By Juan Nuñez del Prado
I give myself license to write the following as
I believe that this text can contribute with certain knowledge originating form
a peculiar discovery that can be of a lot of help to guide the politics of inter-religious
relations in a more understanding and constructive directions, especially now
that these have come to be so important worldwide.
My profession is that of an Anthropologist. I
have dedicated myself to researching “The Supernatural Andean World” from 1968
until today. From 1971, until the date of his death, I maintained a fraternal,
personal, intellectual and sometimes controversial dialog with the Jesuit
priest and anthropologist, Manuel Marzal S.J. who, to my understanding is the
main authority in Religious Sciences in Andean and South American studies. A
short time before his death, Manolo asked me to contribute with an article for
the fourth volume of the Iberian-American Encyclopedia of Religions; I will use
this as a reference in certain parts of this article.
Like the majority of South Americans I was born
into the Catholic Church, but because of different circumstances between the
ages of 18 and 31 I declared myself atheist. At the age of 31, during the year
of 1976, because of a deep personal crisis I returned to the Christian faith
and to the Catholic Church by means of “the Catholic Pentecostals”
post-conciliating movement.
The hypothesis that I want to propose is
founded on the allegation that Jesus Christ “was like us in everything except
in sin”; this allows for a possibility of a “Christians Anthropology”. It is
also founded on an idea proposed by an eminent Brazilian priest who I once had
the opportunity to meet, which states “modern theology relating to
inter-religious relations normally relies on the findings of “Religious
Sciences”.
In 1979, I came into contact with and became
apprentice of Don Benito Qoriwaman Vargas, Don Melchor Deza, Don Andres
Espinoza and Don Mauel Quispe. All of them were indigenous Andean instructors,
who are traditionally called “Alto Misayoq”. They considered and declared
themselves Catholic; they practiced the sacraments and privately participated
in certain peregrinations the Andean sanctuaries dedicated to the Lord and to
Holy Mary. Their believes made up a synthetic system, which Priest Marzal
called “Cultural Christianity”. It combined fundamental Christian believes with
believes and rituals originating from the sophisticated Pre Columbian animism
of the Incas.
What I learned with them was also a series of
sophisticated spiritual practices, which I called “spiritual Andean Art” (but
the details are not relevant at the moment). I also learned a hierarchical system,
that can be considered as “Transcendental Anthropology” and that is described
in the seventh epigraph of my article “The Return of the Inca, form Colonial
Times to Globalization” in pages 246 to 249 of the fourth volume of the
Iberian-American Encyclopedia of Religions that appears in the bibliography. I
find this second aspect pertinent, therefore I will discuss it below.
It entails a mystical, complex sacerdotal
hierarchy, partly virtual and partly prospective. This mentor hierarchy is
parallel to the hierarchy of the beings that make up the religious universe in
the Andes, as well as to a series of social groups of scalar dimension which
constitute the Andean ethno- sociology.
The first sacerdotal level is made up by “Ayllu
Alto Meshayoq”. This is the priest who has had an experience of seeing and
being a part of the power of “Ayllu Apu”, spirit of the mountain, protector of
a district. For example, for the area of Cusco, Apu Pikol and Apu Pukin are the
guardians for the “Ayllus” of San Jeronimo and Santiago.
The second level is made up by “Llaqta Alto
Meshayoq”, who has had the experience of seeing and being a part of the power
of a “Llaqta Apu”, spirit of the mountain, guardian of a micro-region. For example,
for the area of Cusco, Apu Saqsaywaman or Apu Wanakauri are guardians of the
whole “Ayllu” of the Cusco Valley.
The third level consists of “Suyu Alto Mesayoq”, who has had an experience of seeing and being part of
the power of the “Suyu Apu”, guardian of a region. For example, for the area of
Cusco, Apu Ausangate and Apu Salqantay are the guardians of the extensive
regions that begins in the South, in La Raya and extends North until the Pampas
River, in the West until the Apurimaq River and in the East until the Yavero
River.
The fourth level is made up by “Kuraq Akulleq”,
who has had an experience of seeing and being a part of the power of the
“Apuyaya” of “Taytacha”, alternative names given to Christ, the guardian of the
universe. For example, the area of Cusco has the Taytacha Temblores, the
Taytacha Qoyllurit’I, the Wanka Taytacha, Torrechayoq Taytacha or the
Papak’uchu Taytacha, etc.
These are the four virtual sacerdotal levels,
which have a training and an initiation process and also currently have working
priests, who are capable of conferring their knowledge to other learners.
The fifth, sixth and seventh levels are
prospective levels, meaning that currently there aren’t any priests exercising
them and as a result, there is no one that can confer them. But, the levels and
their characteristics are known for potential candidates.
The manifestation of these three new sacerdotal
levels is part of the beginning of an era called “Taripay Pacha” or the
encounter and wholesomeness of humanity, which according to the Andean point of
view, should be more magnificent, fulfilling and satisfactory for humanity than
that of the past Inca times.
The fifth level is called “Mallku Inka” and its
meaning could be understood as someone being a part of the Inca’s bloodline.
The property that someone in this level should have is to be “Tukuy Hampeq”,
meaning, the person has to have power to cure any ailment, no exceptions, with
the touch of his hands.
The current Andean priests are only “Hampeq”,
meaning they have the capacity to cure ailments through miracles or rituals.
But they recognize that their powers are still ambiguous or insufficient since
sometimes they works and sometimes they don’t. A “Mallku Inka” should be able
to show a miraculous curing power that always works and has results that can be
visible and confirmed for all ailments and in all circumstances.
The sixth level is called “Sapa Inka”, which
can be translated to “the singular Inca”. It’s the same title that was given in
the XVI century to the leaders of the Tawantinsuyu Empire, or the title that
the aspirers for Tawantinsuyu leadership gave themselves in the XVIII century.
The quality that he must have and for which he will be recognized is called “Kánchaq”
meaning that he has the capability of shining. To be recognized as such, a Sapa
Inka should be able to shine in public in a visible manner for the onlookers.
The Sapa Inka will be able to conjugate “Taqe”
between willingness and love, ”Munay”, work and creative labor “Llankay” and
knowledge “Yachay” of all the towns of the ancient Tawantinsuyu and be able to
reconstruct them, filling them with “Kausay”, vital forces; giving initiation
with these actions to the adulthood of the Taripay Pacha Golden Age, in which
the “Paytiti” will manifest itself in this world or the metaphysical city of the
Andean eschatology.
Recently, Jorge Flores has identified the
meaning of the word Enqa, as the title that is given not only to one particular
person, but also as a spiritual quality in which an individual is able to
concentrate vital energy in himself in order to redistribute it. At the same
time, Jean Szeminski has suggested that one of the basic notions of which the
organization of the Tawantinsuyu is made up was that of the capability and duty
of the leader as much as of the imperial apparatus for the concentration and
redistribution of life.
The seventh level is called “Taytanchis Rantiy”
which means “the equivalent of our Father God”. The tasks which the individual
in this level will do are not known, but its coming will be associated with an advanced
era of the Taripay Pacha. The meaning of the word suggests a type of
representative of God on earth, which could be compared to the eschatological
expectation of the second coming of Christ of some Christians.
The manifestation of these three new levels in
the hierarchy is reserved for the Taripaypacha era, which in the Andean
eschatology is a new era that is coming. As is known, the temporary –contemporary
Andean eschatology classifies history in three stages, whose symbolic
denominations usually derive from the Joaquinista eschatology. As it seems, it
was assimilated by the Andean civilization in the XVI century through the
messianic movement of the “Taki Onqoy”. The first stage is called “Dios Yaya
Pacha” or the time of the Father God. It was initiated with the founding of the
Inca Empire by Manko Qapaq or Inkari, depending on the case, and it expanded
during the duration of the Tawantinsuyu, ending with the death of the Incas
Waskar and Atawallpa.
The second stage called “Dios Churi Pacha” or
the time of the Son of God, began with the conquest and has lasted until our
days. The third stage or “Holy Spirit God Pacha” which is also called “Taripay
Pacha” is probably starting and it is in this one in which three hierarchies
will manifest themselves,through the “Mosoq Karpay” or new initiation, which
has to be directly distributed by God to those people he considers appropriate
to be carriers of the new capacities. *
According to the Andean scatology, the vehicle
which carries this new initiation should be the “Siwar Qenty” or Royal Humming
Bird which, according to the Andean System, is the bird that has access to the
center of the Hanaq Pacha, where the person of God is found.
Between the first and the second stages, and
the second and third stages, there are essential “Pachakuti” or cosmic
transmutations, through which the coming of the era is prepared, with a re-ordering
of the cosmos.
According to the contemporary instructors, the
last Pachakuti has already taken place and was produced between the first of August
1990 and the first of August 1993, so we are already in the initial part of the Taripay Pacha, that has to
have an initial period of seven years, followed by another of twelve which will
be the maturity stage and afterward, the manifestation of the new age will be produced.
During this period, the “Paqo’s”, the name
given to the Andean priests, as well as to the town of the Andes, have an
active participation in the preparing of the necessary conditions for the
manifestation of the three new hierarchy levels and the coming of the persons
that will guide the new age.
In reference to the first (the paqo’s), their
contribution is made through the practice of traditional rituals and the
passing on of the knowledge and initiation rituals of the Andean priesthood
career in the diverse hierarchies that it is composed by . According to the
tradition of Don Benito Qoriwaman, a “Kuraq Akulleq” or priest of the fourth
level of the Valley of Cusco, the most important contribution of colleagues of
the same fourth level consists of becoming “Inka Mallku”, through a ritual that
lasts ten days, that takes place in a group of traditional sacred places in the
region and that includes Machupicchu from below to the Wiraqocha Temple on top,
in the Valley of “Willka Mayu” and the Valley of Cusco itself. According to
Juan Ossio’s opinion about the description of this ritual: it’s about the
process of a coronation of a sacred king. This process is called the Hatun
Karpay.
The participation of the Andean towns and their
contribution to the birth of the new era happens through their participation in
the traditional religious festivities, especially through their involvement in
diverse sanctuaries of regional importance.
Among them we can consider the sanctuaries of
Señor de Torrechayoq in the province of Urubamba, el Señor de Wanka in the
province of Calca, el Señor de Qoyllorit’i in the province of Quispicanchis or el
Señor de Pampak’uchu in the province of Canchis and of course, in the
involvement in the celebration of the sanctuary of the “Taytacha Temblores” in
the province of Cusco, all of them in the region of Cusco.
The findings of the hierarchical system of the
seven sacerdotal levels that I have mentioned before, wouldn’t have been more
important than another piece of etiology data, if in 1985, Mr. Juan Murillo Valdivia,
a friend of mine, connoisseur of the Bible and a very devout Catholic, hadn’t
pointed out to me according to one of his findings, that there exists a parallelism
of extraordinary meaning,between the spiritual hierarchy that I had just
discovered and the first seven levels that appear in the 3 first chapters of
Saint John’s Apocalypses in the Bible. This Bible’s seven levels are introduced
as “the message of the seven churches”. I have dedicated myself to the analysis
and study of this parallelism from then, until now.
As a matter of fact, both hierarchies appear to
be parallel to a spiritual development process that Carl G. Jung called “an
individuation process”. In the case of the Andean scale, the spiritualprogression
is explicit, since it is considered part of a spiritual career. This career
ends ideally, in the level of “Taytanchis Rantiy” since this level means
“equivalent to God on earth”. This can be translated by a Christian to “the
reproduction of Christ”.
In the case of the seven churches of the
apocalypse, in the message to the first the Lord says to the visionary, “If you
win, I will feed you with the fruit form the tree of life that is in my God’s
paradise”. This, according to Saint Pablo decoding the symbolic language form
the Bible means, to become a second “Adam with no sin”, since the one who was
supposed to eat “fruit from the tree of life” was Adam and he couldn’t do it
because ate “fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and bad” beforehand.
In the message to the seventh church, the Lord says to the visionary “if you
win you will sit on my throne, like my father has sat me on his throne”.
According to Christian theology, the only one
who has sat on the Father’s throne is our Lord Jesus Christ, meaning that the
decoded message to the seventh church means “be like Christ”; according to an
invitation from Saint Paul directed to the believers of the first century of
our times.
The possibility of legitimately comparing the
Andean and Christian levels is permissible in the Catholic Theology, according
to the “Semina Verbi” principle established by Saint Augustine. On the other
hand, from my scientific information, I interpreted the concordance between
both systems as a “second independent verification”, since between my Indian
Instructors and the visionary of the apocalypse, there were almost 2,000 years
of history and the void of cultural context that exists between the Hellenic
civilization form the beginning of our times and the contemporary Andean civilization.
Scientifically, there exist two independent,
parallel and concordant descriptions, from the same process; it is assumed that
behind both descriptions lays the action of “A Natural Law”. Given that in both
levels the final objective can be interpreted like the “reproduction of
Christ”, that can be reached through 7 steps, such “law” couldn’t be anything
else, but the one that directs the spiritual human development to
Christification.
In conclusion, I have the hypothesis that the
Christian scale wouldn’t be only in the first seven levels of the Saint John’s
apocalypse, but that in some way it would also be in the gospel. Actually, it appears
to be expressed in a symbolic manner in a series of acknowledgements of the
Lord during his private life and in some culminating passages of his public
life.
This way, the Lord is recognized, first like
“Pastor of the Pastors” by the pastors, who inspired by the angels, go and
worship him in the manger of Bethlehem. Secondly, he is recognized as “magician
of magicians” by three kings of the orient, who offer him gold, incense and
myrrh. Thirdly, as “Prophet of Prophets” by Simeon and Ana, when he is
introduced in the temple and this couple prophesizes about his ministry.
Fourthly, he is known as “the wisest of the wise”, when he was 12 years old and
is recognized by the “wise” of Salomon’s temple. These remarks referring to the
Lord’s private life.
After circa 18 years, the prelude of the Lord’s
public life is his recognition as messiah, by John the Baptist, who according
to Jesus himself, has a superior rank to any other prophet of Israel, when the
Lord says: “from the ones born of women, there is no one better than John”.
Afterwards and according to this arrangement, the Lord acquires a fifth degree
when he is “anointed” by the Holy Spirit, after John baptizes him in the Jordan
River, at the beginning of his public life. He acquires a sixth degree when he
is visited by Moses and Elias; he is “transfigured” and shines in front of some
of his disciples in Mount Tabor. Finally, the Lord acquires the seventh degree,
when after his passion and death he is “revived of death”. This degree would be
the one that differentiates the qualities of Christianity from all other
superior, metaphysical religions, according to the statement made by Saint Paul,
when he says “If Christ did not revive, meaningless is our faith”.
Again, due to my scientific upbringing, I was
informed of the “Ontogenetic Recapitulation Law of Filogenesis” that operates
in biological evolution, cultural evolution, and according to Sigmund Freud and
Carl G. Jung, it operates also in the evolution of “depth psychology”.
This led me to suppose that what happened in
the Lord’s life, must have had antecedents in the “preparation of his arrival”,
meaning in the Old Testament. And, as a matter of fact, I could also establish
another correlation.First, the patriarch Abraham, the first historical
character of the Bible, is a “Pastor of Pastors”. Secondly, Joseph, who was
sold by his brothers and was later made the minister of the pharaoh,when he
defeats his magicians, is made “Magician of the magicians”.
Thirdly, when Moses meets the lord for the
first time, he is made a Prophet. Fourthly, when Salomon asks from God and
receives from him the gift of knowledge, he is obviously made wise. In my point
of view, this implies a correlation with the four first levels of the scale,
corresponding at the same time to the acknowledgements received by our Lord
during his private life.
About the “Ontogenetic Recapitulation Law of
Filogenesis” that I am freely attributing to the life of our Lord, I am
justified by the statement expressed by his sanctity John Paul II when in one
of his trips to Mexico City he mentioned to a group of compromised laics
“Christ is the recapitulation of all creation”.
Moses and Elias, in my point of view, should be
treated in a particular way. About Moses, the classification I have made about
him as a prophet corresponds in my point of view to the initiation of his
spiritual development process, which appears to have been taken much further
later. Elias and Moses are directly related to fire, which in biblical terms is
the symbol of the Holy Spirit. The fire instructs Moses in the episode of the
“burning bush” and responds to the expectations of Elias in the episode of his
confrontation with priests of Baal, where in favor to Elias, the Lord lights
the holocaust of his offering. Such relationship types appear to suggest two
successive degrees of a relationship of the believer with the Holy Spirit.
Nevertheless, such difference is in a certain way circumstantial, facing the
fact that in some point in their career, both become great thaumaturgies,
meaning, they performed miracles, an aptitude that in the bible is related to
the third person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit.
According to the Bible, Moses, as well as
Elias, don’t seem to have left their bodies on earth. It is said that Moses was
“snatched” leaving this event a mystery. Elias is also “snatched to heaven” in
a car of fire, in the presence of Eliseo.
From this it can be hypothetically concluded,
that in two different and independent times of history, Moses and Elias have
taken spiritual development to Israel successfully to the fifth and sixth
levels.
Being the first one a pioneer actor and the
second an actor of the recapitulation of the process. In this way, both would
have been “prefigurations of Christ”, concept, which to my understanding isaccepted
in Catholic Theology.
This interpretation seems to be corroborated by
the fact that a time after giving “the commandments” to the city, Moses ascends
to the mountain and returns shining. And, also for thefact that in the
transfiguration of Christ, it’s Moses and Elias who appear simultaneously to
our Lord Jesus Christ and all three, shine in front of the disciples of Jesus, who
were permitted to go up the mountain.
That would imply for that moment a “mystic
participation” between Moses, Elias and the Lord in the manifestation of the
sixth degree of spiritual consciousness.
I think that an interpretation of this kind, is
not too different from the Catholic Church’s tradition and practice today,
since according to Mario Escobar Moscoso, in the text of “the Seven Dwellings”
by Saint Teresa del Avila, developed and written in the XVI century, a
hierarchy of spiritual progression can be discovered, similar and corresponding
to the seven levels described her. The Holy Spanish woman has been declared by
our church a Mystic Doctor, meaning expert in the process of spiritual development.
At the same time, inside of our church, there are the practices of the “Neocatecumenado”,
founded by the Spanish man Kiko Arguello, whose practice I would consider also
“a Spiritual Art”.
It consists of seven steps of descending to the baptismal
faucet, considered a purification process; and seven steps of ascending going
out from the baptismal faucet, considered like “a process of spiritual
development, following our Lord Jesus Christ”.
According to Arguello, the “Neocatecumenado”
recuperates practices that were transmitted to the Christian novice as part of
his training and intitiation process during the two first centuries of the history
of our church. Recently, because of Arguello’s petition and after a very
prolonged procedure and exhaustive testing, the “Neocatecumendado” has been
admitted, not as a church movement,but as an “initiation inside the church”.
Despite being up to a certain point in
concordance with theology, this argument does not pretend to be Theological,
since, as the reader can see it’s the result of the application to the Andean
ethological material as well as to the Bible text of the usual techniques of
the concomitant variation method and symbolic decodification, used in
Anthropology. It can be said then, that it is, from the Religion Science point
of view, simply “a documented work hypothesis”, relatively in concordance with
the contemporary catholic theology.
On the other hand, and widening the meaning of
my discovery, Cesar Cornejo Zavaleta, showed me the existence, inside the Sufi
tradition –mystic branch of Islam- of another comparable seven levels, coded in
terms of the “flight of the birds through the seven valleys”. Later research
taught me that slao, according to the Sufi tradition, Mohamed, after he had
written and given the Koran to the town, went up the mountain form which he
descended shining.
This implies an extraordinary similitude to what happened to
Moses. Also, during his illumination, Mohamed was raised and he saw the seven heavens,
during this experience he had a repetitive discussion with Moses about the
obligations that were to be required of the believers of Islam.
Between both events, it was suggested that
during his mystic appearance in the VI century of our times, Mohamed would have
had access to the hierarchical seven and that the prophet of Islamwould have
had established the sixth degree of spiritual development, due to the fact that
he shined as much as to do to his diacritical dialog with Moses, which according
to what we have suggested is representative of the sixth degree. In this way,
the phenomenon of his body being “snatched” from this earth would also be
accessible to him, as it is claimed by Islamic tradition.
In this manner, if Moses and Elias symbolized
“representations of our Lord”, Mohamed would have been a recapitulation of the
of the “Christian Manifestation” process of Moses and Elias and of the Lord
himself, up to the sixth level. This seems reasonable since Mohamed “converts”
to monotheism, due to the preaching of a Christian monk, and according to the
Islamic tradition, his purposed would have been to translate the high moral
message from the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ into a group of direct and
particle rules, in concordance to the mentality of the Arabian town of those
days.
The result inspired by such objective, is from
the Islamic point of view, “The Koran”, whose composition is considered from
their point fo view, the “only miracle” done by Prophet Mohamed during his
life. Finally, and again inside the Sufi tradition, Jesus Christ our Lord in
honored as the “identifying mark of the Perfect Saints” and Mohamed as
“Identifying mark of the Perfect Prophets”.
If it is possible to agree that the members of
all three monotheist religions worship the same and only metaphysical God, under
slightly different names, it would be possible for a Christian to believe and
publicly declare that:”Allah is the only true God and Mohamed is his Prophet”,
without the lessening of his faith nor of his church’s faith, which would only
mean he is honoring the prophet of another religion in his due magnitude. In
fact, we already do it with Judaism considering Moses and Elias as “True
Prophets”.
From the strict historical point of view,
supported by the English historian Arnold J. Toynbee., Judaism is a “fossilized”
social religious segment of the ciriaca civilization was frozen in its
evolution process, autonomous for a space of ten centuries, as a result of the
conquests by Alejandro Magno. As said by Toynbee, such civilization would have
continued again, from the point from which it was detained, the preaching of
Mohamed.
I had the opportunity to be in the Scandinavian
countries during the time in which, in my opinion, there was a very violent and
angry reaction to a production of some comic strips about Prophet Mohamed. I
think that the Muslim world in the Islamic countries as well as the Islamic
residents in Europe are extremely sensible to what Christians could suggest or
mention about them, their culture, and especially their prophet, whether it’s
positive or negative. This context of extreme susceptibility originated the
recent reaction to the words of the Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to
Germany.
Both Islamic reactions appear to be sharp
reactions of what Samuel P. Huntington denominated “the Clash of Cultures”,
which in my opinion is the closest “Geo Religious” approximation to the world that
is born, after the successive obsolescing of the rationalist ideologies,
communist first and capitalist after.
There are two aspects that I consider fundamental
in the geo religious approximation of Mr. Huntington: First that the critical
factor of the international confrontations has displaced from“Economic
Politics” (“Dictatorial Socialism” vs. “Liberal Capitalism”) to “Cultural
Religious” predicaments or “Civilizations”. Secondly, that in the numbering of
the possible civilization actors resulting from the “Worldly Reconfiguration” ,
Mr. Huntington considers “5 living Civilizations”, already identified in the
40s by Mr. Toynbee, and also, considered new and independent actors: “The African
sub Saharan civilization”, “The Buddhist civilization”, and “the Latin American
civilization”.
Such implication seems to be corroborated in
reference to “the Buddhist civilization” due to the ever increasing authority of
the Dalai Lama, starting from the decade of the 60s. In reference to the “Latin
American Civilization” because of the variety and wealth of spiritual
phenomenon that happen here and that are described exhaustively in the works
done by Father Manuel Marzal, already mentioned before and specially in his
work “Enchanted Earth”, also published by the Trotta editorial company.
For a comprehensive and productive treatment of
the Latin American phenomena, our church counts with the approximation of “the
Encultural Theology”. I have the impression, that this theology is already
being applied to the African case.
Returning to the circumstantial subject of the
Islamic reactions, I believe that a public announcement like the one I have
considered according to this hypothesis, I considered it possible for a
Christian, it would take place in the Islamic world, in reactions to of similar
intensity, but of contrary direction to the ones produced by the incident of
the comic strips or by Pope Benedict XVI mentioning the speech by Emperor
Byzantine of the XIV century.
What I wouldn’t dare to foretell, is what would
happen inside the Catholic Church, which is a unique organization, extremely
big and extremely complex: I think only someone who participates in the instances
of knowledge, belonging to the great Catholic religious orders or the ecclesial
hierarchy, would be capable to be in such position and capacity.
What was mentioned here could contribute to the
design of political “inter-religious” relations for the future. Such politics
could use as an instrument of contextualization and characterization, the already
mentioned work by Mr. Huntington “The Clash of Civilizations” and as an
impartial understanding of the religious content, the work by Mr. Huston Smith,
titled “The Religions of the World”, which is to my understanding the best and
better understood compendium of information about superior religions, that
encourage contemporary living civilizations.
Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin S.J. was able
to make a skillful co pagination about creativity and evolution for the
Catholic faith, expressed in a special manner in his works: “The Divine Means”
and “The Human Phenomenon”. Father Manuel Marzal S.J. made an adaptation of
these works to the requirements of the investigation of Anthropology of
Religion, in affirming that “The revelation is the movement of God towards
human kind and as a result of an object of study of Theology, while religion is
the creative response of humanity to revelation, and as such, a cultural creation
and object to be investigated in Anthropology.
As part
of this intellectual context, we can add that Pope John Paul II, said on a
certain occasion “Culture is a gift from God to humanity”. It can be said; that
Judaism, Christianity and Islam, are other cultural responses to the
revelation, and also the seven levels that make up part of their respective
doctrines. If as it appears from this analysis, the cultural complexity of the
hierarchy of the seven levels makes up a level of the psychic process needed
for Christianization or “the omega point”, of the cosmos-vision of Father
Teilhard de Chardin, they have as an common objective which has not fully been
accomplished yet to contribute to the spiritual development of their particular
human communities in the following of Christ and aiming towards Omega.
The acknowledgment of a common objective in
this way, could in the long run constitute itself into an instrument of peace
in the geographical civilization space occupied by the three monotheist
religions; Judaism, Christianity and Islam, in which the raising Latin American
civilization and its Andean counterparts are also included.
Finally, I would like to mention, that due to
personal reasons that I have mentioned at the beginning of this article, Father
Marzal S.J. had reservations in the “impartiality and objectivity” of my points
of view. He explicitly expressed such reservations himself in the third
paragraph of his article which introduces volume 4 in the “Iberia-American
Encyclopedia of Religions”, between pages 31 and 32. I will mention the
paragraph below:
“The second work about the return of the Inca
is done by Juan Nuñez del Prado. Because of the topic, I supposed that this
work could incur in messianic repetitions and I was right. Nevertheless, it contains
different elements and also it’s useful to encounter the two points of view
about such a discussed subject.
Nonetheless, the perspectives are somewhat
different, because while Ossio focuses on the scientific field and exposes the
forms taken by Andean messianism in Peruvian history; Nuñez del Prado, in spite
of the great amount of information he has and his extensive occupation in the
country as a Quechua speaking native, situates himself in a different field and
at times, he is more than a scientist of the Andean Culture, he seems to be a
believer of Andean spirituality; in this position his personal relationship
with various altomisayocs has with no doubt influenced where he has discovered
a persistent hierarchy of Andean specialists and a spirituality that seems to
tune with certain religious currents of the postmodern world, which explains
the success of spiritual tourism in the region of Cuzco (Jenkins, 1999)”
At the same time, I am fully conscious that
everything I have said up to here could simply be the result of my personal
need to solve the conflict between my Christian faith and my academic reasoning,
something natural for someone who migrated from Pre Conciliar Catholicism to
Rationalized Atheism, to finally return to Catholicism subsequent to Vatican
Concilio II.
Cuzco, October
12, 2006
Juan Victor
Nuñez del Prado Béjar
Bibliography:
Manuel M. Marzal
(editor). Religiones Andinas. Enciclopedia Iberoamericana de Religiones. Vol. 04. Editorial Trotta. Madrid.
2005
Huston Smith. The World’s Religions. Harper San
Francisco. 1986
Elizabeth Jenkins. Initiation. Putnam. New
York. N.Y. 1997
Samuel P. Huntington. The Clash of
Civilizations and the remaking of World order. Simon& Schuster. New York
1996.
