Birthright
By: Timothy Alberino
Published:2020
What if things we have read and discussed for centuries, if not millennia were true - just not quite the way we had interpreted them?
What if all that is is just what it seems - but we're missing a simple ingredient. Perspective.
He reminds us of the Allegory of the Cave, Plato's thought experiment in which some prisoners are condemned to remain chained to a wall from birth, facing a wall upon which shadows dance. They can only believe what they see is real - until they finally turn and see the "real" things they had only "seen through a glass, dimly."
Early in a fascinating and exhaustive book detailing his search, Timothy Alberino makes a really challenging observation: the search for the "theory of everything" has led us to something that "resonates." String theory. This is the theory that all of the universe is, "at its most fundamental level...vibrating filaments, of strings." These strings, he suggest, play the harmonious notes of all matter. Or, at times perhaps, it echoes as a shriek rather than a song.
Alberino goes through biblical and other scripture to remind us of how often God/the numinous is expressed in terms of sound; creation is spoken into being; "in the beginning was the word;" and how often communication with that higher level is expressed in terms of music - songs of praise and the harmony of the spheres.
After the first couple of chapters, it is clear that one thing Alberino is urging we do is move our position so that we can observe with new eyes and ears; open our "receptors" to gather more/new information and what it means in the larger story of creation.
Alberino tells a story that has elements of C.S. Lewis' "Space Trilogy," reviewed in this column some months ago. The idea is that the universe was made for higher beings to inhabit, and that these habitations have been many and varied. At one point with at least the beings of Earth, however, there was a rebellion. In Lewis' story, the rebellion resulted in a "silent planet," or Earth, which falls out of harmony with Deep Space. The planet is redeemed when a higher being (a God) is sent to the planet in mankind's body, opening a channel of communication and "ascendance" thereafter.
Alberino's study leads him to the idea that mankind is the expression of a hybridization deliberately brought about by rebellious "gods" who visited Earth and mixed with the humans, resulting in a being somewhere between gods (angels?) and men. But the men, the "sons of Adam and daughters of Eve" have been uniquely made to own this Earth, and thus the rebels want to create this new offspring who will also inherit the Earth.
Alberino spends some time on the story of Eden, and confirms in his broad reading of scripture and myth that there are repeated images that tell us a story. There is a garden, and it is a garden whose name translates to "delight." "In...every culture on Earth, gardens are associated with the divine." Not only that, but this garden was literally built, according to legend, by King Nebuchadnezzar in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, providing yet another image that recurs in creation/fall/redemption stories: the tower, mountain, high place, where communication with the numinous can occur. Think of the Star Gate, or the bridge to Asgard; "Mount Meru of South Asian cosmology, Haraberazaiti of Iranian tradition, and Himinbjorg of Scandanavian mythology."
This concept of a sacred tower exists among cultures worldwide, as does the notion of a deluge - a huge and horrific event that inundated the Earth following the visit of "the watchers," who came to interbreed with humans and thus gain the Earth, and the power of procreation.
Alberino goes into great and thorough depth seeking out the original meaning of words - often words that we've taken for granted in more poetic translations of old texts, but when we examine them, might add layers of important meaning. One that is illustrative is the translation of Genesis' "serpent," which is derived from the Hebrew "nuchash." As a noun, he writes, it refers to a snake." As a verb, it means to "deceive." And as an adjective, it is "bright, burnished, and shining." All of this might lead to a picture of a different kind of creature (the serpent) that is beguiling the first humans.
It is that level of detail that makes this book, and the theories in it, compelling reading. The writer traces a trajectory of mankind as if we had the elements of the story, but perhaps misunderstood their context - one in which humans were a special being intended to rule the Earth, whose birthright was co-opted by the "watchers," or the beings from another realm, and whose kingdom was lost to a catastrophic event (a flood), and who are now living in the final stages of that story in which the prophesies of a future final battle occurs.
Alberino is a self-described "auto-didact," whose inquisitiveness and spirit of adventure have led him to move to the Amazon jungle at just 18. He has gone from library to archaeological dig to film studio, investigating languages and histories, scriptures and mystery spots all over the world. He writes without taking sides or trying to convince. The book seems mostly about looking at what we know with a lens of a slightly different perspective. and to include as many references to the old and enduring stories as possible - and how they might, in fact, tie together.
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