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the system of sacrifice. Violence is violence. One cannot draw a line between sacred violence and profane violence or good violence and bad violence.

This is not to say that all systems of violence broke down and the world became peaceful after the gospel revelation. Obviously, it did not. On the contrary, Bailie argues that we are now caught in a cycle of violence that cannot control itself because the distinction between sacred violence and profane violence has been destroyed. We are far away from any solution to this problem. Nonetheless, we must acknowledge that something about systematic violence has broken down. Due to the acknowledgement of the victim, we can no longer be satisfied with the system of sacrifice.

My question, then, is why did the writers of the Upanisads become dissatisfied with the sacrificial system of their culture? Five hundred or more years before the life of Jesus, in an entirely different culture, these groups directly denounced the sacrificial system and pursued ultimate truth in a very different way. Why was this? Is it possible that these individuals recognized the victim in a different way? They were not exposed to the drama of Christ’s passion, but they were well accustomed to the Vedic sacrifices that took place frequently in their society. They sought to found new communities in the forests not on sacrificial violence, but on a common pursuit of brahman.

At the time of the Upanisads, the sacrifice had become a well-established, central element in Vedic culture. It was at this time that it reached its greatest level of complexity and codification. The priesthood had a very central role in this culture as the ones who had the power to maintain reality. The horse sacrifice, which was probably the most extensive, ostentatious, violent form of the sacrifice was a common practice at this time.

With this increase in grandeur and violence, is it unlikely that some people within this society would see problems with this system? Is it unlikely that there would be some dissenting feelings on violence as a necessary method for maintenance of the material world? Is it not possible that some individuals felt compelled by their dissatisfaction with sacrificial violence to seek out a more permanent reality? It seems quite likely in fact, that the authors of the Upanisads had emotional reasons as well as intellectual reasons for deserting the sacrificial system in favor of another worldview.

We are lacking evidence of the emotional aspects of the shift towards inner contemplation found in the Upanisads. These documents are simply more philosophical and cerebral than emotive in nature. We have already discussed the intellectual shift away from sacrifice in terms of the increasing importance of brahman and atman. This intellectual shift took a considerable amount of time. It was a slow evolution over many years and by many different groups of people. This was a less sudden revelation than the one Bailie finds in the Gospel. The rejection of sacrificial violence found in the Upanisads may have been a result of personal reactions to the sacrificial ritual and personal decisions to pursue truth in ways that did not require violent ritual.

Although we are lacking evidence of the emotional responses to the sacrifice, it is quite likely that emotion played a role in the shift away from Vedic sacrifice