Gabriel

The Annunciation by Anton Raphael Mengs (1728 – 1779) - Gabriel appears to the Virgin Mary via Wikipedia

Gabriel is one of the four Catholic Archangels (also Michael, Raphael and Uriel). Along with Michael, Gabriel is found in Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

A lot of New Age writers and alleged channelers talk about or, perhaps, dispense supposed “messages” from Gabriel, along with other angels. While this kind of stuff can be compelling, especially if someone is searching for a higher purpose in life, we really have no way of telling if it’s real, imagined¹ or purposely made up by scammers.

The same charge, of course, has been made against organized religions. Their discourses about angels are often said to be divinely inspired. But… who’s to say for sure?

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¹ It would be relatively easy for someone to fool themselves into thinking they were divine prophets for some angel or higher being. All they’d have to do is get in a comfy chair, relax a bit, slip into a slightly meditative consciousness, and then let their imaginations or subconscious run wild. Most likely, this is what Jane Roberts did, who claimed to channel the entity Seth. Another possibility, usually dismissed by contemporary psychiatry but a possibility nonetheless, is that a malevolent spiritual being influences the channeler. So the person is channeling. But not what they think they are.

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Michael Clark, Ph.D

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Peter Gabriel

"The moonlit knight" (Peter Gabriel in) Genesis, Massey Hall, Toronto, Oct. 1974 via Wikipedia (derivative work: SpinningSpark)

Peter Gabriel is a highly respected pop musician, composer and vocalist who left the progressive rock group Genesis¹ in 1975 to pursue a solo career.

Gabriel’s first four solo albums were simply entitled Peter Gabriel, and sold reasonably well with sleeper hits like “Solisbury Hill” and “Games Without Frontiers.”

The remainder of Genesis (with drummer Phil Collins talking up lead vocals) began to produce singles that were more accessible. But these tunes were regarded by many Gabriel fans as inferior to those released when Gabriel was still at the helm of Genesis.

Gabriel continued his solo career through the 1980′s with increased commercial success, recording hits like “Shock the Monkey” and “Sledgehammer.”

Gabriel refused to title any of his first four solo albums, which were all labelled Peter Gabriel using the same typeface, but which featured different cover designs (by Hipgnosis); these designs are also notable for the fact that Gabriel’s face is wholly or partially obscured in some way. They are usually differentiated by number in order of release (I, II, III, IV), or by sleeve design, with the first three solo albums often referred to as Car, Scratch and Melt respectively, in reference to their cover artwork. His fourth solo album, also called Peter Gabriel, was titled Security in the U.S. at the behest of Geffen Records.²

In October 2011 he released a new album called New Blood, which is an orchestral remix of popular songs from his glory days.

His surname “Gabriel” takes after an archangel who, along with Michael, is found in Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

He was added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.

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¹ The Hebrew word Genesis means “In the Beginning” and is the name of the first book of the Bible.

² http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Gabriel#Solo_career

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Christianity

English: Resurrection of Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Christianity is the religion based on the life, teachings, moral example, crucifixion and resurrection of the New Testament figure, Jesus Christ. Jesus was the son of a young Jewish woman, Mary, who conceived while engaged to her carpenter fiance, Joseph. The Jesus story tells us that Mary didn’t have sexual relations with Joseph but, instead, was visited by the angel Gabriel who told her that she’d become pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit—a calling which Mary willingly accepted. So technically, Joseph was Jesus’ foster father.

Founded in Jerusalem, the Christian religion emerged from the Jewish scriptural tradition, which Christians today call the Old Testament. Jesus, in fact, is seen by his followers as the long awaited prophet promised in Jewish scriptures.

As with contemporary Christianity, Early Christianity was shaped by the Jesus story. But this isn’t all. There’s also the living grace which believers claim to experience. So rather than their religion being a dry routine based on some distant past event, believers say they can feel the Holy Spirit acting in their lives, here and now.¹

These two elements – the teachings and example of the earthly Christ along with the perceived guidance and indwelling love of the heavenly Christ – forged an unshakable belief in many of Christ’s early followers.

Some early Christians believed that Christ’s promised return – signalling the end of the world – was imminent. In one letter St. Paul chastises believers for not working due to their misguided belief about the end-times occurring within their lifetimes (2 Thessalonians 3:10, Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32).

The religion spread throughout the Mediterranean’s Gentile (non-Jewish) population for about 20 years after Christ’s death. It was declared an “illegal assembly” under Roman Law. And the tyrant Nero publicly blamed Christians for the great fire in Rome of 64 CE.

Cruel and barbaric persecutions at the hands of the pagan Romans followed but the religion continued to spread. While some Christians denied their belief in Christ when threatened with horrendous torture and death, a good number willingly – some even joyously – went to their deaths at the hands of the pagan Romans.

The graceful and heroic courage of Christians being fed alive to lions in the Colosseum at Rome impressed some of the more sensitive Romans, leading to their conversion to this new monotheistic religion. Conversions didn’t just take place among the poor, as commonly believed. By 96 CE the radical egalitarianism of Christianity became increasingly apparent as members of the Roman Imperial family also converted away from their pagan past. By the end of the 2nd-century, Christianity had spread into Britain.

Map of the distribution of Christians of the world (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Why was Christianity so successful?

Some sociologists suggest that the Christian message gave hope of eternal reward to the powerless and oppressed. In other words, it’s a religion for losers. But historians more correctly note that the religion cut across all class lines, fostered warm communal love and complete forgiveness for past wrongs, along with the promise of power over demons and everlasting life in heaven. Theologians add that the spiritual power of the living Christ has always been present among believers in the form of the Holy Spirit, giving life, love and direction to their religious worship.

In 313 CE Constantine issued an edict of toleration in Milan, enabling Christians to worship without fear of persecution. In 381 CE Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of the Roman empire.

Some Christian sects in early Christianity emphasized either Christ’s humanity at the expense of his Divinity, or conversely, his Divinity at the expense of his humanity. The Church took great pains to officially resolve these as “heresies.”

Christianity continued to expand through the Roman empire. When the Western empire fell in 476 CE, the barbarian invaders were converted.

During the so-called Dark Ages, the Papal court fell into disrepute. Several Popes become blatantly corrupt. Murder, intrigue and absurd rationalizations for grave evils abounded. The flame of Christianity, however, was kept alive in the European monasteries. Monks by and large were disgusted with the scandalous and violent practices of the Papal court.

In the East, Christianity continued as ‘Byzantium’ until overrun my Muslim invaders in 1453 CE.

The Orthodox Church had become split by the 11th-century. Apart from subtle theological differences, the Western Church recognized the Pope while the Eastern Church did not.

Several additional heresies were squelched by the Western Church but the 16^th-century rise of the Reformers and the Counter-Reformation created a decisive split between Protestants and Roman Catholics.

CHRIST by Fergal of Claddagh via Flickr

Protestant Churches, themselves, began to splinter, with many new denominations rising up, usually at the bidding of some charismatic reformer claiming to rekindle the “original truth” of Christianity.

Despite doctrinal differences among various branches of Christianity in the 21st-century, almost all Christians believe in the doctrine of the Trinity. This is the belief that God reveals himself in three ‘persons’ of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three distinct persons are said to be equal, eternal and also a unity, sharing the same substance.

Today Christianity is a world-wide religion of over 2.2 billion followers, largely the result of colonization and missionary work among various Christian denominations.

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¹ Problems arise when different believers claim opposing ‘truths’ based on the apparent experience of the Holy Spirit. Quite possibly some individuals mistake a kind of vital, perhaps even biochemical, energy for the true love and peace of the Holy Spirit.

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Brian Eno

Photograph of Brian Eno at a 2006 Long Now Foundation discussion with Will Wright (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Brian Eno (Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle, 1948 – ) is a musician, composer, producer who’s generally regarded as the grandaddy of ambient music.

Born in Woodbridge, Suffolk, Eno started off as an art student but quickly got involved in the London music scene as a producer.

His influence in music has been pervasive. He’s recorded with the likes of Genesis, Roxy Music, Robert Fripp, Devo, U2, David Bowie, The Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, Depeche Mode and Gavin Bryars.

On his own records he’s best known for exploring ambient music. In the 1970s, before the New Age transformed ambient music into a highly marketable commodity, Eno released so-called environmental music with works such as Music for Films and Music for Airports. A series of ambient and experimental works followed, some solo and some in collaboration with others interested in the genre.

In the 1980s he recorded the haunting and ethereal Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks, a soundtrack for the space documentary, For All Mankind. Eno also recorded solo rock and roll LP’s such as Here Come the Warm Jets, Taking Tiger Mountain and King’s Lead Hat. Less commercially successful than his ambient work, these are nonetheless admired by his more serious fans.

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Genesis

Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472- 1553) via Wikipedia

In Religion

Genesis (Hebrew Bereshit = “In the beginning”) is the first book of the Bible, containing the two different versions of the Jewish and Christian the creation story. Among other things, Genesis tells the tale of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah’s Ark, and God’s involvement with the apparently chosen people, the Israelites.

Although Genesis is the first book to appear in the Bible’s collection of different books, scholars say it’s not the oldest written biblical material. The following is a transcription of the first few verses of Genesis:

1:1 In the beginning God created heaven and earth.
Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve’et ha’arets.

1:2 The earth was without form and empty, with darkness on the face of the depths, but God’s spirit moved on the water’s surface.
Veha’arets hayetah tohu vavohu vechoshech al-peney tehom veruach Elohim merachefet al-peney hamayim.

1:3 God said, ‘There shall be light,’ and light came into existence.
Vayomer Elohim yehi-or vayehi-or.

1:4 God saw that the light was good, and God divided between the light and the darkness.
Vayar Elohim et-ha’or ki-tov vayavdel Elohim beyn ha’or uveyn hachoshech.¹

The author of Genesis was traditionally thought to be Moses. But modern scholarship looks to several different anonymous sources, and academic theories are always changing as to why and how this book came about.

Genesis concert at the Verizon Center, Washington, D.C., USA. Performing "I Know What I Like" by Andrew Bossi via Wikipedia

In Music

Genesis is also the name of an English progressive rock group which recorded the notable album, Selling England by the Pound (1973), along with other, arguably less achieved albums like The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974).

The band’s mature sound was, for the most part, complex and introspective (some nicknamed the band “Genesnooze”) but they remain an important influence in the history of rock.

The band also spawned commercially successful solo careers for Peter Gabriel and drummer/vocalist Phil Collins. When Gabriel left the band in 1975, the remainder of Genesis (with Collins taking up lead vocals) began to produce more radio-friendly singles. But some hard core Genesis fans felt that the departure of Gabriel left behind a watered down, flimsy remnant of the “real” Genesis.

A Genesis collector array in the Genesis clean lab at the Johnson Space Center (photo courtesy of NASA) via Wikipedia

In Space

The Genesis space probe was launched by NASA in 2001 to study and collect samples of solar winds. It was the first spacecraft to return material to Earth since the Apollo missions.

Unfortunately the Genesis recovery parachute malfunctioned. So in 2004 the probe crash landed in Utah, resulting in the loss of some otherwise valuable data.

Genesis I is the name of an experimental space habitat launched by an American firm in 2006.

The habitat is inflatable, making launch easier due to its initial deflated diameter of 1.6 metres. Fully expanded, the Genesis I measures 4.4 by 2.54 metres.

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¹ Source » http://bible.ort.org/books/torahd5.asp

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Islam

Image via Wikipedia

Islam [Arabic: surrender] is the religion of Muslims, based on the text of the Koran (or Qur’an).

The Koran was written in Arabic, and for orthodox believers it’s the uncreated word of God, dictated to the prophet Mohammed (ca. 570-632 CE) by the angel Jibra’il (Gabriel).

Islam contains 5 pillars of fundamental belief and practice:

1. Ash-Shahada – the belief in only one God.
2. Salat – daily prayer, with body facing Mecca, taking place at sunrise, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset and nighttime.
3. Sawm – fasting that is obligatory at puberty and also during the 9th month of the Islamic year (Ramadan), believed to be the period when the Koran was written. Eating and drinking is prohibited from dawn to sunset during Ramadan.
4. Zakat -  giving alms to the less fortunate, the amount being 2.5% of one’s total income.
5. Hajj – the pilgrimage to Mecca that all Moslems are obliged to take at least once in a lifetime. Hajj ideally is taken on the eighth day of the twelfth month of the Islamic year.

The Sunni branch of Islam is comprised of about 85% of contemporary Muslims and is often regarded as orthodox form of this religion.

The Shi’ite branch, mostly in Iran, Persia and partly in Iraq, represent about 10% of today’s Muslims.

Historically speaking, the Shi’ites and Sunnis split over a disagreement about the legitimacy of Mohammad’s successors (Caliphs)—not entirely unlike the Protestant refusal to recognize the authority of the Catholic Papacy.

The mystically based, unorthodox branch of Sufism arose partly as a reaction to the beliefs and standardized practices of orthodox Islam. In response, aspects of orthodox Islam have been critical of Sufism, especially in regard to the Sufi belief that a person can be  “one” with God.

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Judaism

Own photo (well, made by someone else, obviously) via Wikipedia

Judaism [Latin Juda: a son of Jacob] The religion of the Jewish people, which like most other world religions, has many variations.

Its core belief is monotheism. For believers, God created the world and delivered the chosen people, the Israelites, out of captivity in Egypt. God then revealed the holy law of the Torah to the Isaelites and ordained them to be the light of the world.

The Hebrew Bible is the source of orthodox Judaism, called the Tanakh. The term Tanakh is an acronym based on the first letters of the three distinct parts of the ancient scrolls: Torah (Teaching), Nevi’im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings).

The family is important to Jewish religious practice but the synagogue has become more prominent in modern times.

The Sabbath, the day of rest, runs from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. Synagogues contain the hand-written scrolls of the Pentateuch, known as the ark of the covenant made between God and his people.

Orthodox Judaism arose in the 19th century, maintaining what it sees as the core or ‘true’ Jewish religion from antiquity.

Reform Judaism, also from the 19th century, incorporates influences from contemporary scriptural scholarship.

Liberal Judaism has an open, debate-style format, based on diverse scholarly opinions and interpretations of Jewish scripture.

Conservative Judaism differs from orthodox Judaism with its concern for the historical and archaeological elements of the Jewish faith.

The Jews have long been a persecuted and marginalized people but not without periods of great financial prosperity. In medieval times Christians paradoxically borrowed money from Jews yet drove them out of towns for not practicing the Christian faith. Along these lines, Shakespeare‘s depiction of the character Shylock in The Merchant of Venice remains controversial. Shylock is both unmerciful but, at the same time, laments that Jews are just like anyone else. From this, Shakespeare has alternately been charged with racism but also lauded as humanizing Jews.

The powerful ancient Romans occupied Judea at the time of Christ, and more recently, the German Nazis persecuted the Jewish people on a scale and with a cold ruthlessness that boggles, nay scandalizes, the imagination.

On this last issue C. G. Jung believed that the dark side of the Wotan archetype had been activated in the German people who endorsed the horrific and utterly barbaric treatment of the Jews in WW-II.

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Koran

11th Century North African Qur’an in the British Museum via Wikipedia

The Koran¹ is the Holy Book of the Muslims, believed to be the word of God sent through the angelic messenger Gabriel to the apparently illiterate Mohammed. According to tradition, Mohammed recited the revelations to his fellows who set them to writing.

The translation of the Koran into non-Arabic languages is not sanctioned by some conservative Muslims, although more liberally-minded Muslims seem to favor translations of their scripture into several different languages. In Lebanon, a pop music star was given a five year prison sentence for setting verses of the Koran to his songs.

The Koran incorporates much of Jewish and Christian scripture but with significantly different meanings. Jesus, for instance, is not depicted as the son of God. Instead, Jesus and his mother Mary are apparently sent to provide good examples for mankind.

Also, the Koran teaches that Jesus, as a respected prophet, did not really die by crucifixion, and his death contributed nothing towards the salvation of Mankind (Surah 3:38-50).

Not unlike the Old Testament but quite unlike the New Testament (NT), holy war (killing in defense of the Muslim faith) is sanctioned in certain circumstances. This is called jihad. Unlike the NT, it’s rightful for men to have sex with not only their wife but also with “female slaves.”

Polygamus marriage is also sanctioned. That is, one man may have several wives. One woman, however may not have several husbands.

Interestingly, in his book Prayer of the Warrior, the Catholic writer Michael H. Brown talks about an alleged apparition where the Blessed Virgin Mary tells onlookers that a Muslim man living in a small Yugoslavian village is a saint. Apparently all of the Catholics in attendance were shocked to hear that this non-Christian man was favored by the Virgin Mary.

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¹ See Wikipedia for alternate spellings: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qur%27an

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Mohammed

Muhammad advancing on Mecca, with the angels Gabriel, Michael, Israfil and Azrail via Wikipedia

Mohammed (570-632) was born in Mecca, and he’s the prophet and founder of Islam.

Not unlike characters from the mythic hero cycle, he was orphaned at a young age and raised by his grandfather. When his grandfather passed away, his uncle became a surrogate father and raised him as a merchant.

At 24 years Mohammed served a wealthy widow, whom later became his wife. Mohammed, however, was developing into a contemplative person and believed he was being called to introduce a new faith, one which would build upon and perfect the earlier religions of Judaism and Christianity.

After 600 CE he believed he had received divine revelations from the angel Gabriel, commanding him to preach this new religion, and the Koran was revealed to him.

Different Islamic traditions variously elaborate on the belief that he had received divine revelations. Some say that he was initially upset but his wife and Christian cousin consoled him.

Shia Muslims believe, however, that he was not distressed but rather, anticipated and welcomed the revelations from Gabriel.

Wikipedia adds:

According to Welch these revelations were accompanied by mysterious seizures, and the reports are unlikely to have been forged by later Muslims. Muhammad was confident that he could distinguish his own thoughts from these messages.¹

When the Meccans opposed him, Mohammed fled to Medina in 622 CE and became supreme arbitrator and ruler. He then instigated war against his opponents–that is, against enemies of the new religion.

He conquered Mecca in 630, where he was seen as prophet-ruler of all Arabia. In 632 CE he made a final pilgrimage to Mecca. On Mount Arafat he articulated the ritual surrounding such pilgrimages (Hajj).

Back at home, he fell ill and died in the company of Ayeshah, one of his nine wives, and the daughter of an early disciple, Abu Bekr.

—

¹ See:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad

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St. Michael

Image by Lawrence OP via Flickr

St. Michael is one of the four archangels in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic religions. He’s generally regarded as a militant leader for God’s heavenly army against Satan and the spiritual powers of evil.

A popular Catholic prayer, the St. Michael Prayer, is addressed to him for protection from darkness and deception:

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the other evil spirits who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

The prayer is said to have been written by Pope Leo XIII who, falling into a swoon while in a conference with the Cardinals, had a vision of the (Catholic) Church besieged by demons but victoriously defended by Michael and the heavenly host.

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