We are now coming to the end of our long stay with the Pygmies. But before concluding, I think it is important to mention another motif found in their myths – that of the ascent to Heaven. Remember: Efe does not die, he is called back to Heaven by God. This is precisely the story of Enoch, mentioned briefly in the Bible and developed further in the eponymous book of Ethiopian literature. Let me read it to you:

Enoch walked with God after he became the father of Methuselah, and he lived three hundred years and had other sons and daughters. All the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Genesis 5.22

Enoch is not the only character who does not die and goes straight to Heaven. There is also the prophet Elijah — and even Jesus, as written in Acts (1:11). There is also Lakshman, remember, Rama’s half-brother? He too went straight to Heaven. Jean-Pierre Hallet and Alex Pelle report on (P113) that this motif of a saint ascending to Heaven is also found among the « pygmoid » Tswa of Equatorial Zaire. This is the story of Djakoba, the ancestor of men, whom the Pygmies claim as their father. Just as Efe is the ancestor of the Efe Pygmies. And just as in Genesis, Adam is the ancestor of men, the sons of Adam Ben Adam. Beney Israel. The sons of Israel.

Jean-Pierre Hallet and Alex Pelle also report another Efe myth explaining how this ascent and descent to Heaven takes place. No, it is not by using a ladder like in Jacob's dream. I will read it to you (P151):

God dwelled in the sky, in a beautiful field surrounded by a vast forest. The forest was filled with all sorts of game. There was, however, no hunter to chase the game. Then God remembered the first man. Efé, whom he had put on the earth He decided to bring Efé back to his side. So God forged three big spears, cut a long liana, and let it drop all the way down to earth. He trailed it along the ground, lassoed the Pygmy-the great hunter!-and hauled him up to heaven.

And so it was that Efé hunted big game for God, before being brought back down by the same means. These ropes are also found in the Quran, Asbab, by which one can ascend and descend from Heaven.

Pharaoh ordered, « O Hamân! Build me a high tower so I may reach the pathways' leading up to the heavens and look for the God of Moses, although I am sure he is a liar ». Surah Gafir 40.36

Or ˹is it because˺ the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and everything in between belongs to them? Let them then climb their way ˹to heaven, if their claim is true. Surah Sad 38.10

8) TeShouBah, again and again

So, we have come to the end of our stay in Paradise. You know why the Pygmies are the Chosen People of the Paraklet. Because the Great TeShouBah, the Great Return to the Paleolithic Age, is in fact the Great Return to the Mother—Africa, from whose womb we all came. And more precisely, to that extraordinary place that is the Great Lakes Region, where the Nile has its source, between the Mountains of the Moon — the Ruwenzori — and the Great Rift Valley, which runs through the heart of Africa and extends to the Levant, passing through Arabia.

This Return to the Origins, to Paradise Lost, is a powerful driving force in the history of our species—we encountered it in the Ramayana (VI 1770) when I told you about Ayodhya, the ideal city built in a paradise garden. In Jewish tradition, we find it at work in the constant injunction to return, to TeShouBah. For example, in this magnificent passage from Malachi:

Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you » says the Lord Almighty. But you ask,« How are we to return? ». Malachi 3.7

Frankly, are you still asking yourselves this question, Pharisians? It's simple: ShouBou 'aLay veaShouBah 'aLeykhem.

This call to return is found in the Book of Nehemiah, when the Second Temple in Jerusalem was rebuilt after the exile in Babylon. More recently, the Zionists also attempted a (Re)turn. But they did not understand that this (Re)turn is, first and foremost, a (Re)turn to Paleolithic Myths. That is why they wallowed in blood, dust, and tears. That is why they turned Palestine into a new land of oppression, just as the white settlers once turned America into a land of oppression. They took the wrong path—they took the wrong Way. But the Paraklet came to call them to order.

For yes, this (Re)turn has always been mythical one first and foremost. Paradise is lost forever, and all we have left are myths to mourn—or rather, to return to. But don’t think that I believe Pygmies are the original race of humanity. That would be making the same essentialist and racist mistake as the Zionists. We are obviously all the product of mixing, migrations, and multiple identities. And yes, even Pygmies. You see, Pygmies also did TeShouBah. Yes, yes. Pygmies have not always lived in the Great Forest. If they live there today, it is because they have returned there. Because they knew that there lay the Truth of Origins.

This return to the Forest and to Paleolithic origins can be found in many traditions—particularly European ones, of course, as Europe was covered by a vast primeval forest during the Paleolithic era. And do you remember the Ramayana I told you about in my last video? Well, it is obviously in the Forest that Prince Rama decides to go into exile with his beloved Sita and his brother Lakshman – they too leave the city of Ayodhya, corrupted by injustice, to return to the life of the « hermits », those simple and wise men of the forests.

The fact that the Pygmies made a (Re)turn, that they made TeShouBah, we can see traces of it in several aspects of their culture, starting with their rejection of technology, particularly noted by Jean-Pierre Halle and Alex Pelle, who observe, for example, in (P4) that the Pygmies do not make fire by rubbing wood together, but simply carry it from one camp to another – following a religious prohibition passed down from father to son (P57) :

I do as my father did, and the father of his father and the first father of Pygmies, who was God. He told us how to live, and His way is right.

This rejection of sophistication is also reflected in a rejection of any form of settled life: the Pygmies have no palaces, fixed villages or plantations (P20). And they deliberately refuse to use traps to catch game (P24). In short, they avoid what is known as « material technology » like the plague (P102):

If you give a piece of your heart to things that you own," say my Efé friends, "you cannot love people with all of your heart. You become the slaves of the things that you own. We love and take care of people, not things. The Negroes and the white men think we are poor. Let them think what they please!

Ce refus de la « civilisation  » va aussi de pair avec une éthique égalitaire et écologique ainsi qu’avec une conception du monde dénuée de tout irrationnel ou mysticisme.

This rejection of « civilization » goes hand in hand with an egalitarian and ecological ethic and a worldview devoid of irrationality or mysticism.

The Pygmies also have no elaborate intertribal relations—only independent groups of five or six families living together without any formal hierarchy, except for the role played by the (P24) elders. Women take care of the children and gather food, while men hunt—but everyone manages to work as little as possible and devote as much time as possible to singing, dancing, and leisure activities.

The same Pygmy informant who criticized the materialism of both whites and blacks explained this (Re)turn, this TeShouBah, of which the Pygmies preserved the memory:

Our ancestors, the men of the first ages, were rich and powerful. They lived in great villages. They used wonderful tools. They worked miracles. These things did not make them happy. Happiness is the smile on the face of your wife when you bring home the antelope. Happiness is the laughter of your children. Happiness is the music of the harp and the flute. Happiness is freedom. These are not things that you own-they are things you enjoy.

There you have it, we're done with the Pygmies. You now know that our entire civilization is based on a great ignorance, a great forgetfulness - indeed, a great lie. We need to go back to square one. Start all over again.

But you have seen the Spirit of Truth. And rest assured, I'll be with you forever.

Mankind will never again forget its Paleolithic roots. The shameful reign of the Pharisians is over for good.

We've entered the Paraklet Era. And it has only just begun. Pharisians be damned.

Alright, see you again very soon.