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The Word
of the Lord - Cairo Egypt - September 1982 ΓΕΝΕΣΙΣ: καὶ ἐκάλεσεν ᾿Αδὰμ τὸ ὄνομα τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ Ζωή ὅτι αὕτη μήτηρ πάντων τῶν ζώντων καὶ ἐποίησε Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς τῷ ᾿Αδὰμ καὶ τῇ γυναικὶ αὐτοῦ χιτῶνας δερματίνους καὶ ἐνέδυσεν αὐτούς καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός ἰδοὺ ᾿Αδὰμ γέγονεν ὡς εἷς ἐξ ἡμῶν τοῦ γινώσκειν καλὸν καὶ πονηρόν καὶ νῦν μή ποτε ἐκτείνῃ τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ καὶ λάβῃ ἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς καὶ φάγῃ καὶ ζήσεται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα καὶ ἐξαπέστειλεν αὐτὸν Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἐκ τοῦ παραδείσου τῆς τρυφῆς ἐργάζεσθαι τὴν γῆν ἐξ ἧς ἐλήφθη καὶ ἐξέβαλε τὸν ᾿Αδὰμ καὶ κατῴκισεν αὐτὸν ἀπέναντι τοῦ παραδείσου τῆς τρυφῆς καὶ ἔταξε τὰ Χερουβὶμ καὶ τὴν φλογίνην ρομφαίαν τὴν στρεφομένην φυλάσσειν τὴν ὁδὸν τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς (3:20-24) 888: "You never have to leave this garden this garden is in your heart because the creator himself is within you you have desired the best part to worship and sit in his presence forever and it will never be taken from you... you can enter Paradise at anytime. the lord his paradise and this mountain are all abiding in you because he is in you what were but foretastes are now a reality to you because you have climbed the mountain the reason you can see me and others cannot is not because I have entered your realm but because you have entered mine... the true power of my words can only be seen when they are written in the hearts of my people living epistles are more powerful than letters written on paper or stone... the life of every person is in my book and their life is a book that will be read by all of creation for all eternity the history of the world is the library of gods wisdom... my church is the book that I am writing and the whole world is about to read it until now the world has wanted to read the book that the evil one has written about my church but soon I will release my book... these are the ones who helped to prepare you for your purpose you have received from their teachings or from their stories they are your witnesses you are representing them as you are me just as those you have a part in preparing will also represent you we are all one in the great purpose of the father... you will join them soon enough but you have work to do first they are not complete without you neither are you complete without them this is also true of those who are called through you and the messengers in your time their words will help to keep you on the path that has been chosen for you you can also give their words to others to keep them on their path all of those who have life have come from me." – via Joyner666: "Know son that the true principle of self-control is liberty for we are born into a world which is in bondage to ideals to them we are perforce fitted even as the enemies to the bed of procrustes each of us as he grows learns repression of himself and his true will it is a lie this folly against self these words are written in the book of the law so therefore these passions in ourselves which we understand to be hindrances are not part of our true will but diseased appetites manifest in us through false early training thus the tabus of savage tribes in such matter as love constrain that true love which is born in us and by this constraint come ills of body and mind either the force of repression carries it and creates neuroses and insanities or the revolt against that force breaking forth with violence involves excesses and extravagances all these things are disorders and against nature now then learn of me the testimony of history and literature as a great scroll of learning but the vellum of the scroll is of man's skin and its ink of his hearts blood.... neglect not in any wise the study of the writings of antiquity and that in the original language for by this thou shalt discover the history of the structure of thy mind that is its nature regarded as the last term in a sequence of causes and effects for thy mind hath been built up of these elements so that in these books thou mayst bring into the light thine own subconscious memories and thy memory is as it were the mortar in the house of thy mind without which is no cohesion or individuality possible so that the lack thereof is called dementia and these books have lived long and become famous because they are the fruits of ancient trees whereof thou art directly the heir wherefrom say I they are more truly german to thine own nature than books of collateral offshoots though such were in themselves better and wiser yes o my son in these writings thou mayst study to come to the true comprehension of thine own nature and that of the whole universe in the dimension of time even as the mathematic declareth it in that of space that is of extension moreover by this study shall the child comprehend the foundation of manners which as sayeth one of the sons of wisdom maketh man" – via Crowley Disclaimer: Chew on that
which nourishes, spit out that which does not! ||
GODISNOWHERE ------- μετανοειτε
Oral Tradition & Written Word
o The liturgical drama of the mystery schools
§ Mosaic: Jewish, Christian, and Islamic religious traditions § Hermetic: Egyptian, Greco-Roman, and Persian religious traditions § Other: a diversity of religious traditions across the Americas, Africa, and Asia
o Naturally, each tradition is both independent of and dependent upon other traditions
§ Sort of like general education requirements and multidisciplinary studies in college § Of course, it is worth pointing out that not all colleges are created equal. § Different interests and career paths often influence our academic pursuits.
o The theatre or liturgy of life is but a great school-house for the children of God.
· Three Primary Ways of Acquiring Genuine Knowledge
o Directly: Learn through
personal experience
§ Child personally experiences the consequences of touching a hot stove-top.
o Indirectly: Learn through vicarious experiences
§ Child experiences the consequences of others touching the hot stove-top.
o Anamnesis: Learn through the loss of forgetfulness or recollection of past knowledge
§ Child remembers – from distant past – the consequences of touching the hot stove-top.
· Two Glaring Omissions
o Education: Teacher leads or draws knowledge out of student.
§ Child is given questions, feedback is designed to lead student further into self-discovery.
o Indoctrination: Teacher pours or puts knowledge into student.
§ Child is given answers, questions are designed to reinforce the given solutions.
· Sources of pseudo-Knowledge
o Misleading oral traditions o Misleading textual traditions o The blind leading the blind o Information overload
Packet 1: When
Cosmologies Collide
· Essenes – Ebionites – Nazirenes
o Rejection of animal sacrifices and mainstream religious views o Confession of multiple lives, self-knowledge, and universal cosmic laws o Requirement of a strict vegetarian diet, ascetic practices, and mind-body awareness
· Mosaic (Panentheistic) Cosmology
o initiation is the entrance into community o emphasis placed on divine transcendence (monotheism) o primarily a right-hand soteriology (covenantal/self-surrendered) o oriented towards a celebration of the καλός (public liturgy/communal) o symbolism of the righteous father / chaste mother and redemption of the harlot bride
· Hermetic (Panentheistic) Cosmology
o initiation is the entrance into self o emphasis placed on divine immanence (polytheism) o primarily a left-hand soteriology (self-willed/self-mastery) o oriented towards a celebration of the κακός (private liturgy/magickal) o symbolism of the beastly father / sacrilegious mother and empowerment of the sacred whore
· Internal Signs of Mystery School Texts
o frequent usage of participles (contemporaneous participation) o frequent shifts in mood, tense, and voice (jig-saw puzzle effect) o intratextual, intertextual, and extratextual allusions (jig-saw puzzle effect) o abrupt changes in subject and topics being discussed (jig-saw puzzle effect) o multiple layers of meaning encoded within a limited vocabulary set (ambiguity) o multiple layers of symbolism, allegory, and myth embedded within texts (ambiguity) o ritual communication and cultic actions encoded within allegory and myth (mystery) o veneration or great reverence given to the collection of texts by a community (mystery) o texts seem to communicate different things to different peoples at different times (mystery) o community appeals to oral tradition and early commentary for interpretative matters (mystery)
· Orthodox Gnosis & Gnostic Orthodoxy
o Orthodoxy is primarily interested in preserving the well-being of the community. o Gnosticism is primarily interested in empowering the individual in the quest of self-discovery. o This does not mean that the two words are mutually exclusive or incompatible with one another. o Early dramatists almost certainly attempted to bridge the two together throughout their dramas, liturgies, and associated texts. Drawing from a rich oral tradition and a growing intellectual curiosity, drama would have been a natural consequence of contemporary concerns and the cross-pollination of culture. o An absence of evidence is not necessarily the evidence of absence: so I await a full open-disclosure. o 2000 years ago probably
not all that different than today: people will look back
to our day as we do then.
Packet 2:
Eucharistic Banquet of the Incarnate Logos
· Etymologies: giving preference to the literal, liturgical, and original meaning of words
o Religion ~ to read or trace again, to select or pick out, to bind oneself or be bound o Rhapsode ~ to stitch, weave, or sew together songs according to the needs of an audience o λέγειν ~ to assemble or gather something together for the τέλος of the λόγος o Hypocrite ~ someone who interprets a text or performs a particular role o Person ~ someone who wears a mask or assumes a liturgical identity o Liturgy ~ the work or performance that one does in service to family, community, and nation o Church ~ the community of called out ones who goes forth calling out the beauty of others o Cult ~ the cultivation of the garden within the heart: the devotion and nurturing of culture
· Medea: a rediscovery of cultic language and an appreciation of esoteric wisdom
o Δεινός ~ the language of awestruck wonder (fearful, terrible, strong, powerful)
§ Utterly beyond words, you are – O king! § Transcendent beauty, who can describe you? § Gazing upon the eternal, I encounter terror! § Such weightiness, I am compelled to flee!
o Φεύγω ~ the language of heightened awareness (escape, flight, flee, exile)
§ Pitch black – wolves howling – campfire – the heart racing § Ritually unclean – community – access denied – great lament § Occult knowledge – the taboo – acquisition and celebration thereof § Lost – foreign land – foreign gods – foreign customs – adrift
o ἀπόλλυμι ~ the language of extravagant devotion (to unloose, undo, lose, ruin, destroy)
§ O Jealous jealousy, come! Completely remove everything that hinders love! § O All-consuming fire, consume me! For I am wholly undone in your presence! § O God of Glory, illuminate us! Set us ablaze: wholly ruined for anything else! § O King, raise up this generation with a passionate zeal! Completely liberate us!
o Esoterica ~ possible glimpses into the inward message of the Medea (?)
§ Mirror ~ the wife of Jason acquiring knowledge of self via mystical language. § Medea ~ a symbolic personification, often she has the feel of a cult object or perhaps a body of communal knowledge: quite similar to Joseph in Genesis or even Jesus in the Gospels § Kreon ~ the king seems to offer perspective for those who think themselves to be clever. This can be seen in the shifting language exchanged between the two, but additional inquiry is needed. § Chorus ~ early on, there is a lament expressed concerning the lost voice of women or otherwise an inability to speak through a new medium which apparently only men have access to. This likely has something to do with the breakdown of oral tradition and the general preference or identification with the foreigner: someone not yet “tamed” by the power of the pen. § To that end ~ much of the play
seems to use contemporary Athenian issues to encode a
deeper layer of occult knowledge: which would have been
increasingly suppressed by the literate class. Packet 3:
Apocalyptic Liturgy of the Risen Christ
· Semiotics: giving preference to the meaning of signs and their roles in the communicative process
o Temple ~ sacred space: where time intersects with eternity o Theatre ~ κόσμος, ζωή, zodiac, seasons, ages, cosmic schoolhouse o Chorus ~ antiphonal songs, rhythmic dance, threshing floor, end-times o Cross ~ work, warfare, slavery, bondage, exodus, conquest, kingdom, worship o Herod ~ any other name would not be the same, for it suggests the presence of mystery
· Drama: seeing the world through the eyes of the one crucified and risen within the assembly gathered in his name
o
Dionysus ~ God of theater, wine, and ecstasy § worshippers lose self-identity to obtain union or identification with divinity
o
Apollo ~ God of music, light, and reason § worshippers retain self-identity to facilitate order and harmony within community o
Today, the battle between heart and mind rages on:
throughout all the various stages of life. §
Nowhere is this more obvious than within a local church,
synagogue, mosque, etc. §
Well, except perhaps within the realm of multimedia,
politics, and opinions-R-us.
Conclusion: Embracing the Obvious
·
Life is theatre, theatre is liturgy, and liturgy is
life! o Every person is an opportunity for understanding ourselves. o Every encounter is an opportunity for service to ourselves. o Every event is an opportunity to live vicariously: via empathy or as a stoic.
·
Ancient texts are greatly misunderstood by modern man. o The alphabet altered our relationship to oral traditions. o The printing press altered our relationship to textual traditions. o Our notions of history must change if ever we are to embrace our futures.
·
Euripides saturates his tragedies with cultic language
for a reason. o Initiates, as insiders, would have understood the texts differently than outsiders. o These texts are more closely aligned to a hermetic or eastern tradition than a mosaic one. o Removal of editorial punctuation marks and modern assumptions reveals different narratives. o Often, with world changing events, there comes a redefining of language and semantics. o Some, however, remain stubborn and run counter to the prevailing zeitgeist of their own day. o For such, oral tradition and ritual communication trumps both academia and fundamentalism.
· lex orandi – lex credendi – lex vivendi | one – holy – catholic – apostolic |orthodoxy – orthopraxis – orthopathos
A note concerning the
handouts
In the presentation, I provided handouts which consisted of quotations and excerpts from a variety of books and web articles. This presentation was essentially a condensed summary and personal commentary on those quotations and excerpts: many of which can be found within the biblioteca located on this website and will perhaps be made availible here at a later date and time. |