How much of the bible is derived from stories told by cultures more ancient than itself? In my previous post “The Flood: Biblical vs. Mesopotamian Narratives” we found so many similarities in detail between Noah’s Ark and the flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh. The dimensions of the vessel, the use of birds to tell when the land became dry, the performance of sacrificial rites after landing, and so on, were all alike. The moral of the stories differ, of course. Noah and his family learn about God’s grace amidst judgment, whereas Gilgamesh learns humility in light of man’s earthly mortality.
It is not the first time cultures have swapped metaphors in relaying their particular messages about the meaning of life. For instance, consider all the stories from different cultures about the stars presented in Jakob Thelan’s recent posts. Meanwhile, we have learned in post after post over the years about “deeper meanings” beneath the surface of bible stories. The million dollar question is: Are there also deeper meanings to stories held sacred by other cultures?
The answer is emphatically “yes”! We have learned in several of my posts last year about the Sufi and the Druze, esoteric Muslims who have found hidden meanings in the Quran. My post “Is there Just One Holy Book” suggests that hidden meanings are found in nature itself. In this post we will explore the hidden meanings involving the two main characters in the Sumerian “Epic of Gilgamesh”. Allow me to introduce them – Gilgamesh and Enkidu.
The epic opens with a description of Gilgamesh’s kingdom in Sumeria, the city of Uruk with its splendid palace gardens and architectural wonders surrounded by a giant, unsurmountable wall for protection. The narrator tells us that Gilgamesh is a superhero. He is part god, part man, a warrior who has made great physical accomplishments, but was so cruel and selfish that the people he ruled over hated him. When he was not busy fortifying the city, he was a rapist, a murderer, and did whatever he wanted at other’s expense. He kept the city safe from attack, but he caused so much suffering that the people cried out to the gods day and night for relief.
In the rest of the epic, the gods respond to the people’s suffering. They do this not by stopping, removing, or chastising Gilgamesh, but by creating a redeemer, Enkidu, out of clay and spirit, who would first struggle with, and then befriend, Gilgamesh, drawing him into experiences that would reform him.
Narrator Revealed
The first hint of hidden meaning occurs when at the end of the epic, the narrator describes that after all his purifying adventures beyond the city, when Gilgamesh comes home the first thing he does is write down all that has happened to him on 12 stones that he leaves at the city gates for all to see. Whoever is hearing or reading this narration and is alert suddenly realizes that the narrator is Gilgamesh himself, that this is a first-person account of how the narrator has matured through his adventures.
Also an alert reader will understand that in coming to terms with his earthly mortality, this has now culminated in Gilgamesh leaving a record behind all the wisdom he has accumulated through personal struggles, so that his transition into higher consciousness attained through them may live on. In effect, his consciousness has attained immortality. The reader can assimilate his consciousness and continue growing from that point on, instead of starting from scratch. If we were to consider ourselves reincarnated souls on the path to higher consciousness, coming across this epic might be a predestined event meant to accelerate our growth. Or maybe it is just a story to impart wisdom on our first and only time around.
12 Stone Tablets
The second hint of hidden meanings is the number of stone tablets. The number 12 is significant in Sumerian culture, which was the first to observe the 12 moon cycles throughout the year and to split up the Zodiac into 12 constellations, each representing a god. The Sumerians passed on the significance of 12 and the Zodiac to the Greeks, the Greeks to the Romans, and the Romans to the Western world. The Chinese developed a separate Zodiac system of 12 constellations. The Hebrews have the 12 tribes of Israel. Jesus had 12 disciples. Buddhists believe that life is composed of 12 stages, which together keep the wheel of life turning, keeping all life in a cycle of existence which can only be transcended through very high levels of consciousness. Thus the 12 stones have a spiritual connection to divinity and higher consciousness. This is borne out in the epic as Gilgamesh matures to higher levels.
Joanne Walmsley, who is an accomplished psychic and numerologist from Australia, provides additional insight into the number 12 from her website (ref 1).
“In numerology, the number 12 is related to Pisces. The (12th) Tarot card is The Hanged Man. It represents the completed cycle of experience and when an individual reincarnates as the number 12 they have completed a full cycle of experience and learned of the possibility of regeneration toward a higher consciousness. They belong to a group of developed souls who have accumulated an unusual inner strength through many and varied lifetimes. They may still, however, be hindered by old habits that need to be changed. The soul then attracts what it needs as a learning experience. A reversal of negative thoughts can bring about very favorable and positive effects, and can aid in achieving their goals and aspirations.
Number 12 warns of the necessity to be alert to every situation, to be suspicious of those who offer a high position and carefully analyse it, and to be aware of false flattery and those who use it to gain their own ends. Number 12 represents the educational process on all levels, the submission of the will required and the sacrifice necessary to achieve knowledge and wisdom on both Spiritual and Intellectual levels. When the intellect is sacrificed to the feelings, the mind will be illuminated with the answers it seeks. Attention paid to requirements of education will end suffering and bring success.”
She further explains the significance of Pisces:
“In relation to Pisces, The Hanged Man is associated with emotions and bonding. It symbolizes the ‘collective conscious’ and is a sign of purification and cleansing.”
She then goes into more detail about The Hanged Man:
“The Hanged Man is sometimes known as the ‘Suspended Person’.
It reflects the story of Odin who offered himself as a sacrifice in order to gain knowledge. Hanging from Yggdrassil, The World Tree or The Tree Of Life wounded by a spear, given no bread or mead, he hung for nine days (footnote 1). On the last day, he saw on the ground runes that had fallen from the tree, understood their meaning, and, coming down, scooped them up for his own. All knowledge is to be found in these runes (footnote 2).
The Hanged Man, in similar fashion, is a card about suspension, rather than life or death. This card signifies a time of insight so deep that, for a moment, nothing but that insight exists.
The Hanged Man symbolizes such moments of suspension between physical and mystical worlds. Such moments don’t last, and they usually require some kind of sacrifice … sacrifice of a belief or perspective, a wish, dream, hope, money, time or even selfhood. In order to gain, you must give. Sometimes you need to sacrifice cherished positions, open yourself to other truths, or other perspectives in order to find solutions to bring about change.
One thing is certain, whether the insight is great or small, spiritual or mundane, once you have been the Hanged Man you never see things quite the same.”
She further elaborates:
“The main lesson of the Hanged Man is that we “control” by letting go – we “win” by surrendering. The figure on Card 12 has made the ultimate surrender – to die on the cross of his own travails – yet he shines with the glory of divine understanding. He has sacrificed himself, but he emerges the victor.”
Ascending and Descending Consciousness
The Sumerians believed in reincarnation. Gilgamesh is considered in some interpretations (ref 4) to be an “old soul” who has reincarnated through many cycles to attain a high position in the material world, but who has either never attained, or has lost, a great measure of spiritual enlightenment in the process. To say his ego has grown out of balance is a gross understatement. He represents ascending consciousness gone sour.
To correct this, the gods created Enkidu from clay and spit (representative of spirit) as a “new soul”. Enkidu is thus innocent, a wild nobody springing up in the wilderness (footnote 3), untouched by worldly experiences. Yet he has something big in his favor; he is imbued with an innate spiritual sensitivity. In other words, his spark of divinity so freshly incarnated for the first time is strong and has not been overshadowed. He is like a virgin spirit descending from the height of divinity who is pressed into earthly clay. He is so pure that he is a fish out of water, so to speak, not knowing how to conduct himself and having neither conflict nor ego. In his naivety, he thinks like Adam and Eve might have in the Garden of Eden, but he is born outside it.
To initiate his melding with the material world, he is invited by a beautiful temple harlot to experience temporary sexual bonding along with learning how to experience some of the aesthetics and depth of worldly existence. He is virgin consciousness beginning to descend into the joys, and eventually also the sorrows, of the material plane. The woman has become his earthly mentor, teaching him to love his fellow creatures, and prepares him, as he kindly departs from her, to respect and appreciate life on earth.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu are both in a desperate state of incompletion. They are paradoxically both opposites and complements of each other who are destined to meet and complete each other. The first meeting occurs when Enkidu wanders out of the wilderness into the city of Uruk and finds Gilgamesh overpowering and raping a woman, the very opposite of Enkidu’s expectations of sexual activity. He tries to stop Gilgamesh. A fight between them ensues, and when Gilgamesh is about to fall off the city wall, Enkidu rescues him. When Gilgamesh becomes curious why Enkidu would be so foolish as to risk his life by challenging him, then saving him, he starts to forget about his impulsive sexual pursuit, and starts to befriend him.
Various crises then start to occur in which Gilgamesh and Enkidu must partner with each other to solve them, and through which they become extremely close friends. The better points of their personalities begin to rub off on each other. Then Enkidu gets sick with a fatal disease. He has a terrifying nightmare about the afterworld which he explains to Gilgamesh before he dies.
It is unfortunate that the two must be separated by death. In most epics, either the hero or the one closest to him dies. This is because, in well-crafted story, the denouement must always come with a heavy price to show its true worth. However, as we shall see, all is not lost; although separated in death, their spirits become united.
Meanwhile back in Sumeria, the pain of losing his friend and the fear of death cause Gilgamesh to rise up and use all his available skills to defy death, to search for the secret of immortality. He hears about a holy man who lives in a place faraway and inaccessible to most men, and who is known to have discovered immortality during the Great Flood of ancient times. He resolves to use all his strength and determination as part man, part god, to find the holy man. His journey takes him deeper and deeper into realms of darkness, where he learns to combine his persistence with the seeds of Enkidu’s spirituality in order to persevere. Finally he arrives at an oasis where he meets the holy man, who relates the story of how he survived the Great Flood and was given immortality as a gift. This story is summarized in the post “The Flood: Biblical vs. Mesopotamian Narratives”.
However, after relating the story, the holy man tells Gilgamesh that despite all his effort, he cannot impart immortality to him. The holy man’s wife has sympathy for Gilgamesh and tells him if he jumps into a pool of water, swims down to the bottom, and eats of special plant at the bottom of the pool, he will learn the secret of immortality. Again Gilgamesh puts his physical abilities to work and struggles to swim to the bottom, almost giving up hope, and then finding the plant. When he grabs the plant, he becomes very tranquil and satisfied, almost in a stupor, but before he can bring the plant to the surface and eat it, a serpent of the deep snatches the plant and disappears into the depths, shedding a serpent skin to leave behind. We are told that upon seeing the skin, Gilgamesh is brought to terms with his mortality, and gives up the quest, returning to Uruk by the way he came. Along the way, circumstances occur that encourage him to exercise and strengthen the spirituality that was passed to him from Enkidu, so that when he finally arrives at Uruk, he has become its savior and not just its ruler. His first act of redemption is to write his story for the public.
The usual interpretation of the shed skin is that it is a symbol of death. But a fuller explanation is that it is a symbol of rebirth. Snakes shed their skin when it wears out in order use the new skin beneath. It is also a symbol for reincarnation. We really are not sure what went through Gilgamesh’s mind when he finally gave up the quest for immortality. Did he realize that the end of his mortal life would not be the end? Did he expect to reincarnate, or to ascend once and for all into the afterlife, free from the cycle of suffering?
Whatever happened to him, it was for the good. What he wanted most, he could not have it for the grasping, but had to surrender to a higher power; and when he finally let go, he and his subjects got more than he bargained for. I wonder if the same thing happened to Moses when he placed his staff down before the burning bush.
Conclusion
Gilgamesh represents the incarnated soul ascending from the material world, becoming strong and powerful at controlling the environment and protecting his ego’s vital interests. He is characterized by violence, impulse and battle. He is a mighty conqueror like in most epics, but for the sake of his own glory. He guards his subjects because he wants to rule over them, not protect and nourish them. And then enters Enkidu. Enkidu brings to him the enlightenment he might have lost or never had. Perhaps Gilgamesh cut ethics class as a child so he could spend extra time improving his skills for the jousting team. In the epic, it becomes time to adjust this deficiency by being initiated into higher consciousness. This is accomplished by first struggling, and then bonding with a friend. It is similar to the Hebrew Pharisees encountering Jesus. We often do this with each other also, struggle and bond.
We also do this within ourselves, struggle and bond. Consider that Gilgamesh and Enkidu represent opposing and complementary processes going on inside each one of us, drawing each of us to reach for a higher level of consciousness to resolve the tension. Is this not what happened to Jacob at Peniel as described in Joshua Tilchman’s recent post “Jacob, Leah, Higher Consciousness, DMT, and the Pineal Gland”? Perhaps Enkidu represents the divine spark within each one of us that becomes activated at just the right time to begin to enlighten us as our souls incubate in the material world. Like Gilgamesh we are part human and part divine, accompanied by our personal Enkidu on the sacred path to higher consciousness.
Footnotes
Footnote 1. Because of the similarities of Odin’s hanging with the crucifixion of Christ, it is important to know whether the story of Odin’s hanging originated before the Gospels. The date of origin seems to be unfortunately indeterminable. It was first documented in Norse poems in the Middle Ages. This leaves three options: this myth in undocumented form predated the Gospels, this myth was influenced by the Gospels, or this myth and the Gospels were influenced by other narratives.
Footnote 2. Through his intended sacrifice, Odin discovers runes (writing or symbols of great mystical value) at the foot of the tree from which he was hanged, and the runes possess the knowledge and power to advance himself and mankind.
Footnote 3. Some authors (ref 4) describe Enkidu’s wild and uninitiated state as animalistic, but I think this is unfair to animals who develop some levels of sentience and consciousness.
References
Ref 1. http://numerology-thenumbersandtheirmeanings.blogspot.com/2011/05/number-12.html
Ref 2. http://www.philosophyforum.net/HistTimeline_files/HistTimeline.htm#_ftn1
Ref 3. http://history-world.org/sumerian_culture.htm
Ref 4. https://kimgraaemunch.wordpress.com/2010/06/04/who-are-gilgamesh-and-enkidu/
Joshua Tilghman says
Robert, I like this. You have taken us all on a journey of consciousness outside the Bible, and I am willing to bet most people, even on this blog, didn’t know much about the story of Gilgamesh and Enkidu. I have learned quite a bit.
I wonder if when Gilgamesh gave up his quest for mortality, he realized the illusion of life and death, shedding all fear and realizing the quest was vain. Physical mortality was never the answer. The author of the story obviously wanted us to understand the concept of reincarnation, and ascending through levels of consciousness. Perhaps Enkidu is meant more to represent the divine spark within Gilgamesh? I’ll have to think on this. Fascinating read.
Paul says
Robert, this story had a profound effect on me as I was reading it. It actually appears to me to be a combination of many of the biblical stories (i.e., Egyptian bondage and the Exodus, the flood, the death of Christ, etc.). It took me even deeper into the occult meaning of all of these stories. Having also been a student of the Bhagavad Gita and the Quran, I have come to understand the oneness of the very similar stories across cultures. I personally believe the stories are the same and are simply written in different languages for the different cultures. Once we realize we are all one, then we begin to see these stories from a different perspective, and they begin to make a whole lot of sense.
If you’ve never read the first chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, I think you will find it a fascinating read. Arjuna is given a mission by Krsna and is very excited about it — that is, until he finds out what the mission entails. There are sects in India that take the story literally. Having studied Vedanta for the better part of 10 years, I came to understand it from its esoteric perspective. It is actually this understanding that triggered my study of the Bible from a viewpoint vastly different from that which I grew up believing.
ALL of the scriptures of the world are about who WE are, and as intimated in this post, show us the absolute POWER that we have within us, if only we could ever come to truly understand it. And we will never come to understand it until we realize our oneness and connectivity to each other.
Thanks for posting this. This is one I will be reading over and over again.
P
Robert says
Paul,
Thank you. Your appreciation means a lot to me. I am sure you will also enjoy my upcoming post on Krishna and will have a lot of wisdom to contribute. My tour of world religions has helped me understand this common perspective you mentioned, and to fill in some of the gaps that were left in the standardized Judeo Christian approach to knowing God and knowing myself.
R
anny says
Hello Robert,
This is a very interesting article. I have read it through a couple of times in order to let it sink in and certainly recognized some patterns. Paul however wrote already most of what I could have written.
As far as I am concerned it is not so important to know who wrote what first. The important thing to me is to recognize that there is universal knowledge here that people of different times and cultures are trying to give words to, partly using images and words from their own culture, partly borrowing from neighbours or from those who lived before them. When you look at all these stories, you get to recognize patterns and see things from different perspectives, which is all for the better.
In Gilgamesh I recognize also the phase of the pharaoh in Egypt, the phase of the ego run wild, during which man, the people of Israel, get enslaved and cries for help. Gilgamesh fortifies his city and the pharaoh has the Hebrew slaves build the cities Pithom and Raämses.
When Gilgamesh has mastered his ego and returned home, he writes his story on 12 stones and leaves them for all to see. When the Hebrew slaves (to their ego) have done the same and reached the Promised Land, they also are commanded to put up twelve stones at or near Gilgal. And do you see the similarity between the names Gilgamesh and Gilgal? And of both with Gulgoleth, Golgotha?
They are also related to the Hebrew word gilgul, which means reincarnation in the term gilgul nefesh. Galgal is a wheel and the verb gilgel means “to cause to happen”. Igul is a circle.
All these meanings hang together of course, probably also in relation to Gilgamesh, as the two cultures were in the same area and the languages were probably related, as Hebrew and Arabic are today. The root of all these words is “gl”, with the numerical value of 33, which Christians know as the age of Jesus when he was crucified. I know it is also known as a master number but I do not really know anything about that.
This connection to Jesus, who lived in Galil most of his life, and the crucifixion on Golgotha, is also a connection to Odin as the Hanged Man and all that it stands for. And of course it is all about us.
It really is a fascinating subject.
Anny
Robert says
Anny,
Great comment. I think my desire to explore which narratives came first comes from questioning the Christian fundamentalist insistence that the bible is literal, perfect, and any literature resembling it is counterfeit. The Egyptian narratives preceded the bible. In the case of the Sumerian, early versions of myths that were later used in the Gilgamesh epic preceded the bible, but the standard version of the Epic, which is sometimes referred to as the Babylonian version, the one on the 12 stone tablets, was written in 1200 BC, and could have reflected intermixing of the Hebrew and Sumerian cultures in Babylon. Many of the Hindu narratives are ages earlier than the Hebrew civilization, but some of the Hindu literature was continually revised to reflect the language and values of evolving Indian civilization. The popular Bhagavad Gita, , which reflects a Christ-like character to Krishna, was believed to be written anywhere from 5000 BC to 500 BC. However, this is all a side interest of mine that may eventually fade. The more I read the different narratives, the more depth and meaning I see in each one of them than I would not have known about just reading anyone of the separately. It is as if we have clues spread out over many cultures to the greater meaning.
The 12 stones of the epic and the 12 stones at Gilgal is extremely interesting. Thank you for bringing up the Hebraic language connections. I think the Master numbers are double digit numbers like 11, 22 and 33 used by psychics and astrologers, sometime in relation to the date of one’s birth. I was born in 1948 and the four numbers add up to 22, and my personality issues are very close to what are described for people with the number 22, who have a tendency to shirk back from their mission when they are not mature. The rest of my birthday numbers add up to 40, the number of testing and trials to overcome the limitations of the physical world, which I need to succeed in my mission. It is so close it is awesome. The features of rare greatness and altruism in serving mankind of a 33 person reflect Gilgamesh after his enlightenment.
Chris says
I’m not sure that I remember anything about the point of reincarnation being anywhere near the creation epic of Mesopotamia or the Epic of Gilgamesh, nor any other primary sourced materials that have been read. Maybe I missed something in there, but wouldn’t the facet of reincarnation nullify Gilgamesh’s incessant need to find eternal life by the tree of life, learned of from Upnapishtim??
I mean…, if he and his people had the doctrine of reincarnation as brought forth by the overnight vision (dream) of Hammurabi and the end result being Hammurabi’s code, paralleling the caste systems of India and the historical advent to the East, and somewhat to the West, the magoi to Jesus i.e., then wouldn’t he be at the top of this pyramidal plateau? Only to ascend to immortality outright by reincarnation alone?? As it was mentioned that he was para-demigod of some degree. How much higher might’ve he gone?
Just another perspective to one minute detail I found peculiar.
Another interesting part of the truth told to Gilgamesh in one version of the Epic in which Utnapishtim mentions that he only need to merely touch the tree of life at the bottom of the Sea that would purportedly kill any mortal that allowed their skin to graze its surface, sry, to obtain immortality him self. He gathers a branch of the tree and almost returns to his homeland but stops at a hot springs for a rest and has a serpant slither up and away with his newfound spoils of victor. Heeehee, the guardian of the tree of life just happens to also be the god of serpants.
Enjoyed.
Joshua Tilghman says
Thanks Chris. I would have to read the Epic of Gilgamesh again. I see your points, but ultimately I don’t think there are any contradictions. Of course I am not the author of this post even though I run the blog, so I’ll leave it to the author to respond first.
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