JOURNEY THROUGH DECEPTION
by
Hossca Harrison
2011
The more I travel this planet, the more I realize it is much too small and fragile for so many different governments, religions, customs, languages, and, most of all, hatred from each to all. Some countries build walls to keep people out, build walls to keep people in, and build walls to show the world this is my land do not touch.
In my recent travels to Israel and Jordan, the aura of fear and anger became so repugnant it stopped being a vacation and became a journey through deception. As I walked around Jerusalem looking at all the “holy sites” in the “holy land” and talking to the warrior guardians of such, each had a reason to hate the other side. Each had a reason why they were right, and the others are wrong. Many Jews believe they are God’s chosen people, and God gave them land to establish their settlements. The Jews state this goes back to Abraham and the Israelites, teaching the concept of monotheism. The three largest Jewish denominations, Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism, and Reform Judaism, all maintain God chooses Jews for a purpose because they are descendants of Abraham and have the task of making a singular God known to the world. But wait a minute, the Muslims also claim to be descents from Abraham. According to religious history, Abraham’s firstborn son Ishmael is considered by Muslims to be the Father of the Arabs. The second son of Abraham Isaac is called the Father of the Hebrews. Can you imagine what it was like in that family having a child who became the Father of the Hebrews and his brother the Father of the Arabs? Perhaps Abraham was pulling his hair out, crying out to God, “What have you done?” Instead, he listened to his jealous wife, Sarah, telling him to renounce his son, Ishmael, because she did not give birth to him. She wanted Isaac, the child she gave birth to, to be the only son inheriting Abraham’s wealth. The nice mother figure, Freud, eat your heart out.
Now we have two brothers, the Jews and the Arabs still hating and fighting each other over the land filled with dust and rocks. And yes, don’t forget the Christians who claim a new covenant with God, where God disowns the Jews, so now the chosen people are the mother church known as the Catholics. Wait, another bulletin, the Protestants are now the chosen people. Wait again; it is now the Religious Right who are the chosen people; this can get mighty confusing. Indeed, everyone knows the chosen people are the righteous people going to heaven, and the other people are going to hell. Who knows, by the time hell comes around, there could be a different chosen people, and by now, it seems this God does not have a strong track record.
Knowing this, I walked around Jerusalem, listening to the different languages, smelling the different religious foods and costumes, and thinking to myself. Finally, my desire for years to travel to the “holy land” and “holy sites” became a reality. As a philosopher, this journey was about studying, observing the human religious consciousness being disrupted by godly anger in the three major religions most holy place on earth.
I walked over to the Western Wall, which used to be known as the Wailing Wall, the holy place for Jews to pray. It wasn’t long ago when the Jordanians ruled this part of Jerusalem and did not allow Jews to pray at the Wailing Wall. Now all of Jerusalem is under Israeli control, and the Israelis do let Muslims pray at their most holy site, the Dome of the Rock. I put on a Kippah or, in Yiddish, a Yarmulkah, and walked up to the Western Wall on the male side. Of course, the females have a much smaller area to pray. When I arrived at the wall, I put my hands on the wall to feel the energy. It felt like one thousand elephants stampeding. I felt the energy of pain, suffering, crying out to God with such sorrow, such anger. Why do people do this to themselves? As I looked up above the wall, there stood the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. The Jews pray for the destruction of the Muslim temple to build their third temple in the same location. Then we have the Christians, the other chosen people waiting on Israel to begin constructing the third temple on the same site as the Dome of the Rock. Why? So the antichrist can appear to the world?
I am beginning to think I am in a B rated horror movie, the “holy land,” the “holy sites,” the Chosen People, the Un-Chosen People, and the new Chosen people. Is this why the American Religious Right strongly supports the United States continued economic and military support for Israel? Could this be in part why our American tax dollars are supporting Israel? Could the United States have congressman and senators wanting this third temple built so that the antichrist can reveal himself, thus bringing about Armageddon? The biblical prophecy of the greatest suffering in humanity’s history, so yes, congressman and senators use our tax dollars so Jesus will come and save your ass. Maybe I should change it to a C rated horror movie. Perhaps if CNN or FOX paid more attention, this would be a more exciting story to report on than Weinergate.
The next day I went on a tour under the city of Jerusalem under the Western Wall. There were many large rooms deep under the Temple Mount with narrow pathways leading to the spring. Large carved stones, so large our tour guide stated there is only one crane in Israel that could move these cut stones, and even then, it could not set them where they stand. So who put these stones there? What was built before the Time of Reorganized History became accepted as fact? Could there have been a conspiracy many millenniums ago to cover something up? Could these religions unintentionally be camouflaging something much bigger than religion itself? Perhaps there is an ancient truth being buried here under the city of Jerusalem. Most sense, when something original is presented, it does not take long for it to become polluted by the minds that want to control it. Perhaps something original still exists under this city. Maybe it existed before religion executed ownership of this land of dust and rock?
The following day, I decided to go to the Essene Gate location, a particular place my Teacher Jonah has shared with me many times. Jonah shared with me in 1984 the Essene Gate had been destroyed in 70 AD when Titus’s Roman legionaries destroyed Jerusalem. I still wanted to explore the area, so I asked the concierge at our hotel, which was less than a mile from the old city of Jerusalem, the Essene Gate location. To my surprise, he knew nothing about an Essene Gate, nothing about the Essenes during the first century. This concierge was proud to be born in Jerusalem and had a degree in the history of Jerusalem. “Where did you hear about the Essene Gate?” he asked.
“Look it up on Google,” I said, “you will find many pages on the Essene Gate.” He typed in the word Essene which I had to spell for him. Up came many pages on the Essene Gate.
“Wow!” he said. “I never knew this.”
I found this amusing, but I know how the world’s educational system works through my studies on philosophy. We are taught just what the establishment wants you to believe, and this was a perfect example. I made my journey to the location where the Essene Gate had existed, finding the wall I had expected to find. What did surprise me was that this old Jerusalem section was vacant, with no buildings, no excavation site, just a mound of dirt, grass, and trash. How could ancient Jerusalem be so condensed, people living and surviving on top of each other and just feet away from a tract of land about two acres in size with nothing new and only vacant? Then I remembered Jonah telling me, back in 1984, the Pharisees and Sadducees and others had made a vow to bury the memory of the Essenes. I hope to write about this subject in the future.
I then continued my journey across Jerusalem to what the Jews call the City of David, located in the middle of Silwan’s Palestinian village and home to thousands of Palestinians. Israel annexed the Palestinian village following the 1967 war. The Jews claim this is the home of King David, where he built his palace. The Palestinians claim Israel uses this to take complete control of Silwan and move the Palestinians off their land. The Palestinian claim seems to have some truth. The Elad Foundation, which has jurisdiction over the City of David, seems not to attempt to hide their agenda. The Elad director, Doron Speilman, told Time magazine that the Elad Foundation states its position, “Our goal is to turn all this land into Jewish hands.”
Our Palestinian taxi driver/tourist guide told us, “You watch, and the Jews will claim to find proof of King David by planting something in the ground. Our village will be history.” This hilltop, the City of David, is considered the ancient home of the Egyptians, Canaanites, Judeans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, and Muslims their religious traditions, history, culture, and accepted God of violence. The “holy land,” the “holy sites” continue following the traditions of blood, tears, and human manipulation of history.
The next day I journeyed next door to Jordan and made our way to Petra. Look up the images on Google; perhaps it will astound you as to its appearance of Ancient Greece, except Petra has been around for at least 9000 years, well before Ancient Greece, so where did this architecture originate? I talked with the tour guides who are taught what and what not to speak. Their story of the beautiful buildings carved out of stone are tombs, because they found some mummies. They do not account for the fact the beautiful hand-carved stone buildings are much older than the mummies themselves. I was told the same story while in Egypt that the pyramids were tombs for ancient kings. I hired a young man, a nomad who was one of the last people born in Petra, to take me on his mule the entire length of Petra and back. I asked this young man about the mummy theory. He laughed and stated, “Kings of long ago lived here.”
“How long ago?” I asked.
He stated, “The kings before time.”
Who wants who to believe what? If you step outside traditional beliefs, how are you perceived? While in Jordan and my previous visit to Egypt, I visited many different Muslim types, asking them about their religion. I knew the history of the Muslim faith, but I enjoy seeking an understanding of how the Muslims believe and tell their story of the creation of Islam. They believe the angel Gabriel came to Mohammad and gave him a new religion.
I jokingly asked the Muslim, telling me this, “I thought Gabriel was a Christian angel?”
He answered quite seriously, “Oh no, Gabriel is Muslim. Everyone knows this.”
Studying many different religions over the years, I did know that Muhammad, at the age of 40, claimed to go into a meditative state and received a revelation from God through the Angel Gabriel. He claims this revelation continued for 23 years. The writing is now known as the Quran.
What do all three of the world’s major religions have in common? The end of the world, God’s anger and thirst for vengeance of the evildoers? The problem, who are the evildoers? Which religion shall one believe? Which
heaven shall one believe? Which the hell shall one believe? Many old age prophets and many new age prophets predict the end of the world, but this has been occurring for thousands of years. The concept of distinguishing the difference between the Old Age and the New Age is becoming more complex.
As I said initially, this planet is too small and fragile for the many different religions that preach hatred, punishment, torment, and want the world to end. My journey through deception led me back to what I was taught many years ago by my Chinese Teacher. When one fully understands the untouched history of humankind and its religions, one can rise above the illusion and see, feel, and experience the essence of the pure consciousness of love.