5-25-06 Further Out
Yesterday I wrote about the discovery of two more planets in our Solar System, out beyond Pluto. Today, it's about a twelfth planet, cooked up by the Sumerians 6000 years ago, according to this guy...
http://www.sitchin.com/
...Zecharia Sitchin has been writing about his version of the local star system for about three decades. He began his quest as a boy, studying the Torah in Hebrew, and questioning the meaning of the word "Nefilim", among other things. His first book (in a series), "The 12th Planet", is clearly full of speculative holes and wide open for criticism (which is easily found on the web). But I like this guy. He's a true romantic in his personal quest to "prove" the "true meanings" of things in the Old Testament.
Mostly, he focuses on the ancient writings of Sumeria, found on clay tablets and seals, lending his own spin on what these things "really mean" in a larger context. That larger context is the etymological nuances of historical scholarship, which he tends to brush aside without a care in the world. It's comical at times, since his tendencies are so blatant.
But what we have here is something that many of us tend to believe. It's that sense of playing "telephone", where the literal context and meaning of a message gets altered as it passes from person to person. In Sitchin's paradigm of the world, the Old Testament is the result of thousands of years of playing "telephone"... and he goes into this quest for the "real meanings" of words and phrases in the Old Testament with such a level of conviction that it's difficult to stop reading, provoked into wondering just how far out on a limb he's willing to go.
Well, he certainly goes out on a limb, there's no doubt about that!
"The 12th Planet" is Sitchin's entry into the main theme that Earth has been visited by Aliens. It's such a far out idea, that no-one can take it seriously on the face of it. So I decided to read it from the perspective of it being more like a science fiction story. I haven't quite finished it, but so far it's held my attention for a number of reasons.
One reason is that, in my view, there are only two explanations for the huge array of myths and legends from the ancient past dealing with a God or many Gods. One is that the human mind (and there are many variations on this theme) is capable of, and has a need, to imagine something greater than itself. The other explanation would be that, somewhere back in the ancient past, Earth really was visited by "Gods" or what were perceived as Gods at the time.
Evidence of the former is the demonstrated success of themes from traditional religions to Sci-Fi to UFO's and "Ancient Astronauts". These subjects garner a large audience in churches, mosques, temples, bookstores, in movies, and on television. Evidence of the latter, in any strictest sense of the word, is lacking. Yet, the evidential criteria seems to be the make/break point of any arguments for or against the whole thing.
This is where hard science and beliefs knock heads all the time.
Sitchin comes out of a Jewish religious tradition and upbringing. But it's clear that his imagination is more than fertile. So it's up the reader to decide whether his imaginings are based in credible evidence, which he spends the bulk of his text on, or just plain baloney.
If you can wade through the obvious influences of his upbringing and his tendency to position himself as knowing better than the rest of the world of scholarship over the past centuries, it's still an enjoyable read if you tend to believe, as I do, that the Old Testament has probably suffered from a very long line of alterations, mis-duplications, and mis-interpretations over the past few thousand years.
It isn't really a matter of whether he's "right" or not. It's that he really believes he's "onto something" with all of this, and has made this his life's work. Eight books since 1978 comprise this collection of work.
Basically, where the "Da Vinci Code" tantalizes the reader with the concept of the New Testament having a long history of alterations, mis-duplications, and mis-interpretations, this series of books does the same thing with the Old Testament. If you enjoyed reading the Da Vinci Code, you'll get an even bigger "gee-whiz" from reading Sitchin's work.
http://www.sitchin.com/
...Zecharia Sitchin has been writing about his version of the local star system for about three decades. He began his quest as a boy, studying the Torah in Hebrew, and questioning the meaning of the word "Nefilim", among other things. His first book (in a series), "The 12th Planet", is clearly full of speculative holes and wide open for criticism (which is easily found on the web). But I like this guy. He's a true romantic in his personal quest to "prove" the "true meanings" of things in the Old Testament.
Mostly, he focuses on the ancient writings of Sumeria, found on clay tablets and seals, lending his own spin on what these things "really mean" in a larger context. That larger context is the etymological nuances of historical scholarship, which he tends to brush aside without a care in the world. It's comical at times, since his tendencies are so blatant.
But what we have here is something that many of us tend to believe. It's that sense of playing "telephone", where the literal context and meaning of a message gets altered as it passes from person to person. In Sitchin's paradigm of the world, the Old Testament is the result of thousands of years of playing "telephone"... and he goes into this quest for the "real meanings" of words and phrases in the Old Testament with such a level of conviction that it's difficult to stop reading, provoked into wondering just how far out on a limb he's willing to go.
Well, he certainly goes out on a limb, there's no doubt about that!
"The 12th Planet" is Sitchin's entry into the main theme that Earth has been visited by Aliens. It's such a far out idea, that no-one can take it seriously on the face of it. So I decided to read it from the perspective of it being more like a science fiction story. I haven't quite finished it, but so far it's held my attention for a number of reasons.
One reason is that, in my view, there are only two explanations for the huge array of myths and legends from the ancient past dealing with a God or many Gods. One is that the human mind (and there are many variations on this theme) is capable of, and has a need, to imagine something greater than itself. The other explanation would be that, somewhere back in the ancient past, Earth really was visited by "Gods" or what were perceived as Gods at the time.
Evidence of the former is the demonstrated success of themes from traditional religions to Sci-Fi to UFO's and "Ancient Astronauts". These subjects garner a large audience in churches, mosques, temples, bookstores, in movies, and on television. Evidence of the latter, in any strictest sense of the word, is lacking. Yet, the evidential criteria seems to be the make/break point of any arguments for or against the whole thing.
This is where hard science and beliefs knock heads all the time.
Sitchin comes out of a Jewish religious tradition and upbringing. But it's clear that his imagination is more than fertile. So it's up the reader to decide whether his imaginings are based in credible evidence, which he spends the bulk of his text on, or just plain baloney.
If you can wade through the obvious influences of his upbringing and his tendency to position himself as knowing better than the rest of the world of scholarship over the past centuries, it's still an enjoyable read if you tend to believe, as I do, that the Old Testament has probably suffered from a very long line of alterations, mis-duplications, and mis-interpretations over the past few thousand years.
It isn't really a matter of whether he's "right" or not. It's that he really believes he's "onto something" with all of this, and has made this his life's work. Eight books since 1978 comprise this collection of work.
Basically, where the "Da Vinci Code" tantalizes the reader with the concept of the New Testament having a long history of alterations, mis-duplications, and mis-interpretations, this series of books does the same thing with the Old Testament. If you enjoyed reading the Da Vinci Code, you'll get an even bigger "gee-whiz" from reading Sitchin's work.
posted by Jeff Barnard at 4:49 PM
1 Comments:
Thanks for the info. I may not read the books, but I'm happy to know someone is pursuing the "facts".I've always believed that the Bible was a collection of "gossip" games.el
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