When talking about #Dharma people might get confused quickly. We are NOT talking about some Dravidian nonsense here.
When I talk about Dharma, I am talking about the Natural Way as taught by the #IndoEuropean|s long before the term ‘Hinduism’ was a thing.
So what are the elements of Dharmic civilizations? (You will find out that the parallels to Nordic Paganism are obvious.)
- Cyclical nature of time, life and nature.
- Historical devolution of humanity ethically, morally, spiritually, civiliza-tionally, etc.
- Spirit is ontologically prior and superior to matter.
- Transmigration (reincarnation) of the soul.
- Hierarchy of being, all categories of existent objects, and of human society.
- Meticulous class demarcation of society into the categories of a) sage/priest, b) martial class, and c) commoners/laborers.
- Deep respect and cultivation of personal virtue, morality, honor and values.
- Belief in ethical universals/absolutes and the rejection of moral relativism.
- A non-anthropomorphic view of reality, in which non-humans were afforded more respect and dignity than they were during the post-Abrahamic era.
- Personification of the natural elements in the form of myriad species of spirits, fairies, gods and goddesses.
- Panentheism: the simultaneous transcendence and immanence of the Transcendent.
- Profound respect for wisdom and wise-people.
- Understanding that the Earth is a Mother Goddess and a sentient being.
- Teaching through primarily oral, not written, instruction.
- Deductive, not inductive, reasoning.
- Understanding that order is a positive state to be strived after, and that disorder and chaos are negative states that must be avoided at all costs.
- A strict host/guest etiquette.
- Theocratic governments were universally upheld in every ancient, pre-Abrahamic culture without exception.
- Great respect for nature and the environment.
- Respect and worship of one’s family ancestors and of the ancestors of the nation.
- Filial piety and respect for one’s elders.
- Clearly defined gender roles in which both men and women were afforded the respect and dignity of fully manifesting their specific natures.
- Philosophy and intellectual life were grounded in spirituality.
- Science cooperated with natural law, and did not see itself as being artificially at war with nature, as is the case in the modern era.
- The sacredness and crucial importance of the teacher/student relationship in the passing down of knowledge.
- The concept of having small, manageable cities (polis in Greek, purain Sanskrit) and city-states.
- The preeminence of mysticism and reverence for mystics.
- The presence of priestesses.
- The importance of astronomy and astrology for detecting and inter-preting large-scale occurrences and transitions in our cosmos.
- There was no distinction between theology and philosophy.
- Worship of the household gods by every family.
- Offering of food to the gods before human consumption.
- The Mandate of Heaven as the basis of king’s authority.
- The concept of ever-progressing cyclical ages (known a yugas in Sanskrit).
- The existence and preeminence in all societies of a learned and wise priest class, such as the Celtic Druids, the South Asian Brahmins, the Latin Flamines, and the Persian Magi.
- The existence of a specified pantheon of major divinities recognized by each people and nation.
I will elaborate further on these various attributes.
What you need to take away from this introduction is:
Dharmic faith is ethnic faith, which is the foundation of every people. It hands us justification to protect our kin above all others.