A book by which its collected
material itself in the process of reading can guide the reader deeper and deeper
into other dimensions and worlds - with new recognitions in consequence - will,
simultaneously, be a collection of knowledge which would be natural to wish to
share with many. Because the exceptional material contained in the book,
delivered along the line on manifold levels, leaves to the reader new, rewarding
knowledge, it deserves to be widely-spread.
The book in question has been written through many years of research in cultic
mysticism knowledge behind the ancient world religions and especially in
connection with historical Moses? foundation of a new religion on a much older
Egyptian basis. So I have given the book the title ?The Secret Religion?.
The following text is presenting the reactions which the book has generated by
an experienced reader, Jurij Moskvitin, being an author and philosopher himself
and, indeed, making us acquainted with his special insight into the items.
Jurij Moskvitin?s thoughts about these results are expanding engaged reflection
- by this, there are more knowledge to share. The reader is given an eventful
travel of reading
- and best wishes from Ove von Spaeth
-
www.moses-egypt.net
New Life and
Meaning into the Study
of History of Religion
By Jurij Moskvitin,
philosopher, author
Can we get more close to understand history from inside?
Jurij Moskvitin has dealt with this question by his reading of a new and
controversial book about tracing our present basis into historical Egypt?s
impact on the religion of Moses. The book observes a principle adopted by Max
Weber, the sociologist and anthropologist, who calls it ?Verstehen?, - that it
is not possible to describe a distant culture?s habits and rituals without
understanding the meaning and purpose itself.
What is truth? Nietzsche defines truth as ?the pack of lies which is most
free of contradiction?. That of course is a sceptical way of defining a
scientific truth, however, the fact is that we have no better definitions.
And definition of truth is - directly and indirectly - what Ove von Spaeth?s
great work about Moses is dealing with. Of the five volumes, we are strongly
exploring volume four, titled ?The Secret Religion?, in which together with the
reader the author reaps what was sowed in the preceding and equally interesting
volumes. Ove von Spaeth may be met with pros et cons, however, one fact is
imperative, i.e. this author offers us interesting and rewarding reading.
Which truths can we bring to light from the texts reaching back to events, which
took place 3,500 years ago? In the case of Moses - the central figure in the Old
Testament - we have a confusion of information of different value and
credibility, often even contradicting. How to make choice or refuse, so that the
set of the least self-contradicting lies we come up with, can not only be
characterized as a result of the ?chop off a heel and cut a toe? method?
Initiated knowledge brought forward
Ove von Spaeth?s method is classical scientific. He puts forward a hypothesis
which he by good reasoning may consider to be probable. Subsequently he draws
the conclusion of his hypothesis - the theory. And finally he conducts an
experiment - explores if the theory may cause more pieces to fit in compared to
other and previous hypotheses or assumptions. If this is the case, the
experiment can be said to have proved the sustainability of the hypothesis.
The leading principle of the hypothesis in von Spaeth?s work about Moses is that
the generally accepted dating of Moses is wrong. Ove von Spaeth has fixed the
date of the death of Pharaoh Tuthmosis (III) to be 1455 B.C. - identical to the
Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, a central point in the life of Moses.
Further now, the subsequent theory requires that Moses is made the son of Queen
Hatshepsut and Egyptian heir to the thrown, but is tricked out by plots, an
event becoming the incentive for Moses to a kind of uprising; he leads the
Jewish people, carries out the Exodus simultaneously with letting them become
bearers of a religion new to them, which, however, in reality is the old
Egyptian religion in the core of which Moses as heir to the thrown has been
initiated, and he is thus passing it on to the world in a new and fruitful way.
Now - is this sustainable - do the pieces fit? Is the experiment successful? To
a reasonably likely degree the answer is positive. No one can certainly ask for
more. With his work von Spaeth has brought back one of the great personalities
of history from the misty world of myths - to which he has been relegated - now
to sheer reality. But during this endeavour the author has also been able to
prove a very close connection between the ancient Egyptian perception of the
world and a modern perceived realistic initiation psychology, this breathing new
life and meaning into the gradually sectarian, petrified Christianity. In fact,
via von Spaeth the 3,500 year ago Moses becomes a life-giving source for modern
people.
Theologians' hostility
Lead by von Spaeth we are not tackling trifles. Indeed, the author has employed
all means in order to demonstrate his vision: again to focus on the life-giving
source. He blasts rocks or drills passes through them all; at von Spaeth?s
disposal seems to be all weapons in the shape of a comprehensive knowledge of
many otherwise isolated subjects.
Of course it is the conventional conceptions of Moses and the contents of the
Old Testament, that von Spaeth has to depart from. And this immediately brings
us face to face with something very interesting: the opposition against Ove von
Spaeth?s work, of which seems to have been quite a lot, stems mainly from
theological quarters, and although strongly reduced, these quarters have mainly
been mobilised among German-protestant orientated theologians and their local
followers. A man like Adolf Harnack, the great, influential German theologian,
who hated any idea about a close relation between Christianity, Gnosticism, and
Neo-Platonism, would undoubtedly have insisted on von Spaeth being burnt at the
stake.
Outstanding survey
At all times von Spaeth will find his supporters among psychological and
philosophical orientated historians. Nietzsche would have nodded approvingly at
von Spaeth?s - by the way - outstanding interpretation of Christianity?s
evolution from primary Christianity, its fall, and its ability to stay alive by
means of secretly returning to its Egyptian roots and draw nourishment from that,
and how this hidden side of Christianity all of a sudden came into flower as the
humanistic movement of the Renaissance. Ove von Spaeth says in photo-negative
the same as Nietzsche in Antichrist. And so far also Kierkegaard, where he
claims that modern ecclesiastical Christianity is diluted rubbish and being
almost the opposite of the original meaning.
Sigmund Freud would have accepted - as a matter of course - von Spaeth?s
hypothetical basis, which makes Moses an Egyptian. ?The Egyptian factor? as von
Spaeth calls it - as being also a fundamental element in living Christianity -
would have been acceptable to different history author as Oswald Spengler and
Egon Friedell. And the close relation between Christianity and Buddhism - it is
this relation Wagner deals with in ?Parcifal". Obviously, Carl G. Jung would
have taken von Spaeth?s side. (In Denmark von Spaeth is on wavelengths with
Johannes Hohlenberg of the old generation, and to some extent in its own way
with Aage Henriksen of a later generation). In today?s England a man like Colin
Wilson would not feel alienated to von Spaeth?s ideas.
Traces and evidences
And lies and truth - now being the subject. Is it not common sense to believe
that the correct description of the source is most likely be the one
chronologically closest to the source? And conversely - that you can get so far
away from the source that it may be mistaken for a broken drain pipe? When von
Spaeth points out the ancient perception of the relation between Judaism,
Christianity, and Egyptian ideology, even the most hardcore sceptic must find it
obvious that von Spaeth have something important to say.
Augustine, Philo, Josephus - only to mention a few of the most famous names -
are among the many persons that von Spaeth offers the opportunity to tell about
Moses and Egypt, about the influence of Moses on Egyptian religious thinking of
his time, about the many parallels to Egyptian thinking we find in the Old
Testament, as well as corresponding traces in the New Testament. These evidences
are simply essential.
Fathers of the Church, mentioned besides Augustine - and further Plotin?s
secretary, Porphyrius, and in addition Iamblichus, an entire host, can not all
have been people of dreams and wishful thinking. Incidentally, von Spaeth points
out that the ancient church understood the Christian faith more as a climax and
a synthesis of a number of the other religio-philosophical movements, and that
it was only in the following centuries it was tried to present Jesus as a
completely new and isolated figure. Prior to that, the inclination was to see
great spiritual figures preceding Christ as a kind of forerunners for him -
Plato was considered as some kind of a Christian..
Documentation you can?t escape
The documentation presented here by von Spaeth is hard to escape. Reading von
Spaeth - and with just an inferior knowledge of the New Testament, one can not
escape listen to the sympathetic resonance of this work. Just think of ?Our
Lord? - ?Thy will be done! In Heaven as on Earth?. That is close to Plato?s
doctrine of ideas in existential form and, thus, absolutely also an idea we see
by the ancient Egyptians. And when Jesus is said to say that ?the Kingdom of God
is within yourself" - can that be reasonably understood in any other way than
the mystic-psychological way? And von Spaeth makes the interested reader ask
himself from where in heaven?s name stems the later fear of concrete nearness of
heaven?
Already in the Old Testament there is a permanent inclination to flinch from the
Egyptian-Gnostic Christian core - which incidentally von Spaeth believes is the
core of all society-creating religions - he presents a number of examples. Such
an example is the Cathar version of the line in ?Our Lord?, ?Give us this day
our daily bread?. With this Christian direction we find the version ?give us
this day our spiritual bread?. But should not this version be closer to the idea
that it is the interior, ?the spirit?, within ourselves and in Cosmos that we
We have the same problem with the Sermon on the Mount, the verse ?blessed are
the poor in spirit?, (Luke). As the other gospels do not contain ?in spirit? the
inclination has been to claim that ?in spirit? with Luke has been added by some
contemporary anti-Marxist. In support of von Spaeth?s observation that there is
a general inclination also to repel Moses and the core of his ideology, I want
to point out that St. Hieronymus, the first translator of the Old Testament from
Hebrew and the New Testament from Greek, indeed translated ?our daily bread? to
?panis nostrum supersubstantialis? i.e. ?our spiritual bread?. For did not
Hieronymus know what he was talking about? This man - praised and worshipped by
August for his firm knowledge of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin..
The essential understanding
A central basis of the analysis of his texts is von Spaeth?s use of a
principle adopted by Max Weber, the sociologist and anthropologist, who calls it
?Verstehen?, i.e. - the obvious, but rarely observed - that it is not possible
to describe a distant culture?s habits and rituals without understanding the
meaning and the purpose itself. An explorer who wants to describe the rituals of
a exotic tribe in connection with calling forth of rain will never be able to
describe it correctly unless he understands the purpose of the ritual - the
calling forth of rain.
And by this von Spaeth proceeds into serious minefields - the ancient mystery
cults and astrology. Ove von Spaeth simply means that without a knowledge of
ancient history?s astrological imaginations and the profound idea of many and
often strange, cultic rituals, we only understand a fraction of the contents of
the Bible, and in any case not at all enough to be aware of the existing
relations between the Egyptian, the Jewish, and the Christian worlds. Further,
as a red rag in front of modern religio-sociologists, von Spaeth emphasizes that
the great religions were not originally a social product, but that civilization,
and in general societies capable of surviving, origin from a kind of mysterious,
individual experiences provoked by the purpose of the cults.
In which ever way we turn this over in our minds we can not escape von Spaeth?s
emphasis on the conditions of practice ruling in ancient times and for a long
time ahead. From ancient Egypt via Greece and Rome, with a medieval break, but
with a revival during the Renaissance, the entire period was pervaded with
cultic and astrological ideas.
Cultic rituals
The actual ?The Secret Religion? with the subtitle ?Moses and the
Egyptian heritage in past and present? (C.A. Reitzel Publishers), the fourth
volume of von Spaeth?s series about Moses, is a tour de force in trying to make
us read the Old Testament and the New Testament through cultic and astrological
glasses. For those who turn sick by the word ?astrology? I should like - on my
own behalf - to present an explanatory note: constellations of stars should not
be - as often done - interpreted as an immediate explanation of events on the
individual and general level on our planet. Constellations of stars appear with
a cyclic and thus calculated periodicity. For instance such as solar eclipses.
At different times and in different positions compared to the sun the Earth is
influenced by different kinds of more or less important cosmic radiation, that
is not any news or incomprehensible. Neither that cosmic radiation may be the
reason for many explicable and also more inexplicable phenomena on this planet.
Of course different kinds of cosmic radiation also can appear with regular
periodicity - like for instance the result of sunspots, which can both be
measured and often be calculated.
Therefore, nothing prevent a certain kind of cosmic radiance from appearing
simultaneously with a certain constellation of stars. If only the result and not
the source of this cosmic radiance is known, and this result appears apparently
connected to a certain constellation of stars, there will be a natural
inclination to point to this in itself innocent constellation of stars as the
reason. The signs of the Zodiac should just be understood as signs or signals.
Like the Pavlovian dogs - we make the mistake to believe that the ringing bell
is the source of the delicious food. The bell is only signalising that dinner is
served.
Orphic or Osiric interpretation
The result of cultic rituals need not be explained or ?defended?. It
is a thoroughly studied fact. It is beyond doubt that from ancient times to
places on Earth where they still are maintained, the purpose of rituals is
ecstasy and some kind of a "higher state". That hallucinatory states may be
reached through what we today call sensory deprivation - deprivation of all
senses - is no news - on the contrary. If someone is lowered into a tank with
lukewarm water for 72 hours or is forced to stay in a closed coffin for 72 hours
is in this connection one and the same thing. The cultic rituals have a purpose
- they are not absurd tomfoolery.
When we read in the so-called Augsburg Confession about God?s only begotten Son,
who was executed by Pontius Pilate, spent three days in the kingdom of the dead,
only to finally resurrect and ascend into Heaven, that is pure rubbish to a
person of today of sound mind. If, however, the text is interpreted Orphic or
perhaps Osiric, i.e. cultic-ritual, it is about achieving a higher or different
state of mind through complete isolation from external influences.
A fascinating world opens up
In this the fourth volume of his great work von Spaeth makes us read through
astrological-cultic symbolizing glasses, and it is both very exciting and often
very amusing.
We know that the concealed is always interesting, but it is not for entertaining
reasons that mystery cults are being surrounded by a huge and at times
impenetrable wall of secrecy. One the explanations is, of course, the danger of
vulgarisation, causing evaporation of the psychical excitement necessary to
achieve the concrete results, i.e. some kind of ecstasy. In the same way von
Spaeth explains Moses? ban against images of God. What is supposed to be an
introvert and spiritual matter is made reified by images and will draw the mind
off its focus.
Another reason for keeping secret the mystery cults is probably that
preparations of the mystic initiation were often rituals directed against
liberation from conventional strings attached to society. Also rites using sex
and bloodshed cannot be public. That rites have often very drastic forms is
beyond doubt. In some cases they have had such a form that nobody felt inclined
to describe them. In ?A Poet?s Bazaar? Hans Christian Andersen mentions an
initiating ritual ceremony with the ?Turkish dervishes?; having described the
beginning of the performance he discontinue by saying, ?the following was of a
kind not suitable for the paper?..
But now, read the volume (four) concerned, of ?The
Assassination of Moses?, - ?The Secret Religion?. Reading this volume makes you
at once want to read the three preceding volumes again. This summary of volume
four is only referring to a fraction of the subjects that von Spaeth is dealing
with - if not to say scrutinises. A fascinating world opens up under his
magnifying glass.
Jurij Moskvitin, Rio
de Janeiro, 24 November 2004,
copyright ? 2004
The essayist/reviewer, Jurij Moskvitin, is a philosopher, film music
compositor, mathematician, and author (Jurij Moskvitin's "Essay on the Origin
of Thought?, Ohio University Press, 191, was soon established as a true
classic); he has formerly been a reviewer for the Copenhagen newspaper
"Politiken" and occasionally for the Danish national television.
Ove von Spaeth: "The Secret
Religion", - Assassinating Moses, vol. 4. -
368 pages, illstr., DKK: 298,- ; p.t. in Danish only (: "Den Hemmelige
Religion"),
C.A. Reitzel Publisher, Norregade 20, DK-1165 Copenhagen K, Denmark -
info@careitzel.com
Suppl. info:
www.moses-egypt.net
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