You might call Paul William Roberts a true Renaissance man, but he would be quick to correct you, pointing out that the Renaissance, known for spiritual rejuvenation, was actually a very acquisitive period. And acquiring the things of this world is decidedly not what he's after. Nevertheless, Roberts is a man of multiple talents, many of which are evidenced in his recently published book, In Search of the Birth of Jesus, The Real Journey of the Magi. A scholar and historian (though he prefers to be called a storyteller), Roberts shares his detailed knowledge on everything from ancient Egypt to architecture, astrology, archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls, while taking us with him on a fascinating journey that retraces the steps of the Magi, or Wise Men, on their famous journey to the birthplace of Christ. It's provocative from page one, reading this book may change forever the way you look at the world and its religions. Roberts claims that a profound secret about the origins of Christianity has been kept for nearly two thousand years; a secret which, when unveiled by the publication of the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls, he says, will send the church of Rome crumbling into conflicted, autonomous factions much like the independent states of the former Soviet Union.
Roberts adventure with the Magi began on Christmas day in 1992, with bad weather and what he thought was a gift about as exciting as the proverbial tie. Cold and snowy outside, he curled up in front of the fire (my most favorite thing in the world to do, he confesses) with a nineteenth-century copy of Marco Polo's Travels. It seems, Roberts learned, that in the thirteenth century, Polo heard a version of the Magi Myth in which there were just two, not three Wise Men and that both were Zoroastrian priests who came from a fortress-like structure built into a mountainside in Persia, known as the Castle of the Fireworshippers. In the more than seven centuries since Polo's journey, no one had been able to confirm the existence of this castle, a fact that had Roberts up off the couch and on the phone to obtain a visa. No armchair traveler, this guy! Not only would he find the castle, Roberts was also to uncover some of the most intriguing information on the beginnings of our civilization and religions ever to be discovered.
The exotic journey he embarked on was not his first; travel and adventure have been part of Roberts entire adult life. Born in Wales, Roberts experienced loss at an early age when his father was killed during the Sukarno uprising in Indonesia. Raised by his mother, an aunt, his grandfather and an unpleasant step-father, he recalls a less than happy childhood, but acknowledges the excellent education he received attending private schools in Wimbleton. Studying Latin and Greek from the age of eight gave him a base for literary and historical pursuits and, since his grandfather was vehemently against organized religion, Roberts had to sit out during the Anglican school assemblies, with the Hindus and Jews, a likely precursor to his interest in world religions. He went on to earn degrees in English Literature and a doctorate in Renaissance Mysticism from Oxford's prestigious Exeter College, where he taught for a year before setting off on a trip around the world.
Invited by an Indian Professor, Roberts taught Shakespeare in India, (try explaining the phrase Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed to people who don't speak English, he laughs) and began a three-year love affair with a country that was to shape his life and which he refers to as, The empire of my soul. He spent the first of three years in India at the ashram of Satya Sai Baba, with whom he developed a relationship that drew him back to India again and again. I had incredible experiences with Sai Baba, says Roberts. He's still an enigma to me. Following his spiritual passions, Roberts studied Sanskrit at Benares, living a monastic lifestyle he recalls as having been one of the happiest periods of my life. He devoured great spiritual writings, including The Talmud, The Koran and India's Rig-Veda, which he deems most ancient and profound. Yet, it has been the Dead Sea Scrolls which have fueled his research and writing.
The scrolls, he says, have been tightly controlled by the Roman Catholic Church's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith', the same organization once known as The Holy Inquisition', until 1991; they reveal a bitter conflict between rival Jewish factions, and warn of a coming schism that would rend the religion in two.
This schism, he continues, centered around St. Paul's emphasis on faith rather than on the Gnostic search for direct inner experience of God, which was the essential teaching of the Essene Jewish Christianity which Jesus practiced. According to Roberts Jesus probably had a twin brother, Thomas, and that it was he who was crucified rather than Jesus. He believes that Jesus, his parents and certain disciples fled to southern France after the Crucifixion, where they were welcomed at estates of the Herod family. Most of what we consider European history was written by the Roman Church, says Roberts. When you look at it, maybe the Herods weren't as bad as they've been painted to be.
Pauline Christianity eventually became the official Roman state religion and mystical traditions such as those practiced by the Cathars (who were victims of Roman genocide) and Gnostics have been lost for centuries. Roberts considers The Gospel of Thomas a key Gnostic text, he sees it as the missing link', noting that its influence was once extensive. It can be found, he says, in the literature of numerous Western mystical schools, in much European poetry, the paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci and even in the plays of Shakespeare. He states that, whereas the Roman Church had only the letters of Paul, the Egyptian and Celtic churches used the Gospel of Thomas. Roberts says its the only gospel worth anything, and finds the New Testament seemingly wise in bite-sized selections; however, read from Matthew to Revelation and it doesn't make much sense, the world's largest and most influential religion is based on material that wouldn't even compel a handful of acid-heads to form some minor cult if it were published today.
When examining religious texts, Roberts employs a pesher, or process of interpretation which includes the meanings of names to add a greater, more generalized and symbolic level on top of the basic narrative, while also finding a more specific and personal history within it, making a text relevant in time as well as prophetic or even timeless. Similar qualities give great poetry its ineffable power and eternal relevance, says Roberts, whose study of Hebrew and Aramaic has given him superb skill in using the technique. His own writing reflects a love of language and poetry: Wild winds lashed up from the plain, which had turned into a burnished copper sheet mottled by shadows of scudding clouds the color of bloodstained gold in a sky now more like a quivering mosaic made of fireflies, cobalt, lapis lazuli and burning lava, and humor pervades both his fiction and nonfiction. I write the way I do, he says, because when you entertain people you educate them.
And education is Roberts main passion. Currently working with post graduate students at the University in Toronto, he is dismayed at the lack of order in education today. The educational system I experienced was very orderly and straightforward, he says. You started at a certain period of time and worked your way through. The students I teach are very confused about where things fit in, one week they're reading The Confession of St. Augustine, the next Dante and the next Philip Roth! Roberts is writing an essay for Harpers about the History of history', a topic he feels many teachers ignore because of inherent controversy about the subject. I see an increasing reluctance to teach history because of the objections that arise from various groups; it's important to consider them, but not to throw the whole thing out, history of the ancient world is particularly important. I've just discovered, he adds, that the Catholic church never nixed the concept of reincarnation. It was vetoed by the Emperor Justinian, but never signed by the Pope. Recently, the Church has recognized the theory of evolution, a fact that has Roberts smirking. If they had waited a little longer; they wouldn't have had to acknowledge it, he says. Darwin would turn over in his grave if he knew what had become of his theories, he never wanted them to be considered in a soulless context. In Roberts mind, The next big step for academia is the recognition of a civilization before Eygpt, Atlantis.
Roberts feels he's uncovered what he has because of his objectivity as a historian. Often, he says, historians are also believers and get lost in their own subjectivity. According to his research, Judaism as practiced by Moses had changed dramatically by the time of King David, and by the time of King Solomon had petered out entirely. About five hundred years after that, he says, the Jews adopted Zoroastrianism, which became widespread by the fifth century B.C. and has been the most influential religion in the history of civilization. It is now known to have been the religion of the Magi, and was the catalyst for both Christianity and Islam. According to Dr. W.Y. Evans-Wentz, a preeminent authority on Eastern mysticism and one of Roberts mentors, Without Zoroaster there would be no Christ, He was the bridge and the Romans burnt it. Roberts sees a single thread running through world religions, all traceable to Zoroaster who, says Roberts, attempted to preserve the purity of ancient Vedic wisdom of India and bring it to the west.
The Vedas are considered to be between 25,000 and 30,000 years old, which makes them more than twice as old as the beginning of time according to Zoroastrian myth, which divides time into four periods of three thousand years each, beginning approximately 12,000 years ago, around the end of the last Ice Age, or with the sinking of Atlantis. Roberts book about the birth of Jesus details this succinct, fascinating correlation of time and events, as well as Zoroastrian practices and beliefs, which afforded high honor to angelic realms. We owe the whole idea, and revived popularity, of angels to Zoroastrianism, particularly the concept of guardian angels, notes Roberts.
The forty-something Roberts is not a practicing Zoroastrian, but does meditate daily. He also does a therapeutic form of yoga, canoes and wilderness treks with his children, Elijah and Anabella in rural Canada, where he has lived since 1980. He met his wife and best friend Tiziana Buttignol while working on documentary films with her brother and, though he claims not to be a film buff, he has a habit of describing people by comparing them to well-known film characters, and has become an award-winning television writer, producer and film critic (he considers Monty Python's Life Of Brian the most historically accurate film on the life of Christ). He has won both the Canadian Authors and Association of Journalists Awards, and has received numerous screen writing, journalism and fiction awards. Response to his work has been overwhelmingly positive, but not without controversy.
When his novel, Palace of Fears, which contains quotes from the Koran was released, both Canadian and American publishers received death threats. Roberts was subsequently stabbed in his home after answering the doorbell and spent the next three months living underground'. He attributes the attack to his internuncial role in hand delivering a letter from Salmon Rusdie to Iranian President Rafsanjani on behalf of the writers organization, P.E.N. His work as a correspondent during the Gulf war has given him a deep understanding of and appreciation for Islamic culture and its idiosyncrasies. Since the Dalai Lama left Tibet, he notes wryly, the Islamic Republic of Iran is the only theocracy in the world and, ironically, its national flag bears the emblem of another religion entirely.
Roberts view of future world events is optimistic; I have a strong sense, he says, that we should not get caught up in a millennial panic. We've been in a necessary period of intellectual development and now we have to return to things of the heart and soul. He sees the book of Revelation in a symbolic, personal way and comments, All these apocalyptic texts can be seen in that way, the world isn't coming to an end. The end is coming for each of us like a thief in the night. Yes, we're in a period of world change, but it's a change for the better, I think the future has a lot to be said for it.
His own future includes collaborating with John Anthony West ("my absolute hero; he has an extraordinary mind) on a ten-hour documentary series based on Princeton University's recent Symposium: Return to the Source: Rediscovering Ancient Wisdom and Lost Knowledge'. The series, to be produced by The Disney Company, will include a one-hour segment featuring Roberts book about the Magi. Roberts is enthusiastic about what he calls Disney's Esalen-type program in Orlando, Florida, which includes self-development courses. Disney interests me, says Roberts. Touchstone makes good films, whoever wrote The Lion King knew a lot about Egyptian mysticism. Another project involves collaboration with Rand Flem-Ath, (author of When The Sky Fell a book about earth crust displacement) on a book about the lost sciences of Atlantis. It's a really exciting project, we have some amazing material, he says. And he has another provocative title of his own in the works: The Jesus Twin will detail the life of the disciple Thomas.
Roberts seems able to balance his sophisticated intellectual life with a deep appreciation for family and things of the heart. As a historian, he is keenly aware of the lessons of the past, and ends his book about the Magi saying: Nothing stays still, yet nothing really changes. Immortality and Utopia exist as ideals to force us into seeing their impossibility: no one will avoid death, no human society will ever be perfect. But, in recognizing this, we cease to be prisoners of limitation. And, perhaps by studying ancient civilizations, particularly Egypt, which sustained itself for 3,000 years, we can build one based on the Truth that Zoroaster, Moses, Christ, Buddha and all the great Teachers taught.
