Evolution of Christianity The Trinity
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The Trinity by El Greco, 1577 Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain. We can feel the emotion of Christ, Christ the Savior. The art critic uses the term pathos to describe a feeling of suffering, pity and compassion visible in the painting of “The Trinity” by El Greco. We can feel the pathos and empathy of the Father and the Son. We can feel the awe and power of these spiritual matters. We can feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. It is part of our consciousness. And not just “Christians”, but this spiritual awareness is a human condition. What then, is the nature of God? |
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There is also a trinity in the Hindu religion. Hinduism is a very old and complicated belief system. The concept of Trimurti (Trinity) developed over many centuries from old Vedic legends and epics. Brahman the Supreme Being or Universal Mother with the Hindu Trinity: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Brahma - the Creator, This leads to much confusion, but the hundreds of different gods and goddesses of Hinduism represent various functions of the Supreme Being and are not really separate gods. |
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Unidentified Painting Brahman has two aspects, transcendent (impersonal) and immanent (personal). In the impersonal aspect Brahman is without attributes, both formless and with form. In the personal aspect the Brahman (God) is creator, preserver and controller of the universe. The Supreme Reality (Brahman) becomes manifest or known in various aspects and forms, and is known by many names. |
Dualism ~ Light and Dark
Mithra Sacrifices a Bull, stone relief,Louvre Museum, Paris |
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Mithra was born December 25th of a virgin. Winter Solstice was a very large and important festival in the ancient world. Various sun gods were worshipped during that time of the year as the sun began its apparent change in the sky and the length of daylight began its annual increase. Mithra was a sun god and god of light. He was associated with religions in Persia, India, Greece and Rome, and may have began as a solar deity and son of god Ahura Mazda, the Persian god and creator of the universe. The theme of light and darkness was important in Zoroastrian religions. In Rome, Mithra was associated with a bull and was a common religion with Roman soldiers. |
Gods of Fertility and Rebirth ~
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| The Awakening of Adonis, by John William Waterhouse, 1900, Private Collection. |
Adonis in Greek mythology was the god of beauty and desire. Adonis originally was a Phoenician (current day Lebanon) god of fertility representing the spirit of vegetation. Virgin births were common in ancient mythology. And dying and resurrection was a common theme, usually associated with fertility cults and with the Spring revival of nature. Some of these were: Christianity evolved from Judaism and also from Greek philosophy and paganism. Jews were perhaps less philosophical and needed only to know the Law and the Will of God. Jesus took the basics of Jewish law and teachings and molded it into a new focus - the Beatitudes and the Lord’s Prayer. Greeks were curious (science, logic, geometry) and desired to know the nature of nature and the nature of God. John, the Gospel writer, used Greek metaphysics to express his view of the Word (logos). The Christian Church absorbed various pagan traditions and festivals and turned them into Christmas and Easter and adopted the concepts of Son of God and rebirth and resurrection. God is bigger than our known universe and smaller than theoretical quantum particles. God is apparently unknowable, except in all but the smallest ways for us, as our methods are limited by our consciousness and the nature of light energy. And God in part, is related to our own archetypes that reside in our own inner concsiousness and in the bigger collective unconscious. More Evolution of Christianity ~ Church Fathers, Constantine and the Nicean Creed |
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