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OF MEDICAL CANNABIS THE CREATION |
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Most authors who write on the subject of Medical Cannabis, usually like to begin their historical sections by mentioning that the Hemp Plant, seems to have originated somewhere near the Himalayas (in what is now the border between Chinese occupied Tibet and India). And indeed, this does seem to be the location where ancient legends, as well as archeological evidence, both indicate that it was first used for its Medical and Industrial properties some six thousand years ago.[A] However, I myself believe in starting a bit further back in time, ---- if possible, to the creation of the universe or the beginning of time itself.
Because this section is based mostly on Religious theory (or religious hocus pocus if you will), it can safely be ignored by most active newspaper reporters
Genesis -- In the Beginning:
Where exactly did the Medical Cannabis plant come from?
Just what was its exact origin?
Exactly how old is this plant?
How does one even start to go about answering any of the above questions? The author is of the opinion that the "Book of Genesis" (part of the Christian Bible or set of Holy books), along with bits and pieces of the Hindu Vedas, may and probably do hold the keys to unlocking all of the answers.
WHAT ABOUT OTHER RELIGIOUS TEXTS As I see it, the problem in general with all religions is that no one today, seems to have the power to draw lightning from the sky. And let’s face it, for whatever reason the God doesn’t seem to want to make any more guest appearances, at least none that I have heard of lately. Thus, it’s up to the priests or Ayatollahs to “interpret the will of god” for everyone else, and let’s also face it; some of them have taken great advantage of this fact to make themselves quite rich in the process. Let us use the Koran as a good example. Ask any devout Mohammedan and they will tell you that it was the prophet Mohamed who wrote the Koran. However, one must ask; how was it possible for Mohammed the prophet to have physically written the Koran, when Arabic was NOT a written language at the time? The best that can be said was that the prophet Mohammed wrote the Koran in another language (probably Byzantine Greek), which later on was translated into Arabic. But in all likelihood, he only wrote bits and pieces (again probable in Greek), which later on, along with the works of others, were put together in book form. And than there is the issue of the Nazi Archives [1][2], consisting of various (photo’s of ancient Mohammedan texts) which are said to show that the closer one comes to the time of the prophet, the more and more the Koranic texts resembled Ancient Hebrew texts. All this leads one to believe that Mohammed did NOT write the Koran, but that it was in fact written by some committee numerous years after his death. And only entered its present form some one or two hundred years thereafter. All fine and well as a religious text, but not as a historical document. The same seems to whole true for numerous other religious texts that this author has investigated. |
Granted, many view religion in general as nothing more than so much hocus pocus, having no place in science. While others (believing in the existence of a God), still view the Old Testament mostly as something that was written by a small ethnic group, whose main purpose it seems was primarily self-glorification first and foremost of all. Maybe so, but the same seems to hold true for just about every other group out there. Just look at the way Europeans painted Christ: Come-On, did he really have blue eyes and pale, (almost ghost-like) skin, etc. Ask an Arab and she will tell you that Arabic is the divine language of God, spoken in heaven etc. The Chinese language (I’ve been told) has numerous chosen words for, ‘those barbarians’, meaning outsiders. In fact even one of their words for ‘Hemp seed’ literally can be translated into, “The seed of the barbarian” etc.
And as for the religious aspects of the bible, they don't seem to detract from its historical value. The book of Genesis, solely as a historical record seems to have a 100% accuracy rate. Thus your belief in religion or a higher intelligence (either that of a cosmic creampuff or long hair thunderer) is not needed. Only the use of logic and reason; I for one feel that something with an accuracy record this good, simply can't be ignored. Especially as there are so few other reliable records out there. And why shouldn't it be accurate, the authors (it was originally put together in ancient Babylon somewhere), had access to all known knowledge at the time. While these other records, for the most part, have been lost to us, the Old Testament has survived.
But MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament) have come down to us --- UNCHANGED since it was first set down onto print. And this is Very, Very important. Why?
Today numerous theologians with the ability to read both Hebrew as well as ancient Greek (the languages of the New Testament), have explored the origins of our biblical literature and have come to a very controversial conclusion. That over the years, many, many (I shall call them) modifications to the original wording of the scriptures have been made to the original writings. So many that it may be all but impossible to determine what-exactly was or was not in the original versions. How did this happen?
Simply put, before the invention of the Guttenberg press ALL book had to be copied by hand. During these transcriptions, the scribes (mainly male monks in monasteries somewhere), were in the practice of added a few extra words to make the reading a little more interesting etc., which when multiplied over the years . . . . I think you get the point. [3]
However, the Torah was different, even to this day the practice of writing it word by word, line by line, just as it was since ancient times is still carried on. If any mistakes are made, the whole thing is burnt and the whole process starts all over again. Translation,---no one has monkeyed with it; line by line, sentence by sentence, this thing has come down to us, unchanged since day one.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the Hindu Vedas or Holy Books, but still the general gist or concept of what they were saying will still be there. Granted, maybe in a bastardized form, but still present.
FOUR BILLION BC:
[a.k.a. - The big bang --- Genesis 1.1]"In the beginning the God created the heavens and the earth"
[Part of Gods' Wondrous Universe]
While the exact date of the big bang, or the creation of the Universe, is unknown and thus subject to much debate. What is eminently clear is that clouds of hydrogen gases provide little place for the existence (let alone the growth) of plant life. Thus it is logical to expect that it will be some time before its creation of the Hemp plant could take place.
Maybe those statments made by the noted physicist Seven Hawking (in his book "A Brief History of Time"), best explains the situation:
While making it clear that he himself places NO limitations on the power of God, and stating quite clearly that: while the creator could have chosen any manner of creation. Still, once the decision was made to follow a certain path, God, in-effect placed physical limits on herself. One can say that the laws of physics became fixed after that point, for if they were not, they would then become part of the observable Universe. [4]In other words, Mr. Hawking is trying to say that those factors that led to the creation of Hemp or the Medical Cannabis plant were fixed by the laws of physics, AND thus had to follow a certain pattern. Soil conditions, sunlight, rain water etc., ALL would have had to pre-date the existence of Cannabis, and do so in a certain form and at a certain time.
ONE BILLION BC:
“The earth was without shape or void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep” ---- [a.k.a. - The earth (a rock planet) was now fully formed, with running water, but was covered by a giant gas cloud of dust] --- [Genesis 1.2]
“and the spirit of the God hovered over the surface of the waters, and than the God said, ‘Let there be light’, and there was light” [a.k.a. - something happened to the dust cloud and fresh air came into being or something like that] --- [Genesis 1.2-1.3][NOTE: As all plant life needs sunlight for energy, this stage made it possible for plant life (including Cannabis) to begin]
“and the God saw the light, and that it was good, and divided the light from the darkness. And the God called the light day, and the darkness She called night” [a.k.a. - the earth (if it wasn’t already) started to spin on its axes] --- [Genesis 1.4-1.5]
“And so the evening and the morning were the first day” --- [Genesis 1.5]While subject to much challenge; I am of the belief that this first day took place sometime around, One Billion years ago, and NOT (as some would claim) around 3,000 BC. I’ll try to cover the subject a little later on in this chapter.
“Then the God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters” . . . . ”Let the waters . . . be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear” . . “and it was so” [a.k.a. -- a lot of volcanoes, underwater earth quacks etc., caused the land to pop out of the waters etc.] --- [Genesis 1.9]
“Then the God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, . . . and it was so . . . and the God saw that it was good” --- [Genesis 1.11,12]STOP -- It would be impossible not to mention that many claim this as the origin of the Medical Cannabis plant, but I for one have my doubts. The wording; “Let the earth bring forth . . . the herb . . .”,does not specifically state “ALL” herbs, so medical Cannabis could or could not have been created at this time. Additionally, the Christian bible seems to hint that those sentient beings that walked the earth at that time were very powerful beings, almost demi-gods by our standards. Beings that would have little or no use for any kind of medicinal agents, of any sort. Even the Hindu Vedas (which also are very old) seem to agree with the Bible on this point. Thus I feel that the second or possible the third creation would be a more appropriate starting point for the Antique Cannabis collector.
At this point the Book of Genesis now devotes next few verses on astrological data. -- something about our solar systems sun being the light of the day, and all the other stars to give light to the night etc. Thankfully, due to the nature of this history, they can safely be ignored.
Footnotes:
[A] -- This figure 4,000-BC or six thousand years ago is some what disputed, with some historians only placing this time period at around 1,000-BC.
[1] -- During the second world war, it seems that the Nazi’s got very friendly with Islamic Arabs who allowed the Nazi’s to make picture copies of their texts.
[2] -- Note, the author has not actually seen actual copies of the archives and is depending only on what others are saying about the Nazi Archives.
[3] "Misquoting Jesus" by Bart D. Ehrman makes for interesting reading on the subject.
[4] Not his exact words, [see pgs 9-11 of his book, “A brief History of Time”], but, I don’t want to get a copyright lawsuit etc.
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