Truth vs Falsehood (55 page)

Because of Hinduism’s protean expressions and diversity of teachers and techniques, it has an exotic appeal to many Westerners. A downside is that the world abounds with pseudo-gurus and swamis who are not only adept but also quite expert at imitating the genuine (see next chapter).

Islam

As with all religions, the calibrated level of the mystics is characteristically considerably higher than that of formal religion itself, and the Sufis reflect that level of transcendence of the linear domain. The difference between the Sunnites and the Shi’ites is reflected in current history in that area of the world where the far-right fundamentalists tend to be militant and aggressive. The declaration of “Jihad,” with its projected hatred of Christianity and America as the great Satan, calibrates at 60-90, and thereby rejects the teachings of the Koran, which calibrates at 700. Thus, the term “Jihad” negates its own claim to be ‘holy’.

The defect of the far-right position of any religion is the activation of spiritual zealotry. True spiritual integrity comes from courage in the promotion of truth. Therefore, that is reflected in the energy of the heart as devotion to one’s spiritual beliefs. Spiritual hatred, however, comes out of the spleen, which then triggers the release of animal-type behaviors. This is further energized by the promises of a warrior heaven (a belief that was prevalent also in the Vikings who thought that death and battle would send them to Valhalla). The promise to naïve, uneducated, impressionable young Islamic terrorists that in death they will go to a heaven where “seventy virgins” will reward them is certainly inventive and seductive to young men, many of whom are barely teenagers. Actually, it is spiritual seduction and exploitation (calibrates as ‘true’) by power-seeking leaders.

The fall of Islam is the subject of extensive studies (Forsyth, 2004), from its highest expressions to its decline in the 1600s into its current dark ages or downward spiral of hate and spite, rage and self-pity, poverty and oppression (Lewis, 1990).

The current state of affairs is vividly documented in the book
Inside the Kingdom
by bin Laden’s former sister-in-law, Carmen bin Laden, which reveals the daily life of women in the bin-Laden-supported Islamic world of today’s Iran, in which women are captives and Westerners are held in contempt (C. bin Laden, 2004).

Although early militant Islam lost influence after Kara Mustafa’s defeat at Vienna in 1683, the more serious decline began 300 years ago with the emergence of the Islamic cult of Wahhabism (cal. 30), initiated by its founder Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab (cal. 20), out of which emerged HAMAS (cal. 40), founded by Sheik Ahmad Yassin (cal. 35), al-Qaeda (cal. 30), and the current Jihad (cal. 30) of bin Laden (cal. 40).

The severely extreme view replaces former Islamic tolerance for all “people of the book” (the sons of Abraham) with a blanket condemnation of all people on earth (except its own followers), including ninety percent of Islamic members. All deserve death as ‘idolaters’ (“mushrikun”). The impact on political leaders can be seen, for example, by the fall in the consciousness level of Arafat from its prior level of 440 to its final level of 65.

It is important to note that the founder of HAMAS, Sheik Ahmad al-Hassin, calibrates at 35, Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab calibrates at an ominous 20, and that Jihad, Wahhabism, and al-Qaeda all calibrate at 30-65. Islamic martyrdom calibrates at 60; religious fanaticism is at calibration level 80; desecrators of truth are at level 35, and malignant, messianic narcissism is at calibration level 30. These are also the calibration levels of serial murderers and killer-mutilators. Thus, as bizarre as it may seem to rational people, Wahhabism declares holy war against
all
mankind except for its own members, who were spawned out of its diverse current bases of the Arabic world.

Of historical note is that King Faisal of Saudi Arabia calibrated at 480. Thus, Nixon’s reneging on his promise to King Faisal to be “fair and even-handed” in dealing with Israel and Islamic countries can be seen with the wisdom of hindsight to have been an error whereby he alienated the Arabic world by giving two billion dollars to Israel for arms. This move fostered anti-Americanism and Islamic cultural bonding, with its resultant concordance of attitudes. This favored the enculturization of terrorism as a laudatory lifestyle in the predominately anti-U.S. climate. There was already enough anti-American sentiment abroad to provide fertile ground to spread the fires of Islamic-based xenophobia and hatred. It is unlikely that pacifism and denial will suffice to offset such a militant trend.

The historical precedent for a Jihad has been explained elsewhere and was set by Muhammad himself. At the time he dictated the Koran circa 610 AD, at age 35 (not at age 40, as alleged by some historians), his level of consciousness was above 700. At age 38, his consciousness level fell very dramatically to far below 200, down to 130. He took up not the spiritual sword of truth but the physical sword of militarism. Roughly thirteen hundred years later, the misinterpretation of religious truth continues, accelerated by the fanaticism of Wahhabism. Now, instead of swords, the weapons are bombs and the blowing up of thousands of noncombatant civilians and schools filled with children. It is hard to imagine how that can be held as heroic or praiseworthy in any culture. In contrast, chivalry calibrates at 465.

In the United States, politicalization of Islam is rampant, and New York Congressman Peter King stated (February, 2004) that extremists control eighty percent of the mosques, thus casting suspicion on Islamic converts, especially if they are young males. There is a strong likelihood of radicalization of converts to ‘prove themselves,’ reinforced by an unconscious death wish energized by indoctrination that voluntary death is a glorious sacrifice that necessitates killing infidels. In the United States, the radicalization rate is ten percent, which rises to twenty percent in European countries, and to forty percent in Arabic countries (calibrates as ‘true’). These teachings are directly those of Wahhab and Qutb. (See Sperry,
Infiltration
, 2005.)

The political pirating of Islam that threatens today’s world is consequent to the writings of its influential philosopher, Sayyid Qutb, whose role is comparable to that of Karl Marx and communism. His influential role was described in a major article in the
New York Times Magazine
(March 23, 2003), entitled “The Philosopher of Islamic Terror—Sayyid Qutb,” who calibrated early at 420 but later fell to calibration level 75. He provided the philosophic basis for al-Qaeda with the interpretation of the Koran published as
In the Shade of the Qur’an
(cal. 90).

Crucial to both Wahhab and Qutb’s serious misinterpretations of the Koran (problems of the Koran itself are discussed in the next chapter) is the critical and disastrous misinterpretation of the word “sword.” (The same error has been made by some Christian sects over time.) In spiritual reality and language, “sword” means the Sword of Truth, not the physical sword, which results in a meaning that is completely diametrically opposed to the teachings of all the great avatars, saviors, and prophets. The barbarian world was already ruled by massacre of the innocent by the sword, so slaughter was hardly needful of encouragement by saviors and prophets of Allah. Truth, mercy, and forgiveness are the pathways to God. Paradoxically, each verse of the Koran starts with the statement “In the name of Allah, the All Merciful.” The way to God is through the heart of love, not the spleen of hatred.

The major thrust of this work is that it defined suicidal terrorism as a virtue, radicalized Islamic fundamentalism, and supported its spread throughout the Arab world in a united Pan-Arabism that seeks to establish a world theocracy. Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda are dominated by the ego inflation of messianic triumphalism based on the ideologies of Qutb, which extol the virtues of martyrdom and demonize Christianity as heretical and therefore virtuous to destroy. He also romanticizes sacrificial death and urges young followers to actually seek it. Thus, his influence has been not only divisive but has also cast a shadow over all of Islam. It is this influence that surfaced as 9/11, the Iraqi war, the killing of civilians, bomb explosions and attacks worldwide, and changed the lifestyles in all countries. Far worse events are planned and already in preparation.

The fascist right-wing politicalization of Islam is reflected in the power-dominant religio-political leaders of recent times, such as Ayatollah Khomeini (cal. 75) and now Shi’ite Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini Sistani (cal. 125), who, when coupled with Osama bin Laden (cal. 40), the Taliban (cal. 65), and al-Qaeda (cal. 30), may be problematic to the Western World.

The dark ages of Christianity lasted hundreds of years, during which an estimated fifty to eighty thousand ‘heretics’ were put to death by the Inquisition. (Some estimates are in the millions.) Hopefully the dark ages of Islam will pass more quickly. Perhaps such eras serve some karmic or evolutionary purpose.

Judaism

Judaism is universally recognized as one of the world’s primary and strongest religions that have withstood countless centuries of endless attack. The hostility of Christianity toward Judaism is rather paradoxical in that the Christian Bible includes the Old Testament and considers it a source of religious authority. This unfortunate twist of fate comes from the regrettable circumstances in which the Jewish Sanhedrin (cal. 205) turned Jesus over to the Roman secular authorities. Although the technical charge was that of a heresy, another factor was that Jesus was seen as a revolutionary who threatened the authority and power of the priest class that then acted out of self-interest in a culture that was already primitively punitive.

As with other religions, the highest calibrations are those of the mystics (see Zohar at 905 in the next chapter). The high calibration of Hasidism reflects the recognition of Divinity as the Source of All Existence and its endeavor to become conscious of the presence of Divinity in the details of everyday life. The Messianic branch also calibrates quite high because it includes recognition of the avatar status of Jesus, the Christ.

Over the centuries, anti-Semitism was based on blaming Judaism for the death of Jesus, plus the fact that they rejected Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah. Thus, anti-Semitism was not unique in that major Semitic religions viewed each other as rivals and heretical nonbelievers, amplified by cultural and political differences.

The really virulent anti-Semitism of the last century was inflamed by a quite delusional publication that emerged in the early 1900s, entitled
The Protocol of the Learned Elders of Zion
(Nilus, 1905; later trans. Marsden, 2003), which calibrates at an ominous level of 90. This fallacious document purported to expose a worldwide conspiracy by Jews to take over control of the world, the banks, the monetary system, etc.

The authoritative style of presenting spurious suppositions was convincing to many readers, and it spread anti-Semitism throughout Europe, forming the ideological background for Nazi anti-Semitism. Unfortunately, it was accepted as truth by many influential people, even in the United States, and this specific document was the basis for Henry Ford’s well-known anti-Semitism. Ford circulated copies of it to other influential people who thus fell into the belief of an international conspiracy (conspiracy theories in general calibrate at 160). Although Ford changed his mind later in his life, the anti-Semitism had been picked up by hate groups in the U. S., where it still smolders despite the major worldwide revolt against anti-Semitism that resulted from the exposure of the Nazi concentration camps and their extermination of six million Jews in Europe.

Anti-Semitism has decreased very markedly in the U. S. since World War II but it is on the rise again in Europe, fueled by Muslim extremists, aided and abetted by political propaganda and social theories. White-supremacist groups are considered by the U. S. mainstream to be the “lunatic fringe.”

Other Religions

Shinto, at 350, is integrous in concept. The downside is the glorification of the warrior archetype, which, as previously mentioned, has the disadvantage of energizing the spleen in addition to the solar plexus and the heart. This easily leads to savagery and the butchering of innocent civilians in the release of the blood lust out of the deep, unconscious, primitive Id. This can also lead to the glorification of savagery, as revealed by the Japanese military ravages of the Pacific and the Far East in the 1930s, and later during World War II, with its death marches, starvation deaths of prisoners, and the slaughter of millions of innocent Chinese civilians, including infants. All of this blood lust was supposedly for the glorification of the emperor, who was believed to be the descendent of the Shinto sun god. The kamikaze pilot (cal. 390) reflected the integrous warrior who sacrificed his life for God and country in contrast to fanaticism, which calibrates at 60.

Taoism