- Sid Tafler
- Victoria British Columbia
- Canada
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What does cave art mean to you?
Stone Age art has fascinated people around the world since some of the first discoveries of cave paintings in France and Spain in the 19th century.
The recent Werner Herzog film "Cave of Forgotten Dreams," showcasing the spectacular panels of lions and horses at Chauvet, brought new attention to Paleolithic art.
If you haven't gazed into the deep past recently, do a web search for Lascaux, Chauvet or Altamira cave.
What do these arts forms mean to you?
Do you find them beautiful, primitive, artistically inspired, or something less?
Are these drawings art for art sake, an attempt by Paleolithic people to reproduce the world they experienced?
Or do they have some deep cosmic or spiritual significance?
Why did these people of 15,000 to 30,000 years ago often create these works in places that were difficult to access?
Were they trying to communicate with each other, access worlds beyond their own, or engage in hunting magic?
Or were they just enjoying themselves scratching and drawing on cave walls?
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CECILIA BELTRAN
There is a controversial study relating Semetic beliefs with Hindu beliefs. The academic book is entitled Aryans, Jews, Brahmins by Dorothy M Figuera. In effect the Brahmins, were actually ABrahamins. Protosinatic symbols, the great grand daddy of written Hebrew reveal a foundational hierarchy of concepts. http://net.lib.byu.edu/imaging/negev/pix/06a.jpg.html. The Alef, the OX being the prime generator of all things. Also representing no.1 and spirit/breath followed by the "House", the phonetic Beyt...which is also a WOMB in use and context, for the number 2 is considered female, hence the shape of the letter B, the side view of a pregnant woman. The Lascaux caves are reflect the same story in the stalactite. I am doubtful that the cave was born from an innocent time but rather a decline of something that used to be more sophisticated. In Iran, home of the Aryans, pottery shards dating back 12,000 years were found. These people emerged from the last ice age "fair skinned" and knowledgeable. http://www.iranchamber.com/people/articles/aryan_people_origins.php. I do believe that we have lost years. http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Lost_Civilizations_of_the_Stone_Age.html?id=vhSHn-B89A0C.
True, it is highly possible that they are recurring symbols of the mind as Jung and Campbell asserts. But it is my belief that we hold on inexplicably to the inner reality because they resonate. These recurring themes do not die or fizzle out because we cling to them as our internal mirrors. Religious symbols have these mirrors and serve the function of unconsciously instructing us how to evolve.
The Ox (or as I always say, the ox-power in the same way as we use horse-power now, implying that the first manifestation is spirt/strength-FORCE)
is just one of those things that we instinctively believe as the generator of all things seen.
Thanks for enriching the conversation!
http://Storyteller.artistswanted.org/self2012
Chris Kelly 20+
Actually, placing an 'a' in front of a word means "not" or "without"; thus, *A*braham means it is *not* 'Brahman".
"Aleph" is the first of the sacred Hebrew aleph-bet, which is the 'beginning', the breath; relating to the air element. Its glyph in accordance to the human form represent the trachea and two lungs, when in 'motion' ... spins; the Brahman understand this "spin" as the 'activation' of the fourth chakra, the balance point for all the chakras.
Followed by 'Beth', which, when you look at the actual Hebrew letter, resembles an open mouth ... speech ... 'the Word'.
As each Hebrew letter has multiple meanings, Beth also resembles a tent or house.
Beth is that through which Aleph speaks, thus Aleph is the wind; the air; The emergence of the breathe of God is the emergence of life known as the soul. This is why Beth is the very first letter of the entire Bible; the entire Torah or Tanach begins with Beth.
It is from the letter Beth that the entire Bible emerges as an expression of that א Aleph, the breath of God. This is why the Bible is called "The Word of God." The 'Word'. In Greek it is "the Logos." It is the expression of something that is inexpressible. This is part of the importance of these Hebrew letters.
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CECILIA BELTRAN
For more readings on the connection between the two, visit this link:
http://www.torahveda.org/
"ABRAHAM AND THE BRAHMINS
Genesis 25:6:
"And to the concubine children who were Abraham's, Abraham gave gifts; then he sent them away from Isaac his son, while he was still alive, eastward, to the land of the east."
These were the children of Hagar, Sarah's handmaiden with whom Abraham fathered Ishmael, the progenitor of the Islamic strand of Abraham's ethical monotheism. Hagar was also called Ketura, which means "incense." Did these journeyers-to-the-east children of Abraham's become the Brahmins? The timing would be right, Abraham lived around 2100 B.C.E., and the Upanishads and Rig Veda emerged in India in about 1500 B.C.E. The similarity of "Abraham" and "Brahmin" may be purely coincidental. Like the fact that the Nordic version of Adam and Eve, the primordial couple, were called in the Eddas "Ask and Embla" [ash and elm trees]."
But we are digressing. We can start another discussion about this in another thread. The point that I am pointing out when I mentioned Bet and the Ox is that the same images are found in the caves which pre-exists both religions.
CECILIA BELTRAN
Chris Kelly 20+
"by the "House", the phonetic Beyt...which is also a WOMB in use and context, for the number 2 is considered female, hence the shape of the letter B, the side view of a pregnant woman."
'Beth' is the house of God. That house is us; it is our mind, our heart, our soul, our body. Our inner Divine Mother is the Shekinah, the Spirit of God: that feminine spirit who holds all the mysteries of creation in her hands. She is represented by the letter ב Beth. The letter ב Beth is feminine. ב Beth is the goddess who stands next to א Aleph, the Father.
The letter Beth also relates to the Sanskrit Bhu, which means "to be, to exist.” The English word "build" comes from the Sanskrit word Bhu.
It is also a very interesting correspondence that the Hebrew word Bara -Beth-Reish-Aleph, the first three letters of Bereishit, means “to create.”
The purpose of Genesis is to create the Hu-Man, (Hu = Sanskrit for "breath"; Man = Sanskrit for "mind") the Temple, the Temple of Solo-mon, the Solar Man. The temple is built to house the Spirit of God, the Shekinah.
This is why Moses received the command,
And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. - Exodus 25: 8
CECILIA BELTRAN
Chris Kelly 20+
A little less curious when one understands the true history of humanity and our root races.
CECILIA BELTRAN
Your interfaith insignia tells me what you understand from the "the true history of humanity". PBS has some ideas. http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/pyramid-code/
natasha nikulina 50+
Thank you for responding !
What you said is amazingly interesting, I've always had the feeling that there is a Mystery here !
"...I am doubtful that the cave was born from an innocent time but rather a decline of something that used to be more sophisticated.''
I don't know, but these paintings do resonate through millennia !
I share your belief, that everything came from one source and we can relate to it intuitively.
What goes 'in' as one comes 'out' as many and symbols are aimed to reunite us with one.
Maybe it's just the case with cave paintings...and really "we have lost years " !
Fallowing your discussion with Chris I 've become conscious , aware how ignorant i am in those
matters, and I am inspired to do something about it :)
Thanks for the links and your beautiful story !
Re "So conscious awareness means consciously conscious, or aware of awareness."
I guess, " Cogito ergo sum" has something to do with it :)
Descartes suggested that the pineal gland is "the seat of the soul"
I would appreciate your opinion, what do think about 'the third eye ?
Thanks !
CECILIA BELTRAN
The third eye? The third eye, as I always say in my workshops, is constructed like an eye. But its located inside the brain instead of outside. So its the eye designed to observe light within. It is believed to be the source of visions. But visions are symbols culled from our unconscious associations. So I believe that what the pineal gland does, with all its eye rods and cones, is observe the light flashing inside the brain. It is observing the reality within. So to awaken the third eye, or the ability to foresee the future, one must look within for the unconscious [knowledge] as Jung puts it, has no end. Thank you for the thumbs up, for some reason TED site congratulates you. Isn't that funny?
natasha nikulina 50+
From Wikipedia : "The human pineal gland grows in size until about 1–2 years of age, remaining stable thereafter...".
And match :
" Except you become as little children you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven "
Interesting !!!
Thank you !