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Artaxerxes and the Farmers
The new Persian Empire of the Sassanidae was founded by
Artaxerxes. It was named after his father SASSAN.
Persian writers considered Artaxerxes their wisest of leaders
and over centuries preserved his sayings. One of his
famous sayings is as follows.
"There is no power without an army;
No army without money;
No money without agriculture;
And no agriculture without justice."
I have thought about this for over 30 years for it is part of
the ancient wisdom.
Agriculture is the main source of renewable wealth. Oil
and minerals are not renewable. Products of the sea can be
renewable if they are treated as sustained agriculture.
THE JESUS PLAN.
Rome broke up thousands of small kingdoms and tribes.
Julius Caesar, when he conquered Gaul, killed a million and
sold a million into slavery. Gaul was a collection of about
900 kingdoms or cities. The total population was about three
million. They had a sensible culture that preserved the
land. They were good farmers. They were artistic,
especially in enamel ware.
Many of the slaves came from organized societies. They
could not endure the moral chaos of Rome. Many of them
became Christians.
Christianity changed the world. It made health and
happiness more attainable. No longer did people feel that
the State was everything and the individual of little
consequence.
From a health point of view, Christianity was another
miracle. For about 35 years, I have talked to patients
about it. I call it the JESUS plan. This is what I
believe and what I tell them.
Jesus advised his disciples "Do not spend your time fighting
the Roman system, just be better people and better citizens"
Paul the apostle spread the good news.
Jesus said, " Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall
make you free". He taught them how to avoid the slave
or the slave owner attitude.
"Lay not your treasures in earth where rust and moth dost
decay"
"Cast your bread upon the waters and it shall come back a
hundredfold"
To me, these parables meant that instead of being
materialistic, the members could invest in each other. It
was like an insurance policy. If one of the members needed
help or was sick, a hundred members were ready to help.
Apparently the little churches were made up of about l00
souls, men, women and children.
Regional Self Sufficiency.
The Chinese believe that this policy is vital for their
economic success. A city like Shanghai should depend on
the local farmers for their food supply They would
consider our system of shipping strawberries from Santa Cruz,
California to New York City as short sighted and wasteful.
The Hudson River Valley should be their bread basket, along
with upper New York State and New England.
