The Secret of Shavuoth (#5)

(Continued research for historical novel)

It is obvious that Peter and Paul could not benefit from later terminology to express emotions, metal states, and suchlike, as we have now. Yet mental aberrations, deviations from the accepted norm must have existed. One can but wonder how P & P dealt with them, how they described them. It seems that symbolism to explain the unexplainable must have been in high demand. Obviously, the apostles could not benefit from the achievements of Sigmund Freud or Carl Jung or any other psychiatrists/psychologists/students of human nature.

Yet they, Peter and his small band of men, managed to completely change the state of consciousness of tens of thousands of people, without driving them mad. Amazing! What fantastic powers of persuasion! And… what they offered must have been completely revolutionary. The question is what???

It is evident that something profound and unexplainable must have taken place on the feast of Pentecost. What was it?

What was, what must have been, the secret of Shavuoth?

Shavuoth or later, Pentecost (#4)

(Continuous research for historical novel)

Apart from Yeshûa – Personal Memoir... (my outright bestseller), writing a historical novel is nothing like any other novel I’ve ever written. It is still “fantasy”, an expression of writer’s imagination, but, to be honest, if one describes real people of the past, one is obliged to do them justice as best one can. Is it not easy if they’ve been dead for some 2000 years.

I had to learn about Peter’s village, his life as a fisherman, perhaps even his state of mind. And then to retrace how his life may have unfolded. My book will probably start the day before the Pentecost. That Greek word meaning 50th. It refers to 50th day after Passover, the day the Jews commemorate as the day on which the Hebrews had been promised enlightenment. The Ten Commandments. Of course they didn’t call it Pentecost. That is the name the followers of Yeshûa adopted from the Hebrew feast of Shavuoth.

And, surprise, on that day a bunch of (with the possible exception of Matthew), uneducated, illiterate guys, hiding, scared stiff, cowering in their own shadow, suddenly got up and began preaching the Good News.

Coincidence? Myth?

Fascinating. Should be quite a book!

Peter and Paul and Omnipresence (#3)

(Research for historical novel, cont.)

I am beginning to see Peter and Paul’s problem.

The dogmas with which I have been brought up state that God is omnipresent. Thus, perforce, I am within God. However, since God is omnipresent, likewise perforce, She (It? The Universal Principles?) is (are) also within me. Interesting. I’m not sure how this fits in with the tenets with which Peter and Paul have been brought up. Hopefully, we shall find out.

Perhaps the fullness of this understanding explains the indescribable expressions of euphoria depicted by the old masters on the faces of mystics. The many martyrs of Peter and Paul’s days are said to have met their death with a blissful smile. It is as if they knew something we don’t. In a way, this book is an attempt to unravel this mystery.

YHWH and Peter & Paul (#2)

Theoretically, the book should be called “Shimon and Saul”. The problem – most people wouldn’t know who those gentlemen were.

I need lots of research. To write about Peter and Paul, I have to get the feel of the man who influenced their lives.  I touched on the subject of Yeshûa, the late form of Yehoshûa. Well, the name Yehoshûa is a rare Hebrew surname, but the etymological meaning gets to be more complex, though when uncovered, it throws a different light on the very principles of Christianity.

In Hebrew, Yeshûa (in Greek Jeshua) means “Jah is salvation”. Yah (or Jah), in turn, is a poetic form of Yehovah (or Jehovah), which as Yahweh represents the Hebrew YHWH (Yodh, He, Waw, He). This tetragrammaton is the expression of the male and female universal principles, and appears to be the equivalent of the Mosaic I AM THAT I AM.

Now the problems really begin.

So far, we have regressed from Yeshûa backwards to Moses. And, you will note that there is absolutely no mention of any god, with or without a capital G.

Surprise?

I am reminded of a Bergman movie “The Seventh Seal” wherein Max von Sydow makes this statement: “We carve an idol out of our fear and call it god”. We all know the story of the Golden Calf and the Ten Commandments. 

My new Historical Novel, Peter and Paul

A good way to celebrate a new blog (you can find my previous attempts on Author’s Den and at Goodreads) is by sharing with you the research I just begun for my new historical novel. My preliminary title is Peter and Paul. Yes, the biblical duo who were often accused by some accredited by others, for creating a religion, which conquered the minds of the western world.

Few of us know that Peter and Paul did not see eye to eye. In fact they differed greatly on the interpretation of Yeshûa’s teaching. Yeshûa, or more correctly Yehoshûa is the real name of Jesus, supposedly the Greek equivalent. And even then Jesus has been pronounced Yesus; thus when one attempts to “speak in the name of Jesus”, one ought to know what the name  stands for. And that is, more or less, how the book has began. With the real meaning of Yeshûa, who never intended to create any religion. This privilege, apparently, was taken up, firmly by his followers.

You can find out more in Smashwords