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mattbellOne of the most fascinating aspects of my visit to Damanhur was seeing a religious system in its early growth phase. Many of the founders are still alive, though some have died and been enshrined in the temple. The legends of their works are still known firsthand by some, but the knowledge is being passed on and reformatted for consumption in various forms: storybooks for children, temple paintings, stories told to tour groups etc. The tour guide joked that they were leaving all kinds of curiosities for future historians to study and puzzle over.* I can imagine dropping in on other religions during their early years and seeing many of the same patterns emerge as reality becomes legend and a power structure grows to deal with the complexities of managing the religion.
The Damanhurians are well aware of the dangers of growing too fast and are making efforts to ensure that their growth is sustainable. They want to reach out and help the world but not aggressively proselytize.
I learned a couple of months ago that Islam grew faster than any other world religion during its infancy, with hundreds of thousands of followers during Mohammed's lifetime. This left a massive power vacuum upon Mohammed's death, and the Shiite/Sunni division happened over an argument between various relatives of Mohammed over who would take over as caliph. They've been fighting over it for 1300 years even though differences in belief are minimal. The original populist spirit of Islam – a personal submission to Allah that could be practiced alone – was lost as a massive religious-bureaucratic complex became the middleman between the human and the divine.
*The main founder painted one of the rooms himself and did not (and still does not) bother to explain the significance of it – it's written in a vast array of different languages and is full of cryptic diagrams. It's either the deepest of his esoteric work or a massive prank.
The Damanhurians are well aware of the dangers of growing too fast and are making efforts to ensure that their growth is sustainable. They want to reach out and help the world but not aggressively proselytize.
I learned a couple of months ago that Islam grew faster than any other world religion during its infancy, with hundreds of thousands of followers during Mohammed's lifetime. This left a massive power vacuum upon Mohammed's death, and the Shiite/Sunni division happened over an argument between various relatives of Mohammed over who would take over as caliph. They've been fighting over it for 1300 years even though differences in belief are minimal. The original populist spirit of Islam – a personal submission to Allah that could be practiced alone – was lost as a massive religious-bureaucratic complex became the middleman between the human and the divine.
*The main founder painted one of the rooms himself and did not (and still does not) bother to explain the significance of it – it's written in a vast array of different languages and is full of cryptic diagrams. It's either the deepest of his esoteric work or a massive prank.
