One phrase to unite them all…

One of the members of my writing group wrote an interesting piece on SubStack recently about witches and witchcraft. It was historically accurate and expressed an opinion shared by many women. But it was not complete.

She rightly mentioned the do no harm mantra of those who honor the feminine craft of natural remedies and nature worship. However, what is lesser known is the almost universal application of this admonition. Karen Armstrong, author and student of religious history, points to the writings of Karl Jasper, a German philosopher. He is credited with coining the now widely accepted term Axial Age in 1949. He traced the development of many religious or social understanding in his 1985 book Socrates, Buddha, Confucius, Jesus: the paradigmantic individuals. It must be noted that he used this term in many of his earlier publications.

Research has shown that of the many social/religious systems developed by humankind, the admonishment of do no harm or what in western society is termed, the Golden Rule was present first in the Axial Age. I find it fascinating that from the highly developed society of China to the islands of Greece, the emphasis was on how the individual acted, not how many animal sacrifices you make or how fancy a temple you build. Your compassion and behavior towards other human beings is the most important. This teaching seemed to spring up simultaneously across the world around 800–200 BCE.

The cause of this major change has been discussed and disputed among philosophers and historians. Many books have been published but I recommend The Great Transformation: The beginning of our Religious Traditions if you are interested.