Have Faith In Gold

Gold has exerted fascination on mankind since the beginning of recorded history

. This is evident in art, in social interaction and, not least of all, in economy. Coins, ingots, jewelry, royal tokens of power - they are all items that carry value. In the rather metaphysical realm of religion, this precious metal also finds its place, sometimes as such, more often in the shape of metaphors and symbols.

In Christianity, the religion with most adepts nowadays (around two billion in several denominations), the Old Testament abounds with mentions of gold. In Exodus 25:10-22, Moses tells his people that God himself wants the Ten Commandments kept in a wooden chest covered with a lid made of solid gold and adorned with two cherubs made of the same. This place is called the Mercy Seat - the people offer sacrifices on it to atone for their sins, and Almighty descends on it to speak to them. Stemming from the story of king Solomon (son of famous rock-throwing David) building the first temple of Jerusalem with pure gold, the legend of his lost gold mines brought about the end of many. In the New Testament, the foremost example of the value set to gold appears in the moment when the three Magi, having followed the guiding star, reach the birthplace of baby Jesus and present him with precious gifts of frankincense, gold and myrrh.

In the farther lands of India, many temples and statues of gods are made more or less of gold, and the Hindus are not afraid to openly appreciate its value. Indeed, as no other religion would do, Hinduism actually encourages the quest for wealth (artha), making it one of four main goals in life, next to righteousness (dharma), sensual pleasure (kama) and freedom (moksa). As an example of how precious it is to Hindus, gold is the material chosen for the scales in which their soul is weighed by the god of justice, Yama.

Much of European culture is based on the teachings of the ancient Greece, so let us take a look into that mythology and see what associations we find. It appears that Zeus, the most important figure of the Greek pantheon, once wished to mate with a daughter of men, Danae by name, and chose to appear to her in the form of a shower of gold. His brother, Poseidon, god of the seas, is the source of another legendary precious item, the golden fleece, taken off of his son, the winged golden ram.

Originally, it is widely believed that man needed religion in order to understand the forces around him that werent under his control. Taking this a step further, man also needed to depict gods in ways easier to understand by the many, and one of the readily available elements was gold - standing for divinity, purity, immutability etc.

by: Jack Wogan.

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