35053668-Empire-of-the-Soul-Paul-William-Roberts

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EMPIRE OF THE SOUL
in the Church of Progress. The great cultures of Old Kingdom
Egypt and the Indus Valley were admired for the impressive remains
they left, yet dismissed as ignorant and superstitious tyrannies
dominated by megalomaniacal rulers obsessed with constructing
monuments to their own egos and subjugating the masses with
mumbo jumbo to bolster their power. There is not a shred of
evidence to support such a view of, say, Old Kingdom Egypt.
The architectural achievements from such civilisations are feats
of science and beauty that have never been equalled. Could
evolution-as-progress be supported by a look at the Great Pyramid
of Giza, the massive Temple of Amon at Karnac, the Qutub Minar,
Chartres Cathedral, the Taj Mahal, compared to . . . what? The Empire
State Building? Canary Wharf? The CN Tower? Marshall McLuhan
once wisely observed that you could determine a society’s major
concerns by observing for what purpose its largest building was
constructed.
Few scholars even bother to wonder whether philosophical and
spiritual wellbeing were more advanced four thousand years ago at
Memphis and, more significantly, whether they were considered to
be the only kind of advancement worth having.
Consider now a period still further back: the so-called missinglink
period. Suddenly, mankind has all the organs, and essentially
the same appearance, that he does today. This was not evolution,
because no missing link exists to prove the theory; this is the apparent
emergence of a new species. Neanderthal man is not our distant
relative. He was incapable of growth – even survival – having a brain
that lacked certain vital capabilities. While chimpanzees look vaguely
human and can be taught certain basic skills, they can never develop
further skills by themselves, cannot create a continuity, each
generation building on the accomplishments of the previous one.
Homo sapiens was not like this, and yet the species suddenly
appeared.
Imagine. Man had no language, although he was fully equipped
with vocal cords and organs of hearing. He had no vocabulary. He
existed in an exquisite and pristine world, teeming with wildlife,
lush with vegetation, the air so clear and clean he could see a hundred
times more stars at night than we; he knew rivers sparkling with