Tolerance

Author: (American) Langdon
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: In 527 AD, Justinian I, a Serbian rustic (he came from Skopje, the site of the recent war where both sides were vying for control of the railway junction), believed that "book knowledge" was useless. At his command, the philosophical school of ancient Athens was finally suppressed. It was also him who closed the last remaining temple in Egypt, which continued its centuries-old tradition of worship after the arrival of the new Christian monks in the Nile. The temple was located on a small island called Philae, not far from the Great Cataract of the Nile. Since the dawn of written history, this temple has been a sacred site for worshiping the goddess Isis. For some reason, when the gods of Africa, Greece, and Rome had their tragic curtain call on the historical stage, this goddess still clung to life. Eventually, by the 6th century, the island became the only place where the ancient sacred hieroglyphs could be understood, and a handful of priests continued the work that had long been forgotten elsewhere. But at this time, at the decree of an illiterate farmer known as "Your Majesty," the temple and the nearby school were turned into state property, the sculptures and idols were sent to the museum in Constantinople, and the priests and hieroglyph master were imprisoned. When their last one died of hunger without care, the ancient art of hieroglyphs was lost forever. It is truly a great pity that if Justinian (may he go to hell!) had been a little more lenient, leaving a few hieroglyph experts in a safe place like an "ark," it would have made the work of historians much easier. Although we can now spell this strange Egyptian script again (thanks to the genius of Champollion), we still struggle to understand the inner meaning that these texts sought to convey to future generations. Similar cases also occurred among the peoples of other ancient societies. The Bablylonians with strange beards left us brick kilns inscribed with religious texts, and they devoutly cried out, "Who will be able to understand the will of the gods in heaven?" But what were they thinking at that moment? They constantly prayed for the blessings of the holy spirit, interpreted its laws, and carved their intentions into marble pillars of the most sacred city, yet how did they truly view these holy spirits? On one hand, they were so generous in encouraging priests to study the highest heavens and explore the land and sea, yet on the other hand, they were ruthless executioners who would impose severe punishments on people simply for neglecting what are now seen as minor and outdated religious rituals. Why did this happen? Until recently, we did not know the answer to this mystery. We sent expeditions to Nineveh, excavated ruins in the desert of Sinai, and deciphered miles-long cuneiform tablets in Mesopotamia and Egypt. We made every effort to search for the key that could unlock the treasure trove of mysterious wisdom. Suddenly, almost by sheer chance, we discovered the back door of the treasure, which had actually been open all along and could be freely entered. Our ancestors, while searching for people who were easy to raid, began to come into contact with those they called "savages" or "barbarians." This was not a pleasant meeting. The poor barbarians misunderstood the intentions of the whites. They greeted them with spears and bows. The uninvited guests replied with large-caliber short guns. From then on, peaceful and unbiased intellectual exchange became almost impossible. The barbarians were uniformly described as dirty, lazy, and insignificant—a group of waste products who worshiped crocodiles and dead trees, and any misfortune that befell them was seen as justly deserved. Later, in the 18th century, things began to change. Jean-Jacques Rousseau first looked at the world through eyes filled with tearful sorrow. His contemporaries were deeply influenced by his ideas and began to wipe away tears alongside him. P1-3