Soma
Tools of the Path => Christ [Public] => Topic started by: Angela on November 07, 2007, 04:36:05 AM
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I'm reading this book "Gnostic Secrets of the Naassenes" The Initatory Teachings of the Last Supper, by Mark H. Gaffney. My search for more authentic material led me to this... http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/tku/index.htm ...is this the Kabbalah in it's entirety?
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Ok...the Kabbalah I'll get into later....
So…I’m reading this book, and I’m about halfway through. I bought it over a year ago and just recently decided to read it.
Just a little background on Me, and why I’m interested in these writings.
I was raised Roman Catholic, hence I thought it was the “be all, and end all” of religions…that’s what They teach you. I stopped going to church in high school, because back then, I was sure that God didn’t care if you went to church, or not…just so you “believed”.
I attended holiday masses when I was at family gatherings (Christmas and Easter), and it wasn’t until I decided to get married, that I had to step inside a church again…pre cana (classes you have to take in order to get married in the Catholic church), make the monetary contribution each week, etc. Did that….then fell away again. Until the next life changing experience…I got pregnant…then of course, you have to get the child Baptized…again started back to church.
Fell away again slightly, but then I realized that in order to keep my son out of the public school system (it’s not the best here), and his father’s insistence on raising him Catholic, I had to get more involved with the church/school organizations. At this point my son was only about three years old, but I was urged by other mothers to get in there early, making sure my son would be accepted into Kindergarten (I know…it sounds silly). So I did.
One of the requirements to keep your child in the Catholic school, is to drop an envelope in the basket every Sunday. They don’t care how much you give, just so you bring your child to mass every week. They count the envelopes.
Well, about a year and a half after my divorce, I met Zam…early in our relationship, he showed me a CC book. I read most all of those, some Theun Mares, Carroll, Gurdjieff, etc., ran into various websites and forums…found Della :) …of course all of this resonated with me. I felt like I had opened treasure chest. And now I’m in search of…what I call the “truth”…I know I know what it is, but I need to research the religion I grew up with. It’s a recapitulation of sorts.
Now, I go to church, because I have to. My thought is, if I Have to go, I may as well make the Best of it. So I see it as a history class…the readings and all. I people watch, I observe the priests and the manner they “teach”. One Sunday, Fr. Kevin gave a sermon about an old nun he had met while in the Seminary. The story was about Death being your Advisor. Funny how they have similar stories, and then twist them all up. Anyway, only 9 more years…that’s when my son will graduate from high school. :)
Back to the book…hope I haven’t lost you yet…I know I’m not much of a “creative writer”…so hang on, I’m almost finished. ;)
When I first started reading this book, I thought it was just another da vince code-esque novel. But as I read on, Gaffney writes about the histories and beginnings of other religions besides Christianity, and provides documentation of physical evidence and writings, which credit the authenticity of his findings. It’s very interesting.
In my naivety, I didn’t really understand the beginnings of the Catholic church. It seems they made most of it up, as the organization grew. Now I know why They never taught us the history of the church growing up. Religion and politics…very similar animals, eh?
Anyway, like I said, I’m halfway through…just read some on Judaism and going into Hinduism. I like these types of books…the appetizers ;).
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Can't wait to hear more as you journey through the book, Sera! :-*
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Well, about a year and a half after my divorce, I met Zam…early in our relationship, he showed me a CC book. I read most all of those, some Theun Mares, Carroll, Gurdjieff, etc., ran into various websites and forums…found Della :) …of course all of this resonated with me. I felt like I had opened treasure chest. And now I’m in search of…what I call the “truth”…I know I know what it is, but I need to research the religion I grew up with. It’s a recapitulation of sorts.
Oh, gee, great.
Now it's mine and Della's fault you are the way you are, eh? ;D
<<<hugs>>>
Love ya' toots,
Zam I Am
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Can't wait to hear more as you journey through the book, Sera! :-*
It's exciting V, thanks! :) :-*
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Oh, gee, great.
Now it's mine and Della's fault you are the way you are, eh? ;D
<<<hugs>>>
Love ya' toots,
Zam I Am
Glad to be guilty. ;)
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Oh, gee, great.
Now it's mine and Della's fault you are the way you are, eh? ;D
<<<hugs>>>
Love ya' toots,
Zam I Am
Glad to be guilty. ;)
I'm proud to have you both as mentors/teachers/gurus...whatever the hell the politically correct term is...best of all friends! :-* :-*
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I'm proud to have you both as mentors/teachers/gurus...whatever the hell the politically correct term is...best of all friends! :-* :-*
Young lady, please address us as 'Adepts.'
<<Evil Cackles>>
z
P.S. Well, address Della as the Adept. I'm just your whipping boy. ;)
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Young lady, please address us as 'Adepts.'
<<Evil Cackles>>
z
P.S. Well, address Della as the Adept. I'm just your whipping boy. ;)
Most address me by another name. Starts with a "B". *LOL*
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Angela, there is a book i want to strongly recommend to you:
'The World’s Religions' - Huston Smith
This book is still a classic text in Studies in Religion courses around the world, and is one of the best ways to be introduced into the overview of humanity's search for 'truth'.
It doesn't deal with the history, it gets to the juicy bones of each religion, including Christianity. But it also chooses the most delicious bones - it is a sheer delight to read, and hold so much knowledge.
This book (like 'A History of Western Philosophy' - Bertrand Russell which does the same for that subject) is truly a must read for anyone who wants to start on the journey of reaching out to our fellow travelers in spirit across the globe.
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Angela, there is a book i want to strongly recommend to you:
'The World’s Religions' - Huston Smith
This book is still a classic text in Studies in Religion courses around the world, and is one of the best ways to be introduced into the overview of humanity's search for 'truth'.
It doesn't deal with the history, it gets to the juicy bones of each religion, including Christianity. But it also chooses the most delicious bones - it is a sheer delight to read, and hold so much knowledge.
This book (like 'A History of Western Philosophy' - Bertrand Russell which does the same for that subject) is truly a must read for anyone who wants to start on the journey of reaching out to our fellow travelers in spirit across the globe.
Thanks Michael.
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I found very interesting the author's descriptions of how women were excluded from the Church and how scriptures were modified to suit the political atmosphere of the day... some excerpts:
THE WISDOM DIALOGUE INSPIRED BY THE BOOK OF JOB reached its culmination in the teachings of Jesus-yet those same teachings never found their way into orthodox Christianity. The Church aggressively resisted the Divine Mother and succeeded in erasing every trace of her from its official doctrines.
In Christianity's earliest days, of course, things were very different. The first Christian churches were loosely organized communities in which a spirit of gender equality often prevailed. We know that women participated in discussions, taught alongside men, and sometimes even led services. Unfortunately, the early policy of openness was the first casualty of institutional Christianity. During the second century, a male hierarchy of deacons, priests, and bishops emerged. Thereafter, men dominated decision making and equality went out the window. By 200 C.E. women had been relegated to subservience. Nor did their low status improve over the many centuries.
Today, one of the justifications given for this continuing policy is the pseudo-Pauline gospel of I Timothy 2:11-12, which most scholars agree was not the work of Paul: "Let a women learn in silence with all submissiveness. I permit no women to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent."
The above line exaggerates Paul's alleged bias against women. In Galatians 3:28 Paul states a more congenial view, one reminiscent of Jesus himself: " . . . in Christ. . . there is neither male nor female." Unfortunately, because Paul's views on women are also more ambiguously stated elsewhere, orthodox bishops seized on the most conservative interpretation. They also argued that because the first apostles were male, the priesthood should be as well. As a result, women were banned from leading services; Mary Magdalene's prominent role was obscured, along with the prophetic mission of the sister and the saintly daughters of the apostle Philip (Acts 21:9; Acts of Philip 108, 109, 115, 126, 142, 148). And let us not forget Mariamne, the inspired teacher mentioned in the Naassene Sermon (Refutation 5.7.1), who, no doubt, was dismissed as a heretic. Also suppressed was the Book of Jasher, with its glowing description of the prophetess Miriam, sister of Moses, who, curiously, also turns up in the Sermon (Refutation 5.8.2).
Even while the Church was in full retreat regarding the role of women, some Gnostic sects preserved the original policy of gender equality. Although we have no information on this regarding the Naassenes, we know that the Valentinians, another prominent Gnostic community, actively encouraged women to participate in discussions and decision making. Women helped with teaching, baptisms, curing, and even exorcisms, functions that the institutional Church reserved for priests and bishops.
But the Church's subordination of women was only the most visible sign and symptom of a deeper malady: the obfuscation of the vital role of the Holy Spirit. One of the earliest lists of orthodox scriptures appeared around the time of Irenaeus (180 C.E.). It is known today as the Muratorian Canon, named after Ludovico Antonio Muratori, the Italian archaeologist who discovered the Latin fragment in 1740. Its date is disputed, but most scholars believe the list was from an earlier rather than a later period. Conspicuously absent. from it is any mention of the Gospel of the Hebrews and the Gospel of Thomas, both of which, as we have seen, associate the Spirit with the Divine Mother.
The Church's official erasure of the Mother had the effect of reducing the Wisdom literature to mere scribblings from the past. The last books of the Old Testament became a quaint collection of gargoyles with no apparent connection with or relevancy to the Gospels. The Church expunged every image of the feminine from its official teachings, the sole exception being the Blessed Mary, mother of Jesus. Given the official misogyny, the question as to why Mary was retained is an interesting one. The probable answer is that there was simply no way to be rid of her. In the year 427 C.E., after the defeat of paganism, Cyril, archbishop of Alexandria, delivered a famous speech in Ephesus, Greece, in which he proclaimed Mary the" Mother of God." Thereafter, statues of Mary were installed in the pagan temples in place of Artemis, Demeter, and Aphrodite. Some of the temples were even converted into Christian basilicas. No surprise that the Virgin Mary immediately acquired a quasi-divine status, a curious compensatory phenomenon that the Church fathers tolerated over the centuries even while frowning upon it.
Although the Church officially retained the Holy Spirit as an equal member of the Godhead, the Paraclete was either rendered neuter or transformed into a masculine energy imbued with the seminal virility of a pagan fertility god. We are informed in the infancy Gospels of Luke and Matthew-doubtless both late additions-that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, the mother of God, accounting for the virginal conception of Jesus-a contrivance that blurred and even obliterated the enormous difference between sexual insemination and the descent of grace. Another effect was to trivialize the Spirit to the point of meaninglessness. No wonder the term Holy Spirit has become a cliche! Yet we need to remember that this stands in sharp contrast with its potency in the first century C.E., when the expression generated incredible excitement.
THE GOSPEL OF HERMAS
We shall now explore how orthodox Christianity promulgated the removal of the Mother from Church teaching in the day-to-day liturgy. Although the Gospel of Hermas is no longer used and, in fact, is all but, forgotten, it was one of the most important Christian scriptures in the second and possibly third centuries. Today it continues to have a recognized place among the writings of the Apostolic Fathers. The Gospel of Hermas purports to be an inspired revelation. It probably served as a teaching device and may even have been read aloud during services.
It is of great interest that it begins with a river crossing-an obvious allusion to the events at the Jordan from the Old Testament that we have already discussed: involving Joshua, Elijah, and Elisha. No doubt the reference to the Jordan served to establish the gospel's scriptural pedigree. While dreaming, a young man is shown a number of visions. In these he encounters an old woman who counsels holiness and teaches him many wondrous things and who, we are explicitly informed, is responsible for the visions. In one the young man observes a crew of workmen constructing a great stone tower over a foundation of water - a remarkable image. When the man inquires about it, the old crone explains that he is witnessing the construction of God's Church. Here, the tower is the Church and the workmen, it seems, are angels. The foundation of water is an extremely important mythological concept that we shall explore in more detail in chapter 13. The young man also learns that the crone is a manifestation of the Church-which, notice, means that the Church itself is responsible for the visions. Although one passage dutifully informs us that the Spirit comes from above, in a key section the Holy Spirit speaks through the Church: The gospel describes the Church in language that is reminiscent of the descriptions of the Divine Mother in Proverbs 8:22-24,27, and 29-31 and in Ecclesiasticus 24:3-30 (see chapter 8 ) : " . . . she [the Church] was created before all things. . . and for her sake the world was formed."
In this way the Gospel of Hermas was used to prepare Christians for an expansion of Church authority into an area where it had no business going: The goal, it seems, was not simply to expunge the Divine Mother from Christian teaching but in fact to supplant her - that is, to establish the Church in the seat of the Divine Mother herself! Evidence for this can also be found in the writings of patriarchs like Tertullian and Cyprian, both of whom regarded the Church (rather than the human body) as the temple of the Spirit. In a denunciation of schismatics Cyprian wrote, "He cannot have God for this Father who has not the Church for his Mother." A similar idea occurs in the following passage from II Clement 14:2 (whose author is unrelated to Clement of Alexandria), an apocryphal but orthodox gospel dating to around 100 C.E.: "For the scripture says 'God created man male and female.' (Gen 1:27) The male is Christ; the female is the Church. Moreover, the books and Apostles declare that the Church not only exists now, but has been in existence from the beginning." Notably, the author here never states precisely which "books and Apostles declare that the Church. . . has been in existence from the beginning" - and not without reason, for there are no such sources in canonical scripture. The line referring to the Church existing "from the beginning" again echoes the references to the Divine Mother in Proverb 8 and Ecclesiasticus 24 (see above and chapter 8 ) . All of this surely accounts for the familiar expression Holy Mother Church.
The displacement of Sophia by the Church in the Gospel of Hermas is a shocking example of male chauvinism gone amok. There is humorless irony in the fact that the very same Church fathers who, as we have seen, installed an artificial chasm between God and humankind by repudiating immanence also sought to collapse a very real and crucial distinction between a human institution (the Church) and the prerogatives of God (the Divine Mother) - another clear example of the abuse of spiritual authority. In light of the Gospel of Hermas, the subsequent dark chapters in Church history become more understandable. A foundation of water, after all, is spiritual bedrock compared to the shaky footing of a human institution that presumes responsibility for the bestowal of visions, revelations, wisdom, and even divine grace. It could even be argued that in attempting to supplant the role of the Divine Mother, the fathers of the Church came perilously close to the worst kind of blasphemy, for, as we have observed, the bestowal of grace - the Holy Spirit - plainly falls within the purview of the Divine Mother. It most definitely lies outside the jurisdiction of a human institution. The three synoptic accounts are unanimous and unequivocal on this: Every sin is to be forgiven except one - blasphemy against the Spirit (Matthew 12:31, Mark 3:28, and Luke 12:10). Such a judgment, frightening in its implications, may explain why it so often seems that our Christian civilization has gone to the devil.
TAMPERING WITH SCRIPTURE?...
...Today, Mark is indisputably the principal source document for the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, although a second sayings source, now lost and known as "Q," has also been identified.
It is easy to show that all three of the synoptic accounts of the New Testament are parallel to each other in structure. For example, Peter's Confession (or his Profession of Faith) also occurs in Mark 8. But the line "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church" is conspicuously absent. Nor can it be found in Luke 9. Because the famous line is absent from the original source document - Mark - the obvious question arises: How did it find its way into Matthew? The Roman Catholic Church has no answer to this question. The evidence we have reviewed strongly suggests that the line in Matthew equating Peter with the foundational rock of the Church was a fabrication, the result of tampering, perhaps, by someone with a political agenda.
The oldest extant copy of the Gospel of Matthew dates to no earlier than 200 C.E.22 If some lucky archaeological find in the future should produce an older draft - say, a copy of Matthew dating to the last years of the first century - we will probably discover that the line "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church" is nowhere in evidence. The omission will be as telling as a cloven hoof print in the mud. The main scriptural foundation for the authority of the institutional Church of Rome will have been demolished, once and for all, clearing the way for the rediscovery of the Wisdom teachings of Jesus by many more Christians, leading to a spiritual renaissance in the West. Toward this end, we shall now look more closely at the primary source document for this book, the Naassene Sermon.
"Gnostic Secrets of the Naassenses" by Mark H. Gaffney pgs. 110-122
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"Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" then took the place of the Triple Goddess ... the virginal Mary (at least the one the Church presented) never quite filled the shoes.
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Ang, "The Thunder, Perfect Mind" is interesting... that goddess was power! It was found during the same unearthings as the dead sea scrolls.
(Speculated to be Sophia....)
The Thunder, Perfect Mind
Translated by George W. MacRae
I was sent forth from the power,
and I have come to those who reflect upon me,
and I have been found among those who seek after me.
Look upon me, you who reflect upon me,
and you hearers, hear me.
You who are waiting for me, take me to yourselves.
And do not banish me from your sight.
And do not make your voice hate me, nor your hearing.
Do not be ignorant of me anywhere or any time. Be on your guard!
Do not be ignorant of me.
For I am the first and the last.
I am the honored one and the scorned one.
I am the whore and the holy one.
I am the wife and the virgin.
I am <the mother> and the daughter.
I am the members of my mother.
I am the barren one
and many are her sons.
I am she whose wedding is great,
and I have not taken a husband.
I am the midwife and she who does not bear.
I am the solace of my labor pains.
I am the bride and the bridegroom,
and it is my husband who begot me.
I am the mother of my father
and the sister of my husband
and he is my offspring.
I am the slave of him who prepared me.
I am the ruler of my offspring.
But he is the one who begot me before the time on a birthday.
And he is my offspring in (due) time,
and my power is from him.
I am the staff of his power in his youth,
and he is the rod of my old age.
And whatever he wills happens to me.
I am the silence that is incomprehensible
and the idea whose remembrance is frequent.
I am the voice whose sound is manifold
and the word whose appearance is multiple.
I am the utterance of my name.
Why, you who hate me, do you love me,
and hate those who love me?
You who deny me, confess me,
and you who confess me, deny me.
You who tell the truth about me, lie about me,
and you who have lied about me, tell the truth about me.
You who know me, be ignorant of me,
and those who have not known me, let them know me.
For I am knowledge and ignorance.
I am shame and boldness.
I am shameless; I am ashamed.
I am strength and I am fear.
I am war and peace.
Give heed to me.
I am the one who is disgraced and the great one.
Give heed to my poverty and my wealth.
Do not be arrogant to me when I am cast out upon the earth,
and you will find me in those that are to come.
And do not look upon me on the dung-heap
nor go and leave me cast out,
and you will find me in the kingdoms.
And do not look upon me when I am cast out among those who
are disgraced and in the least places,
nor laugh at me.
And do not cast me out among those who are slain in violence.
But I, I am compassionate and I am cruel.
Be on your guard!
Do not hate my obedience
and do not love my self-control.
In my weakness, do not forsake me,
and do not be afraid of my power.
For why do you despise my fear
and curse my pride?
But I am she who exists in all fears
and strength in trembling.
I am she who is weak,
and I am well in a pleasant place.
I am senseless and I am wise.
Why have you hated me in your counsels?
For I shall be silent among those who are silent,
and I shall appear and speak,
Why then have you hated me, you Greeks?
Because I am a barbarian among the barbarians?
For I am the wisdom of the Greeks
and the knowledge of the barbarians.
I am the judgement of the Greeks and of the barbarians.
I am the one whose image is great in Egypt
and the one who has no image among the barbarians.
I am the one who has been hated everywhere
and who has been loved everywhere.
I am the one whom they call Life,
and you have called Death.
I am the one whom they call Law,
and you have called Lawlessness.
I am the one whom you have pursued,
and I am the one whom you have seized.
I am the one whom you have scattered,
and you have gathered me together.
I am the one before whom you have been ashamed,
and you have been shameless to me.
I am she who does not keep festival,
and I am she whose festivals are many.
I, I am godless,
and I am the one whose God is great.
I am the one whom you have reflected upon,
and you have scorned me.
I am unlearned,
and they learn from me.
I am the one that you have despised,
and you reflect upon me.
I am the one whom you have hidden from,
and you appear to me.
But whenever you hide yourselves,
I myself will appear.
For whenever you appear,
I myself will hide from you.
Those who have [...] to it [...] senselessly [...].
Take me [... understanding] from grief.
and take me to yourselves from understanding and grief.
And take me to yourselves from places that are ugly and in ruin,
and rob from those which are good even though in ugliness.
Out of shame, take me to yourselves shamelessly;
and out of shamelessness and shame,
upbraid my members in yourselves.
And come forward to me, you who know me
and you who know my members,
and establish the great ones among the small first creatures.
Come forward to childhood,
and do not despise it because it is small and it is little.
And do not turn away greatnesses in some parts from the smallnesses,
for the smallnesses are known from the greatnesses.
Why do you curse me and honor me?
You have wounded and you have had mercy.
Do not separate me from the first ones whom you have known.
And do not cast anyone out nor turn anyone away
[...] turn you away and [... know] him not.
[...].
What is mine [...].
I know the first ones and those after them know me.
But I am the mind of [...] and the rest of [...].
I am the knowledge of my inquiry,
and the finding of those who seek after me,
and the command of those who ask of me,
and the power of the powers in my knowledge
of the angels, who have been sent at my word,
and of gods in their seasons by my counsel,
and of spirits of every man who exists with me,
and of women who dwell within me.
I am the one who is honored, and who is praised,
and who is despised scornfully.
I am peace,
and war has come because of me.
And I am an alien and a citizen.
I am the substance and the one who has no substance.
Those who are without association with me are ignorant of me,
and those who are in my substance are the ones who know me.
Those who are close to me have been ignorant of me,
and those who are far away from me are the ones who have known me.
On the day when I am close to you, you are far away from me,
and on the day when I am far away from you, I am close to you.
[I am ...] within.
[I am ...] of the natures.
I am [...] of the creation of the spirits.
[...] request of the souls.
I am control and the uncontrollable.
I am the union and the dissolution.
I am the abiding and I am the dissolution.
I am the one below,
and they come up to me.
I am the judgment and the acquittal.
I, I am sinless,
and the root of sin derives from me.
I am lust in (outward) appearance,
and interior self-control exists within me.
I am the hearing which is attainable to everyone
and the speech which cannot be grasped.
I am a mute who does not speak,
and great is my multitude of words.
Hear me in gentleness, and learn of me in roughness.
I am she who cries out,
and I am cast forth upon the face of the earth.
I prepare the bread and my mind within.
I am the knowledge of my name.
I am the one who cries out,
and I listen.
I appear and [...] walk in [...] seal of my [...].
I am [...] the defense [...].
I am the one who is called Truth
and iniquity [...].
You honor me [...] and you whisper against me.
You who are vanquished, judge them (who vanquish you)
before they give judgment against you,
because the judge and partiality exist in you.
If you are condemned by this one, who will acquit you?
Or, if you are acquitted by him, who will be able to detain you?
For what is inside of you is what is outside of you,
and the one who fashions you on the outside
is the one who shaped the inside of you.
And what you see outside of you, you see inside of you;
it is visible and it is your garment.
Hear me, you hearers
and learn of my words, you who know me.
I am the hearing that is attainable to everything;
I am the speech that cannot be grasped.
I am the name of the sound
and the sound of the name.
I am the sign of the letter
and the designation of the division.
And I [...].
(3 lines missing)
[...] light [...].
[...] hearers [...] to you
[...] the great power.
And [...] will not move the name.
[...] to the one who created me.
And I will speak his name.
Look then at his words
and all the writings which have been completed.
Give heed then, you hearers
and you also, the angels and those who have been sent,
and you spirits who have arisen from the dead.
For I am the one who alone exists,
and I have no one who will judge me.
For many are the pleasant forms which exist in numerous sins,
and incontinencies,
and disgraceful passions,
and fleeting pleasures,
which (men) embrace until they become sober
and go up to their resting place.
And they will find me there,
and they will live,
and they will not die again.
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This book is a huge eye opener for me. I've tried to find a representation of Gaffneys presentation of the Naassene Sermon (Book 5 of "The Refutation of All Heresies"), online, but am unable. An early bishop of the Church, Bishop Hippolytus, reveals what he sees as "heresy", unknowingly giving us an understanding of the true teachings of Jesus. There are many references in the Sermon of what I'll call Toltec...only because I seem to be researching backwards...I started with Toltec...heh :). I'll try to post some examples later. But, imo, It's a great read, if you have a Christian background/upbringing.
I skimmed the next chapter and the reading looks like revelations of the "heart", and into chakras, celestial gates, Hinduism, and how these things relate to the teachings of Jesus...
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Ang, "The Thunder, Perfect Mind" is interesting... that goddess was power! It was found during the same unearthings as the dead sea scrolls.
(Speculated to be Sophia....)
Yes! Sophia...
"... Job's query regarding Wisdom takes us to the heart of the matter, for wisdom is the quality Yahweh lacks. The Greek word for her is Sophia. She is the Divine Mother, the feminine companion to God, and she is well known in the East, where she is the active principle in the Godhead and has many names. In the various Hindu traditions she appears as Kali, Shakti, and Durga, among others. It is she who manifests the world, sustains it, and transforms it. East or West, she is inseparable from the Godhead. In Judaism, however, awareness of her nature and importance was a late development. That it happened at all may have been due in no small part to the anonymous scribe responsible for the Book of Job.
The problem is how to reconcile her gentle and wise nature with the gruff and irritable Yahweh. The temperamental patriarch of old stubbornly resists the intrusion of her feminine presence. The Hebrew God prefers to stand alone, imperious in his majesty, bristling with archetypal wrath. Indeed, in his raging aspect Yahweh is almost the antithesis of Wisdom. It is no wonder that many of the Old Testament descriptions of Yahweh closely resemble the Canaanite gods EI and Baal - the raw material for so much of his composite character. In the sixth century B.C.E. these dross elements were still very much in evidence.
The patriarchal storm god dies hard. Yet change (i.e., evolve) God must, because from the moment the author of Job exposes Yahweh's dark underside, his deficiency can no longer be ignored, neither on earth, nor in heaven. Thus, we find her - Sophia, Wisdom - described in the eighth Proverb, where we are told that her presence is as old as Creation:
The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way,
before his works of old.
I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning,
or ever the earth was.
When there were no depths, I was brought forth;
when there were no foundations abounding with water.
When he established the heavens, I was there,
When he marked out the foundations of the earth,
then I was by him, as a master worksman,
and I was daily in his delight,
rejoicing always before him,
rejoicing in his habitable earth;
and my delights were with the sons of men.
(Proverbs 8:22-24,27,29-31)
Parts of the book of Proverbs are very old and may even date to the time of Solomon, but the chapters about Wisdom, including the lines cited above, were composed much later, although an exact date has never been established. Dating Proverbs has proved difficult. Jung interpreted the presence of Wisdom as evidence of Greek influence and dated the above passage to the third or fourth century B.C. While this has yet to be confirmed, there is no doubt about the very late date of a similar description of Wisdom in Ecclesiasticus 24:3-30:
I came forth from the Most High,
And I covered the earth like mist.
I had my tent in the heights,
and my throne in a pillar of cloud.
Alone, I circled the vault of the sky,
and I walked on the bottom of the deeps.
Over the waves of the sea and over the whole earth,
and over every people and nation I held sway.
. . . From eternity, in the beginning, he created me,
and for eternity I shall remain.
Here she is the spirit of God who broods upon the waters in the moment of Creation."
"Gnostic Secrets of the Naassenses" by Mark H. Gaffney pgs. 103-105
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The Testament of Reuben drives home your author's point ... the desert god has not much use for women.
13 For evil are women, my children; and since they have no power or strength over man, they use wiles by outward attractions, that they may draw him to themselves.
14 And whom they cannot bewitch by outward attractions, him they overcome by craft.
15 For moreover, concerning them, the angel of the Lord told me, and taught me, that women are overcome by the spirit of fornication more than men, and in their heart they plot against men; and by means of their adornment they deceive first their minds, and by the glance of the eye instil the poison, and then through the accomplished act they take them captive.
16 For a woman cannot force a man openly, but by a harlot's bearing she beguiles him.
17 Flee, therefore, fornication, my children, and command your wives and your daughters, that they adorn not their heads and faces to deceive the mind: because every woman who useth these wiles hath been reserved for eternal punishment.
18 For thus they allured the Watchers 1 who were before the flood; for as these continually beheld them, they lusted after them, and they conceived the act in their mind; for they changed themselves into the shape of men, and appeared to them when they were with their husbands.
19 And the women lusting in their minds after their forms, gave birth to giants, for the Watchers appeared to them as reaching even unto heaven.
20 Beware, therefore, of fornication; and if you wish to be pure in mind, guard your senses from every woman.
21 And command the women likewise not to associate with men, that they also may be pure in mind.
22 For constant meetings, even though the ungodly deed be not wrought, are to them an irremediable disease, and to us a destruction of Beliar and an eternal reproach.
23 For in fornication there is neither understanding nor godliness, and all jealousy dwelleth in the lust thereof.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/fbe/fbe268.htm
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The Testament of Reuben drives home your author's point ... the desert god has not much use for women.
Seems Reuben and his brothers had some "issues", eh? ;)
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Seems Reuben and his brothers had some "issues", eh? ;)
You said it!
In chapter 1, it comes to light that reuben had raped, apparently, a woman he saw naked .. or maybe he just "fornicated" with her. He "left her sleeping". But he got a "disease" -- he doesn't drive home that it was an std ... one has to read between the lines. But of course, it was the woman's fault, the whole escapade. She beguiled him, bewitched him, something...
Yes, "issues"! ;)
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You said it!
In chapter 1, it comes to light that reuben had raped, apparently, a woman he saw naked .. or maybe he just "fornicated" with her. He "left her sleeping". But he got a "disease" -- he doesn't drive home that it was an std ... one has to read between the lines. But of course, it was the woman's fault, the whole escapade. She beguiled him, bewitched him, something...
Yes, "issues"! ;)
From Chapter 1...http://www.earth-history.com/Pseudepigrapha/FB-Eden/patriarchs-reuben.htm
I believe it was his father's mistress. Sounds like an std to me.
6 And behold I call to witness against you this day the God of heaven, that ye walk not in the sins of youth and fornication, wherein I was poured out, and defiled the bed of my father Jacob.
7 And I tell you that he smote me with a sore plague in my loins for seven months; and had not my father Jamb prayed for me to the Lord, the Lord would have destroyed me.
8 For I was thirty years old when I wrought the evil thing before the Lord, and for seven months I was sick unto death.
9 And after this I repented with set purpose of my soul for seven years before the Lord.
10 And wine and strong drink I drank not, and flesh entered not into my mouth, and I ate no pleasant food; but I mourned over my sin, for it was great, such as had not been in Israel.
I'm always wary of the owners of these sites. Seems each group, whether religions or secular, have their own twist on the translations.
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I'm always wary of the owners of these sites. Seems each group, whether religions or secular, have their own twist on the translations.
Your wariness is appropriate. Even in the day, translation was politics, as was the selection of which texts made it into the 'final printing', to coin a phrase.
My first encounter with Reuben's 'writing' was with the big volume of the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha -- Oxford Edition, translated by RH Charles. (Sitting in my lap, that is.) My recollection of Reuben's text was even more vitriolic than what I can find online. I definitely remember some detail about the "uncleanness" of women. Oh well .. could be my memory is failing.
But one clue as to which camp an editor/writer might belong, is the usage of the words "old testament". Right away you know you are reading someone with a christian bias. For in the jewish tradition, there is the tanakh and the talmud: and the "new testament" is referred to as the greek testament, if it's referred to at all. (And why would they refer to it at all, given that in their beliefs, messiah has not yet come?)
I believe I've seen a discussion in an orthodox jewish forum that the pseudepigrapha is actually a christian body of work, written post-christ ... that everything in it is written in a retrospective anticipation of the events recorded in Mark. Just one point of view, of course ...
But biblical scholarship is an endless field, and was so even before the internet. Then you consider that all of these texts come from many languages: aramaic, hebrew, greek ... and the Catholic Council of Trent's official translation put it into Latin. The going catholic bible read in america is an english translation from the Latin, the first of which was the Douay ... which led to St Joseph's, and I don't know what they use now. The protestant/King James version claims to come directly from the hebrew ... but the point I'm trying to make is this::
If there are so many (agenda-filled) hands in the task of translating/ rendering the old and new testaments -- that is to say, the "official texts" -- just imagine the fray of dealing with these apocryphal, pseudepigraphal, and other texts of the Nag Hammadi library!
Research ... and leaps of faith with all of it are required, imho.
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Research ... and leaps of faith with all of it are required, imho.
I'm finding it requires more research than "faith". In reading many of the translations of ancient texts, esp. christian, the truth is not what they "believe" in, but more about what they are protesting. ;)
I was never really into religions so much, and when I was introduced to the CC books, I thought there was definitely no need to study religions. Then I came here...to soma...and I see many religious references. I thought...what is this all about? I'm discovering, it's nothing to do with "religion" and everything to do with Spiritual. :) Thanks for the push y'all. ;)
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I'm always wary of the owners of these sites. Seems each group, whether religions or secular, have their own twist on the translations.
Oh well, web is full of all sorts of evangelical crusaders as well as crusaders who crusade against these crusaders as well as all sorts of New Agers as well as all sorts of activists hellbent on exposing sham and cult everywhere.
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Oh well, web is full of all sorts of evangelical crusaders as well as crusaders who crusade against these crusaders as well as all sorts of New Agers as well as all sorts of activists hellbent on exposing sham and cult everywhere.
Yes, Juhani...I agree. But it's so empowering to "find that needle in the haystack"...the aha!, which takes you to the next, and the next, and the next...for the journey is never over. :) :-*
Ang
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Yes, Juhani...I agree. But it's so empowering to "find that needle in the haystack"...the aha!, which takes you to the next, and the next, and the next...for the journey is never over. :) :-*
Ang
Yes, rare these needles are.
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"Gnostic Secrets of the Naassene" by Mark H. Gaffney...I’m in the middle of chapter 12 “The Gates of Heaven”. I was reading last night and came across something that completely startled me…well actually, kinda freaked me out! It was in reference to a drawing by St. John of the Cross. It’s the “fig. 12.5, page 168” I’ll be mentioning in a following post “The Nadi System”, some book excerpts. This image is almost identical to what I saw on my computer screen in Dreaming just before I was lifted up off the floor, sucked into infinity and experienced the feeling of ectasy… Re: Questions.... (http://restlesssoma.com.au/soma/index.php?topic=2672.0) …
I never thought I would delve into religion again with such intent. My research is has become “bittersweet”…(heh Ellen!)
I’m thoroughly enjoying the “work”, but I’m sad to know the sordid history of the church I once belonged, and can only imagine what a different world we’d live in, had all of the people that claim to follow Jesus, actually followed his true teachings. And so many gave their lives… for what?
Some excerpts from the book…
THE SINGULARITY
We have shown that the cup symbol represents a higher order of consciousness beyond the ordinary dualistic reality of our day-to-day experience, but we have not yet established the cup's relation to the other important symbols that recur in the Naassene Sermon. The text's references to the cup and the Last Supper (Refutation 5.8.6-12) are immediately followed by a brief discussion about Adamas, the Primal Man. We are informed that he is manifested in the world in the form of ordinary men, who, unfortunately, have no knowledge of him and for this reason remain ignorant of their own divine nature (Refutation 5.8.13-17).
The Naassene scribe next enters into a lengthy discussion about the "celestial gate," which, he tells us, is the solution to the problem, for only by passing through this gate can men discover their true or spiritual identity (Refutation 5.8.18-21). Among the scribe's numerous references to this gate is the Old Testament story of Jacob's ladder and his vision of the "gate of heaven" (Genesis 28:7-17), which we discussed in chapter 3 (Refutation 5.8.19-20). He also cites passages from the New Testamentfor example, John 10:9-in which Jesus says, "I am the true gate." The scribe goes on to inform us that "man. . . cannot be saved, unless he is born again by entering through this gate" (Refutation 5.8.20-21). We are told "that this very [man], as a consequence of the change [becomes] a god. . . . He becomes a god when, having arisen from the dead he enters into heaven through a gate of this kind" (Refutation 5.8.24). Here, the scribe is referring not to the orthodox Resurrection of the Dead at the end of the world, but to a casting off of earthly attachments through a process of spiritual ascent. We know this because in the very next line he tells us that the apostle Paul partially opened this same gate and ascended through it into paradise as far as the third heaven (Refutation 5.8.25). The Naassenes evidently took to heart the words of Jesus to the Jews: "You are as god" (John 10:34; Psalm 82:6).
Given all of this, we would still be lost concerning the specifics of how to enter the gate but for an additional clue, a reference in the Sermon to the "indivisible point." This turns up in a lengthy discussion about the Incomprehensible One: "This. . . which is nothing, and which consists of nothing, inasmuch as it is indivisible - a point becomes through its own reflective power an incomprehensible magnitude" (Refutation 5.9.6). The concept of the indivisible point is well known in the Eastern yoga traditions, where it is referred to as the bindu, the point of maximum focus and concentration in which duality is compressed into a singularity. Although bindu has no size, no dimensionality, and no mass, it is quite real and in the East is considered the threshold between the physical world and the spiritual domains. Operationally it functions in both directions: From the standpoint of Creation, bindu is the source of spiritual light, the Logos principle, and the first sound (nada), but moving in the reverse direction it is also the entry point into the spiritual world. The bindu is associated with a spiritual center, or chakra, located between the eyebrows, the ajna chakra, but the field of bindu is said to lie above ajna, in the crown chakra (sahasrara) located just above the head. As one-pointed meditation deepens and the disciple penetrates bindu, the thousand-petaled sahasrara begins to unfold: The disciple begins to experience unitive states.
This advanced stage of spiritual practice apparently had no counterpart in first-century Judaism, although in the New Testament Jesus alludes to it in the parable of the mustard seed: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches" (Matthew 13:31-32, Mark 4:31-32, Luke 13: 18-19). The Naassene scribe associates these two concepts - he cites the mustard seed and the indivisible point in the very same passage (Refutation 5.9.6}-which raises important questions. Indeed, our discovery of the indivisible point (or bindu) in the Naassene Sermon is decisive for our investigation, because it establishes an unmistakable connection with the Eastern spiritual traditions that practice kundalini yoga. Did such a tradition arise independently in the West as a result of the ministry of Jesus? Or did Jesus perhaps transmit preexisting yogic teachings from India and Tibet?
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HRIT: THE MASTER CHIP
The Naassene scribe's familiarity with this Eastern concept suggests that our investigation might benefit from a closer look at Eastern scriptures, and, as we shall now see, this is indeed the case. The Vedas of India - so ancient that no one knows when they were first written down - hold the missing piece of the puzzle uniting all of the important elements and symbols in the Naassene Sermon: the cup, the gate, the river, and the reversal of the flow. The Vedas not only confirm the medieval artists' intuitive leap in associating the Grail with the heart of Jesus, but they also describe with great technical precision how the awakening of the spiritual heart center brings about the opening of the "gate of heaven." It is no coincidence that the root of the word veda is vid, which means "to know" - thus, veda is synonymous with gnosis! Although the first translations of the Vedas reached the West in the late eighteenth century, their true significance has only recently become known thanks to the 1980 book Layayoga by Shyam Sundar Goswami, the first English compilation of more than a hundred Vedas, Upanishads, Tantras, and Puranas. Previously, an overall assessment of these Indian scriptures was not possible in the West because only scattered or incomplete translations were available. In this regard Goswami's book was a breakthrough: the first systematic presentation in English of this vast body of scriptures.
It is of interest that the philosopher Aristotle, who was also the private tutor of Alexander the Great, taught that the seat of human consciousness lies not in the brain, but in the heart. The same idea can be found in the Upanishads (a part of the Vedas), which identify the heart chakra as the link between the cup and the spiritual channel that runs up the spine (which we shall call here the Sacred Jordan). (See fig. 12.3, page 162.) In Sanskrit the word for heart (and probably its original root) is hrit. This term hrit, however, does not refer to the fleshy organ that pumps blood through the body, but rather to a chakra located above the diaphragm, in the region of the spine. This heart center, or hrit, is extremely subtle (that is, nonmaterial) and in this respect it is like bindu - having no physical aspect, dimension, or mass, yet being quite real and, in fact, of inestimable importance. The Vedas describe hrit in its usual quiescent state as a lotus hanging in a downward position with its petals closed. When aroused, however, the lotus lifts its head and opens its petals, whence there occurs a spontaneous expansion of consciousness that is potentially limitless. The Vedas say that in relation to this subtle hrit center there lies an infinitesimal void "wherein is situated the whole." The scripture's meaning is not metaphorical: "The whole" means just that - the direct experience of a non-dual, unitive state. This infinitesimal void is known in the yoga traditions as hridaya, the heart space, where inside and outside merge and become one, but it is described by various names in other traditions: the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the great lap, the Tao, the bosom of God, and, in Gnostic parlance, the all, or Pleroma. Sometimes it is described as a fertile void because, though it is a condition of nothingness with no material substance, it contains the entire universe. This heart space is the alchemical vessel that is equivalent to its contents. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross entered into this phenomenal space during her remarkable experience of cosmic consciousness.
As far as I know, the only references to the hrit center or the heart space in Judeo-Christianity are the obscure lines from Jeremiah and Ezekiel cited as epigraphs at the beginning of this chapter as well as several passages in the Epistle of Barnabas, an orthodox apocryphal scripture that, in the view of most scholars, including S. G. F. Brandon, was written in Alexandria late in the first century. It seems to be the only source in orthodox Christianity affirming the immanence of God in conjunction with the heart center: The anonymous author of Barnabas identifies the human body as the true temple and refers to the heart center as the place where God dwells. Today, perhaps not surprisingly, the Epistle of Barnabas is virtually unknown.
The hrit chakra is said to lie within the sushumna, the spiritual channel that starts at the base of the spine and runs up the vertebral column to the crown of the head. Despite its great importance, this subtle channel, which we call here the Sacred Jordan, is normally closed. Indeed, from a spiritual standpoint the challenge is to open it, and this accounts for the vital importance of the hrit chakra: According to the Vedas, the control factor that governs the opening of the sushumna lies within hrit. This explains the mysterious connection between the cup and the recurring symbol of the gate in the Naassene Sermon: When hrit is aroused, the normally quiescent sushumna automatically becomes active, greatly accelerating the disciple's spiritual evolution. The frontispiece for this book (page ii) symbolizes this process. No wonder the subtle hrit center is the primary focus of meditation in an of the Eastern yoga traditions. The scriptures of India do not always agree on the details concerning the hrit center. Although the Vedas were the basis for the most ancient spiritual teachings in India, as time passed they came to be regarded by some as too demanding. Thus, the Tantras were developed as a more accessible alternative. The Tantras simplified spiritual anatomy by collapsing the distinction between the hrit chakra (an eight-petaled lotus) and a more general designation for the spiritual heart, anahata, described as a twelve-petaled lotus. Some of the Tantras acknowledge hrit but regard it as a subcomponent of anahata rather than as a separate chakra.
The saints and scriptures of India also occasionally disagree about the precise location of the hrit chakra; however, there is unanimous agreement on its vital importance. In this respect the Indian scriptures affirm the peripatetic philosopher Aristotle's teaching that the heart is the seat of the soul. The great twentieth-century Hindu saint Sri Ramana Maharshi referred to hrit as "the center of all," and even declared that the heart center is of the same divine nature as the Godhead.
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THE NADI SYSTEM
According to the Vedas, the sushumna (or Sacred Jordan) is the principal organ of a subtle force field that provides the basis for the mind and all bodily processes. The Vedas refer to this subtle field as the nadi system. Although it is nonmaterial, the nadi system has a definite structure and is said to be composed of 72,000 specific motion or force lines through which prana, or life energy, moves. Prana, like the nadis, is extremely subtle. Of the 72,000 nadis in the body, 101 stand "in relation to hrit," meaning that they originate in the hrit center. Of these 101, fourteen are said to be most important, and of these, three are key. These three most important nadis are depicted in the caduceus, the famed heraldic staff of Hermes. Sumerian artifacts have confirmed this symbol's great antiquity; it appears to have been universally known in the ancient world.
Two of these nadis are referred to as ida and pingala. It is said that pingala extends up the spine to the right nostril and ida to the left nostril. But the most important nadi of all is the central channel, the sushumna, which, though it lies within the vertebral column, is said to be distinct from and without direct connection to the central nervous system.
Normally, the prana is said to move through the nadi system in an outward or worldly direction, sustaining the mind and all of the body's vital functions. When the hrit center is aroused, however, prana ceases to flow in the usual outward manner and instead enters the sushumna. The medieval woodcuts that show the wounding of the heart of Jesus are accurate depictions of the arousal of hrit, which is described similarly in the Vedas as the piercing or penetration of the heart center by the spiritual energy. Truly, it is a kind of wounding, as if one is being stabbed at the core of one's being, sometimes even causing a sharp but brief pain - yet followed by an ecstasy of love. This is the reversal of the flow, and from a spiritual standpoint it is by far the most important event in a disciple's life, tantamount to the biblical descent of Holy Spirit.
The sushumna is said to be composed of three sheaths, each one within the other and each of increasing subtlety. The outer sheath is the vajra nadi; within it is the chitrini nadi; and at the innermost level is the extremely fine brahma nadi, known as "the path of the absolute". It is said that when the spiritual energy moves into the sushumna, the mind becomes calm and very stable. Of this remarkable spiritual organ Swami Vivekananda, the great disciple of Ramakrishna, wrote:
The yogi alone has the sushumna open. When this sushumna current opens, and thought begins to rise through it, we get beyond the senses, our minds become superconscious, we get beyond even the intellect, and where reasoning cannot reach. To open that sushumna is the prime object of the yogi.
Swami Vivekananda was the first Indian adept to visit the West in modern times. His incomparable teacher Ramakrishna sent him to America to attend the 1893 Chicago World Congress of Religions, at which Vivekananda delivered a stirring address that, by all accounts, caused a sensation. His appearance left a deep impression on all who were present. Such is the company of a liberated soul.
Although the sushumna is subtle, at certain times it can be experienced directly. In her book The Sacred Power: A Seeker's Guide to Kundalini, Swami Kripananda, a monk of the Siddha Yoga lineage, describes one such experience:
One morning while I was sitting for meditation, I suddenly felt all the vitality in my body withdraw itself from my limbs and gather in the center of my body. It rose up through the central channel and exited through the crown of my head, taking my full awareness intact along with it. I felt that I was formless consciousness completely independent of my physical body, which I could observe from a few feet away. There was nothing frightening about it-I was still "me" as I knew myself, but without a body. Then, just as suddenly, I returned to my body, reentering it through the crown of the head. As the vital force descended through the sushumna, it shot out into all of my limbs through an infinite number of tiny channels, revitalizing them once more.
The spiritual life of the disciple does not begin to unfold until the sushumna becomes active, for the sushumna is said to contain not only the various chakras, but also the samskaras, the residual karmic impressions generated in past lives, impressions that prevent the full awakening of kundalini or, in other words, the soul's final liberation. Before kundalini can enter the sushumna at full force, all of the outstanding issues from past lives must be dealt with and successfully resolved. Assuming this work has finally been accomplished, however, Supreme Yoga then follows naturally and spontaneously. Kundalini is aroused for the last time and the soul begins its swift and final stage of the homeward journey. The Naassene Sermon actually includes a reference to this summit of human life and religion (Refutation 5.9.4), one, fittingly, that we shall discuss in chapter 14, the final chapter of this book.
The sushumna, then, is "the narrow gate" in Matthew 7:13-14, Luke 13:24, and John 10:8 - all passages cited in the Sermon - and the same channel mentioned in the Dialogue of the Savior, which has close affinities with the Gospel of John. The Dialogue has also been compared to the Gospel of Thomas, and was probably known to the Naassenes. In it Jesus says, " . . . when I came I opened the way, I taught them the passage through which will pass the elect and the solitary ones. "
Although Christian scripture never mentions the sushumna and the nadi system, their existence cannot be doubted. The Vedas and Tantras describe these spiritual organs in amazing detail, employing language so technically precise that it can only be compared to the language of science. Indeed, these Hindu scriptures are powerful evidence that the Eastern traditions advanced far beyond orthodox Chrisrianity in the important area of mapping out and delineating the spiritual body.
Similar descriptions can also be found in Buddhism, which was born in India and developed alongside Hinduism for several centuries. As a result of this geographical association, there was considerable mixing and sharing between these two great traditions. It is no accident, for example, that in Buddhism the figure Avalokitesvara, who is associated with the heart center, is revered as the greatest of all the Bodhisattvas (highly evolved souls who incarnate on earth for the purpose of uplifting humanity). Nor is it mere coincidence that Buddhists regard the experience of emptiness - in other words, the heart space - as the first important breakthrough on the spititual path. What holds for Hinduism and Buddhism is also true of Taoism, though a discussion of the relevant aspects of this tradirion is beyond the scope of this book.
Christians who remain skeptical about the universality of these ideas would do well to study the drawing made by Saint John of the Cross (see images below in Spanish and English, from pg. 168), a sixteenth-century Spanish contemporary of Saint Teresa of Avila. John was one of Christianity's greatest saints, and his drawing was intended as a summation of his spiritual ideas. Originally it accompanied his famous poem "The Ascent of Mount Carmel." The drawing is a clear depiction of the ida and pingala nadis and the sushumna. The central channel leads to the summit of Mount Carmel, where, in John's own words, "only the honor and glory of God dwell." Saint John of the Cross lived during the height of the Inquisition, dark times indeed. During his life he endured imprisonment and even excommunication. Unlike India, where saints have always been revered, the Christian West has tended to distrust and persecute its own. The Church has often viewed mystics and even great saints as psychotics, if not heretics. Nor have things changed appreciably in this regard: John's important drawing appeared in the 1973 English edition of his collected writings, yet in Christian circles it remains almost unknown.
Poem from the image below:
To reach satisfaction in all
desire satisfaction in nothing
To come to the knowledge of all
desire the knowledge of nothing
To come to possess all
desire the possession of nothing
To arrive at being all
desire to be nothing
To come to the pleasure you have not
you must go by a way in which you enjoy not
To come to the knowledge you have not
you must go by a way in which you know not
To come to the possession you have not
you must go by a way in which you possess not
To come to be what you are not
you must go by a way in which you are not
When you turn toward something
you cease to cast yourself upon the all
For to go from the all to the all
you must leave yourself in all
And when you come to the possession of all
you must possess it without wanting anything
In this nakedness the spirit
finds its rest, for when it
covets nothing, nothing
raises it up, and nothing
weighs it down, because it is
in the center of its humility.
3 preceding posts from "Gnostic Secrets of the Naassenes" by Mark H. Gaffney
pgs. 157- 168
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Angela, there is a book i want to strongly recommend to you:
'The World’s Religions' - Huston Smith
Zam ordered it for me yesterday ;D Thanks Zammy! :-* :-*
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Indian philosophical religious ideas have been leaking east, west, south and north for a long time. It is not uncommon for people with a desire to delve deeper into their own traditions to eventually slip into Vedic or Tantric tradition, as there they find such a rich language and body of conceptual thinking to give precise form to their seeking and intuitions.
That part can not be denied. However this process is not without its dangers.
Firstly, and of lesser consequence, Hindu thought is like a swamp of inter-entangled concepts. There is nothing clearly defined in Hinduism - it all bleeds into its separate parts. This can be a problem from a western standpoint, where clarity and definition are paramount. But furthermore, it also has sprouted a huge popular and un-informed array of writing and beliefs, both in India and in the West. To find accurate and useful information is not always easy.
Always remember there is a lot of mis-information around Hinduism. I am definitly not saying your author is guilty of that, but I am saying that one has to enter this field with a degree of caution. There is a body of acknowledged works and authors. What you have posted above is a good example of the excitement seekers experience when they discover that a huge and ancient tradition not only knows what they are seeking, but can talk about it in words of deep knowledge and beauty. My advise at that point, is if you do wish to explore it further, do not dally with un-acknowledged authors - go to the cannon of recognised experts. To help, i will post a list in the Hindu section, which I can get from Julie, who is an expert in this area.
Secondly, there is a danger in allowing in Hindu thought patterns into a 'western' mind. It may appear they are compatible, but that is not the case. Carl Jung has spoken of this, and that applied to an earlier time - since the sixties, western 'mind' has changed. But I would still advise that one move with caution, and for anyone who does wish to explore Hindu thoughts seriously, to do so with guidance or at least someone to call on. Hindu spiritual thought has a freedom that can unhinge a western trained mind... and that is only the thought part.
i talk about it because it has such wisdom for us on this path, but also because I have some inner connection. But I always wish to give this caution... don't go too fast with it.
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Always remember there is a lot of mis-information around Hinduism. I am definitly not saying your author is guilty of that, but I am saying that one has to enter this field with a degree of caution. There is a body of acknowledged works and authors. What you have posted above is a good example of the excitement seekers experience when they discover that a huge and ancient tradition not only knows what they are seeking, but can talk about it in words of deep knowledge and beauty. My advise at that point, is if you do wish to explore it further, do not dally with un-acknowledged authors - go to the cannon of recognised experts. To help, i will post a list in the Hindu section, which I can get from Julie, who is an expert in this area.
Yes, Michael, I realized this from the beginning of the book. Gaffney has an agenda, to discredit the Catholic (Christian) church. But...in doing so he has given a substantial amount of history in his writing. He mentions Jung quite often, Albright, and others. I'd post the entire book, if I could. I think he's really done his homework, but I also see where his personal agenda pops up. I'm towards the end of the book, and he also goes into the Egyptian mythology and "creation". And...quantum theories. It's an interesting read, once you get to know the author. I'll look at the Hindu section, I seem to have a fascination for that area in particular. Thanks!
Ang
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Ang,
You might find Thomas Merton interesting of an author if you haven't read him yet.
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Ang,
You might find Thomas Merton interesting of an author if you haven't read him yet.
Thanks El.
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If I had to lose a mile
If I had to touch feelings
I would lose my soul
The way I do
I dont have to think
I only have to do it
The results are always perfect
And thats old news
Would you like to hear my voice
Sweetened with emotion
Invented at your birth?
I cant see the end of me
My whole expanse I cannot see
I formulate infinity
And store it deep inside of me
-mp
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Angela, there is a book i want to strongly recommend to you:
'The World’s Religions' - Huston Smith
This book is still a classic text in Studies in Religion courses around the world, and is one of the best ways to be introduced into the overview of humanity's search for 'truth'.
It doesn't deal with the history, it gets to the juicy bones of each religion, including Christianity. But it also chooses the most delicious bones - it is a sheer delight to read, and hold so much knowledge.
This book (like 'A History of Western Philosophy' - Bertrand Russell which does the same for that subject) is truly a must read for anyone who wants to start on the journey of reaching out to our fellow travelers in spirit across the globe.
Michael...I got this book and have read about 60 pages in the past two weeks. Maybe it was the distraction of the Holidays, but it seemed a difficult read in the beginning. Possibly the writing style...but anyway, as I'm becoming more familiar with it, I'm liking it very much :) I've read a couple of excerpts to Zam, and He's even thinking about reading it. ;)
The first religion Smith writes about is Hinduism. It feels very familiar and comfortable. It's like many religions in one religion... it grabbed me in a way...almost seductive.
Onward into the cast system....
Ang
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I've been meaning to mention ... I'm pretty sure that book was one of my textbooks in "World Religions" class in college. Can't confirm that, though .. they're in a box in the attic, which is boarded up. It's been 30+ years now.. hearing you all speak of it makes me want to get another copy. :)
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I've been meaning to mention ... I'm pretty sure that book was one of my textbooks in "World Religions" class in college. Can't confirm that, though .. they're in a box in the attic, which is boarded up. It's been 30+ years now.. hearing you all speak of it makes me want to get another copy. :)
Hmmm....interesting concerning old college texbooks. Ang and I will be visiting my alma mater this weekend. Visiting Dreaming.
Let's see how it goes...
z
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Michael...I got this book and have read about 60 pages in the past two weeks. Maybe it was the distraction of the Holidays, but it seemed a difficult read in the beginning. Possibly the writing style...but anyway, as I'm becoming more familiar with it, I'm liking it very much :) I've read a couple of excerpts to Zam, and He's even thinking about reading it. ;)
The first religion Smith writes about is Hinduism. It feels very familiar and comfortable. It's like many religions in one religion... it grabbed me in a way...almost seductive.
Onward into the cast system....
Ang
my favourite in that book was Taoism.
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"There is a being, wonderful, perfect;
It existed before heaven and earth.
How quiet it is!
How spiritual it is!
It stands alone and it does not change.
It moves around and around, but it does not on this account suffer.
All life comes from it.
It wraps everything with its love as in a garment, and yet it claims no honor; it does not demand to be Lord.
I do not know its name, and so I call it Tao, the Way, and I rejoice in its power."
'The World's Religions' pg. 218
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"There is a being, wonderful, perfect;
It existed before heaven and earth.
How quiet it is!
How spiritual it is!
It stands alone and it does not change.
It moves around and around, but it does not on this account suffer.
All life comes from it.
It wraps everything with its love as in a garment, and yet it claims no honor; it does not demand to be Lord.
I do not know its name, and so I call it Tao, the Way, and I rejoice in its power."
'The World's Religions' pg. 218
And man has dubbed it several different names throughout his existence ... I'm sure there will be many more.
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"There is a being, wonderful, perfect;
It existed before heaven and earth.
How quiet it is!
How spiritual it is!
It stands alone and it does not change.
It moves around and around, but it does not on this account suffer.
All life comes from it.
It wraps everything with its love as in a garment, and yet it claims no honor; it does not demand to be Lord.
I do not know its name, and so I call it Tao, the Way, and I rejoice in its power."
'The World's Religions' pg. 218
and that is you, me, and everyone
cultivate that, and you can carry the incense from the old to the new temple
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and that is you, me, and everyone
cultivate that, and you can carry the incense from the old to the new temple
:)
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Doing some research and ran into this today ....
http://www.perceivingreality.com/
There are many more clips on you tube by ARI Films ... http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=the+Kabbalah+Series&aq=f