My Reconciliation with Christianity
Feeling such a deep disillusionment through a gradual recognition of the utter havoc wrought by Western civilization has left me spiritually marooned in a seemingly apocalyptic techno-empire. I grew up hate-filled and angry toward Them (an acronym standing for The Hierarchy Enslaving Me). The Them that I hurled my anger and hatred towards seemed to fuck with every person I saw in some way. Lucky for me, however, the bonds uniting family and friends generated a beautiful, love-based counter-impulse to the destructive forces at work in the consumerist matrix into which I was born. Somehow, through the workings of this benevolent impulse, which has woven a web of support for my prosperous existence in the world, and despite anti-authoritarian leanings, I have come to a gradual reconciliation with Western civilization and Christianity. I have learned that the shame and rage that comes along with waking up to the terrors of "Western" and/or "Christian" history tends to obscure the deeper and subtler aspects of European spiritual traditions.
As a young contemporary adult, I can honestly say that to admit to being a Christian is not considered "cool." In subcultures such as those that can be found in the San Francisco Bay Area (where I currently reside), if a worldview is not sufficiently "eastern" or "shamanic" or "new age," it is generally considered patriarchal and outdated. A frequent response that I get from people when they find out I went to Catholic school from kindergarten to eighth grade is something like a facetious "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Such interactions even mirror my own personal sentiments during those formative years as my inner rebel often had the same regretful disdain towards the institutional entities, both Church and State, responsible for my inculcation. But now that I reflect upon the affective imprinting of parochial school upon my psyche, I am actually grateful for it.
The main thing that has allowed me to come to terms with my upbringing was the fact that I was inculcated with a worldview that was spiritually affirmative in its ontological outlook rather than something like a materialistic "newtonian/cartesian" worldview. From a pretty early age I would lie in bed and contemplate metaphysical concepts all night, trying to wrap my young mind around supersensibly based questions such as: "What is it like for an individual to subjectively experience eternal heaven or hell?"; "What was my form before I was born?"; "What exactly do they mean by ‘the apocalypse'? Will everything just cease to exist? What would that be like?"; and "Why weren't people able to recognize Christ as God in human form?" Because I engaged in these contemplative interactions for so long at such a young age, I believe that the involvement of my thinking with the content of these ideas generated an impulse within me that can be described as "spiritual aspiration," or in other words, a tendency to seek transcendence of imposed limitations, a desire to alchemically transform the cacophonous "givens" of my existence into harmonious forms that embody and manifest Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. These aspirations, however, would remain concealed in my secret inner life, completely unreflected by my outer life of self-destruction.
My life path was catalyzed by the metaphysically oriented thinking intrinsic to a European Christian heritage. But of course, there is a shadow side to the story. Development within the seemingly demonic psycho-social matrix of Western civilization has generated in me what can be called a "rebellious tendency of will." It can be characterized as the thought: "I hate the pressure exerted on me so therefore I will work to undermine this pressure-exerting system." As a child, the simple answers that I continually received in response to my religious questions from most adults, especially priests, nuns, and teachers, led to a disdain and lack of respect for traditional or official sources. "Jesus died for your sins so you better be good or else you're going to hell instead of heaven" was not enough. I am not a dog; promise of reward and threat of punishment is not enough to force my will into a prepackaged and contrived conformity. I secretly yearned for more depth and complexity. I recognized the inherent dualism of the Roman Catholic brand of Christianity intuiting that if God was as loving and forgiving as the nuns and priests suggested, then there was no way that some people are saved, go to heaven and are therefore "good" while others are condemned to eternal torture and punishment in hell and are therefore "bad." Exclusion is not a logical quality of a being that embodies and manifests all-embracing love and mercy.
Rather than engendering freedom, the ontological dualism implicit in naive good/bad, heaven/hell, or God/Satan dichotomies fosters a preferential and partial consciousness colored by the innate tendencies of attraction to pleasure and aversion from pain. The shallow mythos that was presented to me fueled an inner rebellion against institutionalized spirituality. I refused to accept their truths because they smelled like bullshit to me. It just didn't seem like the teachers or priests who were talking about things of a religious nature were actually speaking from a place of direct knowledge. It was more like they were programmed to respond to questions with pre-scripted answers that they didn't, in fact they couldn't, investigate for themselves. I concluded that Catholicism, as it was presented to me over nine years, was a dead religion. Therefore, after I graduated from eighth grade and made my confirmation, choosing "Michael" as my initiatory name, I stopped going to church and went to public high school, spending the next four years overtaken by the social formation of my ego (i.e., ingesting substances and trying to get laid) and thinking that I renounced my Christian heritage forever.
From the beginning of high school (1999) up until junior year of my undergrad (2006), I kept my spiritual strivings alive by reading about the "esoteric," "occult," "paranormal," and/or "supernatural" on the internet. I would literally type those words into the search engine and then read whatever came up. So I did not renounce spirituality, or stop "believing in God," I still prayed every night. I only rejected the institutional form of spirituality that had conditioned my consciousness for nine years. I had recognized the Roman Catholic tradition as a psycho-social reality generator, realizing that in the present times, it seems to create more existential problems than it solves. Any tradition with a rigid, circumscribed, dualistic, dogma-based identity is, in my opinion, inadequate and inappropriate for the present conditions we face as a planet. I could not stand to have my beliefs handed to me. I had to construct them from the ground up for and by myself.
Until my 18th year, my freshman year at college, I was completely unaware that there were non-institutionalized forms of Christianity. When I was introduced to gnostic and alchemical ideas and texts through the novels of Bay Area native Philip K. Dick, it felt like the established structures of my mind were melting away. The knowledge embedded in the parallel, esoteric traditions of my European ancestors shed an entirely new light on the institutional religion that I had struggled with for so long. For the first time in my life, the Christian tradition became alive as polymorphic and historically affected. I began to realize that Roman Catholicism came to be in its current form due to the influence of historical events and impulses. While studying cultural anthropology, I came to regard its genesis in two historical events that informed the nature of its historically unfolding form.
The first event was when the headquarters of Christ's ministry, Jerusalem, was decimated by the Romans in 70 AD, and explains the murky historical evidence for Jesus' existence. The second event is the appropriation of the Christian religion as the official religion of the Roman Empire under Constantine I at the beginning of the 4th century following centuries of brutal persecution. This event completely inverted the Christian experience from the esoteric religion of an oppressed and persecuted minority to an institutionally codified religion of a dominant world power. In other words, Christianity underwent a substantial "exotericization" when it became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Contemplating the traumatic effect that these two events must have had on the nature of Christianity allowed me to put a historical face on the tradition I was raised in. I began to learn about Christianity through an active, self-directed methodology rather than passively receiving conceptions from priests and nuns.
I was cultivating the ability to "see through" the exoteric, historically contingent aspects of Christianity to the esoteric "core truths," the transformative archetypal content of the tradition. Rather than regarding it from an exoteric perspective, as merely a system of myths and stories that some people believe in and others don't, I began to regard it from an esoteric perspective, as a system of symbols pointing to processes and events beyond the scope of present-day human consciousness. As an organically arising reconciliation with the Christian tradition began to coalesce within my psyche, I was introduced to two modern Christian initiates: Carl Jung and Rudolf Steiner. Through my subsequent engagement with the writings and articulations of these revolutionaries, it began to dawn on me that the goal of "true Christianity" situates individuals in the process of collective individuation/initiation reflected by the drama of Western civilization in a way that fosters development, healing, and love, rectifying the destructive and detrimental effects of imperial patriarchy. It is this aspect of Jung's and Steiner's work in particular, that I have felt drawn towards as it allows me to contemplate "evil" in a more nuanced and complex manner so that my responses to and interactions with "the negative" are based more on consciousness than emotive reactions. To be a true Christian is to devotionally transform one's entire being into a vessel, composed of MatterEnergy, through which Love, Wisdom, Beauty, Truth, Justice, Freedom and Virtue can harmoniously manifest their benevolent forces into SpaceTime. Such a venture, as in any attempt to orient one's will in a way that counteracts the inhibitive and restricting tendencies of a collective surround, necessarily entails a confrontation with "evil" both in the external structures of the world and the internal structures of the soul.
Image by Bossa67, courtesy of Creative Commons license.
Tweet- 10-20-09
- Christophoros's blog
- Login or register to post comments
- Printer-friendly version
Comments
Excellent thoughts
fishers of men
fishers of men
Hello Adam
You may be interested to talk to Carlos Hernandez. He is Percy Garcia's apprentice at Dios Ayahuasca Sanascion in Iquitos. (You can reach him through the website). He is a student of gnostic christianity. I enjoyed our conversations and miss Carlos and Percy's kindness and intelligence.
Shalom.
thank you adam
Dude, I've been reading your articles since you started posting. People such as yourself have been such an inspiration for me because you/they embody the type of existential condition that I am striving for. We must continue to engage in dialogue and possibly meet sometime, I'm sure a fruitful relationship would ensue!
Peace
George MacDonald
Have you ever read George MacDonald?
He wrote The Golden Key, (available online for free,) my favorite book. He himself loved reading Novalis, which I have seen people here refer to many times over.
I've been studying his Unspoken Sermons, which tell an esoteric understanding of Jesus Christ and his message.
In the present day -- have you heard of the Pentecostal, Bishop Carlton Pearon? His story is amazing (video, 2 parts.) I can't wait to hear him preach in person.
novalis...
I have never read George Macdonald or heard of Carlton Pearon but I look forward to engaging their works. Rudolf Steiner speaks extensively about Novalis in his work. Try visiting www.rsarchive.org and searching for Novalis, the first two lectures should be interesting to you.
Peace
Egyptian Coptic Christianity
http://www.mideastinfo.com/Religion/copt.htm
http://www.cmjcrosses.com/site/1423586/product/J-CRJER
Esoteric Christian expressions
Wow. I can relate to a lot
Wow. I can relate to a lot of your experiences. I was raised Catholic and attended CCD (the Catholic equivalent of Sunday School). I hated it. The religion did nothing for me. Even at a young age I considered it dead. No one, even the priests really seemed to believe what they were saying. To my young mind almost any other religion besides Christianity appeared to have a real connection to spirit--especially Eastern religions and Native traditions. As such, I had nothing to do with it once I became confirmed as well. Then when I was in my early 20's as I visited the band Tool's website I stumbled on the recommended reading page. One of the books recommended was Holy Blood, Holy Grail. It looked interesting and as it was available in my local library I checked it out. I was blown away. It was there that I was first introduced to alchemy and Gnosticism. It was like rediscovering Jesus for the first time. I had discovered someone as mystical and exotic (from my perspective at that time) as the Buddha . . . or even Crazy Horse . . . and from "my own" Western culture (more or less). It was like discovering a treasure that had been hidden in plain sight in my backyard for years and years. From that point I was on a journey as I voraciously read as much as I could about alchemy, gnosticism, Grail mythology, symbolism, and Western esotericism. I read a lot on comparative religion especially Joseph Campbell's amazing work, and a lot of Jung as well. I sometimes feel that if Catholicism is to survive it needs to re-embrace its mystery and beautiful darkness . . . the mysticism and presence of spirit. Not a dumbed down, dogmatic, fast food version.
"Sitting on the outside, just me and my mate. I made the moon come up two hours late. Ain't that a man?" -- Muddy Waters
Wow back atcha!
Almost eerily similar! I wonder how many others are out there?
Peace
More beliefs?
It isn't about traditional beliefs, or the protest of new-age beliefs or even about re-discovering beliefs. It isn't about beliefs at all. Way back when, humanity took a wrong turn when, individuals adapted a concept of "I" and consequently adapted a program of control, through technology, religion, social strata, culture and so on. It's not much wonder that the Native Americans thought of the the invading Europeans as literally insane, always looking for something, and never happy to just be.
Human beings at our nature do know how to be and exist. We have just forgotten because we are caught in the mind. All we have to do is observe this in stillness. k http://www.beyond-karma.com
One may find
Opening the Door
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/10/20/catholic-anglican-church-recrui...
Welcome Home
We are a certain type
Beautiful article!
I reeeeeeally resonate with your article.
"While the Christian from within the church might picture the prodigal as grossly rolling in endless orgies, he or she might never imagine the horror and aloneness of that moment when the existential weight of responsibility descends upon one who is coming to grips with his place in an unfamiliar, unexplained universe. And beyond this, he or she could not imagine the freedom that follows."
Fucking delicious dude.
Peace
arch-rationalist-irrational
what is this archetype? that it cannot be cut out? all this disillusionment, all this confusion.Do you fell something brewing in this shamanic/newage/gnostic/templar/christ, mix and mash? is there still some need to redeem this Jungian Steiner-esque path of psyche and symbol.What can be retrieved from their works? Is it that we are at this point in the whole unfolding story of stories, this moment the prophecies turn on? Did Jung clear the way? did Steiner? I cannot answer this.I also dumped my catholic upbringing at about the age of 12, right after my first communion, when i read science fiction books, and began to wake up.But i also knew something when i was 6 years old, because i remembered that my first grade teacher was teaching racism in the class room.My inner little rebel was made at the age of six.And in the years that followed i went through transformations, in the late 60's i began experimenting with psychedelics, and at that time i had no conflicts with my religious conditioning.I was free of those kinds of inner conflicts, i had others to deal with.But later when i chose my life path, which for me became reading everything i could get my hands on, poetry, literature, philosophy, magic, and i began my poetic journey to make myself a poet. One of the things i had to do was finally cut out the roots of my christian upbringing, this was no easy task, as the roots grow so deep into the subconscious.I did not want to be a closet christian, but as i went through the psychic changes, i was confronted with myself, in that who i was always seemed to be something other, yet i suffered all the religious images just the same.I had to literally become like Jesus on some level, and go through all the literature that has been written about him.I too read Philip K. Dick, but not before i read books on magic and Jung.I was attempting to do a Rimbaudian number on myself, literally.I knew i was not in a position to travel to some shaman, so i had to become my own shaman.At some point in my youth at the age of 22 i entered a vortex.I was swallowed up in Jung's collective unconscious, but i was armed with the alchemic magic of the poetic marvelous.
revolutionrabbit.blogspot.com
my novel is the beginning of the journey.
Religious Meltdown
Well, I was born in the very catholic Spain: I discovered very early that MOST - if not ALL - the greatest spanish mystics: Santa Teresa de Jesus, San Juan de la Cruz, Miguel de Molinos..were burnt at stake, or went to jail/tortured...their crime?:Their mystic experiences, overflowing of Numinous Novelty, leaving easily behind the orthodox canon of christian religion... The horrible irony is that their mystical experiences become the "capital" of the Church that killed them..
I feel that I keep healing from the fear/guilt produced by the catholic imprinting (thanks by heart, Lowen, Grof, Hoffman....and above all, thanks, Sacred Nature)
...yeah: early years with Philip K. Dick, Alan Watts (Myth and Ritual in Christianity)..etc....and then I discovered Novalis, Yeats, Rilke, Octavio Paz, Henri Michaux, etc. etc...
and I knew that is a terrible mistake to freeze in a (belief) system the Overflowing Numinous Reality, that poetry, movement, theater (sacred shamanic origins of the arts) are closer to Reality, aesthetics can be a sort of ecstatic theopoetics without the dangers of religion ("we don't have theology, we dance" said the shinto shaman to Joseph Campbell).
"The wise man points to the moon. The idiot looks at the finger."
The truth is, the more self-proclaimed "christian" were the people I have met in my life, the more prudery, the more hipocrisy contaminated their souls....very sad.
(By the way, the very heart of gnosticism - see Reality, by Peter Kingsley - is not christian, comes from Empedocles and Parmenides..)
"There is more sacredness and reality in a blade of grass than in all our thoughts and ideas about Reality"
Experience beyond Belief: Sublime, joyfully amazing possibilities are awaiting...
"The SACRED (whatever that means) is surely related (somehow) to the BEAUTIFUL (whatever that means)..."
Gregory Bateson
Alan Watts
Hi - great article. I'm glad Zorro mentioned Alan Watts, as he concentrates specifically on what lies beyond the scriptures - on how the numinous is still available within established christianity if you search beyond the surface and symbol. 'Behold the Spirit' is the last work of his I read.
'The symbol reveals God, but wrongly used it hides him. An idea, a doctrine, a sacrament, a spiritual exercise hides God when we use it as a means to hold him - that is, when we use it monkey-fashion as a comfortable and convenient technique for acquiring sanctity by imitation. Used in this way religion becomes a series of conventional ideas, conventional feelings, conventional spirituality and conventional good deeds utterly divorced from real life, which is to say God on the one hand, and on the other - walking, eating, breathing, digging potatoes, writing letters, watching birds, feeling sick, loving your wife and children and taking a bath. "Every moment," wrote Dom John Chapman, "is the message of God's will; every external event, everything outside us, and even every involuntary thought and feeling within us is God's own touch." But we are scared of that touch; it may burn; it may kill. Therefore let it be circumscribed in a conventional religious pattern. Instead of laying ourselves open to full mystical possession by God the reality, instead of trusting ourselves to the living Spirit as he gives himself to us in every moment, we cling desperately to these symbols and idols, setting up new ones of our own making when the old are broken' (Watts 1947: 63-64).
Ain't that something...
CrystAllEyes
So often, upon reconnecting with the living core of Christianity, we call ourselves “True Christians” (Yes, I’ve been there,) perhaps a new name is in order? “True Christian” sounds a bit dogmatic & fundamentalist… “Gnostic” sounds a bit like “Joss stick”… Plain old “Christian” doesn’t cut it (BUT!) maybe part of this trip is trying to make it so it does? A few poor freaks in touch with the true meaning of Christ trying to shed all the shit & blood encrusted in his beard from having to suck at the bleeding bum of Rome for so long? Of course, that’s just a pale shadow; he’s also beyond allah that . . ! (oops)
Christ! Every
Where are you?
Knot.
So… The ‘social’ teachings of Christ strike me as a kind of (practical) spiritual common sense that many of the big religions would agree upon, grease for the machine so wheel smoothly get along… There is also this idea of taking the worlds ‘sin’ upon oneself, then dying & resurrecting a clean-slate in service of the whole – I find this an utterly shamanic concept… And then this esotrick where Christ becomes some kind of CRYSTaline singularity, some swirling doorway pinned to the passing point into complete unity: the love that spirals out into perfect peace profound… that’s kinda different eye’s’pose: but maybe we’re just making a fetish of the fact that eternity crosses over itself at some point, focusing on the nexus where the 8 figures itself out . . ? That’s why I still dig the Holy Trinity – now that’s what I call ‘Christ in context’! (think “Father” as “Sphere”, “Son” as “Centre” & “Holy Spirit” as the “Spiral” motioning twixt) …
Anyway, I guess my statement is: I have some direct experience (gnosis) of the inner realities of Christianity; I was brought up in a Christian manner, I agree with the essence & appreciate the form, but I would not call myself a Christian – let alone a “True Christian”. Now, this decision is not fully enlightened & free from issues, but fundamentally I do feel that the natural mystery I connect with most comfortably just transcends Christianity (in any form) completely! – the picture of my spiritual affiliations, the eddies in the light as it passes thru my particular flesh prism, is just too far-ranging to go by any name at all – certainly anything specific just won’t fit.
Therefore, Christophoros, my question/challenge is: Why do you feel drawn to call yourself a Christian despite the fact the term means so many different things to so many different people, and that many of the things it’s taken to mean probably don’t represent your beliefs very closely?
(Btw, bravo Zorro & right on revrabbit, well spoke.)
Problematization appreciated!
Utilizing the words "Christianity", "Christian", and especially "true Christian" are pretty problematic when left as naive conceptions. But the way in which I understand "Christianity" is similar to the way that the Tibetan Bonpo understand their tradition: as rooted in a stream of events that emanate from the moment of creation to the present moment, crystallizing/concretizing/complexifying as "time" unfolds. So while "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit"/"Dharmakaya, Sambogakaya, Nirmanakaya" attempt to give names to the process of Cosmic Unfoldment in which spiritual "substance" manifests in/as timespacematterenergy. In other words, initiates of both the European "Christian" tradition and the Tibetan "Bonpo" tradition view their respective lineages as extending back to the Primordial Moment. Therefore I utilize the words "Christian" and "Christianity" to distinguish an esoteric lineage whose main figure is Jesus Christ. The reason that I think that this lineage in particular is "more important" than others is that this lineage is specifically oriented towards the redemption of Civilization, which entails confrontation with "the Adversary" and reunion with "the Feminine". Also, I can't help but admit the fact that this is the tradition of my ancestors. I feel called to embody it in a "true" way so as to bring the impoverishing inadequacies of institutional Christianity to light. I consider myself "Christian" while continuing to hold ideas and beliefs that may seem counter to institutional Christianity as an act of protest that attempts to simultaneously embody truth while elucidating error. Here are some quotes from Rudolf Steiner that basically sums up what I am trying to articulate here:
"all concepts must change, if a true spiritual understaning of Christanity it to come about."
"...the Movement for Spiritual Science has the mission of raising Christianity into Wisdom, of rightly understaning Christianity, indirectly through spiritual wisdom. We shall understan that Christianity is only in the beginning of its activity, an its true mission will be fulfille when it is understood in its true spiritual form." (Lecture from May 31, 1908)
Read this lecture at www.rsarchive.org as well as Christianity as Mystical Fact by R Steiner (available in book form) to get a fuller picture of what a Spiritual Master incarnated in late 19th/early 20th century Germany perceived when he clairvoyantly investigated the true nature of Christianity.
Peace
.
The New Mysteries
I do feel that the natural mystery I connect with most comfortably just transcends Christianity (in any form) completely! Exactly!!
This could be one variation of the New Mythos/Mysteries...: http://www.aeongroup.com/emercos.htm
We are living, conscious parts of that Harmony:
http://www.aeongroup.com/interview/allignmentand2012.html
We are the Divine who has forgotten Himself. And our
task is to reestablish the connection. Call it anything you like,
it doesn’t matter. It’s the Perfection, the Power, the Knowledge
we must become. (...)
I say “Divine” because I know what I mean by that word.
I mean supreme Knowledge, supreme Beauty, supreme Good-
ness, supreme Will – all that must be manifested in order to
express . . . what must be expressed.
We are disgusted with the world as it is – and we have the
power to change it.
But we are such fools that we can’t bring ourselves to
abdicate our silly little personality to let the Marvel unfold.
And that’s all accumulated in the subconscient: Every-
thing we have rejected is there, and now it must be brought in
contact with the transforming Force so that this unconscious-
ness may come to an end.
Notebooks on Evolution, The Mother (Mirra Alfassa)
"The SACRED (whatever that means) is surely related (somehow) to the BEAUTIFUL (whatever that means)..."
Gregory Bateson
I think your article applies to baptist theology as well
you rule
Here's to great bud and the rotation of the planet!
Peace
In the Name of Christ
As a referential side point ... the term "christ" originates from the Greek root "krsta" ... which can be traced back to the Sanskrit term "krsna" ... or krishna ... which of course refers to the supreme being ... literally meaning the source of all "attraction" {krs} and 'pleasure" {na}.
Actually the "e" sound in Jesus in originally soft, like Jeshua or Jesse ... and the "i" sound in Christ is originally soft like in "christening the boat"
. ... "jesus de christ ... {promounced with soft E and I} is actually a "Jesuit phrase" ... meaning son of father .. jesus of christ ... of "Krsna"
... never that jesus "was" christ
... everything "of God" is "one with God" .. Jesus taught that this "way of understanding has to be followed"" ... "I am the way"
Then of course you have the "possible" histories of Jesus traveling to Egypt, India and Tibet during the period of time between ages 13 and 30.... {"In My Fathers House Are Many Mansions"}
In ancient Tibetan Temple historical logs "Issa {Jesus} from ... far away land was there" ... is registered.during this time period.
There were standard caravan routes already established at this time for all these destinations ...
Jeshua tracing out the roots of manifest civilization, visiting all of the religious and cultural areas of his day.
Hare Krsna Hare Krsna
Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rame Rame Hare Hare.
The Sanskrit word "Hare" is the root of the English ..."holy" ... in this ancient Sanskrit Mantra.
"Rama" means strengthen and protect
.. Oh holy one ... the source of all attraction and pleasure ... strengthen and protect me
...from seeking such outside my self ... outside of yoking {yoga} all creation to spirit ... "quantum unified field theory"
... keep me satisfied with the fruits of the tree of life ... {quantum unification/spirituality
... and tempt me not with the tree of knowledge fruits .. {mechanistic and deterministic karma}
Apparently all names of God are basically just adjectives ... Jehovah, Yaweh, Allah ... all mighty one ... all merciful one, all loving one, all knowing one etc etc
So continue to ponder and or research the tracing out, the roots of "all versions" of "spirituality" ... all coming from the original "seed idea" ... in the beginning was the word" ... "om"
There is some research involving satellite photography that shows the "possibility" of human civilization originating in the "pre-hindhu" ... "pre India" continent area just south of the highest mountains in the world ... where the original axis-Mundi concept originated in relation to
.. of course universal meditation can reveal such to anyone, anywhere
That the largest river on Earth, the "Sarasvati" began to dry up millennium ago ... the satellite photography showing the surface of the earth, that the last of the ancient Vedic culture ... {many scholars refer to Sanskrit as the "mother of all languages}
... that the original "strain" began to, out of necessity, expand out ... the earth age influences of civilization show up a certain way from satellite perspective.
As the very geography of the earth reveals our subsequent role in how we react/relate to manifest creation.
The older "Puranas" or "Vedic Histories" of ancient, pre-Hindhu" culture ... {the term hindhu is an off shoot of the Indus river in Pakistan, living south of the Indus one is Hindhu ... like living south of the Mason-Dixon line, one is a Rebel ... Yankee/ North
Not a true Sanskrit term ... the term Aryan however is a true Sanskrit term referring to the "quality / not race" of consciousness of those who kept to the Vedic traditions of this great and historic river bed culture.
So all of us outside of this philosophical state are actually "non-Aryan"
Hitler heard that the "Brahmans of India" {intellectual /noble, and/or priestly class} were the most pure humans.
He wanted to get 100 of them for his "breeding the perfect race" .. not realizing that Sanskrit purity refers to "quality of consciousness", and not genetic disposition ... as one can always gain revelation of quantum or spiritual truth from any disposition.
... these texts dating approximately 8000 years old tell of how, the Greeks, the Turks, the Negro, the Caucasian, the Asian ... {in Sanskrit terms of course} ... were all people of the original strain who after leaving, gradually developed or adapted ... {not evolution} ... different "modes" ... {guna's Sanskrit}... of speech and behavior relative to the nature of the earth area they inhabited.
Skin color only due to how close or far from equator
.Speech influenced by geographical, and/or geo-pathic force, or presence
... like every one in Boston, speaks a certain way ... Alabama ... California etc
Even the attitude is effected by the same influences ..
. like California's "more space than face" ... New York's "looks could kill" ... or 'Southern Hospitality" ... Texas "cowboy"... all of our influences are connected to where we/they have gone to.
Of course the more we take over our environment the more our very character proportionately "alters"
... the less of our indigenous environment we "entrain with" the more "standardized our Humanism"
... we are becoming like the limited number of apple strains in our grocery stores {Virginia used to boast 118 apple strains centuries ago ... now only 5 are left}
In the field of Physiognomy ...{study of face and body for divination} ... all of ones character traits are directly associated with each aspect of our physical "design" ... very detailed ... very consistent" {see Rose Rosetree}
Whenever someone gets plastic surgery, over time, trained Physiognomists see changes in character take place ... always to the detriment.
"A wise man does nothing ... and leaves nothing undone" ... {Taoism}
As we "nip and tuck" the earth, it effects all aspects of our behavior ... well rather than "Darwinian Evolution" ... how about Geo-pathological Adaptation"
{One can ultimately look beyond to Cosmic sources for instigating the whole pattern of change above and beyond immediate local influences,}
Some aspects of truth remain universal, as spirit is always spirit ... beyond the inertial influences of time space, matter and energy ... which now modern science calls the unified field ... the quantum source of all manifest possibility
... sounds almost like another name of God, doesn't it ..
... "oh great field of being ... {OM ... in beginning was the word} ... that creates and absorbs all possible manifestation" ... {conservation theory} ..... "oh how wise are thee"
Well some are talking of a "new story" ... a "new myth" ... well here is the "new prayer ... in the very language of our progressive scientific prowess
PS. The "Srimad Bhagavatam" ... http://srimadbhagavatam.com/ ... is an ancient Sanskrit text {18,000 verses} ... longer than the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" combined ... largest literary source known
... a complete ancient dialog between a Sage, and King who was fasting for 7 days before his anticipated death.
The dearth of the history, both cosmic and worldly, in this work are amazing ... dating back almost 5000, years ... but regularly refers to more ancient time periods of antiquity
The most scholarly translation known is by "Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who's version ... {there are only one or two others} ... is found in 80% of American University libraries ... used in courses there .. having prestigious praise from Sanskrit scholars {on sleeve} from Harvard, Oxford, Columbia etc
Every Sanskrit words English transliteration is shown, so any one can study the interpretation itself ... along with paragraphs of detailed purport through out. {there is much substantially in these accompanying purports}.
This Srimad Bhagavatam, in book form, is about the size of a small to medium set of Encyclopedia's ... the web site above refers to the DVD source.
cryst-all-clear
Jung Codex and etc.
A little complicated.
Some breaking of 'authorized' succession and all that.
Someone talking about Prana and how Prana is illimitable and how one taking access to such accomplishes wonderful things somehow becomes some complicated thing-a-ma-jig dogma and all manner of 'doctrine'.
One man or one woman, alone, may have seen and said and done a thing or two. Thereafter, however wonderful their accomplishments, available to their neighbors and friends since they were all equal; instead a crore of words added on later. And the actual doers and kin themselves pushed far away.
So family from family estranged. Thanks to scholars.
Who, instead of like simplicity doing, want to add more.
---------
Whatever I said: maybe the opposite! Or the opposite of the latter. You decide!
Honky-dori'ty
What a charming little arrangement the cosmic corporation has made. The unforgivable sin of curiousity, manifested in unauthorized fruit-eating; .... counterbalanced by letting one of the top executives draw up a contract, in which you will be forgiven for something you didn't do yourself, by promising that you in return never will question anything, never think for yourself and never ever be curious.
This would be the best of all worlds, if it wasn't for those darned mavericks with their irritatingly sensible questions. Some of them even going so far as to refuse having their thoughts annexed by the corporation and then later spit out again as heretic.
But then fortunately there aren't so many of the really stubborn maverick types, so until something better comes up, business can go on as usual with a bit reshuffling of corporation statutes, a new wrapping and a label indecessive enough to give most people a feeling of belonging somewhere somehow.
Synchronicity
God is Dead
parable of metaphor
confusing the primacy ...of 'the message' w/the messenger.
confusing the thing for its symbol.
some folks need a umbrella
a Buddhist guy that had been a surfer drug dealer, once told me that, "you need an umbrella"Man i had spent so much energy and time getting rid of that umbrella.All that Jesus thang.Not that i did not hang out with being a "Gnostic priest" that was part of the "wandering Bishops" All this western symbols stuff.Tough enough.But here is the low down, I being an Dada agent for the surrealist revolution lookin for the holy of holies in all the wrong places, finds the key to the alchemy absurd, the holy grail word.We don't need no stinkin Christian badges.But hey, if you see Jesus, honk twice.Honky!Hey remember the Cathars? the Pope called em dat cuz, he said they kissed cat's anus.Better a cat's anus then the Pope dealer's butthole surfer ring.
The Roman Empire
I certainly agree with your point of view, Christopher. Actually I talk about these issues quite a bit in my books "Inner Christianity" and "Forbidden Faith."
The relationship between Christianity and the Roman Empire is a fascinating one. You could argue, as Rene Guenon did, that Christianity had to endure a kind of "forced exotericization" to replace the degenerate paganism of late classical antiquity.You could also argue that it was Christianity that destroyed the Roman Empire--obsessed with heretic-hunting when the barbarians were at the gate.
It helps explain the otherwise astonishing rise of Islam. Why were the Arabs able to conquer Palestine, Syria, and Egypt so easily? Because they were filled with Nestorians, Monophysites, and other heretical sects that were being oppressed by the Orthodoxy of the Byzantine state. Having nothing to gain, and a great deal to lose, from continuing rule by a Christian state, they were happy to accept the Muslims, who were far more tolerant of other religions than the Christians were.
Well, as we all know, history is weird.
degenerate paganism?
ri-chard the smole...'…that Christianity had to endure a kind of "forced exotericization" to replace the degenerate paganism of late classical antiquity.'
coffcoff :)
yeah, ya could argue that. you’d be on thin ice.
which degenerate pagans would those be that left this ‘gaping brain-drain’ in their wake, this "forced exotericization" that xtianity "endured"?
these 'degenerate' free thinking Alexandrian Pagans who only gave humanity - higher mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, science. The Library of Alexandria? Eratosthenes? Euclid? Plato? Theon? Hypatia?
these degenerate pagans?..... ok. jus’ checking.
so, xtianity had to be stupid and globally brutal to endure...and this you chalk up to ‘degenerate pagans’?
twasn’t a pagan that said of the Cathar….”kill em all, let God sort ‘em out”
Hypatia's brutal death at the hands of the xtians; a perfect, crystalline example of the 'greater' horror and degeneracy xtianity became under ‘holy’ rome.
ya know, they made Cyril a saint for it. tsk, tsk, tsk.
had it not been for arab enlightenment (pre islam-brainlock, and its early penchant for transcription) and those few brave souls who dragged the world kicking and screaming into the Renaissance in spite of threats of torture/death/eternal damnation; Christendom and Rome, by its own hand - post 'holy brain drain' - left to its own devices would still have the world groping and clawing in the dark ages of ignorance as evidenced by its conduct in the old world (inquisitions) and new world (indigenous american genocides).
god only knows what it’s been up to lately other than rampant institutionally ordained pedophilia.
the empire and the lineage
I can relate
King Jesus...
Jesus is a pretty complex and mysterious figure. I am reading a book by Ralph Ellis right now called Jesus: Last of the Pharoahs. He makes some very interesting insights for sure. Check out his website at http://freespace.virgin.net/kena.edfu/books.html
Peace
"Them" vs "They"
got me
breaking up with Jesus
the above post
brings up the reality of the religion situation.The esoteric and the no so inner teaching, external reality of religion.This in not really about stumbling around through various occults and Watt's nots.Though that is what happens, it is about the actual conditioning that we undergo when we are raised in some religious dogma.Would it be nice if you came across a gospel that liberated you before having to shit can all that dogma doo doo? See what i mean? It's not like you suddenly arrive at neighborly love.If you were raised by a saint, but who is raised by a saint? I agree "original sin" is totally forced.It's fake.But we are still in the western mind here.So we have need of Freud and Jung.But they are only part of the problem, a better part, but still part of it.Where then is the solution? I don't see any real effort to point to this, i see still a lot of rehash and remash, and since its Halloween, let's do the monster mash.the title of this article is not a solution "My Reconciliation with Christianity" ah, your
reconciliation? what sort of animal is that? Pray tell.
Hello ConejoRevolucion!
Projection
the bonds uniting family and friends generated a beautiful, love-based counter-impulse to the destructive forces at work in the consumerist matrix into which I was born
Rather than viewing evil, destructive forces as something external and separate from you... an alternative is to focus on how your own thoughts and actions create or remove suffering.
For instance, if you suffer from wanting too many material things, you could look into the wants of your own mind... rather than externalizing it to a supposed "consumer matrix" that you have no responsibility for. Your own thinking may turn out to be a more powerful force that any external "matrix"; in any case, your own thinking is much much much more under your control.
Stuart
http://stuart-randomthoughts.blogspot.com/
http://home.comcast.net/~sresnick2/booboo.htm
evolver group
agreed
Detailed reply
Here is a detailed reply that i posted to my blog http://mundocatolicos.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/my-reconciliation-with-ch...
Thanks for posting your article, which prompted a lot of great responses, strange how there are so many of us out there.
reincarnation?
you seem to really speak out of the Orthodox/Catholic tradition, and it is quite obvious that you are karmically linked to the Christian lineage and its mission for Earth evolution. personally, i seem to be intrinsically averse to institutional deference, but still honor the efficacy and legitimacy of traditionally inspired spirituality. have you read much of the Traditionalists - Guenon, Schuon, etc.? I briefly dabbled in Russian Orthodoxy after getting into Traditionalism, only to reject it because of its rigidity and dependence on a pre-existent - and in my opinion, out-dated and archaic - symbol system that carries along with it thousands of years of manipulation by human agency. For example, how does Orthodoxy/Catholicism address the issues of karma & reincarnation? Rudolf Steiner said that his mission was to integrate these two inextricably linked ideas into a Christian spirituality. He did this through the employment of his clairvoyant faculties. Now, i understand that each individual has clairvoyant capacities and employs it to varying degrees. However, the way in which Rudolf Steiner utilizes his faculties is akin to a shaman or eastern Master. That being so, his articulations elucidating the nature of Christianity are, to me, the most legitimate because they are clothed in the words of a free individual rather than an institution.
Let's continue this dialogue my good sir!
peace & Blessings,
Chris
karma and reincarnation
I just recently began to consider returning to church for various reasons. I certainly am not limited to it or its dogmas. I am not sure yet why exactly I am drawn and willing to see where it takes me. I found it pretty cool though that you had recently posted this. I have been pondering this move for a few months after meeting some local activists who are more directly Native and Hispanic and wass intrigued by the fact that they meshed the two or more traditions. I am still learning how and why they do that. This is a pretty strange place.
I just assume that reincarnation is a fact. my bro on the blog posted on some of the early Church fathers and reincarnation. You may find the quotes of interest . . . http://mundocatolicos.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/other-church-fathers-on-r...
In returning to the church, I see it now as more cultural and community wise. It has been interesting to see the pagan and alchemical and mystery cult connections there are. And in these parts you have curanderos meshing local magic and animism with Catholicism.
When I left the church about a decade ago, it wasnt in anger or anything, it just stopped being relevant. I feel like I maxed out the teachings and process and was ready to move on. Now it is relevant again.
I haven't read the traditionalists, though I have heard positive things about them. I dove into the orthodox monastic life and learned a lot about it from there. There are some interesting takes on karma and reincarnation within that tradition. Most people won't talk about it openly, but its there.
Chao!
l0r3nz0
Ecstatic play/volution with the DreamTime
I always deeply felt that in the end it's about freedom to experience beyond belief the Mysterium Tremendum... "(...)According to these texts(Nag Hammadi), you don't need a priest, you don't even necessarily need Jesus, just need to be aware of your deepest Self, and that is just given in just how we human beings are(...)" Elaine Pagels
http://www.futureprimitive.org/interviews/206
"The SACRED (whatever that means) is surely related (somehow) to the BEAUTIFUL (whatever that means)..."
Gregory Bateson
Still not reconciled
The Auto da Fe is the truest Act of Faith: proof positive of it, in fact.