Around 500 BC, a very, very strange phenomenon suddenly appeared in human history: in less than 200 years, a group of great thinkers exploded in the world, and their appearance framed The pattern of human social life and spiritual culture for thousands of years.

In China: Lao Tzu was born around 571 BC, Confucius around 551 BC, and Mozi around 468 BC.

In India: Buddha was born around 623 BC, and the Fifty Upanishads appeared at the same time.

In Persia: Zoroaster was born about 660 BC.

In ancient Greece: Heraclitus was born in 540 BC, Socrates in 468 BC, and Plato in 427 BC.

This isn't a complete list, but we've been blown away. Have you found that these people lived less than 200 years before and after the fifth century BC?

Most of the people on this list are known, and perhaps the only one who feels relatively unfamiliar is Zoroaster. This person is an ancient Persian, and he has also translated it as Zarathustra. Nietzsche wrote a famous philosophical book called "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", under the guise of this ancient name of a Persian philosopher.

Zoroaster's birth and death years are also unknown. According to Zoroastrian oral histories, he was born around 8000 BC. But this claim is just a legend, and there is no written data or unearthed cultural relics to prove it. It is more credible that Zoroaster founded Zoroastrianism in 660 BC, commonly known as Zoroastrianism, which was introduced to China during the Wei and Jin Dynasties.

Zoroaster, like many people of his day, could neither read nor write. After his death, people recorded his remarks in a book, this is "Avesta", as a Zoroastrian classic, some people call it "Persian ancient scriptures". The book was first recorded in writing during the reign of Darius I. There are two copies of the legend. When Alexander the Great conquered Persia, one of them was destroyed in the fire of war, and the other was brought to ancient Greece, where it ended in unknown.

It is said that this book is huge, written on 1,200 pieces of cowhide, with rich content, and involves a lot of advanced knowledge, so this book has always been called the book of knowledge and wisdom. However, it is very regrettable that most of this book has been lost, and only a small part remains.

Zoroastrianism founded on Zoroastrianism and the ancient Persian scriptures had a huge influence and a non-negligible influence on the religions of Mesopotamia and India at that time. For example, the main god of Zoroastrianism is Ahura, the god of wisdom, and he is the common Asura in Buddhist scriptures.

Well, Zoroastrian teaching is a historical mystery, and the details may never be known. Leave it alone for now, and turn around and look at the achievements of this big explosion of ideas.

When the clock of history pointed to around 500 BC, a great ideological revolution broke out in ancient Greece in Europe, India, China, Persia in Asia, and the Jews almost at the same time, affecting almost all human beings in the next few thousand years. All the thoughts, at that moment, suddenly spewed out from the depths of the brains of these great men, like an instantaneous eruption of a volcano. The emergence of these ideas has almost established the principles of human activities for the next few thousand years, such as the principles of religion, the principles of man and man, man and society, man and nature, the essence, meaning, status, and so on of human beings. Taking China as an example, the three schools of Confucianism, Taoism, and Mohism that originated at that time still have a profound impact on people's thinking even today and have even been internalized into a way of thinking.

There is another feature of this ideological explosion that makes future generations sigh, that is - save mankind! The ancients did not know what kind of thinking, with a kind of transcendental wisdom, compassion, and compassion, caring for the soul and spirit of human beings, and endowed this ideological explosion with an extremely strong sense of mission. Why do you say that?

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

First of all, this explosion produced three very influential religious thoughts and finally formed three religions that have influenced thousands of years: Laozi's Taoism, which eventually formed China's native Taoism; Shakyamunii's thought of reincarnation, which eventually formed the far-reaching Buddhism; Zoroaster's thought of good and evil, and finally formed Zoroastrianism. The purpose of religion is to point directly to the heart, to free the human soul from the bondage of sin and worldliness. It can be said that it saves the human soul.

Secondly, this explosion produced a large number of "ethical philosophies", such as the Chinese Confucianism, which is a kind of moral philosophy; almost in the same period as the Indian "Fifty Upanishads" produced a large number of moral ethics. The purpose of "ethical philosophy" is to regulate the relationship between man and man, man and society, and in the final analysis, to save society.

Thirdly, although ancient Greek philosophy is based on rational natural science, its focus is still on human beings. It hopes to save human beings from the flesh and free human thinking from irrationality.

Since then, human beings have never cared about their spiritual world on such a large scale, and even given up respect for the soul and turned to care about their flesh and senses. If we say that the ideological explosion in the fifth century BC was the theory of spiritual supremacy and spiritual civilization, then the subsequent civilizations were material supremacy and material civilization. Objectively speaking, our material civilization has made great progress and has left the soul far behind.

Think about how terrifying it is. A group of soulless people is running around the earth, just like the ancient Chinese god of war "Xingtian" who had his head beheaded, blindly waving the weapon in his hand and slashing the earth beyond recognition. What is even more irritating is that these brainless people dare to write clearly on their banner: Humans do not need souls!

Humans should stop and think carefully: what are we trying to create for? What kind of life do we need? How should we treat the world around us? It can no longer proceed without a head. Human beings need reflection, and the model of civilization needs reflection even more. Remember the criticism of us in the Mahabharata: "Going to ignorance in creation"!

We look back at the light produced by this explosion today. Although more than 2,500 years later, it is still so dazzling and dazzling. It can be said that in the past 200 years, human beings have suddenly reached the peak of their thinking, and no one has surpassed it yet. People can only face this insurmountable wisdom with infinite shame while reading the sage's classics over and over again.

Some may disagree with this view, and they will cite the "Renaissance" of the 14th century AD as evidence. Yes, the "Renaissance" is indeed a rare ideological revolution in modern times. At that time, a large number of cultural people gathered in Florence, Italy. During their exchanges and discussions, they finally brewed an ideological movement with far-reaching significance for today's civilization. A group of well-known figures like Leonardo da Vinci.

But objectively speaking, the "Renaissance" is not a creation, it is a return to the natural sciences of ancient Greece, and a return to the spirit of science. The ancient Greek civilization completely declined in the era of the Roman Empire, and Europe entered a dark period of more than 500 years. When the Crusaders invaded eastward, the Europeans were fortunate to retrieve their lost civilization from the Arabs. From the perspective of reflection, this literary and artistic movement was a failure. It did not inherit the essence of the big explosion of ideas but inherited its dross—the ancient Greek civilization.

At the same time, the "Renaissance" movement did not create any new ideas, and no one person's achievements can be compared with those of the Big Bang period. Not only that but in the next few thousand years, there has never been a person like Buddha or Lao Tzu in the world. For example, everyone in China's Wei and Jin metaphysics and Zhu Cheng's philosophy, are only the successors of ideas, or the masters, not the creators.

However, there is still no satisfactory explanation for the reason for this explosion of ideas. But what is certain is that the cause of this explosion has nothing to do with the latter, it is only related to the civilization before more than 500 BC. So, what kind of opportunity made human beings suddenly acquire such great wisdom?

Let us stand at the starting point of 500 BC, go back to the history of mankind, and find all the answers that puzzle us.

To do this, we must pay special attention to early human mythology and folklore of all kinds, the closest on Earth to the era we are about to explore.

Let's rediscover the ancient myths!