"I want the truth." "You can't handle the truth!"

It seems as though I was not far off the mark last January when I wrote the post about jivanmukti. Jivanmukti, it seems, is the same as the Gnostic initation with fire of the Inner Mysteries. What is this, you ask? Feb. 1, 2007, I came to the realization that Gnosticism describes my ideas on God. And this was before even reading The Jesus Mysteries by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy. Freke and Gandy say that if you believe in gnosticism, you intrinsically will have respect for all other religions, which I can see very plainly now after having read a little about Gnosticism and the Pagan Mysteries.

I cannot do justice to this thoroughly-researched text in this blog, but I will try to summarize:
There were once upon a time the Pagan Mysteries. Each culture had their unique names for their characters (Osiris, Dionysus, Attis, Mithras) and a few different traditional beliefs, but they were all essentially the same. The Jews were not excluded - the "Gnostics" had a name for this mythical figure; they called him Jesus. All of these cultures taught the Outer Mysteries and the Inner Mysteries. Because of obliteration of many Pagan and Gnostic works (including by way of many forged documents that appear as part of the canonical New Testament today), the eradication of Gnosticism by the Roman Empire around the 4th century C.E., and the fact that the Gnostic gospels at Nag Hammadi were not found until a few decades ago - only the Outer Mysteries survived time and have become Literalist Christianity - what the world today considers Chrisitanity. People today consider the works in the New Testament to refer to a real man named Jesus, but Freke and Gandy's research reveals that the gospel writers wrote several different gospels - for people at different stages of initiation into the Mysteries. The gospels that got published by the Church were meant to be for beginners who had not been initiated yet; other gospels (such as The Secret Gospel of Mark found at Nag Hammadi) were meant for those who had passed the first stage of initiation. The Inner Mysteries reveal that the story of Jesus is a myth and that the Truths that "Jesus teaches" are that humans are made of 2 parts: the eidolon (the Lower Self) and the Daemon (the Higher Self). There are 3 baptisms associated with the initiation: (1) by water, which represents the change from identifying solely with the body to with the personality or psyche; (2) by air, which represents identifying with the Higher Self; and (3) by fire, which represents true Gnosis, or learning of "their true identity as the Universal Daemon, the Logos, the Christ within, the 'Light-power'." (see Matthew 3:11 where John the Baptist says "But He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy or fit to take off or carry; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.") Those who do not reach true Gnosis will be reborn again and live another life (after "drinking the cup of forgetfulness"), but the souls who reach true Gnosis will be freed from the "tomb" of the body.

As you can see, this fits well with many different religions - The Jesus Mysteries makes references to Hinduism and Buddhism - for, after all, "Buddha" means "Knower" - the same as "Gnosis." Also there are many "motifs" that overlap between the different religions: the fact that there is only one God, even though sometimes His different facets may be misinterpreted as polytheism (the Trinity in Christianity & the Greek "gods"); in Hinduism, that the Higher Self (Atman) is the same as the Supreme Spirit (Brahman); reincarnation; and the concept of "The Way" (Christ: "I am the way, the truth and the Life", and Buddhism); - and I'm sure there are many more similarities. Not to mention that virtually all of the Mediterranean cultures accepted the "Osiris-Dionysus" myth.

And what of the ancient Greek sages? Pythagoras coined the term "philosophy" - literally, love of Sophia, with Sophia representing the "Holy Spirit" (the "lost goddess") - the one whom Mary Magdalene represents. Along with Pythagoras, there were Socrates and Plato and many others. They were all extremely gifted, and is it a coincidence that they were all Greek sages, initiates into the Mysteries who had many followers? I think not. Rather, it was because they had achieved the Gnosis that they themselves were part God and therefore had the ability to do anything. ("I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil 4:13) - sound familiar?)

Then there is also the fact that I came to many of these conclusions myself without even knowing they came from the Pagan Mysteries. What should I make of that? Perhaps that I was an initiate of some degree in a previous life and somehow was in touch with my Higher Self? That must be what makes me intelligent and willing to use that intelligence for the Greater Good - something I have in common with Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato. And, if Jesus did exist in the same way as He's described in the Bible (even though it is unclear if the evidence supports it), this must have been the case for him too - he would have been an initiate of the Pagan Mysteries in a previous life and came back to teach the Divine Wisdom he had learned.

Do you have a better explanation? If you do I'd love to hear it.

Prayer

Amy's priest last week told us a story about a little girl with leukemia he went to visit in the hospital. "Do you pray?", he asked her. "Sometimes I pray. Sometimes I just say my prayers."

This is a really powerful statement and my biggest pet peeve about the Catholic church. We focus so much on form prayer and it leaves little room for actually praying and thinking about what the gospels and readings are saying.

Why to admire Haleola

- Good quotes/exerpts from "Moloka'i" -

1. (p. 71)

"My husband is very sick."

"I know," Damien acknowledged. "Would he...like to receive the sacraments?"

"We are not Christian."

"It's never too late to come to God. I can baptize him now, before..."

"No, thank you," Haleola said coldly.

The priest took a step inside. His tone grew more emboldened. "For your husband's sake, consider. Would you deprive him of the joys of heaven?"

Haleola ignored him. Damien's tone became harsher. "Would you condemn him to everlasting perdition?" he asked. "A moment in hell contains a thousand tortures. Is that what you want for your husband - eternal torment? Because make no mistake," and here his voice fairly boomed, "that is precisely what awaits him if he dies a sinner!"

Something cold and angry broke loose inside Haleola.

"My husband is a good man!" she cried, as vehemently as Damien. "An honest, loving, decent man! He gave me three beautiful sons - sheltered us with his tenderness - never let us go hungry or homeless! And now you tell me he's a 'sinner,' that he's going to burn in some fiery place forever, you dare to tell me that?

"If that is your God, Father Kamiano, your Jehovah, who would condemn a kind and tender man to hell for the sin of not believing in him - then I shall follow my Keo to hell, as I followed him to this one, and together we spit on your God and his heaven!"

She spat enthusiastically at his feet, and for once in his clerical life Damien was speechless.

(I hope you will agree with me when I say this is what not to do as a Christian....or Catholic, at that.)

2. (p. 180)

"Auntie? Do you...still believe in the old gods? Are they still real to you?"

Haleola seemed surprised, even amused, by the question. "Aouli," she said, "is a daughter 'born from the brain' of her mother any less believable than a virgin who gives birth to the Son of God?"

"That wasn't what I asked."

"I know." Haleola stood, a bit shakily, and signed. "I wish that I had been born fifty years before I was," she said. "Before the kapus were overthrown. When things were more certain. All my life I've lived in two worlds - the world my mother raised me to believe in, and the world around me. As a healer I was taught that sickness came from the soul, from a person's past actions and state of mind. Yet I've seen with my own eyes the tiny creatures that live in our blood, the 'microbes' that supposedly make us sick. Which do I believe? Maybe both."

Another argument for We Are All One

On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. ~John 14: 20

Time article

I don't know how long this link will be available for but here's a good article "Why We Should Teach the Bible in Public School" http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1601845,00.html
Time - April 2, 2007 p. 40-46 (cover story)

Wow I decided to post this before I had even read the article to completion...let me just say it gives a lot of validation to my decision to go to Dr. Fox's World Religions class and to post my thoughts on it on this blog. Christianity is the root of our civilization and its influence can be seen in many Western movies (which I didn't even realize) as well as in other religions ("'The Golden Rule remix!'").

PERFECT quote

"No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." ~1 John 4:12

Jesus = God

I put this in the "About me" section of Facebook about a week ago after the InterVarsity video, but I'm taking it down because it does not do service to who Jesus is. I'm gonna go back to not trying to validate my actions to other people, it's better that way. God is the only one who needs to know the things I do and that I do it all for him. It should be sufficient that I finally decided to add my Religious Views as "Christian." And if that strikes anyone because I have been "Catholic" all my life and I still go to the Oratory and yet find the need to write Christian instead of Catholic, so be it. We are all one in Christ. And the Christians did something to me this weekend that I cannot explain and have never witnessed before, not even on the over-a-dozen other (Catholic) retreats I've been on. It could be that I just wasn't listening all those other times, but either way there is NO way all those people are just delusional. Jesus is God.

Jesus came to earth to teach us how to live. How to live an abundant, fulfilling life of humility, love, and service to others. Our time here on earth is a gift, and I try to make the most of every moment of it. I believe there are undoubtedly other ways of learning to live morally than by listening to the word of Jesus, but it is still all the word of Jesus. There are plenty of non-Christians who display this behavior and are in tune with the song of life of the living God who is alive in all of us. I just try to be in tune.

I learned a term for what I believe in!

"We are one body, one body in Christ." How does that seem to suggest anything other than gnostic Christianity?? More on this later...

jivanmukti

What I would like to do in this blog is come up with one universal explanation of the greater forces of life. There is a LOT to consider and things may not seem to flow very smoothly, but eventually I want to touch on as many different aspects as possible. (Note: these are my views and opinions after having sat through World Religions with Dr. Fox, not necessarily his views.) Have fun on the journey.

What does it mean to "believe in God"? I think everyone has their own idea of what they mean by this phrase. There are tons of different religions out there, and even more sects of each, and there is so much debate about who is right and who is wrong. Call it deitocentrism, if you will. But really, they are all just manifestations of one Great Spirit, one True Self. Every religion has its rituals and rites of passage etc etc, and each one has its own myth. Its own metaphor. The concept of the Holy Trinity is just as much a metaphor as Krishna. Some religions have avatars - human incarnations of God: Jesus and Krishna are two examples. Diverse peoples developed their own cultures and their own stories of the creation, their own concept of the meaning of life.

Well, it happened this way. The beginning came. The first cosmogony, the creation. There was one True Self. Then somehow, it became physically manifest. Earth was created, and eventually life began. And with the advent of life, karma was created. Karma is a selfish type of action that is self-propagating, and leads to more karma. More action for the good of the illusory self, the self that thinks it is a distinction from the others. (This is to be distinguished from the true self and knowing that there is only one true self.) And so life moves on, speciation happens, and eventually greedy people come into being. Materialistic people. People who think they don't have it all, and who will never have it all because there is nothing to "have" in the first place. It is all just an illusion. And to realize this, to become one with nature and non-materialistic, to practice yoga for the good of the True Self, brings you that much closer to nirvana.

So, life is just one of many journeys, one of many incarnations. It is an opportunity to become closer to nirvana - that is, closer to the end. If that sounds too pessimistic, think of it this way: closer to the end of the illusion. Closer to being one with God, the True Self. That is the true paradise and Heaven. And when I say "Heaven," I take it to mean having your spirit - your jiva, energy, chi, ha, prana - released into the air. And this is what I consider the Holy Spirit: the energy that is released into our surroundings. That is what it means to me to "meet God." To become one with the Universe, to realize we are all the True Self.

I believe happiness on Earth can only be achieved by realizing this while in human form. To do this is essentially to have achieved nirvana while being alive. To acknowledge that we are all one True Self and that we will become closer to that one True Self at the death of this reality of each individual's selfish illusion while our jiva is incarnated as human. (Jivanmukti - to be liberated while alive.) Once this realization occurs, we can be much more open to being one with nature and to lending a hand to others, because we can realize that it is all for the good of ourselves. That is why "what goes around, comes around," why we should do our dharma (duty), be nice to others, treat others as we would treat ourselves. The teachings of every religion coincide, once you start to think about it.

A special thanks to Dr. Alan Fox for letting me sit in on his class.