the question then is why
are we telling you that we're
materialistic? And the answer is it's
better to control you. Okay. So in a
society there's a hierarchy and the
people in charge they want you to work
hard. They want you to be obedient. But
if you believe that um you want to
explore then you're not going to be
obedient enough. Okay. Does that make sense?
sense?
Okay. Second myth is this is going to be
hard for you to understand. What you're
taught is that the nuclear family,
father, mother, children, that's the
most natural human unit.
And it's not true. Actually, if you look
at most ancient societies, the most
natural um organization is that women
are usually in control. Why? Because
women have complete autonomy over their
bodies. So, they can choose who to have
sex with. And that's where the power
comes from. They control access to to
sex, which gives men pleasure.
And um
with this power, they often choose to
sleep with as many men as possible.
Okay? And there are three reasons why
they choose this strategy. The first is
it's fun. Okay? It gives them pleasure
to have sex with as many men as
possible. That's number one. Number two is
is
women are really good at negotiating
politics and they use sex as a political
strategy. So if two guys are fighting
each other, she has sex with both and
then voila, they're best friends now.
Okay? So women are very good at managing
emotions through sex. Okay? And then
number three is the most important. If
you're a woman, you want to make sure
that all your children grow up
successfully. They don't die, okay? And
they're happy and they're healthy. So
from your perspective, it's in your
advantage to hide paternity, to hide the
fact who the father is. Why? Because now
all the men in the village in the
community are responsible for raising a
child because no one knows who the real
father is. So everyone assumes that I
could be the father. Okay. And this is historically
historically
um how societies are usually organized
with the woman in charge and as such
societies tend to be very egalitarian
because women don't really care about
status and power. They care about
harmony and balance. And the question
then is why did we change? There's
actually a very simple reason. The
simple explanation is in order to have
produce more children. Because if you're
a woman, you don't want to have too many
children. You want to make sure that all
your w all your children have access to
resources, but you also want to stay
healthy, right? If you have too many
children, it's possible you could die in
child birth. It's also possible that
your children die in child birth as
well. So women have always practiced
population control.
But we when we switch to a uh
patriarchy, now we can have as many
children as possible. Okay? Because now
women are basically become slaves and
their main duty is to have as many
children as possible. And that's why
after this transition from matriarchy to
patriarchy, a lot of women start to die.
Okay, so that's number two. Number three
is humans believed in survival of the
fittish. And that's not true.
Historically, if you look at how
societies are organized, we tend to be
compassionate. We look after the ill. We
look after the elderly. We look after
the weak. Okay, that's who we are. We
have empathy. We care about other
people. So why do we believe uh in
survival the fittest? It should create
fear and anxiety. Okay. If you have fear
and anxiety, you work harder, but also
you're easier. It's easier to control you.
you.
Any questions so far? Okay. All right.
Let's continue. Number four.
Humans have gotten smarter over the
centuries. And uh one one thing that you
will learn in this class is that's not
true. Humans have always been smart, but
we've expressed our intelligence in
different ways. So uh printive cultures,
they express uh themselves through art.
They had better memories. They had more
they were more sensitive and they were
more resilient than we are. So why are
we taught that we're smarter? The answer
is confirmation bias. because everyone
likes to believe that we're smarter than
the people who came before us. Okay, so
now let me give you an example of how
smart they were. So let's just say that
you have a boat and you want to navigate
the Pacific. Okay, that's very hard to
do and you usually need a computer. Why?
Because there's so much information that
you need to process in order to navigate
the ocean. Okay, so let's go over some
of the information.
All right, so these are the Polynesian
people. What's amazing about them is
they settled the entire Pacific.
Wherever there's an island, they had a
settlement. And this is a testament to
our desire to be to explore the world.
Okay. What is fascinating is how they
did this because if I were to put you in
a boat in the Pacific, you'll probably
die. Okay. And that's true for most
people. So the question then is how do
they navigate the Pacific? Well, what
they did was this. They built boats that
allow them to navigate Pacific. But as
you can see, these are not large boats.
Okay, so they had to get to an island
fairly quickly. So what they needed to
do was read the stars. So in their
heads, they were they were able to map
out the stars and from the stars figure
out exactly where they were. They also
had to memorize oceanic currents, okay?
How the oceans were moving in order to
better navigate the ocean. Also, every
island has its own distinct oceanic
ecosystem. Okay? So, there's so much
information that they have to take in.
They have to look at the wind. They have
to look at the oceanic currents. Have to
look at the stars. And that's why we
have computers to do this for us today.
But back then, they didn't have
computers. So, they had to do this all
in their heads.
Okay? And they had some maps that help
them. Okay? So, this is a a map of the
stars and this is a map of the oceanic
currents. But they were all doing this
in their head. And what's really amazing
is while they were out in sea, they
couldn't sleep. Okay? They have to keep
track of all this information to know
exactly where they were were. If they
fell asleep, the navigator fell asleep,
they got lost and then they died. Okay?
That's the power of the human imagination.
Okay, last myth. We evolve from apes.
And the truth is that we are imaginative
and we can choose our own evolution.
Okay? So um you're taught in school
about the theory of evolution, how we
evolve from apes. And maybe our bodies
evolve from apes, but our minds did not.
Our minds come from somewhere else. Okay?
Okay?
So why are you taught we evolved from
apes? It's to it's to justify the power
power hierarchy. Okay? Right? All right,
the people in charge are just stronger
and better and more fit than we are.
All right, so having revealed last
class, let's now talk about um the
religious imagination. Okay, so this is
the pyramids.
Um it was built 2400 BCE
um and today it's the same pyramids.
This is one of the most Yes.
Yeah. Go ahead.
>> Um, you said that that the the uh
previous people are like smarter than
today's because they can uh navigate the
Pacific like just with the boat and and
the and and don't sleep but nowadays we
use computer right uh but I think that
uh nowadays we use computer is not
because that we cannot uh navigate the
ocean just by a boat and and and human
is because uh this manner is we could
add more precise and accurate information.
information.
>> Okay, that's not true. Okay, if I put
you on a serial computer, you would die.
It's it's that simple. Okay, the
computer's not going to help you
navigate the ocean. Okay. All right. All
right. So,
um these are the pyramids, okay? And
there's a great mystery as to how these
pyramids were built. And you might have
on the internet heard sill explanations
like aliens came and built the pyramids.
Okay? Or maybe the
lost civilization of Atlantis gave the
technology to the Egyptians to build the
pyramids. And this is an example of
confirmation bias. We think that we're
smart and everyone before were stupid.
Okay? And what and what you'll learn in
this class is that these people had an
imagination that allowed them to build
the pyramids. Okay? So I'm going to show
you how they built the pyramids.
All right? So as you can see, the
pyramids are extremely complex
structures. Okay? And first of all,
there's debate as to what the pyramid
is. What are you taught in school? What
the pyramids are?
What is it? Come on. You guys are taught
all this in school, right? The two
pyramid is what? It's a tomb, right?
>> Okay, guys. It's not a tomb. Okay, it
looks like a tomb, but it's not a tomb.
It's a temple, right?
Okay. So, how do they build the pyramids?
pyramids?
Um, so what happened was that they
didn't have blueprints, have computers,
but they had the imagination. so they
could see the building of the pyramid in
their heads. And what they did was they
actually built it from the inside out. Okay.
Okay.
All right. So again, it's hard for us to
imagine that they would do this because
it's like, wait, you don't have a pen,
so you couldn't write it down. You have
a computer so you can process all the
all the information. They did it all in
their heads. And that's the power of the
human imagination. Okay.
All right. Um and as you can see it was
a massive undertaking huge organization.
It took about 20 years and lots and lots
of people. And then the question then is
how were they able to organize in such a
manner? And the answer again is empathy.
The imagination. Someone had a vision
and this vision was so compelling that
everyone knew exactly what part to play. Okay.
Okay. Also,
Also,
what's really important is that in
school, you're taught that the pyramids
were built because the pharaoh is God
and there's a tomb for the for the
pharaoh. Okay? That's really insulting
to the Egyptian people.
Like all cultures,
the Pharaoh wanted what's best for his
people. Okay? So, the Pharaoh would in
his lifetime undertake a lot of public
works projects,
okay? including canals. Okay. So that so
the pyramids were just a public works
project, a temple.
Um what's amazing about the pyramids is
that we could not do the pyramids today.
Okay? Back to your point. We have
computers. Guess what? We have all these
machines. Okay? And guess what? We
cannot build the pyramids. Why? Well,
because the way we work is different
from the way they worked before. Let's
go over the differences. Okay? Ancient
times people had religious devotion when
they worked on a project like the temple
like like the pyramids or whatever the
point was to bring heaven to earth to
bring God to earth to create eternal
peace. They felt that my dedication my
sacrifice would make my children my
grandchildren my great-grandchildren all
more prosperous. Okay, that's why they
worked so hard. Today it's make more
money. Okay, second thing, vision.
People back then had bigger brains.
Okay, not bigger brains, but like
stronger imagination. So in their heads,
they were able to see the entire vision
in their heads. And this vision was a
was able to pass on to other people as
well. It was almost like they had
telepathy. It was almost like they could
see the same thing. Okay. The structure
of the parent was designed in a way that
people saw the same image and they work
towards that image. Today we focus on
something called top- down process
oriented management. Okay. The idea here
is rather than work together you just go
and work a particular part and then once
you do that part you go away. Okay. So
an example is maybe art class. Now I'm
not sure if you take art class but you
guys know like to produce a great piece
of art you stay in a room and you work
really hard at it. Okay.
But in school what do we do? Well, first
we do is first thing we do is make you
write a plan, right? And you do the plan
well, I give you 10%. Then after you do
the plan, what do you do? You write the
outline. Then you do a draft. Then you
do an iteration. Okay? You understand?
We break it down in a process. And you
think that this would lead to better
results. It actually leads to worse
results. Okay? Because you're no longer
focused on the vision. You just focus on
the process. And that's why today
everything we do sucks. Okay? I can give
you the greatest computers in the world
and you really couldn't do the pyramids.
Okay? I I can give you the best
machines, the best computers. It
wouldn't matter because you lack that
vision. The last thing, this is most
important is when you have vision, when
you have religious purpose, everything
you do is
careful. Okay? You put your best effort
into doing it because you're trying to
create eternity. Today you try to do the
least amount of work for the most amount
of pay. Right? So the idea today is to
do it as fast as possible, as cheap as
possible to maintain the budget. Okay?
So do you understand? It's not about how
smart you are. It's about your purpose
in working. It's about how you work. And
that's why everything we do today is
just crappy. Okay.
All right. Uh let's go over some
examples of tremendous human
achievement. Okay. This is the Haga
Sophia. Um and this was built in 532 in
Kenapole. It's still instant. You can
actually take a plane, get on a plane
and fly, and it's still there, guys.
Okay, this is a modern picture. So, you
can see the amount of attention and care
put into architecture back then. Okay?
because it's about bringing heaven to
earth, creating heaven on earth. This
and you can see inside how beautiful it
is. Okay? And so every inch, every piece
of the church is just beautifully
constructed. Everyone who worked on it
was working with the same vision and
working with the same dedication. This
is the Aken Cathedral built in 1790.
Okay? And guys, this is what it looks
like today. No different from what it
looked like when it was first built. And
guys, no one said this was built by by
aliens, okay? No one said this was built
by the Atlanteanss.
So the idea that the Egyptians couldn't
build the pyramids by themselves and
have to rely on aliens, that's just a
racist comment. Okay. Um, also
Charlemagne, the first Roman emperor,
the first Holy Roman Emperor, he was
buried, he's buried inside this
cathedral, but no one's saying this is a
tomb. Okay? We all know it's a church.
So the pyramids are a church, a temple
to their gods. And once you understand
that, then we can better understand how
they built the pyramids. Okay? Does that
Okay. And this is what it looks like
inside. Okay? Again, this is today. You
can actually get a plane, go to Germany,
and go walk inside this church and see
for yourself how beautiful it is. Back
then they put care and love into
everything they did because because they
believe that what they did was to make a
Okay. Minute Manhattan project. Okay.
This is probably the greatest
achievement of humans in the 20th century.
century.
All right. And there were 100,000 of
scientists who worked on the Manhattan
project to build the nuclear bomb. Same
concept where they believe that they
were creating eternal peace on earth,
heaven on earth. And that's why they
worked so hard. And guess what? They
were right. Right? Because now with the
atomic bomb, nations are afraid to go to
war. Before the atomic bomb, World War
I, World War II killed tens of millions
of people. And even though they're still
wars, they're not as devastating as before.
before. Okay.
Okay.
All right. So, this idea of bringing
heaven to earth, it goes way back to the
beginning of humanity. This is go Goblé
Teepe. Um, it was first built in 90 in
9600 9,600 B.CE. And this considered the
world's first temple. It's the first
temple that we discovered. We can assume
that wherever humans go, they will build
temples because as I mentioned last
class, humans are first and foremost
religious. They express themselves
through the especially religion through
art, architecture, music, dance. Okay?
And it's an amazing achievement um
because these pillars, okay, they're
really tall. So we don't know how they
were able to move these pillars into
place. Okay, you can see how small
people are, how big this is. But if you
think about what we said about having a
vision and then working together to
achieve this vision, then it makes more
sense. Okay, so let's discuss how they
were able to build Pepe. And this
process is important for us to
understand because it repeats itself
throughout human history. Okay, so let's
go over the process.
Okay, the first is that there's always a
charismatic leader. It could be a man.
It could be a woman. But he or she has a
vision for creating a temple, a place of
God. Okay, that's what a temple is. It's
a play. It's a place for God to live on
earth. And he shares this vision with
everyone and everyone works hard to
achieve this vision. Okay? But then the
leader dies and now you have different
people competing to be the new leader.
Okay? Why? Because a temple and this
really important for you guys to
remember a temple is always the most
valuable real estate on earth. Okay? If
you if you are in a temple, people come
to pray to you, right? So they have to
give you gifts. They have to give you
tribute. So what's happening in this
time is that they would organize a
religious festival um once or twice a
year and people would have to bring
gazelle had to bring food as a tribute
to the um priests and then they would
celebrate it together and then they
would um feast. Okay. So if you're able
to control this temple
you lived a very good life. You were a
very powerful person. Okay. And so there
was so when when the first leader died,
you would have secession crisis and they
would vote who the next leader would be.
And so what happened is they would have
these trials where they prove to each
other who the god's favored. Okay? So
it's possible maybe there are two hills.
Okay? You stand on one hill, I stand on
another hill and we'll see where the
bird lands. If the if the bird lands on
my hill, then the gods favor me. Okay?
Because at this time um humanity
believed that the mother goddess ruled
over all because because if as humans at
this time you're concerned about two
things right you're first concerned
about farming agriculture fertility and
then you're concerned about having
babies okay so that's why the mother god
was important because the mother goddess
provided fertility for everyone okay
um but then over time what they realized
is you know what we just cheat okay and
how do How do you cheat? You cheat by
forming secret societies, okay? By
getting people to follow you and then
you swear blood oath to each other and
you also maybe have sex with each other
and you become a faction, okay? And this
led to logo conflict. And the way they
set they often settled this uh dispute
or debate is for human sacrifice. Okay?
So if your faction lost, you'd all be
sacrificed. And we know this because
under Gobl there are tombs okay of human
remains. So we assume that um these
people lost a power struggle and as such
they were all sacrificed together. Okay.
So in other words
power struggle, political conflict, uh
religious dispute, human sacrifice,
secret society, they go all the way back
All right. So this is go tepe today.
Again you can you you can get on a plane
flight to turkey and then go visit go
play teepe. Now one thing that's really
important for us to understand is that
with our architecture there's mythology
in place. Okay. And here we assume the
mythology is the mother goddess with a
bird in the sky and this might be a
human skull. Okay. So there's a very
complex diverse mythology in place. We
don't know what it is. Okay. But they
had a sophisticated mythology
and also remember humans are diverse. So
once the mythology becomes established
new people come to establish a competing
mythology. Okay. So um this place is
called Karanepe and as you can see the
mythology of this place it's different
but these places are very close to each
other. Okay. So this is maybe the cult
of the skull. The idea here is
when people die, you can still
communicate with them in the spirit
world if you have their skull. Okay?
Almost the skull becomes a portal into
the afterworld. Okay? So you can draw on
their wisdom. You can draw on their
spirit with the skull. And this called
the skull. We see this in many ancient
cultures including in China. Okay? It's
what we call ancestor worship. And as
you can see, uh this is a cult of skull.
Okay, the Tower of Jericho. The Tower of
Jericho is another settlement and we
just assume that okay, if it's a tower,
it's for defensive purposes. Okay, it's
to ward off invaders.
But there's actually a better much
better explanation for the Tower of
Jericho. It's a religious temple. Why?
Because during the solar equinox, the
sun hovers above the of the temple and
it causes the temple to flood this area
with shadow. Okay? So if you are a
religious person, you feel as though
heaven is coming to you directly. Okay?
So you have a ritual, you have a
celebration when the solar eclipse
happens and you can feel as though
you're ascending to heaven or heaven is
coming down to you. Okay? That's a
Howard Jericho.
Okay. Kak Hoyak. Kai Hoyak is one of the
first settlements that we found.
Remember Kepe
um is just a temple. So they they would
go there maybe once or twice a year for
a religious celebration but then they
would leave. Okay. Kak is where they
decided to settle down permanently for
decades. Now in school you're taught
that we started farming because it
allowed us to access more food and so we
could grow the population. we will
become healthier and stronger. Okay? But
if you actually dig up bodies of hunter
gatherers as opposed to farmers, what
you'll realize is one, hunter gatherers
are taller, a lot taller than farmers.
Hunter gatherers are stronger, live
longer, healthier, they have better
teeth. Why? Because if you're a farmer,
um, you so sorry, if you're a kind of
gatherer, you have access to lots of
different food, right? meats and and
getting the food is actually pretty
easy. Okay, you can just pick fruit off
a tree. As a as a farmer, you have to
work really hard to grow food that's not
very nutritious and often the food is
just similar. Okay, you're just eating
one vegetable, one crop, okay? It's very
limited diet. And also because of
starch, your food, your teeth gets
really rotten really fast. Okay. Also,
because you're living together in a
close quarters, it's really easy for
diseases to spread. Okay. So,
um it's hard for us to appreciate this,
but being a hunter gather, it's an easy,
happy, healthy life. Being a farmer
sucks. So, the question then is why they
become farmers for religious purposes,
right? So that they could settle down
and be with their religion. Okay? Be
with a charismatic leader. Okay? Does
that make sense? All right. So this is
Khoic. This is the this is this the
religion of the mother goddess. Okay.
And accompanying the mother goddess is
the bull. Okay. Because if you think
about it, a woman cannot give birth by
herself. She needs a male. And this male
god is the bull who represents vility,
energy, strength. Okay. So they worship
both. As you can see how people are
worshiping the bowl.
Uh this is an image of Kakoya. It's a
very sophisticated community. It's also
very egalitarian. And each house is a
temple onto itself.
Okay. Each so they have these paintings
in order to bring in the energy of their
gods that they worship and that's why
they want to stay here because they want
to be with their gods even though it
meant a harder life for them.
Okay, this is um Katak.
As you can see, it's beautiful.
This is what it looks like today. Okay. All right.
All right.
This another image rendition of Katak.
Okay. As you can see, each house is a
temple on to itself
and they bury the dead underneath. Okay.
So, they're trying to um practice a
religion like here.
Okay. As as I mentioned, each house is a
temple onto itself. As you can see how
each house is elaborately decorated
with, you know, the bowl with ornaments
Um,
this is a gazelle. So, they hunt gazelle
for food. But as you can see, it's
really a dance, right? So they're
hunting the gazelle, but they see it
more as a dance, as a c celebration. The
reason why is at this time in history,
we feel an obligation to the animals we
killed. We have to thank the animals
that we killed. We have to celebrate the
animals we killed in order to maintain
balance and harmony in the world. Okay?
It's almost like a contract. Before you
can kill animals, you need to pray to
the gods and ask for for permission.
After you kill the animals, you must
fetg the animals for sacrificing their
body to you so you can you can uh eat.
Okay. All right. You guys got it?
All right. So, let's go over the pattern
of human settlements. Okay. And I I need
you guys to remember how this process
works. So, let's look at how Kat came
came together and I'll explain to you
why it fell apart. Again, you have a
charismatic leader who has a messianic
vision. He takes us to this place and
says this is where the gods are. This is
divine place and let's settle down here
and and as such we can bring heaven to
earth and then they be become a creative
artistic community. Okay. And they often
choose a place where the climate is very
nice and allows them to farm to
supplement um their hunting gatherer.
Okay. And over time as a population
grows they become much more dependent on
um farming. Okay. So so it's a gradual
process that doesn't happen overnight.
In the early days there's lots of social
mobility in that all leaders are elected
and also it's very egalitarian. Okay?
Okay?
Does that make sense? But over time the
system breaks down. What happens? Well,
first thing that happens is because of
overpopulation, there's too much stress
on the environment and so you have um
the land uh you're not you're not able
to grow as much on the land. Then you
have climate change happening as well.
Okay. Another big issue is that the
hierarchy becomes hereditary. Before the
leaders were elected, now they are just
inherited. Okay? And this leads to
corruption where the elite bully and
exploit everyone else. And people forget
the memories
of the first days. And so what do people
do? People just get up and they leave.
Okay? Do you understand? You can always
choose to leave. And so if you don't
like the community anymore, you and your
family just get up and you go to another
place to build a new community based on
All right. So based on today's lecture,
I want you to remember three things
about how we humans come together in a
community. Okay? And these three basic
principles are almost like laws. I want
you to remember them. And then these
laws will help you better understand how
societies rise and fall. Okay? The first
important principle I want you to
remember is societies are fluid and
dynamic. They're always changing over
time. Okay? Okay, they're never still.
Second thing is that diversity within
societies is greater than across
societies. So another way of saying of
saying this is yes there's a conflict
between United States and China. But
actually if you actually look at
differences in diversity, the difference
diversity within China is greater than
the difference between China and the
United States. Okay, does that make
sense? Okay, the third law is communist
exist in opposition to each other. Okay,
so think about the cities in China.
Okay. Uh, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen,
Chungdu, they're all different. Why?
Because they want to be different from
each other. Okay. But also within
Beijing, you have Haiden, Tayyang,
different districts, right? They're all
different from each other because they
want to be different. Okay?
So, these three laws will help us better
understand how societies form, thrive,
and ultimately ultimately die. Okay. All right.
right.
So I'm going to go over some books to
highlight certain issues that we discuss
in this class. This is a thought of
everything uh by David Grabber and David
Wangro who are both anthropologists.
Okay. And they've looked at different
societies and what they emphasize is
diversity the dynism of different
societies. Okay. So let's look at one
particular society which is the native
people of of the Canadian northwest
coast. Okay. These are the native people
and what happens what's really
interesting is throughout the year they
have different social structures. So
during the winter everyone comes
together and they form a hierarchy where
there are palaces where there's an aristocracy
aristocracy
um and where the different they're
divided into different classes. Okay.
But then what's really interesting is that
that
during the summer
people will just go away and start new societies.
societies.
Okay, this is like really interesting
how in different times of the year when
the needs are different people will
choose different social organizations.
Okay, people actually adopted different
names in summer and winter literally
becoming someone else depending on the
time of year. Okay. So, a metaphor that
you can think of is think about how when
you play World of Warcraft or a
different video game, you adopt a
different identity. You you adopt a
different persona and that's fun for
you. Okay? So, um what's common in the
ancient past is for people to adopt
different social structures and they can
choose what social structure to go to.
Okay? And certain certain communities
still practice it today.
Okay, this is the wayfinders by Wayade
Davis. One of the best books I've ever
written uh sorry, I've I've ever read.
Um he's he is looking at also print of
communities, native tribes throughout
the world. Okay. And he's looking at
specifically the Amazon people.
If you go to the Amazon, you'll have
Okay, so let's look at the religion. And
as you can and one one thing I will show
you is that even though these people
look simple like you know they wear the
same clothes and their life looks very
simple spiritually they're very complex
people and they're very complex and
sophisticated mythology. Okay. So these
are these called called people of the
anacana. Okay. In the beginning, before
the creation of seasons, before the
ancestral mother Romeo, woman shaman,
opened her womb, before her blood and
breast milk gave rice rivers and her
ribs to the mountain ridges of the
world, there was only chaos in the
universe. Okay? So, they have this very
complex mythology. I'm not going to I'm
not going to go through all of it, okay?
But I will show you the picture of it.
This is a universe that they've created
from themselves. It is complete. It's
unified. It's very complicated. And
One thing that's really important for
them is maintain balance and harmony in
the world. Okay. So like most printed
people they believe there are different dimensions
dimensions
and their role is to maintain harmony
across these dimensions because that
that is what guaranteed a happy and
prosperous life. Okay. So let's read
this together.
The people living today in the forest of
the parapane which is the Amazon. The
entire natural world is saturated with
meaning and cosmological significance.
Every rock and waterfall embodies a
story. Plants and animals are but
distinct physical manifestations of the
same essential spiritual essence. Okay.
So every plant, every rock has a life
force and they appreciate the diversity,
the complexity, the sophification of
different life forces. Okay. So even
though they can express themselves, they
don't have a written language. Their
minds are extremely vibrant and dynamic
and energetic. At the same time, effing
is more than it appears. For the visible
world is only one level perception.
Behind every tangible form, every plant
and animal is a shadow dimension. A
place invisible to ordinary people, but
visible to the shaman. This is the realm
of the hood spirits. A world of
diaphsores where rocks and rivers are
alive, plants and animals are human
beings, sap and blood, the bodily fluids
of the primordic river of the anacona.
Hidden in cataracts behind the physical
veil of waterfalls. In the very center
of stones are the great moleculus of the
hus where everything is beautiful. The
shining feathers, the cocoa, the
calabash of tobacco powdered which is
itself the skull and brain of the sun.
Okay, you can see how the mythology is
very complex and how they imbued it,
embedded into their everyday life. Every
day when they wake up and they see the
world, they see a world of color, of
energy, of change. Okay.
Okay. All right.
All right.
He continues, "Among the Barasana, such
renewal is the fundamental obligation of
the living. In practice, this implies
the Braz see the earth as potent, the
forest, as being alive with spiritual
beings and ancestral powers. To live off
the land is to embrace both its creative
and destructive potential. Human beings,
plants, and animals share the same
cosmic origins in a profound sense are
seen as essentially identical,
responsive to the same principles,
oblate by the same duties, responsible
for the collective well-being of
creation. There's no separation between
nature and culture. Without the forest
and rivers, humans would perish. But
without people, the natural world would
have no order or meaning. All would be
chaos. Thus, the norms that drive social
behavior also define the manner in which
human beings interact with the wild, the
plants and animals, the multiple
phenomenon of the natural world,
lightning and thunder, the sun and the
moon, the scent of a blossom, the so
sour order of death. Everything is
related, everything connected, a single
integrated whole. Mythology infuses land
and life with meaning, encoding
expectations and behaviors essential to
survival in the forest, anchoring each
community, each malaka to a profound
spirit of place. Okay, so you can see
Okay, so one thing that um I discuss
continuously because it's very important
concept is how effing is a harmonious
whole. And so when you kill something,
you first need permission. You need you
need have a contract. Okay, this is true
through most of human history. So these
people are no different. When mango
forest to hunt or fish, it is never a
trivial passage. First, a shaman must
travel in trans to negotiate while the
master with the masters of the animals
forging a mystical contract with the
spirit guardians in exchange based
always on reciprocity. Okay. D
reciprocity. If you kill an animal, you
need permission. Now, if you kill the
animal, you must thank the animal
through through ritual sacrifice. Okay.
The basana compare it to marriage for
hunting towards a form of courtship in
which one seeks the blessings of a
greater authority for the honor of
taking into one's family a precious
being. Meat is not the right of a
hunter, but a gift from the spirit
world. To kill without permission is to
risk death by spirit guardian. by it in
the form of a jaguar, anakona, tapar or
harpy eagle. Okay. So the concept here
is karma, right? If you do evil, evil
will come to you. Okay? So it's
important to maintain harmony.
All right? And this is no different from
the cave paintings. Okay? So you go back
way back to to the dawn of humanity. We
believe the same thing. Okay? We believe
that these animals came from the spirit
world. And that's why you paint it.
That's why you express art to thank the
animals for coming from the spirit world
to feed and nourish us. And after we
kill them, then um we pray that they
return to us. Okay.
And this goes back, you know, tens of
thousands of years.
All right. Let's go to Africa. So, so we
were in the Amazon. Now, let's go to
Africa. And in Africa, there's some some
people call the force people. Okay. This
is a book by Colin Turbo who spent a few
years with them. And these are the
pygmies. They live in the forest. And
guess what? Even though the mythology is
a bit different, they have different
names, they have different structures,
it's still the same essence. Okay, so
let's let's go over um
um
this is called Mullamo, which is a
mutual instrument that they use to
communicate with the spirits of the
forest. Okay.
All right. So one thing that's really
important for these peoples is the idea
of ritual. You are a member of the
community if you participate in all
their rituals. If you believe in the
mythologies, if you honor their
ancestors and the and their traditions,
okay? If you're not, if you refuse to
honor their traditions, then they will
ostracize you or they might even kill
you. Okay? So
um uh the pygmies are having a religious
festival and Colin Turbo says this. I
was told however that everyone had to
eat just as no adult male was allowed to
sleep but had to sing while Malomo
singing was in progress. Apparently one
of the greatest crimes that Pygmy can
commit if not the greatest is to be
found asleep when the Malobo is singing. Okay.
Okay.
If you refuse to participate in the
ritual or if you break the seriousness
of of the ritual, then you are a threat
to community and they will kill you and
they will forget about you. Okay?
So the if so once they kill you, the
woman would be told that the malommo
itself, the great animal of the forest
had carried off one of their number. But
like the men, they would ask no
questions and would never again mention
the missing men. So if you disrespect
them, they would not only kill you, but
So
this is how they explain why they do
what they do. Why do they practice these
rituals? Why these rituals such an
important part of their lives?
Normally everything goes well in our
world. But at night when we are
sleeping, sometimes things go wrong
because we are not awake to stop them
from going wrong. Army ants invade the
camp, leopards may come in and steal a
hunting dog or even a child. If we were
awake, these things would not happen. So
when something big goes wrong like
illness or bad hunting or death, it must
be because the forest is sleeping and
not looking after its children. So what
do we do? We wake it up. We wake it up
by singing to it. And we do this because
we want it to awaken happy and
everything will be well and good again.
So when our world is going well then
also we sing the force because we wanted
to share our happiness. Okay. So their
idea of God is heaven on earth where
you're connected to the environment
around you. Everything that you do
impacts the environment. The envir
environment also impacts you as well. So
you practice these rituals in order to
maintain balance and harmony in the
world. Okay. The world is a script.
living in living you must follow certain
practices in order to respect the
traditions of the world and that's what
brings harmony and heaven to the world
and this something that we've for most
of our history something that we've
understood and we've appreciated
then the question then is what do we
change okay and we'll we'll be
discussing this as the semester progresses
progresses
okay so that's it there questions before
we end.
Uh yeah.
>> Uh so before you said that people
nowadays Okay. So so first of all I I I
totally agree that people nowadays are
lack of vision and imaginations you know
contrast to people back in the days uh
because of you know multiple reasons.
And so my question is that I I I agree
that people nowadays are lack of vision,
but I kind of are a little bit confused
about what your argument your argument
that we cannot rebuild the pyramid
because well from my point of view um
nowadays we have the ability to you know
build skyscrapers or metropolitans and
so why what what is the factor that kind
of stops
we us to to build you know structures
like a pyramid.
Um okay so the question is what why
can't we build the pyramids? Okay. All
right. So there are different factors in
place. The first is um the resources
that are required to build the pyramids
it is tremendous. Okay. Okay. So, um to
give you an example, the stone that
um sorry, let me just bring this up.
Okay, the stone that they used to build
the pyramids is enough to build a wall
around France.
Okay, so this the size, okay, is beyond
our imagination.
Okay, that's number one. Okay, where we
where we find the resource to do this?
Second is the question of will why would
why would we want to do this
like do you want to rebuild the pyramids
like okay well yeah that's another
problem okay the third problem is
organization which is um how would we
organize the people in a way as to build
the pyramids because back then it was a
massive undertaking but again people
were united by a a similar vision which
is like we're bringing heaven to earth.
Once we build the pyramids, the gods can
rest in peace. The gods can come down
and shine a divine light all over us. So
that's the end of history. We're done.
Okay? Just do just work hard for 20
years and then there'll be heaven on
earth. Okay? That's what drove them.
What inspires people today? There's
nothing there's nothing that inspires
people today. Okay? Like, oh, make a
billion dollars. Make a trillion
dollars. Okay? That's what inspires
people. But you know what? To make a
billion dollars, it doesn't mean you
have to work hard. It just means you
have to cheat and lie and steal. Okay.
So, so does that make sense?
>> Yeah, it makes sense. But u well
nowadays we we people still have
religions, right? Let's say Christian is
still one of the most powerful religions
and uh people share and so are are they
capable to you know build another very
tremendous or imaginary structure or buildings.
buildings.
>> Okay. Okay. So um this is hard okay for
you to understand it means it's a
different world and the brains work
differently back in this age religion
was the end all be all okay you live for
your religion
okay does that make sense today our
religion is capitalism
okay so and capitalism is just make as
much money as you possibly hand
and the the difference is
back during the time of the Egyptians
it was a spiritual age okay so you
sought inspiration from the heavens
and people's imaginations could expand because
because
um they would wake up with ideas
okay today we live in a materialistic
age which is say we don't believe in
God. We don't believe in divinity. We
just believe in numbers, in computers,
in process.
Okay? Does that does that make sense to
you? Okay. It it's hard to understand
because you live in a time of complete
materialism. So, you don't understand
what it means to live a life of
spirituality, of divinity, of trying to
bring heaven to earth. Okay? But if you
did do that, then you'd be a very
different person. There were there were
things that you could do that would be
unimaginable to you. Okay. For example,
if you go visit a temple or a monk, they
could meditate for months and months and
months. They could walk barefoot in the
cold for years and years and years. We
can't do that. Okay? Because the moment
I say, "Hey, meditate for a whole month.
Just don't eat. You can't do that." And
you're like, "What's the point?" And
then their answer is because I want to
be with God. Okay? Because I want to
feel as though it's heaven on earth.
So it's not just a question of how smart
you are. It's a question of faith and
purpose and meaning as well. The the
reality is that not only do we live a
life of purpose and meaning and spirit,
we also think these things don't matter.
Okay. Does that make sense? All right.
Any more questions? >> Yep.
>> Yep.
Um so so I I do agree that we cannot be
permissed nowadays and and I'll
definitely die if you just put me on a
pathetic but uh so but like
for more for more more than people we
also can do like a lot of things that
previous people cannot. So, so how does
the the the building of a pyramid these
things demonstrate that the py the the
previous people are smart?
>> Can you tell me what we do today that is
so wonderful and spectacular?
>> What what what
>> yeah what what do we do today that's so
wonderful and spectacular and and you
think is amazing.
>> What what
>> give an example of something that we do today
today
>> that is spectacular and wonderful. >> Um
Okay. Yeah. I mean, give you an example. >> Okay.
>> Okay.
>> Okay. Well, thank you. Okay. Yeah. So,
>> Does it matter for the first person who
have the vision to build it and the
second person have the same vision or it
doesn't really matter? They just build.
They just want to bring heaven to earth.
>> Look, that's a great question. Okay. And
this is hard for us to understand, but
there's no sense of individual
proparity. Okay. Okay, it's like this is
my idea. You can't have it. Okay, it's
it's always like we're in this together.
Okay, we don't know who built the
pyramids. Why? Because it doesn't matter
who built the pyramids. All that matter
is it was built. That's the spirit that
they had. Nowadays, like if I have this
idea, how do I patent it? How do I get
credit for it? How do I make money out
of it? Okay, and that's why ideas suck.
Back then, it was just like it doesn't
what what matter what my idea is. What
matters is this idea is expressed to
other people. Okay. When you have that
spirit, when you have that heart, when
you are when you share who you are, then
God comes into you and gives you ideas.
You understand? But if you're like,
"Nope, all I want to do is make money."
God leaves you.
>> Okay? And and that's hard for us to
understand. That's so back then there
must have been a genius, a charismatic
leader, and God gave him this vi not
God, but like the spirit world, okay?
The universe gave him this vision for
the pyramids. And he knew exactly how to
do it. And then he goes to the pharaoh
and says, "Listen, I have this vision."
The pharaoh says, "Let's just do it."
Okay? So the pharaoh got credit, but it
didn't matter who got credit. It just
doesn't matter. What mattered is it was
built. Do you understand? There's no
sense of individualism. There's no sense
of capitalism. There's no sense of like
private property. It's all like let's
just make let's just work together to
build a better world. Okay? And yes, the
people who worked on it were getting
paid, but that was that's not what
mattered to them. What mattered was
achieving this vision together.
Okay. So, it's hard for us to
understand, but once you have this
mentality of common sacrifice, you are
able to do tremendous things together.
Okay. And I'm sorry, but I can't think
of an example of things that we do
wonderful today like chatbt.
Give me a break. Okay. >> All right.
>> All right.
>> Any more questions?
>> All right. Great. So, I'll see you guys
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