In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it was common knowledge that evil witches existed. This knowledge was shared by all: high-born and low, Protestant and Catholic, men and women, and virtually all institutions of the time. It was considered a completely established fact.
What did witches do? It was common knowledge that they inflicted various diseases, killed babies in the womb, performed poisonous and satanic rituals, and had intercourse with the Devil.
Once someone was accused of being a witch, they were tortured. If they protested their innocence, this was considered a sign of guilt and further torture was called for. If they were silent, "the evil gift of silence that is the constant bane of judges," further torture was called for.
There was only one way to stop the torture, which was to give a full confession and to name confederates. This was followed by burning at the stake. For if those "who counterfeit money are summarily put to death, how much more must they who counterfeit the Faith." Then of course the "confederates" were brought in for inquisition also.
The quotes are from the Malleus Malificarum, an exhaustive manual about witches which for two centuries rested on the desk of scholars and judges in mainland Europe.
In spite of extraordinary efforts by authorities to stamp out this swarming plague of witches, their numbers kept increasing. More and more witches were found. It was considered by far the #1 problem of the time, and all levels of society were in deep fear.
Efforts to eradicate witches were doubled and redoubled again, and yet their numbers seemed to be multiplying at an incredible rate, a fact established for everyone by the multiplying number of confessions. It is estimated that between half a million and a million witches, mostly women but also including some men, were put to death between 1484 and the end of the seventeenth century.
Only the rise of science, by establishing different methods of evidence and proof, served to finally put an end to this escalating craze.
All of us live in a universe of our own contriving. The "facts" support an edifice of belief that then selects and interprets further "facts."
If we think that such a phenomenon couldn't happen now, we have only to look at our own minds. We don't call our beliefs "beliefs"; we call them "the truth." The thoughts and stories in our mind don't seem like stories to us, especially the ones that come with emotions like anger or fear. Our stories seem sacred and unquestionable.
How much has really changed?
Those who have woken up say that they see the world without the overlay of thoughts and stories and beliefs. Not that they don't occur in the mind, but that they no longer "pick them up." They no longer invest energy in them or identify with them.
Consequently, they see the world each moment as fresh and new, and filled with awe. They see the true reality behind the web of stories and ideas that make up our so-called reality, and it fills them with joy and gratitude and compassion.
—jim sloman, 1/18/01 for Jan 18
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