I recently wrote that the idea of angels comes from a time when people worshiped planets as gods. Read my post to see why I claim the angels were planets. People were uneducated, but observant. Planets could be observed, but their motion was mysterious.
Starting with the assumption that current world religious beliefs and customs evolved from earlier beliefs and sparked by a lingering curiosity from childhood, I made a new discovery tonight, one I've not heard before.
Like the planets wandering in the sky, people experienced the winds, and these were mysterious.
Historical documents show that people once thought the wind was caused by the movement of spirits or gods such as the Anemoi.
In addition to being the light of the world, the bringer of light, and the Father of life on earth, God (also known as the Sun) creates the wind we feel.
The winds, like the sun, were important. They could help one in battle, for example. Or they could turn against you, destroy crops, bring pests, sand storms, etc.
World English Bible
Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and Yahweh brought an east wind on the land all that day, and all the night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.
Young's Literal Translation
And Moses stretcheth out his rod against the land of Egypt, and Jehovah hath led an east wind over the land all that day, and all the night; the morning hath been, and the east wind hath lifted up the locust.
http://bible.cc/exodus/10-13.htm
People did not understand that the sun caused the wind due to atmospheric pressure changes, but they were correct about the wind's connection with the sun.
What wrapped this up for me was a discovery I made in when reading about the Holy Spirit in John 3:8.
World English Bible
The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don't know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
Young's Literal Translation
the Spirit where he willeth doth blow, and his voice thou dost hear, but thou hast not known whence he cometh, and whither he goeth; thus is every one who hath been born of the Spirit.'
http://bible.cc/john/3-8.htm
Bingo! Notice the older actual translation of the bible shows that the spirit IS the wind!
This is the equivalent of a religious transitional fossil. Yes, you may say, of course, the word "spirit" meant "wind" back then, but today, we have no such connection, so general awareness of this fact. This is how ideas take on a life of their own. This is where one "species" becomes another. What was once the wind spirit, becomes something entirely new in translation.
Young's Literal Translation is a translation of the Bible into English, published in 1862.... The Literal Translation is unusual in that, as the name implies, it is a strictly literal translation of the original Hebrew and Greek texts. - wiki
Amazing. The father (the sun) and the holy spirit (wind) were all mysterious earthly experiences.
Reading what the Holy Ghost does and how that compares to the supposed actions of the wind gods, the Holy Spirit seems to be a unification of various wind gods, a nod to people absorbed by Christianity who believed in gods like Zephyrus. But this still doesn't feel quite right, it doesn't explain it well enough.
"Zephyrus prophesy, son of man, and say to it, `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.' "
Ah ha! Now I get the connection. Breath is life! This is another reason for early people to believe the godlike powers of the winds. When a person dies, his final breath was seen to leave. This observation is a reasonable origin for the idea that people have immortal immaterial essences, souls which can become ghosts that roaming the earth for a time.
World English Bible
I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.
Young's Literal Translation
and I have given on you sinews, and cause flesh to come up upon you, and covered you over with skin, and given in you a spirit, and ye have lived, and ye have known that I am Jehovah.'
http://bible.cc/ezekiel/37-6.htm
Realizing that "spirit" is just another word for "breath" makes a lot of other things click into place.
World English Bible
Then he said to me, Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and tell the wind, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.
Young's Literal Translation
And He saith unto me: 'Prophesy unto the Spirit, prophesy, son of man, and thou hast said unto the Spirit: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: From the four winds come in, O Spirit, and breathe on these slain, and they do live.'
http://bible.cc/ezekiel/37-9.htm
Finally, I understand the origin of the Holy Spirit being in someone. The wind from your breath was associated with life, and since life is mysterious, this spirit wind of life was a gift from god. With childlike simplicity the primal awe of existence and the fear of mortality in this wind-spirit connection rings true. Who would not believe in spirits when they feel the wind every day?
World English Bible
Or don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God? You are not your own,
Young's Literal Translation
Have ye not known that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit in you, which ye have from God? and ye are not your own,
http://bible.cc/1 corinthians/6-19.htm
Believe it or discard and ridicule this explanation as you must, but now I finally know, to my own satisfaction,... which way the wind blows.
