The Easter Dove Bread an Ancient Alien Conspiracy?
I watch a lot of, what I call, theoretical documentaries. Shows like Ancient Aliens that speak to unsolved mysteries. Jane's comments usually range from loud sighs to, “Are you watching that again? Don’t you ever get tired of it? It’s all (expletive).”
It may be just (expletive), but what I find fascinating, apart from the physical evidence remaining of what seems to be evidence of a higher intelligence at work, is the Sherlock Holmes-like deductive reasoning that evokes such varied other worldly theories. All very well argued, nonetheless, interpretation of facts.
Imagination and the desire to know have been driving forces behind mankind’s evolution. Some have argued that Religion developed as a mix of fact and myth, therefore is an unreliable truth. The same would argue that believing in a God is a necessary evil. From a psychological point of view, man needs something in order to rationalize his place in this universe. God gives us a beginning and reason for being.
The reason why we exist will forever elude us. Even if the Ancient Alien Theory is ever proven true, it still would not explain where, when, and how life began.
When Eve tempts Adam with the apple from the tree of knowledge, many believe in the interpretation that innocence gave way to lust and man fell from grace. If this were true, then why would God command them to go out into the world and procreate? Wouldn’t that be like asking them to go out and sin?
In this instance, my interpretation is that the text should be taken literally. Man’s fall from grace is not because of lust, but rather, his loss of innocence because he gains knowledge and the sin is his wanting to be like God. Adam was not content having everything he needed, he wanted more; he desired to have and know what God did.
At this point, you are probably asking yourself what does all this have to do with the Easter Dove Bread? La Colomba Pasqule. This is Italy’s traditional sweet bread. Baked for the Easter celebration of Christ’s victory over death. For us it is the meaning of hope.
The only thing this bread has to do with Ancient Alien Conspiracies is interpretation. Throughout time there has been a need for man to have symbols representing things we cannot comprehend and associate them with things we are aware of in our lives. Universal ideas attached to simple images.
Before the dove became a symbol for universal peace, the Holy Spirit, and God’s presence, the dove was also a reoccurring symbol throughout the Old Testament. It has appeared during times that are recognized as a new beginning, for atonement, and renewal. Earlier civilizations saw the dove as a symbol of feminine fertility and that of a mother goddess. It’s sound is cooing, which evokes feelings of lament and wanting.
For Christians, Easter is synonymous with great sorrow and tremendous hope, the epitome of Gods love.
Like the Buddha, it is only when he leaves the palace grounds to live amongst the less fortunate, does his life’s journey to enlightenment begin. Through Jesus, God experiences life as that of an ordinary man. Subject to every scrutiny, insult, suffering and hardship. The message he leaves us with is that to be truly free we must abandon everything and submit to a life of service. By doing so, we liberate ourselves from desire, a debilitating and restraining emotion, that enslaves us to a life of need and self-fulfillment with little regard for those around us.
Over two thousand years later, the world is still engulfed in a maelstrom of self-destruction. Our world has become so small that what happens at the furthest point away from us is felt the moment it takes place. Now more than ever, it depends not just on the individual to change, but a commitment from nations as well. Nikola Tesla, an inventor and genius overshadowed by more notable individuals of his time such as Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein, may have said it best,
“It is paradoxical, yet true, to say, that the more we know, the more ignorant we become in the absolute sense, for it is only through enlightenment that we become conscious of our limitations. Precisely one of the most gratifying results of intellectual evolution is the continuous opening up of new and greater prospects.”
The Wonder World To Be Created By Electricity, Manufacturer’s Record, September 9, 1915
(http://themindunleashed.org/2015/03/31-outstanding-quotes-from-nikola-tesla.html)
It is essential to break this cycle of war and aggression we seem to be forced into. Days of celebration marked on our calendars are becoming eclipsed by incidents of sorrow and despair. Ignorance and antipathy smudge humanity’s triumphs. By destroying historical artifacts, artwork and architecture only illuminates their immorality and unethical behavior. How can such hatred be germinated from the word of God?
Terrorism may have started as a reaction against discrimination and suppression in an attempt to bring attention to such injustices. However it has turned into a movement to undermine freedom, trust, peace, and tolerance. Terrorism enriches and helps propagate the war machine, and in so doing, obliterating all the good qualities of being human.
Without the past there is no future. To build on what we have learned is just; to destroy what has been attained is evil. My fear is that we will find ourselves, like a hamster in a cage, just spinning the wheel, only to realize we have not made any progress regardless of the effort we have expended.
