from The Meaning of Life: Ascending Jacob’s Ladder by Hazy Notion
Historians commonly divide the Christian period of Europe into three great 'ages' — the Dark, Middle and Modern Ages. If these three periods are considered from the perspective of the Spectrum it is not difficult to discern characteristics that correspond to three Sub-Themes of the Status of Self — Piety, Style and Number.
The Dark Ages were dominated by a religious elite which held power by controlling the interpretation of Christian Scriptures. European people appear to have been collectively at the level of Piety during this period, controlled by 'That' mind stream. The Middle Ages required a switch to 'This' mind stream as an aristocratic elite came into power expressing the Status of Self through Style. Finally, entry into the Modern Age required a switch back to 'That' mind stream. The Modern Age is dominated by a moneyed elite guiding the collective mind through the Sub-Theme of Number.
Each of these periods appear to be approximately 500 years in length and it is highly likely that the Christian monotheistic vehicle has a built-in timing mechanism. If a timing mechanism has been incorporated into the Christian vehicle it is likely to have its origins in Essene mysticism.
The Essenes were the third major sect of ancient Israel, the other two being the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The tradition of prophesying the coming of a Messiah originated with the Essenes. From a mystical perspective the Messiah was a person who had transcended Self consciousness and attained Mind consciousness. The Essene ideal was to have a living human role model that could demonstrate the attributes of Love and Courage.
By identifying the historical Jesus as the promised Messiah the early Christians essentially founded their religion as an Essene sect. The centre of Essene religious activity at the time of Jesus was located at Qumran, to the east of Jerusalem, on the cliff-tops near the junction of the River Jordan and the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea Scrolls, found near this location, are the remains of an Essene library. The Essene monastic communities at Qumran were wiped out by the Romans in 70 AD. In the diaspora that followed Essenism merged with various Gnostic sects and then a large part of the mix was eventually absorbed into the evolving new religion of Christianity. The ideas of early Christianity were a combination of the fairly orthodox Pharisaic Judaism of the Old Testament overlaid with Essene and Gnostic ideas contained within the New Testament.
If Christianity does indeed have an internal clock it is most likely derived from an Essene time-keeping system involving 'world weeks'. The Essenes had used a solar calendar while both the Pharisees and Sadducees had used a lunar/solar calendar. The Essenes, while waiting for the Messiah, had anticipated the unification of Israel in all religious aspects under his leadership. To this end they worked out a system of 490 year cycles they called world weeks that attempted to resolve the disharmony of lunar and solar calendars.
In this system a week of years was 7 solar years long. A world week was 490 solar years. The world week was made up of 70 weeks of years (70 x 7 = 490). The 70 week period was divided into two equal parts and one smaller part.
33+33+4=70 weeks of years or 231+231+28=490 solar years.
The lunar and solar calendars were synchronised thus:
A lunation = 29.530588 days
multiply by 12 for a lunar year
= 354.367 days per lunar year
A solar year = 365.242 days
The disharmony of approximately eleven days in lunar and solar time-keeping was a constant irritation to the people of ancient times. The Essene solution to the problem was based on thirty-three.
33 solar years = 34 lunar years plus 4.5 days (12052.986 - 12048.478 = 4.508 days)
An extra lunar year therefore accrues every 33 solar years. But every 7th of these surplus lunar years has to have 13 months in order to soak up the extra days. (7 x 4.5 = 31.5 days). This intercalation of the 13th month to adjust the lunar calendar occurs every 231 solar years. (7 x 33 = 231).
In the Essene system the 231 solar year period is repeated once for a total of 462 solar years. This is followed by a period of 28 solar years (4 weeks or 1 month of years) which is a period of cultural breakdown. During this breakdown period the collective mind sheds old cultural habits and prepares for a new age. No attempt is made to synchronise the two calendars during the breakdown period. The two calendars are then brought back into harmony with the start of a new 490 year cycle.
The 490 year cycle not only resolves the differences in the lunar and solar calendars but it also allows the precession of equinoxes to be brought into the picture, as well. The precession of equinoxes is an approximately 25,800 year cycle caused by the earth wobbling on its axis as it rotates.
A standard solar year has 365.242 days.
If a world week is 490 solar years then a ‘world day’ is
490/7 = 70 solar years.
Using this formula a ‘world year’ is
70 x 365.242 = 25,567
The difference between the Essene world year and the precession of equinoxes is approximately 233 years (25,800 - 25,567 = 233). This discrepancy was dealt with by intercalating 33 solar years at the end of every 7th world week — ie. every 3430 years. The idea is to have seven such intercalations throughout the course of a world year (7 x 33 = 231). The two years left over are only a small embarrassment in the grand scheme of things.
However, not all Essene world week prophecy had the grandness of vision needed to incorporate the precession of equinoxes. The Book of Enoch was an important Essene vehicle used for propagating the world week calendar system. In a section called the Apocalypse of Weeks a 3rd century B.C. Essene solar prophet set out his analysis of history and predictions for the future based on 490 year cycles. According to his scheme, 490 years after Creation the Essene patron Enoch was born. The Flood occurred at 980; Abraham figured at 1470; Moses received the law on Mount Sinai in 1960; in 2450 the first temple was constructed in Jerusalem; in 2940 the temple was destroyed and 3430 years after Creation the 'plant of righteousness' — the Essene sect — was founded at the end of the 7th world week.
The next three 490 year cycles were predictions as they were still in the future at the time the author was writing. At the end of the 8th, in 3920, the Restoration and the Messiah were expected. Then at the end of the 9th world week, in 4410, there would be a revelation of righteous judgement for the whole world. Finally, at the end of the 10th world week, 4900 years after Creation, there would be a last judgement after which a new heaven and new earth would appear and time would be no more.
The feverish search that was undertaken about the time of Jesus by Essenes and Gnostics to locate the Messiah took place in response to this prediction in the Book of Enoch. There was considerable disputation amongst the searchers as to the correct date for the destruction of the first temple. This was unfortunate because this event, some 980 years earlier, was the only one on the list they could hope to accurately fix in history, and thereby positively identify the Messiah. Of the many who were nominated for Messiahship around this time only the figure of Jesus survived as a serious contender.