An Informal Discussion
First off, what does "Gnostic" mean?
The term Gnostic refers to someone seeking "Gnosis". Gnosis is the
Greek word for Knowledge. It refers to direct experiential knowledge of
divinity. While Gnosticism is not strictly Xristian, the manner in which it
will be discussed on this site lends itself quite well to Xristian symbolism.
Also, the form of religious ceremonial which the author has received training
and ordination in is similar in many ways to the Catholic Eucharist (aka Mass.)
The Roman Catholic Church is the religion in which the author was raised and it
has had quite an impact on his spirituality. Therefore, it is useful to make a
brief note comparing the Gnostic tradition with the two most prominent forms of Xristianity. In Protestant theology, salvation comes to those with Faith. All
you have to do is accept Yeshua as your Lord and Master and have Faith that he
died for your sins and you are guaranteed a place in Heaven. In Roman
Catholicism, Faith is important, but you must back it up with Action if you are
to have any chance of entering the Kingdom of God. In Gnosticism, Faith and
Good Works are only stepping stones to Gnosis. Gnostics, in general, feel that
"salvation" is gained through directly Knowing God. This relates to
the Merkava tradition in mystical Judaism. The goal of the Merkava practice was
to ascend through the various heavens (giving certain passwords and signs to
gain entrance) until you reached the Throne of God and looked directly at the
Face of God. Ezekiel is believed to have been a mystic from this tradition. The
apocryphal books attributed to Enoch also appear to belong to this style of
mysticism.
The Demi-Urge
The typical Gnostic cosmologies include an
entity they call the "Demi-Urge," who is the creator and ruler of the
physical world. The term Archon (pronounced AR-kon) means "Ruler" and
refer to the helpers of the Demi-Urge (who is the Chief Archon.) Although the
Demi-Urge is the creator and ruler of the physical plane, he is not the God
Most High (GMH). Sometimes he is named Samael, which means "Blinded of
God" because he thinks himself to be the highest god. Included in these
Gnostic cosmologies is a being who is a reflection or image (which implies
Light) of the GMH. The Demi-Urge sees this image of a God higher them himself
and gets scared. He binds this reflection (which is an entity unto itself,
often called "Adam Kadmon" in Qabalistic literature) into his
physical creation in an attempt to gain control over it. This was all part of
the big plan (which involves a feminine character called Sophia, which I won't
go into detail about in this introductory article.) The image of GMH was shown
to the Demi-Urge with the knowledge of what would happen. The reasoning behind
this plan was that this image of GMH had power over the Demi-Urge. When this
image remembered itself, it would overthrow the Demi-Urge from below and
establish the Kingdom of God in the physical plane as it was above the realm of
the Demi-Urge. According to this cosmology, the Demi-Urge either created the physical
universe in a flawed manner, or that he damaged the physical plane when he
uttered, "There is no God before me!" In all versions, the Demi-Urge
endeavors to keep us ignorant in order to maintain control over us.
Prison Planet
One notable version of this Gnostic cosmology
states that we are to escape this prison. It states that when we die, our
spirit rises through the planes in an attempt to reunite with GMH. On the way
there it gets trapped by the Demi-Urge and Archons, stripped of it's memories
and sent back down into matter. The way out of this is to attain Gnosis, which
will endow the Gnostic with the Knowledge that she or he has the power to
overcome these Archons and how to do it. This is similar to popular Buddhist
thought, where the object is to escape the physical plane of existence. In
Tibetan Buddhism, they call this Liberation Through Clear Seeing in the Bardo
(Bardo is the "in-between" state after physical death.) However, in
Buddhism we can also see a parallel to the earlier mentioned Gnostic goal of
overcoming the Demi-Urge not to escape the physical world, but to
perfect/repair it. This comes in the form of the Bodhisattva ideal and in the
perfect city of Shambhala.
The Bodhisattva vows to continue to reincarnate
in a physical vehicle until every sentient being has been enlightened.
Shambhala is a perfect city hidden somewhere in the Himalayan mountains. If you
work at it, some day you will be reincarnated there. The story of Shambala is
also apocalyptic. At some future time, a malevolent warlord will gain knowledge
enough to find and invade Shambalah. A true black-magic practitioner and
incarnation of an Archon, if not the Chief Archon. This figure also calls to
mind the "Anti-Xrist." All hell breaks loose and a full world war
occurs. Eventually, the powers of Good win out and Shambhala is established in
the world as a whole. This should sound familiar in many ways to those who have
read the book of Revelations in the Xristian New Testament. Shambalah to me,
represents the same thing as the New Ierusalem in that book. The whole
cosmology can be summarized in four stages: Unconscious Unity ("when all
was formless and void"), Unconscious Separation (after creation and still
in the "Garden of Eden"), Conscious Separation (After "The
Fall") and finally Conscious Unity ("The New Jerusalem.")
All that being said, what must be realized is
that none of these complex cosmologies are true in a literal sense. They are
simply allegories. Such colourful words and elaborate stories were created to
express something which we do not have the words to express directly. They are
the finger pointing at the moon, not the moon itself. In reality, all of these
stages exist simultaneously. If the reader is familiar with the Qabalistic Tree
of Life, they will understand that the primal state of Unconscious Unity
represented by Kether and more especially the three veils of Negative Existence
didn't cease to "exist" once the other spheres of existence came into
being. If everything in existence ultimately resolves into one, then we can see
how the rest of the states of being are represented at all times. For example,
rocks and trees exist in the world of duality, however they do not have the
same kind of self-consciousness that humans and other animals do. This is the
Unconscious Separation "stage." Humans and most animals are aware
that that they are individuals (a word stemming from the same root as
"divide.") This is the Conscious Separation stage. There are also
those who are fully conscious of the fact that everything is One. That
everything they experience is simply an aspect and manifestation of the one
"God Most High" including themselves. Their entire existence has been
transformed. The world is perfect and in unity. It is the New Ierusalem/Shambalah.
This is Conscious Unity. The path that took them to that point would have been
filled with difficulty, anguish and much destruction which would have appeared
in their lives internally as well as externally (all is one anyways.) The story
of Christ depicts one such individual who overcame division and entered that
fourth stage.
Lvxifer
Now for Lvxifer. How does he tie into this?
Well, Lvxifer is that image of God Most High (GMH) that was imprisoned in
matter in order to perfect it. Some of you may be thinking, "How can that
be? Satan is the image of God?" In the earlier articles on this site,
Lvxifer and Satan are often considered separate entities. The author's opinions
and use of terminology has changed and evolved along the way but the articles
are typcially shown in their original form, sometimes with minor editing. In
this article, Satan is another title for the Archons and Demi-Urge. The word
"satan" actually means "adversary," so the connection with
the Archons is obvious. A title of Lvxifer is "The Morning Star"
which is the last luminary visible in the sky before sunrise. It isn't actually
a star, but is the planet Venus. The word "lvxifer" actually means
"light bearer," which gives a good general description of how the
Gnostic Lvxifer is viewed. This title connects Lvxifer with figures in several
other traditions, most notably Prometheus.
Prometheus
Prometheus stole the fire of the
"gods" and brought it to mankind. As a result, he was chained to a
mountain and every day, an eagle would come and eat his liver. Every night it
would grow back. Eventually, Hercules came along, killed the Eagle and released
Prometheus from his chains. This story, looked at from a Gnostic Lvxiferian
viewpoint, would represent the image of GMH being imprisoned in matter for the
purpose of bringing enlightenment to it. The Eagle eating the liver is symbolic
of the sexual force (scorpio) being used to keep us trapped. Once the Eagle has
been overcome, liberation is inevitable. This does not mean that one must
destroy the sexual force or remain celibate. The verb "to know" in
the bible is often used to denote sexual union. It is no coincidence that
Gnosis also means Knowledge. In many Gnostic texts, Xrist mentions the
internal union of male and female aspects as being a key to salvation. Many
esoteric traditions around the world include the physical representation of
this union as an aid in attaining the internal state of union. One of these
traditions which is most people have heard about is called Tantra and can be
found in Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism (the Taoist Tantra is more commonly
called "Internal Alchemy.")
In Tantra, the reproductive force is conceived
of in the form of a fiery serpent they call Kundalini. In the Western
Mysteries, Lvxifer is also conceived of as a serpent; sometimes a
fire-breathing, winged serpent or a dragon. The path of directly working with
the sexual force in the pursuit of Gnosis is a very difficult and rocky path.
For most people, working indirectly or less directly with the sexual force
tends to be the less perilous path. One could compare it to the fable of the
tortoise and the hare. The hare (a symbol of vigorous sexuality, to be sure!)
is able to tread the path quite quickly, but falls asleep halfway through. The
tortoise takes it slow, but remains determined and progresses steadily without
incident. The tortoise even reaches the goal before the hare! However, the real
issue to keep in mind here is that they both reach the goal, and in real life,
this isn't a race.
The Cosmic and Indwelling Christ
So where does Yeshua come into the picture?
Gnostics tend not to talk a lot about Yeshua, preferring rather to speak about
the Xrist. The difference is that Yeshua was an historical figure from 2000
years ago, whereas the Christ is ever present. We can never truly Know Yeshua,
but we can Know the Christ. Most Gnostics will receive illumination from
studying the written accounts (gospels) of the life of Yeshua because this
figure was closely associated with the Christ. To what extent, it is hard to
know for sure. If the accounts are correct, it would appear that Yeshua fully
manifested the Xrist. Now, what is the Xrist? The Xrist is identical with
Lvxifer, except for the fact that it has become fully Conscious. It has
"remembered itself" and can now overthrow the Archons. The Xrist is
no longer bound by the limitations of matter (Hercules removing the chains
binding Prometheus to the mountain), is no longer subject to death ("Death
is swallowed up in Victory") and can help others achieve this state. The
connection between Xrist and Lvxifer is alluded to in the book of Revelations
(which is written in the style of the books of Enoch.) In chapter 22, Christ
says, "I am the root and offspring of David and the Bright and Morning
Star." The word Bright added to the beginning of the title denotes full
consciousness (aka enlightenment or lucidity, both terms which have their root
meaning "light.")
Also connected with the resurrected Xrist is
the phrase: Death is swallowed up in Victory. This is an amazingly deep phrase.
On the Qabalistic Tree of Life, Victory is the primary title of the sphere
which rules the energies represented by the planet Venus. Lvxifer is the title
the Romans gave to Venus in it's aspect as the Morning Star. Through the full
"awakening" of the Lvxifer within, even Death can be overcome and the Xrist can be embodied. It may seem that this is a long ways off, but all
through the writings of Adepts and Masters we are told that this can be
accomplished in one lifetime. The key to this is to recognize the illusion of
time and separation. All of these "stages" are present at all times
and we are already one with those who are living in that stage. We just have to
attune ourselves to it. That being said, becoming fully conscious of the illusion
of time and separation takes place while still caught up in those illusions!
Therefore, we must work in increments to increase this consciousness.
Adapted from Jeremy Crow text, posted in http://www.jeremycrow.com/informal.html
Por T. Α Β Ρ Α Ξ Α Σ קדוש.
LVX
23/01/2020
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