The Shaping of a World Religion: From Jesuits, Freemasons & Anthropologists to MK Ultra & the Counter-Culture Movement
The Shaping of a World Religion: From Jesuits, Freemasons & Anthropologists to MK Ultra & the Counter-Culture Movement
By Cynthia Chung
“In approaching this subject, we shall try to find out what it is that is common to many religions in the methods of sudden conversion employed by their priests and evangelists. We shall endeavour to bring this into relation with what we know of the physiology of the brain. We must beware of being distracted by what it is that is being preached. The truths of Christianity have nothing to do with the beliefs inspired by the rites of pagan religions or of devil-worshippers. But the physiological mechanisms, of which use has been made by religions on each side of this gulf, will bear the closest examination.
The leaders of successful faiths have never, it may in fact be said, dispensed entirely with physiological weapons in their attempts to confer spiritual grace on their fellow men. Fasting, chastening of the flesh by scourging and physical discomfort, regulation of breathing, disclosure of awesome mysteries, drumming, dancing, singing, inducement of panic fear, weird or glorious lighting, incense, intoxicant drugs — these are only some of the many methods used to modify normal brain functions for religious purposes. Some sects pay more attention than others to a direct stirring up of emotions as a means of affecting the higher nervous system; but few wholly neglect it.”
- William Sargant, Battle for the Mind (1957), pioneer of Tavistock & MK Ultra mind control techniques.
A Millennial New Dawn and the Master of Life
There is a prophecy, a dawn myth, amongst the indigenous people of the Americas, which is said to have originated in the south and dates as far back as the period of the Aztecs (1300-1521).[1] This prophecy was foretold by a white man with a flowing beard, “at once a Moses and a messiah”[2] and many were drawn to this story that spoke of the salvation of their people. Over time this prophecy was heard by many including those living further north, until it seemed all had heard of this foretelling of salvation by this god-like man. It is said that he had travelled to them from the east with the morning light and had brought life and joy to the world, only to return to the east with the dawn and that they were destined to wait for him until he would return once again and all would be paradise.
This myth is of course shrouded in mystery since we have no history to account for it, whereby the Spanish were supposed to be, as we are told, the first foreigners to have arrived to the Americas in the early 1490s.
It appears this dawn myth played a prominent role for why so many indigenous people had at first welcomed the Spaniards upon their arrival to the Americas. They “welcomed the white strangers as the children or kindred of their long-lost benefactor, immortal beings whose near advent had been foretold by oracles and omens.”[3]
We know very well that this encounter did not fulfill the prophecy. However, despite bitter disappointment, the southern nations continued to cherish the hope of a coming messiah, albeit now this messiah would assume the character of a terrible avenger of their wrongs and they would continue to wait for the coming of the day which would break the power of the white-skin conqueror.[4]
The advent of the deliverer was believed to be heralded by signs and wonders. “Thus, in Mexico, a mysterious rising of the waters of Lake Tezcuco, three comets blazing in the sky, and a strange light in the east, prepared the minds of the people for the near coming of the Spaniards.”[5]
In the 1530s the French would also make their way to the Americas beginning with voyages to Newfoundland. The British, more accurately known as the first American colonists though were still officially recognised at the time as British subjects, would set up their first colony in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia.
The French colonists appear to have been the most peaceful towards the indigenous peoples out of all of the European colonialists, however, this does not mean they were free of their own destructive machinations as we will soon see. By the mid 1750s, in almost every tribe, if not all, there were French missionaries where the French ruled.
These French missionaries’ “fearless courage and devotion had won the admiration and love of the savage; in every village was domiciliated a hardy voyageur, with his Indian wife and family of children, in whose veins commingled the blood of the two races and whose ears were attuned alike to the wild songs of the forest and the roudeans of Normandy and Provence. It was no common tie that bound together the Indians and the French, and when a governor of Canada and the general of his army stepped into the circle of braves to dance the war dance and sing the war song with their red allies, thirty-three wild tribes declared on the wampum belt, ‘the French are our brothers and their king is our father. We will try his hatchet upon the English,’[6] and through seven years of blood and death the lily and the totem were borne abreast until the flag of France went down forever on the heights of Quebec.”[7]
With the defeat of the French after the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) the Indian tribes were left to fight their war against the British on their own, who they now faced in growing numbers.
Pontiac’s Prophecy
In 1763 a prophet, Pontiac (1714/20-1769), arose in Delawares, at Tuscarawas, on the Muskingum who preached a union of all the tribes and a return “to the old Indian life, which he declared to be the divine command, as revealed to himself in a wonderful vision.”[8] This scene was recorded by an anonymous eyewitness in French, and serves as a confirmation that there was a presence of the French at this great council of the tribes held near Detroit in April 1763. This manuscript, which historian Francis Parkman refers to as the “Pontiac manuscript” is said to “bear internal evidence of genuineness, and is supposed to have been written by a French priest.”[9]
We will review Pontiac’s prophecy in detail here since it plays a central role to what would form a dominant belief system amongst the Indian tribes throughout the 19th century and afterwards. Both Francis Parkman and Henry Rowe Schoolcraft are recognised as historical authorities on the “Pontiac prophecy”, the latter being one of the spiritual fathers of the Smithsonian Institute and the Bureau of Ethnology.
“According to the prophet Pontiac’s story, being anxious to know the ‘Master of Life’, he determined, without mentioning his desire to anyone, to undertake a journey to the spirit world. Ignorant of the way, and not knowing any person who, having been there, could direct him, he performed a mystic rite in the hope of receiving some light as to the course he should pursue. He then fell into a deep sleep, in which he dreamed that it was only necessary to begin his journey and that by continuing to walk forward he would at last arrive at his destination.
…Day after day he proceeded without incident, until at sunset of the eight day, while preparing to encamp for the night…he noticed, running out from the edge of the prairie, three wide and well-trodden paths…he observed with astonishment that the paths became more distinct as the night grew darker…It seemed to him that one of these roads must lead to the place of which he was in search…[after trying the two widest paths he takes] the third road… [which leads him to] a precipitous mountain of dazzling brightness directly in his path…looking up, he saw seated a short distance up the mountain a woman of bright beauty and clade in snow-white garments, who addressed him in his own language, telling him that on the summit of the mountain was the abode of the Master of Life, whom he had journeyed so far to meet…after much difficulty [he] reached the top…he advanced…to the gate of the village, where he was admitted and saw approaching a handsome man in white garments, who offered to lead him into the presence of the Master of Life…the Master of Life thus addressed him: