The Significance of Dragons

Were Dragons Real?

While it may seem like they are a myth, there’s a lot of evidence to suggest they existed. The primary evidence for this is the fact that almost every culture on earth has some sort of depiction of a dragon from the aboriginal of Australia to the Native American tribes of the United States. Dragons tend to have different interpretations across cultures and are often depicted as a combination of the local animals. While it is possible that dragons existed (there’s even a beetle alive today that can produce fire through chemicals), if they did exist they most likely existed with only two legs and two wings as they are depicted in Game of Thrones. Yet when dragons are depicted in various cultures they tend to be a combination of various distinct animals. Why is this?

Evolutionist Theory on Dragons

Evolutionist theorizes that dragons are simply a combination of the greatest fears of our primate ancestors more specifically a combination of a snake, big cat (lion or leopard), eagle, and fire. The animal most closely associated with dragons are snakes one of the greatest enemies of man. Snakes are the third deadliest animals on earth with the only two animals that kill more humans being humans themselves and mosquitos (who only kill people indirectly by spreading diseases). There’s also a theory that snakes are the reason humans have the eyesight we have because we’ve adapted over time to have better eyesight for seeing snakes. Human eyesight is considered some of the best in the world especially when compared to the eyesight of other mammals. Studies done on primates that have to live with snakes confirm that they have better eyesight than primates who don’t.

Interestingly in Genesis, Satan who takes the form of the serpent is the literal reason humans started to see. After the serpent convinced Eve to take a bite of the forbidden fruit she could see that she’s naked, seeing her vulnerability. In Genesis 3:15 KJV God tells the serpent (Satan), “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” So here, God reveals that there will be an intense rivalry between man and snakes, and this can certainly be seen by the number of people that die from snakes and the evidence that they’re responsible for our amazing eyesight. There’s also a more symbolic meaning behind this I will get to later.

Dragons in The Old Testament

The word used to refer to dragons in the Old Testament is the Hebrew word Tannin which can also be translated as dragon, serpent, or sea monster. This however, could just as easily be used to refer to dinosaurs because the word dinosaur didn’t come about until the 1800s and before then all large reptiles were called dragons. One creature identified as a tannin is the Leviathan. This creature is mentioned by God in the book of Job saying how he created the Leviathan which is a massive creature with scales that lives in the sea. It even states that sparks of fire come out of its mouth and smoke out of its nose.

In contrast to the Old Testament, dragons always refer to satan in the New Testament. It’s said that the bruising of the serpent’s head along with the biting of the seed of the woman’s heel in Genesis, is the playing out of the crucifixion of Jesus when Satan was ultimately defeated. Satan is also depicted in Revelations, as a red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and ten crowns who is attempting to devour a baby (Jesus) as he is being born.

Europe

Flag of Wales

Dragons in Europe are often seen with four legs and wings. In stories, they’re usually depicted as living in caves and guarding mass hordes of treasure (as done in The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien). One of the most famous stories involving dragons in Europe is the story of Saint George. Saint George was a real-life member of the Praetorian guard for Emperor Diocletian during the Roman Empire. Today he is the patron saint of England, Ethiopia, Georgia, and Catalonia. The story goes that Saint George confronted a terrible dragon that was terrorizing a city in Libya and saved the King’s daughter as a result. When dragons are considered good in Europe they are thought of to have wisdom much like how in Asia they are usually seen as benevolent and keepers of great wisdom. Legends say the Welsh took up the red dragon as their sigil after the Romans left Britain to symbolize their power.

Asia

Flag of Bhutan

Dragons in Asia are drastically different from dragons in Europe. For Asian dragons they have the head of a camel (Chameleon in south east Asia and Japan), scales of a carp, antlers of a stag, eyes of a rabbit, ears of a bull, neck of a snake, belly of a clam, paws of a tiger, and claws of an eagle. While in Europe dragons are almost always seen as malevolent they aren’t seen that way in Asia. In China, they are seen as good luck and as sources of wisdom and in Vietnamese mythology, the Vietnamese people are descended from a great dragon. Dragons are also more associated with water and wisdom than fire and destruction. One dragon in Chinese mythology is very similar to the dragons of Europe called Fuzanglong. Like European dragons, Fuzanglong is said to guard treasure and is associated with fire. In Bhutan, their national symbol is the thunder dragon Druk who Giles’s jewels symbolizing the wealth of the nation.

Polynesia

Hawaiian Gecko

In Polynesian mythology more specifically the mythology of Hawai’i are the Mo’o. Mo’o are shapeshifting dragons that usually take the form of geckos, beautiful women, or oceanic dragons. The idea that dragons are feminine and live oceans is a very old concept. One of the first dragons ever depicted was Tiamat, a female dragon who was said to be the embodiment of chaos who lived in the ocean. Mo’o are said to guard freshwater pools on the Hawaiian islands. They are said to be very powerful and like in many Asian depictions of dragons can control weather. The nature of Mo’o is dependent mostly on how people who encounter them treat them. If you disrespect them they will tear you apart, but if you are good to them then you can gain plentiful harvests. This ultimately speaks to the one of the most important philosophical ideas of the Hawaiian people which is to respect nature and the land. This idea is what allowed Polynesians to survive on the islands they inhabited for centuries without outside influence.

South America

The Amaru of Andean civilizations

The dragon of Incan mythology was known as the Amaru. It’s depicted as a two-headed dragon with one head being that of a bird and the other being that of a cat (Jaguar or Puma) or sometimes a llama, the body of a serpent, and the wings of a condor. The Amaru is supposed to be the bridge between heaven and earth, it takes the form of the rainbow during the day and the Milky Way at night. The serpent represents the watery underworld, the puma/jaguar or llama represents the earth, and the condor represents the sky. Like the Mo’o of Hawai’i, it’s said to dwell near bodies of freshwater and has the ability to control the weather. In addition, like the Mo’o they are a representation of Mother Nature.

Conclusion

One major interpretation that can be gathered from all this is that dragons can represent nature. As depicted by the Mo’o if nature is respected, then great rewards can be yielded. The Amuru shows how nature is unavoidable. We may try controlling it and reducing it in this world but it ultimately cannot be escaped. Like the Amuru, it exists in the depths, on the lands, and in the skies. It says in Genesis that man is meant to take care of the earth and respect it but in a lot of ways that have not been done. A prime example of this are the fires that occurred in California that I witnessed and had friends lose their homes from. They occurred because the forests were taken care of. The Native Americans for centuries took care of the forests by having controlled burnings and cut down specific trees. Since then forests have been allowed to go wild causing there to be more plants that are drier because they’re competing for moisture making them more susceptible to fires, and entire species of trees have nearly gone extinct because the forests haven’t been properly maintained to allow them to prosper. Because of this disrespect for the dragon that is nature we got burned. This is just one example the oceans are a prime example as well. There is t a single oceanic fish in the world that doesn’t have traces of plastic in it. Troll fishing not only decimates fish populations (of fish intending to be caught or not) but also destroys coral reefs which are essential to entire ecosystems. A fundamental belief in Andean and Polynesian cultures is a belief in the respect and importance of nature and this can be seen by their depiction of dragons that represent Mother Nature. This is a belief that should be once again remembered throughout the world.

The other main interpretation to get from how dragons are represented in Europe and Asia is that dragons represent chaos and the unknown. Despite this though they are also the key to success. This makes sense because the only way you succeed in this world is not by running from chaos, but confronting it. It makes a lot of sense that confronting something that represents the unknown and chaos is how you gain wisdom. Of course, you underestimate the chaos. In A Dance of Dragons by George R.R. Martin, when Quentyn Martell attempted to control a dragon for power he turned his back on a different dragon and as a result, was roasted alive. The unknown and chaos is dangerous and should be feared. But it should be confronted all the same because that’s how we ultimately grow as people and how we gain what we’re seeking whether it’s a monetary success as depicted in Europe or wisdom as depicted in Asia. If you spend your entire life running away from conflict and the unknown you’ll remain stagnant and most likely won’t achieve very much in life. My aunt once advised me that you should never be the smartest person in the room. You should always continue to find out what you don’t know.

Schadenfreude

What is Schadenfreude?

I first heard this term years ago on the show Boston Legal, when in the second season the protagonist lawyer Alan Shore was giving a closing argument on the innocence of his client. Throughout the closing argument, he continually asks “Why are we here?”. He continually points out that there isn’t any hard evidence to support the conviction and that it’s statistically more likely that the client’s late husband had killed himself instead of being killed by the defendant. To finish the argument, Alan Shore offers this reason for why they are there, “Shadenfreude. From the German words, Schaden and Freude, damage and joy. It means to take spiteful, malicious delight in the misfortune of others. We used to dismiss this as simply an ugly side of human nature, but it is much much more than that. Recently a Stanford professor actually captured Schadenfreude on a brain scan. It’s a physiological medical phenomenon. When we see others fall it sometimes causes a chemical to be released in the dorsal striatum of the brain which actually causes us to feel pleasure. If you watch the news or read the papers, which of course you don’t because the Judge said not to, but if you did, you would see the undeniable delicious joy of the media and the public over Kelly Nolan’s plight. I have no doubt that you want Kelly Nolan to be punished. She married for money, she had an affair, she carried on naked in the pool with her boyfriend. She’s cold, materialistic, unlikable, and it might bring you all pleasure to see her go to jail. But as for evidence to establish that she committed a murder beyond all reasonable doubt? It just isn’t there. The only possible route to a guilty verdict here is Schadenfreude.”

What Causes Schadenfreude?

Physiologists have discovered that there is a direct inverse correlation between feelings of Schadenfreude, and self esteem. Meaning if you have a lower self esteem, you are far more likely to feel Schadenfreude. This can primarily be attributed to an idea of insecurity and the fact that seeing someone else do bad gives people the idea that maybe they themselves aren’t so bad.

There are three ways Schadenfreude can be experienced. Aggression Schadenfreude that comes from members of a group experiencing Schadenfreude from seeing the misfortune of another group such as a 49’er fan watching the Cowboys lose. Rivalry Schadenfreude comes from social comparison and is attributed to insecurity along with having a stronger feeling of social security after seeing someone else fail. Finally, justice Schadenfreude comes from seeing someone get what is coming to them, such as Game of Thrones fans watching hated characters get killed.

Where is Shadenfreude found?

It’s an instinct that is preyed upon throughout our society. When you get in the checkout line for groceries you’re sure to see a magazine with a cover showing some celebrity scandal. More often than not the news media is far more likely to appeal to Schadenfreude by covering some celebrity fumble than cover the news involving genocide in another country.

Why is Shadenfreude Dangerous?

We live in a society today where this emotion was fed upon so much we’ve almost become numb to its danger. Researching this topic I even found multiple articles attempting to justify Schadenfreude. Proverbs 24:17-18 states, “Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.” Romans 12:19 states, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. “This isn’t an emotion God wants people to feel. Why is this?

Justice

As stated above, one of the main reasons people feel Schadenfreude is because it gives people a sense of justice, but do we know what justice is? Going back to the case in Boston Legal, people wanted the woman convicted of murder, not because of hard evidence but simply because she is incredibly unlikable. Is that really justice? In some people’s minds, it might be. How many times has the opposite happened, where guilty people get off because people like them? Ultimately humans are flawed in their sense of justice because we can never have the full picture. God says vengeance and true justice should only belong to him because he is the only one with the full picture.

Obviously, we need rules and punishment though otherwise, people would do whatever they want without consequence. What I’m trying to point out is the danger of thinking you know what justice truly is.

Without Sin

In the gospel of John, Jesus is presented with a woman who had committed adultery. The law of Moses demanded such a woman be stoned to death. The Pharisees who brought the woman before Jesus didn’t care about getting true justice but instead sought to trap Jesus and show he wasn’t the messiah. If Jesus said the woman should die then he wouldn’t be a true savior. If he said the woman should be freed than he would be going against the law. If Jesus just said nothing then he would be seen as unwise. Jesus’ reply to the problem was saying, “Let him who is without sin, cast the first stone.” Eventually, every person there left and no one condemned her because no one is without sin.

Conclusion

A few months ago I got the amazing opportunity to visit Denmark. The country is very different politically from the United States. There’s free healthcare, people are paid to go to college, and it’s not of the most heavily taxed countries in the world. I asked a friend I made while I was there what she thought of all of it. She said she while the taxes were super high she was fine with it because she saw the good it did for everyone because they were there. Our aim as human beings should always be the betterment of all people. This isn’t something that can be achieved if we take pleasure in the suffering of others, or are too fast to bring “justice” to our fellow man. This however is a very difficult thing to do. It goes against some of our most basic instincts to want good for people we don’t think deserve it. Christianity teaches not just to respect your enemy, but to love and pray for your enemy. It’s a very difficult thing that not many people can truly achieve. All we can do is do our best to resist Schadenfreude and wish the best for everyone.

How Power Corrupts

What is Power?

From a physical science perspective, power is defined as the amount of energy transferred over a unit of time. This could be applied to people as well because it certainly seems like the more energy given in an amount of time usually yields the best reward. From a social science perspective, power is the ability to influence how people act. Social physiologists John R. P. French and Bertram Raven broke power down into five different categories. The first one is legitimate power, which stems from duties and position in an organization. The second is referent power which stems from loyalty and is based on being liked and having charisma. The third is expert power which is derived from experience and knowledge that an organization needs. The fourth is reward power which comes from being able to offer some sort of benefit such as money. The final type of power is coercive power which is the inverse of reward power because instead of offering some benefit for control, it involves threatening a negative effect if control isn’t given.

How does it Effect People?

Leviticus 4:13 states, “If the whole congregation of Israel errs unintentionally and the matter escapes the notice of the assembly, and they do any one of the things that by the Lord’s commandments ought not to be done, and incur guilt; ” but Leviticus 4:22 states, “When a ruler sins, doing unintentionally any one of all the things that by commandments of the Lord his God ought not to be done, and incurs guilt,”. This powerful statement indicates how having power will always cause a person to stumble not might. Part of the reason for this is because as psychological studies seem to indicate, power causes people to lose empathy for their fellow man. This can be seen through some of the worst leaders in history. Leaders such as Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, and Stalin were responsible for the deaths of millions and millions of people just to see their dreams of communism reach fruition.

Good Leaders vs Bad Leaders

Augustus, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, and Aurelian are considered five of the greatest emperors Rome had ever known. They were all known for various things. Augustus was known as the first Emperor who would give lots of money to citizens and veterans to help them retire. Trajan is known as the most successful militant in Roman history, who expanded the empire to its greatest extent and also helped provide education for the poor. Hadrian was known for traveling to every part of the empire and historian Edward Gibbon wrote that Hadrian’s reign was the “happiest era of human history”. Marcus Aurelius was known as the philosopher and was very tolerant of free speech, even criticism. And finally, Aurelian while his reign was short, was given the title “Restorer of the World” for ending the crisis of the third century.

While all these emperors were known for different things, there are very important qualities that they all have that separate them from the worst emperors. One of the ways is how power was used.

Two Ways Power is Used

The two ways power is used are socialized power and personalized power. Socialized power is a power used to benefit others, and it’s clear that’s what the good emperors of Rome used their power for. Whether it was Trajan using it to expand Rome, or Hadrian using it to solidify what was already conquered, both used power, not for personal gain but instead to benefit the Rome as a whole.

Personalized power, on the other hand, is using power for oneself. The worst emperors certainly did that such as Caligula who used his power to rape women and Nero who used his to burn down Rome to make room for his “vision”. Power is certainly intoxicating and can bring out the worst in people, but there are also some specific character traits that the good emperors had that didn’t allow them to fall as other men might have.

The Importance of Humility

While Augustus was given deity status after his death, he pushed to not be worshiped during his life. Commodus who was considered one of the worst emperors declared himself an incarnation of Hercules and demanded to be praised as such. Something specific that all of the aforementioned good emperors had in common was they all earned it. Aurelian was specifically known as coming from a commoner family and Hadrian and Trajan were known as working their way up through the military and being elected by the senate. Even Augustus, who was the heir to Julius Caesar still had to work and fight for many years before he could become emperor. The worst emperors, on the other hand, were raised by emperors themselves. Commodus was the spoiled brat son of Marcus Aurelius and Caligula spent years with Emperor Tiberius seeing all the rewards that come from being Emperor but none of the responsibility. Because of this, they couldn’t appreciate their position and it prevented them from ever being able to find empathy for their fellow man or humility and knowing that they aren’t God.

God Status

A lack of humility can be seen for the kings of Israel too. They’re fall occurred when they lost their humility by losing sight of God and used power for personal reasons instead of social reasons. When Saul disobeyed God’s direct commands, by not destroying all of the livestock Amalekites and says he wants to keep the good livestock to sacrifice to God it causes God to reject him because he acted in a way in which he thought he knew better than God. A similar situation occurred with David as well, when he decided to use his power to have Bathsheba and when he decided to take a census of his men, forgetting that it is God who grants him victories not him. Both actions ended up causing Israel and David personally great strife.

The fall can be seen with Satan as well. Satan was originally the angel Lucifer who was made second in command to God. What caused him to fall was the idea that he should be God and that he would do better.

In the books of the Bible written by Solomon, he continually points out how worthless all the superficial things really are, and the only thing that gives life meaning is fearing God. As he says in Proverbs 2:24, “By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honor, and life.” If you don’t believe in God then you can simply interpret this as the way to a good life is humility and just knowing that you aren’t the center of the universe and despite whatever power you may yield, you are still human.

All Fall

In “The Lord of the Rings,” by J. R. R. Tolkien, the one ring represented power and it corrupted every person who came in contact with it. There are even characters who rejected possession of it because they feared that they wouldn’t have been able to use it and instead the ring would’ve used them. The idea of rejecting total power seemed to be something that as stated previously described the good emperors. They didn’t ask to give deity status and they didn’t waste their days having the people serve them, but instead, they served the people. George Washington who is arguably the greatest president the United States has ever had acted similarly by refusing to have monarch like titles, and by refusing to serve a third term despite his popularity. As stated before, having humility and remembering humanity is very important in not succumbing to evil.

Frodo who had carried the ring for a very long time for most of the books did better than most not succumbing to its influence (partly because of his innocence) but when the final moment comes for him to destroy it, he fails and succumbs to its influence. It’s very interesting that at the climax of the entire series, the moment of triumph when evil is supposed to be defeated, the hero fails. It speaks to how when it comes down to it we all would fail too. As it is said in Leviticus, it’s not if a ruler sins, it’s when a ruler sins. What ultimately does end up causing evil to be defeated isn’t power, but mercy. If Frodo hadn’t sparred Gollum, he wouldn’t have been able to take the ring from Frodo and ultimately finish the mission by falling into the volcano with the ring. This speaks to the importance of empathy and how it’s not strength and power that defeat evil, but empathy and the strength that requires. The easy thing would’ve been to have Gollum killed. He was a despicable creature, was responsible for the deaths of innocents, and had no purpose in life other than getting the one ring. But instead of doing the easy thing and having him killed, Frodo chose the hard thing and had him sparred.

Conclusion

Having the ability to control people can cause a person to lose sight that they are still just a person as well. Keys to being a good leader include the wisdom to appreciate what power is and how it can corrupt, remembering to have humility and empathy and to use power, not for personal gain but the good of others.

The Danger of Calling Oneself Good

I recently watched a video which was a discussion between Dennis Prager and one of my favorite people to listen to, the Canadian physiologist Jordan Peterson. In the discussion Prager says how his Christianity has given himself an ability to see the goodness in people and he tell Jordan Peterson right off the bat that he is a good person. Dr. Peterson immediately dismisses this saying it’s a dangerous thing to call yourself good. This is actually an idea I’ve been thinking about this ever since I finished the show Game of Thrones (spoilers ahead, skip to next paragraph if you haven’t seen the end of the show). In the last episode Daenerys Targaryen has torched down the city of Kingslanding killing half a million people and Jon Snow asks her how she can justify killing thousands of innocent women and children. Because the writers of the show are kind of terrible she doesn’t really give that good of an explanation, but she does make one bone chilling statement in response to Jon asking what about what other people consider good. Her response was, “They don’t get to decide.”

If you call yourself good and convince yourself, you are good you can justify almost anything. I’m sure Hitler thought he was good by attempting to eradicate the Jews. It didn’t really matter if he did it because he truly thought Jews were evil or if he just needed someone to vilify to unite Germany, either way he got his “good”, which was Germany regaining power in the world and once again finding a purpose. The European powers also saw themselves as good and were bringing civilization to an uncivilized world, which justified the slaughter and enslavement of Native Americans.

Why do you call me good?

In Luke 18:9 Jesus asks, “Why do you call me good?”. This is a verse that I personally have had difficulty trying to understand. I once had a debate with a Christian Scientist on the divinity of Christ and she used this as verse proving Jesus is not God (I may do a separate blog just discussing this). Now though I think I understand that was is truly trying to be conveyed is that “goodness” itself is full alignment with God, and in a sense, Jesus is getting closer to that by admitting in his current human form, he himself is not as close to God as possible. When we call ourselves “good” it is saying we are completely aligned with God. Of course, this is IMPOSSIBLE. We have all sinned and therefore are separate from God. As it says in Philippians 2:6, “(Jesus) Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider to be equal with God something to be grasped,”. In ancient Athens Socrates was deemed the wisest man in the city. He disagreed with the statement and said the only reason he was even remotely qualified to have that title, was because he was the only man in Athens willing to admit he didn’t know everything. We can argue the same thing about Jesus. We could all ask the same question as Jesus, but I don’t think anyone can truly ask that question and truly mean it like him. Though we should strive to try and know that we can never be truly “good” but we should always strive to get closer and closer each day.

Being a good person or being a better person

People have a fundamental need to be good. There isn’t a person who exists who wakes up saying, “I’m evil and I’m off to do evil things.” Even the Joker in the Dark Knight one of the greatest villains of all time didn’t see what he was doing as evil. He simply believed the only answer to a chaotic world was to further spread chaos. Because people have a need to be good (or at least be seen as good), when people are called out for an action that would have them be deemed as not good, they will defend the idea of being good by listing things they have done that make them good. “How can you say that about me! I volunteered at a shelter two years ago. I let people merge in front of me on the freeway. How can you say I’m not good?” What this does though is prevents people from becoming better. It’s a very difficult idea to accept that no one is all good or all evil, instead we’re all just people who are a mix. The clinging to the false idea that you are a “good person”, implies you don’t need to be any better. But that’s never the case. Who you are tomorrow should be better then who you are today, and this is not dependent on age.

The Permeable Line between Good and Evil

If good is acting in accordance to God’s will, then being evil is acting against God’s will or just an absence of good/God’s will. Another definition of evil is the use of power over others. In other words, forcing people to adhere to your own will or your own version of “good”. The TED talk, “the physiology of evil,” by Philip Zimbardo explores these ideas very well and shows how ordinary people are far more capable of evil than one might think. The thing that seems to allow people to do heinous acts such as normal people becoming Nazis, is when they don’t have to answer for it. When they don’t have to answer for it and are given permission, they are still socially accepted and therefore still “good”. What allowed Adam and Eve to eat the fruit, was Satan convincing them that it’s okay that they wouldn’t die, and it worked. When God tried holding Adam accountable, Adam first blamed Eve then he had the audacity to blame God because he gave him Eve. When God tried holding Eve accountable she just blamed Satan saying how he told her she would be okay.

How to Strive to be Good

Ultimately it seems like there are two important things that need to be done to strive to be good. The first is admitting you’re not “good”. I think one of the most crucial parts about being a Christ like follower, is by simply admitting, “There is something out there far bigger and far better than me, I am not perfect, and I never will be.” The second thing is to not let this prevent you from being better. Just because true goodness can’t realistically be attained doesn’t mean you should stop trying. Just continue to make sure you’re holding yourself accountable and the best thing any person can do is make sure the person you are today is closer to being good than the person you were yesterday.

Bio

My name is Bradley Marshall, I’m a recent graduate from Harding University. While there I took multiple Biblical classes and was given the opportunity to preach part time at Steprock Church of Christ. I am doing this blog on various topics in the hopes of helping people. I chose the title Basic Humanity because I will ultimately be exploring human nature and discussing God where I believe all humanity stems from along with Jesus who was not only God who took on flesh but the ultimate human being.