The baseline for the entire mythological landscape in the Middle East can be generalized as a “harmonization” of the four primordial elements. And, any syncretistic matrix of “gods on the mountain” must begin with each culture’s divine embodiments of these four elements. Ancient man viewed himself as a complex amalgam of these elements, and the primary goal of the pre-Sumerian meditation practice would have been to master them in order to “cross over” from the material to the spiritual world.
Figure 11b - Sumerian Goddess Inanna as a Sphinx Figure 11c - Assyrian Sphinx
Figure 11d - Four “Fixed” Banners Representing the 12 Tribes at the Tabernacle Encampment
Figure 11e - The 12 Tribes of Israel in Four Camps
Comparing Wisdom Traditions
To get some perspective on what it means to master the four primordial elements, it might be helpful to get a closer look at the core religious practices of Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Jainism, etc., since mastering the elements through meditation is still the mainstay of these faiths. Among the first things a new practitioner is taught is how to breath properly. There is Taoist breathing, Buddhist breathing, Hindu Pranayama, etc., but, all of these ancient faiths share the belief that mastering the primordial element of Air, or Wind, is a crucial step in establishing a “sitting” practice. Each of these faiths share in the belief that the primordial element of Water, as it relates to meditation, is associated with the seminal fluids. Mastering the element of Water through celibacy or infrequent ejaculation (varying with age) is the second powerful resource for establishing an effective daily practice. Mastering the primordial element of Fire implies thought control. Just as seminal fluid can be wasted during sexual contact, a distracted mind undermines one’s ability to harness one’s inner Fire because the brain’s electrical activity is the main catalyst required to transform the other elements. Early religion was based on the idea that mastering Fire, Water, and Wind in this manner, vivifies and strengthens man’s inner energies, ultimately empowering the practitioner to liberate their soul. The human body was the eternal soul’s temporal container within the material realm.
In the West, we sometimes speak about death as “giving up the ghost.” Buddhist monks and lamas tell us that their deep meditation practice is a simulation of death, because the “illusory body” — what the New Testament calls Christ’s “Heavenly body” — is “liberated” as in death. Taoism calls it liberating the “immortal foetus.” In the West, meditation has evolved into prayer. Western prayer might derive from the ancient meditation practice, but, generally speaking, it is considerably more dilute and much less exacting as a method. If we could learn to pray like the Biblical prophets, our meditation would be focused on learning to maintain the hypnagogic state for long periods of time.
Dramatic physiological characteristics, such as a dolichocephalic skull, suggests to me that the “Aryan” EMH cavemen had perfected their meditation technique across tens of thousands of years, and there is no telling how advanced their capabilities actually were. The Bible’s patriarchal birthright was also defined by this practice, and thus it became precious knowledge granted only to the “anointed one” of each generation, to Aaron’s lineage of High Priests, and to the Biblical prophets. Within any of the Eastern religions, people of faith take their meditation practice very seriously, but, generally speaking, only yogis, lamas, and monks are dedicated enough to devote the time required to master the practice.
When a member of the Aryan community died, their funery rites would be officiated by a priest who would have mastered this practice. He would pray to ensure the safe passage of the man’s immortal soul, and then cremate his mortal remains. This explains the recent discovery of cremation remains at Stonehenge in England. Reconstructing ancient funery practices from Vedic hymns suggests that mortal remains were cremated on an altar, and the remains scattered nearby. Stories of the “gods on the mountain” appear in legend and myth within the art, architecture and literature of the various ancient cultures. In ancient Sumer, only one man was granted immortality by the gods. That man was Noah’s Sumerian counterpart, king Ziusudra, who was the sole survivor of the “great flood” and preserver of the seed of mankind. He was given “life like a god” and “breath eternal” just as Noah was said to have “walked with God.”
One of the most significant Sumerian and Babylonian myths is the search for a “magic elixir” of immortality that the Vedas call Soma juice or Amrita nectar (Sanskrit: immortality). Scholars still search for the mysterious Soma plant of the Rig Veda said to cause an ecstatic altered state of consciousness. But, a comparison of meditation practices across different cultures implies that Soma was more than a plant. Within Tibetan Buddhism there is an “ambrosia” of “Kundalini drops” that results from meditation. The New Testament speaks about “a true Baptism of the spirit” in contrast to a “Baptism by water.” Biblical allegory “anoints” the patriarch or king’s head with oil. The Hebrew word Meshiach means “Anointed One,” which translates into English as Messiah, and into Greek as Christos.
The Rig Veda describes man’s partial divinity as the reason for his continual search for immortality. In many Rig Vedic hymns, including: This Restless Soma and Soma Pressed in the Bowls, Soma juice is a liquid said to heal all who are sick. It is a sage and a seer, a crusader of truth, a King, a God. Soma is associated with the male Bull and the Sacred Cow’s milk. The hymn “Soma Pressed in the Bowls” describes Soma in metaphor as: “the pouring of the juices through a filter”; “the milking of rain out of the clouds”; “the pouring of seed into a womb”; “the downpouring of torrents upon the earth”; “the bull who rules over the rain”; “from the Navel of Order, the ambrosia is born.”84 According to the Rig Veda, the mathematical schematic of the cosmos also functions as a schematic describing the microcosm of the soul and its liberation (Figure 25).
Within the Vedic origins of Hinduism, Soma is interchangeable with Agni, the god of Fire. Tibetan Buddhists say that their “Inner Fire” practice, known as tummo, melts the Kundalini (Serpent) energy stored as Bodhicitta substance at the “Crown.” This substance melts at the Crown and white Bodhicitta drops flow down the central channel (spinal cord) when exposed to man’s “Inner Fire.” The practitioner is harmonizing the primordial elements of Fire and Water with Wind.85
I can share one personal anecdote with respect to this phenomenon as a result of my doctor hearing me “drip” as he entered the examining room while I was meditating. He asked me what that clicking sound was? I replied, “You’re the doctor, you tell me.” After ruling out reflux and post-nasal drip, he sent me to a Harvard educated specialist, who naturally inquired why I was there. I responded that Dr. Gerdis wanted me to drip for you. He looked puzzled so I waved him over to listen. He then accused my watch of ticking loudly, which struck me funny, so I gave him my silent watch to listen to. He then asked me to do it again while he looked down my throat with a scope to observe. After asking me to start and stop at least four times, he said: “You made my day.” He then explained that the medical term for what he observed was called palatal myoclonus, which is simply a spasm of the soft palate. But, he added that it was the first time in his career that he had ever observed someone who could control it at will.. Usually, he said, it was a condition that resulted from a brain lesion or epilepsy. To my great relief, he finally mentioned that it also occurred in healthy people when they were falling asleep. It is also called hypnagogic myoclonus. So, even with a Harvard medical education and many years practicing medicine, the doctor had no idea that an experienced meditator can quickly put themselves into a hypnagogic state.