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GNOSTIC MILLENNIUM COMMUNICATIONS
How can we
make the traditional and Gnostic vision workable We need to avoid allowing Traditionalism to become sort of disabling nostalgia, where we pine for better days (the golden age) and do little to transform or grow. This is where Evola comes into his own with his emphasis on Heroic values and the action of the divine warrior. However the question still must be answered - What principles in Gnosticism can be isolated for today and how do they apply, practically within twentieth century life ? If we were to delineate some basic concepts and frame them in a way that they can be readily understood today, then some of the prime points of focus would be. 1. A Traditionalist and Anti-Evolutionary Paradigm. Spirit and Matter are in conflict, while the physical vessels may evolve and through random chance improve, it is to the detriment of spirit. Entropy is the rule of the day and mankind has been going in a downward spiral since the very beginning. This has accelerated since the start of the Kali Yuga around 3102 BCE and continued to accelerate as we head towards Aquarius. This worldview is imperative to the Gnostic vision as it shows us the vacuity of modern religions and the foolishness of scientism and materialism. The ramifications of this model are too numerous to outline here. Evola has done a far better task in his ³Revolt against the Modern World² and Guenon in ³The Reign of Quantity and the Sign of the Times², and ³Crisis of the Modern World² we commend them to you for consideration. 2. Dualism Since matter and spirit are in conflict then there is a duality or dichotomy within the human condition. Holism is an illusion, body and sprit relations are shattered. The Gnostic view of man is that of a Hybrid, a created being who was manipulated as a slave by the Archon warlords. After liberating himself from them (in Atlantis) and proving his metal, the Treasury of Light implanted Beacons of Light to awaken man, the major Beacon being in Egypt. Man had to learn that his physical body, mind, emotions and related vehicles have developed in reaction to his innate genetic programming, they must be over-come so that his true Self can awaken. The spiritual path is a battle, the war between the Archons and Man, the Sons of Light and Darkness and the Gods of Good and Evil exist within us and well as outside in the world. The spiritual life comes from transcending the human condition, things that bring us back to the body and the personality must be foregone or transmuted. Inherent within the dualist vision is a demand for separation from the world and a unique understanding of the human condition. 3. Amoral Ethics Leading on from the dualist and anti-evolutionary paradigm we must accept that false morality, Puritanism and false standards of morality must go out the window. While the Gnostic needs his or her own standard of Ethics, external laws, regulations and moral convictions have little relevance. The sort of qualms about sexuality and the body simply hold back an honest appraisal of the role the physical vessel has within the spiritual process. The body and mind work against us, but can be used to achieve liberation. Sexual Occultism (Tantra), Fourth Way Psychology, Magick, Sorcery and all manner of practices can be put to use in the service of the light self. But let it be said at the outset, this is not to be for the aggrandizement of the ego, if the focus is not on the Light-Self but on one of the illusionary selves then destruction will inevitably result. Mans mind is a complex of programs and desires not of his own making, overlaid with thousands of memories, recollections and sub-personalities, only by journeying through the mirage of mind and body can the true self be awakened. 4. Non-Reproductive Sexuality Since the body is the vessel of oppression, then worship of either the family or of hedonism is reprehensible. There is nothing wrong with utilizing sex to achieve liberation, but the focus must be on transcendence not on momentary pleasure or extending the degenerative cycle by increasing the process line of children. The Gnostic view of Love is the uniting of equals on a spiritual journey, not the clash of two empty souls hoping to find meaning by capturing another point of light and degrading it into a human vessel. However, contraception by medical means is not the answer, taking the pill may stop the children but does not stop the drives, urges and desires for reproduction. Men and women are dominated by inbuilt hormonal programs heterosexual men are driven to spread their seed at all costs and heterosexual women to receive it and nurture it. We must defeat the inbuilt genetic programs that exist before liberation can be achieved. 5. Aristocracy and Elitism No one is equal to anyone else, no race is equal to another race, no country is equal to another country. Egalitarianism is based on a false political premise that has no foundation in the real world. While we may accept a quantitative approach to equality (all are equal in the eyes of the law), it will never occur qualitatively (no one is of the same quality as anyone else). Gnosticism has an aristocratic vision, (from the word Aristos meaning best), it is hierarchical and elitist. Even within the Gnostic traditions there are divisions of knowledge, degrees of awareness and a double doctrine, whereby on outer wisdom is taught to the world (exoteric) and the inner truth is reserved for the initiated (esoteric). The mass of humanity are Hylics, beings without gnosis who reincarnate endlessly with no goal in sight, there is little chance of awakening or redemption for them. Hylics produce lots of heat but little light. The Psychic class have some potential for awakening, but must be trained with vigor so as to keep them on the Path. The Pneumatics are the true Gnostics who sense the light and follow it. Gnosticism is, obviously, for the elite. 6. A Transcendent rather than Earth Focused Theology The goal of Gnosticism is Transfiguration, to return to the Treasury of Light. The "here and now" is a prison and a cage, while we should exercise due restraint when dealing with the earth, earth worship is foolish and destructive. The earth is a dead shell in which Sophia is locked, it is not a living being, an earth mother, a beast of beauty and natural prowess. It is a dark, black prison in which particles of light are caught and degraded. Any beauty in the world is from the light that exists within it, not from matter itself. Our goal must be transcendence, our path must be Transfiguration. 7. The Divine Rite as Personal Transformation. The Transfigurative path is individualist and personal, the individual is now the temple and death and rebirth occurs within the corridors of self. The ordeals are in everyday life and the lessons we learn are more painful and the dangers are greater. Kali Age Initiation is upon us. For you are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them. 2 Corinthians 6. 16 One of the major questions that arise when considering Gnosticism at the end of the millennium is how do we apply the rebirth rite that seemed so central to early Gnostic traditions ? The days of the pharaohs, High Priests and Sanctuaries, Rosicrucian Vaults and great Ritual Orders have gone. There is some question whether such ritual methods even continue to work in these days of our saturation with TV, Computer Games, Video and Music. In our state of constant over stimulation it would seem likely that a new paradigm of death and rebirth is necessary. This new mechanism of dying within and giving birth to the True Self is best found expounded within the work of the great Gnostic teacher Gurdjieff. As we head towards the end of the Millennium we can look back nostalgically to the past. We can reconstruct the great rites of the Pharaoh and we can marvel at the glories of Akhenaten. We can dwell on the architecture of Solomon's Temple, the secrets of the Templars and the mystery of the Grail. We can even reminisce about the Tomb of Christian Rosencreutz and the Great Vault of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. But what about today, what about the here and now ? As I look at the world around us I see a society jaded by over-stimulation and interactivity. Our hormones have been stretched to the limits by sex, drugs and rock music, not to mention preservatives, colouring and artificial products and medications. Our perceptions have been warped by the incessant violence of the television, whether it be on the news or so-called entertainment. Our education standards have fallen and to read seems to be an aberration or vice rather than a building block of personality. Character and integrity seemed to be words out of favor and quick fixes and deception seem to be the employer of choice. It seems ever so far away when our world was based on the values inherent within esotericism and Gnosis, so how can we apply the principles in the here and now ? Since the Divine Rites of the King must be applied on an individual and personal basis this necessitates a major transformation of the Mysteries. No longer are initiations enacted with pomp and ceremony, with secret passwords and ritual formulae, the chamber of initiation is that of everyday life, the vault of the Rosicrucians is our own body and mind. One of the most clear and precise enunciations of this new formula is found in the work of the great Gnostic thaumaturge Gurdjieff. ----- Original Message -----
The following is an excerpt from the Solar Mysteries CD, a CD-ROM which is produced and distributed through the Institute for Gnostic Studies in Australia.
The most controversial aspect of The Work is Gurdjieff's evaluation of man. Simply put, man does not have a soul ! The soul is acquired through perseverance and effort. This comes as a shock to many used to exoteric religious traditions (and the pseudo philosophies of the New Age), however, it is inherent within all great esoteric frameworks. Ordinary people are machines, or in Gurdjieffs inflammatory language, ordinary people are no better than shit. Reincarnation in this interpretation takes on a decidedly Buddhist bent, the conditions of our lives reproduce a semblance of self but no real discrete identity. Immortality is conditional on illumination. This being said, most people do not even realize they are dead. The illusion of consciousness is essentially like being asleep and most people stay asleep until they die like dogs in Gurdjieffs confronting lingo. To awaken we must work against the system, Gurdjieff even describes this as working against God, it is a way against nature, against God. This is certainly the Gnostic position, with the God he mentions being the Demiurge. We must discipline the body and personality and through voluntary suffering awaken the Self within (the Essence) and achieve self-initiation. The Personality as described is not coherent, it is comprised of thousand of false selves, mini-dictators just waiting to take control. Like their macrocosmic relatives, the Archons, they battle for dominion. Gurdjieff uses various classification systems for these selves, one of his more common was that of the three brains. He describes man as having three brains, vertebrates having two and invertebrates having one. These three faculties are the motor or instinctive center, the emotional centre and the intellectual. Gurdjieff claims that due to some mistake (we would suggest engineering by Archons) that we are now three different people in a single individual. The mystery of initiation is to overcome these centres and awaken the Essence of True Self beyond them, in the terms of Aleister Crowley one must discipline the Animal, (he would include emotional and instinct here), train the Adept and awaken the Angel. Gurdjieff sometimes took this doctrine further and related these three-brains to a scheme of seven types of men, these types (reminiscent of other septenary systems) were: Sexual, Instinctive, Moving, Emotional, Intellectual, Higher Emotional and Higher Intellectual. In types 1,2,3 they are dominated by the moving, emotional and intellectual centers, while the fourth man is beginning to harmonize, the fifth posseses true awareness while 6 and 7 are the higher states we must aim for. Where man seven enjoys the objective and complete practical knowledge of all. These states can also be related to initiatory degrees and remind us of the structure used within the Manichaean tradition and more especially of the path of initiation represented by the Grail. Within the epic of Parzival as written by Wolfram von Eschenbach, there are seven initiatory degrees. Starting with the rave, the peacock and knight. We then progress to the swan, pelican, eagle and the Crown represented the King of the Grail, the one who could move beyond time and was in communion with the Pleroma. This seven-fold initiatory system is also found within the Isma ili Sufi system and this may explain its presence within "The Work". From the summit to the base of the mystical hierarchy, the movement of perpetual elevation propagates itself. Finally, in the same way that the Seven periods of a cycle are closed by the Great Resurrection. At the end of the Cycle of his individual life, at the Seventh Grade of this ascension, the adept finds himself at the threshold of perfect angelhood of the tenth intelligence. This is the dawn of the Great Resurrection. The vision finishes by embracing all the universes. Cyclical Time and Isma Oili Gnosis Henri Corbin. From: "coraxo"
<coraxo@elp.rr.com>
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