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Gnostic mysteries are the culmination of
human philosophical, religious and scientific thought up until the ascendency
of the State of Rome's Imperial Religion -
Roman Catholicism.
Greek Orthodox religion is nearer to the Gnostic Mysteries but it still
misses the mark because, once again, it became
the State religion of the
Byzantium Empire.
As was spelled out in the Bhagavatam and the Vedas by
the mystic saints of India, Avatars
would descend from heaven to inhabit earthly bodies and accomplish great
spiritual feats.
These Avartars, Walking the Thinspace between
worlds, would act as intermediaries between the material world and the
spiritual world.
Men of Wisdom - sage, seer, shaman, all wrapped up
into One - sharing the unseen mysteries that
inhabit this earthly plane.
Women of Sophia - Augur, Oracle,
Soothsayer, three living as One -
sharing deeply veiled mysteries hidden under
stones.
There is the most pressing problem with
religion.
Each and every
religion that has carried a culture through time has two elements.
The first is the initial
religious experience of the mystic founder.
The second is the modification of the
mystic's vision through institutionalization which involves cultural
modifications based on past traditions.
All religion grows old and
stale when institutionalized. The life leaves it, as it leaves any piece of
artwork, that is reworked and then overworked by
left brained blind MICE into
a social control mechanism.
To keep
religion from getting old and stale
mystics suggest looking at the
Creator and Sustainer in a manner both alien and odd to the
theologian keepers of the religion.
Mystics can teach theologians
how to revitalize their institutionalized religions which requires standing in
awe of the Creator and Sustainer as opposed to shivering and cowering in
fear.
All Eternal Souls are motivated at the most basic spiritual level
to participate spiritually as well as materially in life. All human beings deal
with the forces of reality spiritually in much the same way, even though there
are cultural and religious differences.
The essential and fundamental
elements of each religion is grounded in aspects of physical reality. These
elements subconsciously convey conceptual archetypes symbolically of spiritual
reality in a manner that is common to all human beings even if the presentation
varies as presentation is dependent on available props.
All human life is spiritually
interconnected through these
subconscious
spiritual archetypes as they parallel subconscious human thought forms.
These symbolic conceptual archetypes of
spiritual reality within the mystical
core of each religion are remarkably similar. That should come as no
surprise since humans are 99.9% identical having the same ancestors -
Adam and Eve.
The
mystical experience
comes from a dissociative state
of consciousness. Minds trained to think in a linear, academic manner have
a much more difficult time of reaching this disassociative state of
consciousness than the shepherd in
the field watching the sheep.
"In contrast to
the mechanistic Western view,
the Eastern view of the world is
"organic." For the Eastern mystic, all things and events perceived by the
senses are interrelated, connected, and are but different aspects or
manifestations of the same ultimate reality. Our tendency to divide perceived
reality into individual and separate things and to experience ourselves as
isolated egos in this reality is seen as an
illusion which comes from our
measuring and categorizing mentality. It is called
avidya, or ignorance, in Buddhist
philosophy, and is seen as
the state of a
disturbed mind which has to be overcome: When the mind is disturbed, the
multiplicity of things is produced, but when the mind is quieted, the
multiplicity of things disappears." - Fritjof Capra
"The deep
mystery of life,
consciousness, reality and your
natural place within existent reality.
The deep mystery of existence is
a mysterium, a mystery, tremendum et fascinans-tremendous,
terrifyingly horrific when initially contemplated because understanding smashes
all of your fixed notions of existent reality. Horrific, yet at the same time
utterly fascinating, the beauty of your own nature and being. When you start
thinking about these things, about the inner mystery, inner life, the
eternal life, there are
not too many symbolic conceptual images for you to use." - Joseph
Campbell
Within the mystical experience -
a dissociative state of consciousness - lies communion with the Creator and
Sustainer. Some see only silence, hear
only light, taste only aroma, smell only flavor … but all touch Creation.
It is only here, within the mystical experience, that we find
True
Liberation.
Omkara -
the Sound of Divine Compassion
is the other name for - the
God of Truth Omkara is
Ineffable.
No
principle knew
IT,
no authority, no subjection,
nor
any creature from the Foundation
of Reality,
except IT alone.
Omkara is
immortal and
eternal, having no birth;
for every creature who has
birth will perish.
IT is unbegotten, having no beginning;
for every
creature who has a beginning has an end.
No one rules over
IT.
Omkara has no name;
for whoever has a
name is the creation of another.
IT is an unnameable sound.
IT
has no human form;
for whoever has
human form is the creation of
another.
Omkara has its own semblance - not like
the semblance we have received and
seen,
but a strange semblance
that surpasses all things and is better than the totalities.
Omkara looks to every
side and sees itself from itself.
IT is
infinite;
IT is
incomprehensible.
IT is ever imperishable and has no likeness to anything known to us.
Omkara is unchanging
perfection.
IT is faultless.
IT is everlasting.
IT is blessed.
IT is unknowable, while IT nonetheless
knows itself.
Omkara is
immeasurable.
IT is untraceable.
IT is perfect, having no defect.
IT
is imperishably blessed.
Omkara is called 'Creator and Sustainer of the Universe'.
Now, if anyone wants to believe the
words set down here, let him go from what is hidden to the end of what is
visible, and this thought will instruct him how faith in those things that are
not visible was found in what is visible.
This is the
principle of
True Knowledge.
Omkara female aspect is 'First-begotten
Sophia, Mother of the Universe ,'
whom some call 'Compassion'. Some call
her Faith.
Omkara masculine aspect is 'Savior, Creator of all things'.
From
the consenting of those I have just mentioned, thoughts appeared.
From thoughts,
reflectings; from reflectings, considerings; from considerings,
rationalities, from
rationalities, wills, from wills, words.
All I have just said to you, I said in
the Way that you might accept, until
the one who need not be
taught appears among you, and he will speak all these things to you
joyously and in True
Knowledge.
Eugnostos the Blessed
Emanation theory is common to
all forms of Gnosticism. In different cultures these emanations are named,
classified, and described in different manners. The source of all being is
AEON, in which an inner being dwells, recognized as Ennoea
(thought/intent/grace/silence).
AEON, vital force of eternal life
imagined as Monad - the One Perfect Being, then splits and conceives the second
Aeon, Nous (mind), within itself, creating a Holy pair.
Aeons eternally split conceiving countless
Aeons.
Complex
hierarchies of Aeons are thus produced.
Aeons (Avatars) belong to a purely ideal,
noumenal, intelligible, or supersensible world; they are immaterial, they are
hypostatic ideas.
Together with the source from which they emanate,
they form the Pleroma (Region of Light).
The transition from immaterial
to material, from noumenal to sensible, was created by the passion of the Aeon
Sophia.
The material world
sprang into being through the passion of the female Aeon Sophia who emanated
a dream of a faulty
reality that produced the Demiurge by spurning the
re-synchronization of reality with AEON - the One.
This produced the duality we
experience.
The Demiurge is a creature that should
never have existed in the vision of AEON as it does not belong to the Pleroma.
To solve the problem Sophia has presented by exhibiting
free will the One AEON
emanates two savior Aeons, Christ and the Holy Spirit, to save humanity from
the Veil of Cognitive Blindness the Demiurge uses to blind the actual reality
Christ presents from humanity.
Chrestus took a human form (Jesus), to
teach humanity how to achieve Gnosis.
The ultimate end of all Gnosis
is metanoia, or repentance - undoing the
failures of material existence by returning to the Pleroma in spirit.
Aeons, existing as beings of light, bear a number of similarities to
Judaeo-Christian angels, including roles as servants and emanations of God. In
fact, certain Gnostic Angels, such as Armozel, are also Aeons.
Observe carefully and you might see an Aeon
descended from Pleroma walking and talking with the common people, bringing
them spiritual relief.
"The ground of the Creator and the ground of the
Eternal Soul are the same." -
Eckhart von
HochheimIn Gnostic texts the word
homoousion is used with the
following meanings:
Identity of substance between generator and
generated.
Identity of substance between things generated of the same
substance.
Identity of substance between the partners of a syzygy.
Using the terms as they
were originally meant to be used Jesus is homoousion as I am homoousion as you
are homoousion.
Although we are of the same substance as the Creator
and Sustainer we lack the creative ability of the Creator and
Sustainer.
Although we are homoousion we need to not allow ourselves to
identify ourselves as capable of accomplishing the same feats as the
Source.
Valentinian Gnosticism was
extremely widespread through the Roman
Empire from Alexandria,
Egypt through Asia Minor and Syria in the east, and Northwest Africa.
Valentinus and the Gnostic movement that bore his name were considered threats
to Pauline Christianity
by church leaders and orthodox Christian scholars including
Irenaeus.
According to Valentinus, there are esoteric teachings which
originate from Jesus that were passed on in secret. When Jesus spoke in public,
he used metaphors that did not disclose his complete teachings. This secret
tradition provides the key that is essential for a complete understanding of
Jesus' message.
"The scriptures are ambiguous and the truth cannot be
extracted from them by those who are ignorant of
tradition."
Valentinians claim that the secret teachings are meaningful
only to those who are spiritually mature. If a person was not ready to receive
them, they seem like nonsense.
To Valentinians God the Ineffable defies
description and Jesus came to bring knowledge (gnosis) to a suffering humanity
that was desperately seeking God.
The Valentinian tradition draws a
sharp distinction between the human Jesus and the divine Jesus. The human Jesus
was born the true son of Mary and Joseph.
By a special dispensation,
his body is consubstantial with Sophia and her spiritual seed. When he was
thirty years old, he went to John the Baptist to be baptized. As soon as he
went down into the water, the divine Savior, referred to as the "Spirit of the
Thought of the Father", descended on him in the form of a dove. This is the
true "virgin birth" and resurrection from the dead, for he was reborn of the
virgin Spirit.
According to the Valentinians, people manifest their true
nature by their response to the message of Jesus. Using the parable of the
sower (Matthew 13:1-8), they explain that through Jesus, Sophia sows the
spiritual seed in all who hear the message.
People bear fruit
spiritually by attaining a state of mystical knowledge (gnosis) in which they
recognize their Eternal Soul who always accompanies the Savior.
Sin, an
expression of ignorance, could be overcome through perfect knowledge (gnosis)
of God's will.
Irenaeus identified Valentinus as the author of
the Gospel of Truth. Clement of
Alexandria records that his followers said that Valentinus was a follower of
Theudas, a disciple of Saul of Tarsus.
Valentinus claimed Theudas imparted to him secret wisdom that
Saul of Tarsus
privately taught his inner circle publicly referred to in connection with his
visionary encounter with the risen Christ (Romans 16:25; 1 Corinthians 2:7; 2
Corinthians 12:2-4; Acts 9:9-10).
Valentinian
literature described the primal being, called Bythos, as the beginning of all
things. Valentinius was among the early Christians who attempted to align
Christianity with Platonism.
"Valentinus was
the first to invent three hypostases and three persons of the Father, Son and
Holy Spirit, and he is discovered to have filched this from Hermes and
Plato."- Marcellus of Ancyra
Trinitarianism states that the three distinct persons are One God,
and Tritheism states the three divine persons are three
Gods.
Valentinian Gnosticism professed God the Father, Sophia the
Mother, and Logos the Son.
Teaching professed by Hellenized Hebrews at
the time of Saul of
Tarsus proclaims God the Father, Shekhinah the female aspect of God and the
Law.
By the time of Jesus the
Tannaim Hellenized Hebrews, believed the
Greeks to be superior in philosophy
and knowledge with
a better understanding of human
nature, had become apostate to the
Yahweh mythology of Moses by adding elements of
Greek polytheism, numerology and
astrology to the original patriarchal
monotheistic religion through the use of
exegesis.
Here follows many of the sayings of Jesus from the
Gospel of Thomas:Jesus, or rather,
Christ Consciousness said, "Those who know all, but are
lacking in knowing themselves, are
utterly lacking."
Christ
Consciousness said, "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they
find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they
will marvel, and will reign over all."
Christ Consciousness said, "I disclose mysteries to those who are worthy of my
mysteries."
Christ Consciousness said, "Know what is in front of your face, and what
is hidden from you will be disclosed to you. For there is nothing hidden that
will not be revealed."
Christ Consciousness said, "Do
not lie, and do not do what you hate, because all things are disclosed before
heaven. After all, there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and there
is nothing covered up that will remain undisclosed."
Christ Consciousness said, "I have cast fire upon the Earth, and look,
I'm guarding it until it blazes."
Christ Consciousness said, "I
am the light that is over all things. I am all: from me all came forth, and to
me all attained. Split a piece of wood;
I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there."
Christ
Consciousness said, "If you bring forth what is
within you, what you have will
save you. If you do not have that
within you, what you do not have
within you will kill you."
Christ Consciousness
said, "Images are visible to
people, but the light
within them is hidden in the
image of the Father's light. The Father will be disclosed, but his image is
hidden by His light."
Christ Consciousness said, "I
will give you what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, what no hand has
touched, what has not arisen in the human heart."
Christ Consciousness said, "Have
compassion for your fellow human beings
like your have for your own Eternal
Soul, protect them like
the pupil of your
eye."
Christ
Consciousness said, "You see the sliver in your friend's eye, but you don't
see the timber in your own eye. When you take the timber out of your own eye,
then you will see well enough to remove the sliver from your friend's eye."
Christ Consciousness
said, "When you see one who was not born of woman, fall on your faces and
worship. That one is your Father."
Christ Consciousness said, "If
the flesh came into being because of
spirit, that is a
marvel, but if
spirit came into being because of the
body, that is a marvel of
marvels. Yet
I marvel at how this great wealth has come
to dwell in this flesh."
Christ Consciousness said,
"Have you found the beginning, then, that you are looking for the end? You see,
the end will be where the
beginning is. Congratulations to the one who stands at the beginning: that
one will know the end and will not taste
death."
Christ
Consciousness said, "This heaven will pass away, and the one above it will
pass away. The dead are not
alive, and the living will not die. During the days when you ate what is
dead, you made it come alive. When you
are in the light, what will you do? On the
day when you were one, you became two. But when you become two, what will
you do?"
Christ Consciousness said, "I took my stand on the Earth, and in
flesh I appeared to them. I found them all
drunk, and I did not find any of
them thirsty. My soul ached for the children of humanity, because they are
blind in their hearts and do not see,
for they came onto the Earth empty, and they also seek to depart from the Earth
empty. But meanwhile they are drunk.
When they shake
off their wine, then they will change their ways."
Christ Consciousness said, "What you
will hear in your ear, in the other ear proclaim from your rooftops. After all,
no one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, nor does one put it in a
hidden place. Rather, one puts it on a lamp stand so that all who come and go
will see its light."
Christ Consciousness said, "A
city built on a high
hill and fortified cannot fall, nor can it be hidden."
Christ Consciousness said, "If a blind individual leads a blind
individual, both of them will fall into a hole."
Christ Consciousness said,
"When you strip without being ashamed, and you take your clothes and put them
under your feet like little children and trample them, then will see the son of
the living one and you will not be afraid."
Christ Consciousness said, "The
Pharisees and the scholars have taken the
keys of knowledge and have hidden them. They have not entered nor have they
allowed those who want to enter to do so. As for you, be as sly as snakes and
as simple as doves."
Christ Consciousness said,
"Grapes are not harvested from thorn trees, nor are figs gathered from
thistles, for they yield no fruit. Good individuals produce good from what
they've stored up; evil individuals produce evil from the wickedness they have
stored up in their hearts, and say evil
things. For from the overflow of the heart they produce evil."
Christ Consciousness said,
"From Adam to John the Baptist, among those
born of women, no one is so much greater than John the Baptist that his eyes
should not be averted. But I have said that whoever among you becomes a child
will recognize the kingdom and will
become greater than John."
Christ Consciousness said, "An individual
cannot mount two horses or bend two bows. And a
slave cannot serve two masters,
otherwise that slave will honor the one
and offend the other. Nobody drinks aged
wine and immediately wants to drink young wine. Young wine is not poured into
old wineskins, or they might break, and aged wine is not poured into a new
wineskin, or it might spoil. An old patch is not sewn onto a new garment, since
it would create a tear."
Christ Consciousness said, "If
two make peace with each other in a single house, they will say to the
mountain, 'Move from here!' and it will
move."
Christ Consciousness said, "Congratulations to those who are alone and chosen,
for you will find the kingdom. For
you have come from it, and you will return there again."
His
disciples said to Christ Consciousness,
"When will the rest for the dead take place, and when will the new world come?"
Christ Consciousness
said to them, "What you are looking forward to has come, but you do not know
it."
His disciples said to Christ
Consciousness, "Is circumcision
useful or not?"
Christ Consciousness said to
them, "If it were useful, the Father would produce children already
circumcised from their
mother.
Rather, the true circumcision in
spirit has become profitable in every regard."
Christ Consciousness said,
"Congratulations to the individual who has toiled and has found life."
Christ Consciousness
said, "Look to the living one as long as you live, otherwise you might die and
then try to see the living one, and you will be unable to see."
Christ
Consciousness said to her, "I am the one who comes from what is whole. I was
granted from the things of my Father."
"I am your
disciple."
"For this reason I say,
if one is whole, one will be filled with light, but if one is divided, one will be filled
with darkness."
Christ
Consciousness said, "Show me the stone that the builders rejected: that is
the keystone."
Christ Consciousness said,
"Congratulations to those who have been persecuted in their
hearts: they are the ones who have truly
come to know the Father. Congratulations to those who go hungry, so the stomach
of the one in want may be filled."
Christ Consciousness said, "The
Kingdom of the Father is like a
merchant who had a supply of merchandise and found a pearl. That merchant was
prudent; he sold the merchandise and bought the single pearl for himself. So
also with you, seek his treasure that is unfailing, that is
enduring, where no moth comes to eat and no
worm destroys."
Christ
Consciousness said, "Why have you come out to the countryside? To see a
reed shaken by the wind? And to see an individual dressed in soft clothes,
rulers and your powerful ones?
They are dressed in soft clothes, and they cannot understand
truth."
Christ
Consciousness said, "Often you have desired to
hear these sayings that I am speaking
to you, and you have no one else from whom to
hear them. There will be days when you
will seek me and you will not find me."
Christ
Consciousness said, "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the
Father's Kingdom is in the
sky,' then the birds of the
sky will precede you. If they say to you, ' The
Father's Kingdom in the sea,'
then the fish will precede you. Rather, the
Father's Kingdom is
within you and it is
outside you. When you know
yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are
children of the living Father.
But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in
spiritual corruption
and you are spiritually
corrupt."
"The Avatamsaka land is a product of our
mind. Whether we live in the saha world filled with suffering,
discrimination, and war, or whether we live in the Avatamsaka world filled with
flowers, birds, compassion, peace, and understanding is up to us. Our
understanding of the cosmos is a mental construction. All concepts come from
our minds. If our minds are filled with
afflictions and delusions,
we live in a world of afflictions and
delusions. If our minds are pure and filled with mindfulness and compassion
we live in the Avatamsaka world." - Thich Nhat Hanh
"One thing ignored by the
religious right is the grace
exhibited by Jesus. Grace means second chance, and
Jesus was a beliver of second chances. Each and everyone of us
falls short in the eyes of God, and yet we all
have the ability to become children of God and experience
forgiveness. The
compassion of Jesus and his grace are demonstrated throughout the Gospels.
Jesus is not the God of the GOP, big
business or the religious right. Jesus
is the God of everyone who chooses to have a relationship with him.
Jesus wants us to have second chances
when we stumble or fall. " - Gary Swearingen
"Liberation Theology has not
fallen from favor among the religious
people of Latin America. To refer to Liberation Theology as "Marxist
Catholicism" is quite
incorrect. Christian communities
preceded Marxism by nineteen centuries
and gave us a lifestyle of sharing and cooperation. Unfortunately, imperial
Christianity, which developed in the 4th century, married the church to
militarism and oppression.
Liberation Theology is the
antithesis of imperial Christianity. We created small Christian communities to
observe, judge and act on realissues in Latin America. Thus democracy,
conscience and critical thinking
became part of a vibrant spirituality.
Liberation Theology is the key to
a future of religious and spiritual integrity." - Blase Bonpane, Director,
Office of the Americas, Los Angeles
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This website defines a
new perspective with which to engage reality to which its author adheres. The
author feels that the falsification of reality outside personal experience has
created a populace unable to discern propaganda from reality and that this has
been done purposefully by an international corporate cartel through their
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Religious intolerance occurs when any group refuses to tolerate religious
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web site marks the founding of a system of philosophy named The Truth of the
Way of Life - a rational gnostic mystery religion based on reason which
requires no leap of faith, accepts no tithes, has no supreme leader, no church
buildings and in which each and every individual is encouraged to develop a
personal relation with the Creator and Sustainer through the pursuit of the
knowledge of reality in the hope of curing the spiritual corruption that has
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