![Cultish delusions [1213x1351 - 182KB]](https://pic8.co/sh/qHDfBL.jpg){kind=link}
Absolutely. That's actually extremely interesting. There seem to be certain parts of the faith which are sticking points for many. I think part of this skepticism is that, generally, and despite the fact that we are becoming more cynical and shallow, we are also becoming more sophisticated in many ways, which is precisely why the exoteric parts of the mythos are losing their hold. If only it were simpler to get people to see the underlying truth, but it's no easy task. It takes work, and time. We're growing in our sophistication, yet dwindling in our patience.
The trouble is people want what can take years, in the form of a 5 minute video. It just doesn't happen that way. If you combine that with the fact that there are powers actively attempting to destroy history, and all of that esoteric commentary like St. Paul, and Clement of Alexandria, and St. Dionysius, and Meister Eckhart, the situation is made even worse. Most of these were already obscure for many - and in today's world, if you aren't actively going looking for them, it would be like finding a needle in a haystack.
Yet, there are other parts of the faith - like you mention - which people seem to intuitively understand, and which they act as if were very real, like the apocalypse. To me, it's something like race memory and a collective unconscious knowledge. We know that moments of unprecedented change happen, and perhaps we know that one is coming. After all, the events of late aren't exactly subtle in indicating we're approaching something big.
which is precisely why the exoteric parts of the mythos are losing their hold.
Smith touches on this in Christian Gnosis I think, either at the beginning or end of the book. I think the end. He says that we are entering into a time where understanding of the esoteric Truth of the faith is becoming more and more essential to be able to resist what is coming, whereas in the past the exoteric was sufficient for most. I simultaneously agree and very much dislike the implications of that. It seems contrary to the Christian message to suggest that only those with the reading background and intelligence capable of grappling with the esoteric will "survive". But then again, we are witnessing a great apostasy among the sheep (I don't use this term as an insult).
seems contrary to the Christian message to suggest that only those with the reading background and intelligence capable of grappling with the esoteric will "survive"
I get what this is saying - in the coming years, the situation for those not willing to compromise on matters of the Faith will be compelled to go into the Catacombs. In that situation, it only takes a few who truly understand - and those who follow them, sensing in them the Light.
Hey in this vein ...
There’s this fascinating dialectic that often pops up between and . It feels like I’m bearing witness to this cosmic argument going on between the angel on my right shoulder, and the devil on my left. I don’t really understand what they are there for, and I cannot fathom how those two are able and willing to go at it like they do. I suspect they are both a lot smarter than I am, and that they represent the “cutting edge” of the two ruling paradigms, ever at “war” against each other. But they are both acutely aware that The Beast approacheth, which will ultimately uproot and supplant them. Indeed it mostly has, but we still have this little corner of the Collective Consciousness in which to hold forth. Soon we’ll be swallowed up entirely.
And I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I’m pretty sure you remind me somewhat of Dr. Faustus, and it may be your shoulders the two of them are standing on. But by contrast with the Tragic Historye, you were able to make a better, more informed decision in light of the long line of prior Drs. Faust whom we largely have to thank for the present situation.
It’s as if we’ve witnessed a mythical progression during my life, from history to post-history, and we’re the Dramatis Personae. I ended up here because of the censorship, and I wanted to know what they are hiding.
I’m sure there was a point to all this; maybe it’s just to draw attention to a dawning realization about the significance of everyone here. Like we’re Icons.
I’m pretty sure you remind me somewhat of Dr. Faustus
That hit home in a pretty powerful way, and you may be right where it concerns the feeling that the two of them have fought on my shoulders. ARM pointed something similar out in his own characteristic way today, when he said that I'm both a terrible Christian and a terrible atheist. Faustus may be the right label for me, because it is true: I am full of contradictions, and I have many left to resolve. For what it is worth, I am a strong skeptic (though it may not come across that way always), and for the better part of my life, I've wavered between what feels like two persons inside of me. I've mentioned a good friend of mine (a Christian) briefly in our talks, and she has fought with this wavering part of me for years. It's pushed us apart several times. Being a woman, she also told me it was because I am a Gemini :).
Interestingly, I once had an astrologist read my chart. I'd known this woman for several years, but for some reason she insisted on doing this reading, and later wrote me a letter. She said that I had the strongest Gemini character of any chart she'd ever seen, so take that for as much mileage as it will get you. As a side note, her letter also told me some interesting but fairly tragic things about what I could expect from life. I still remember the feeling I had reading her letter.
you were able to make a better, more informed decision in light of the long line of prior Drs. Faust
I hope you're right.
to draw attention to a dawning realization about the significance of everyone here. Like we’re Icons.
Although I am a bit too humble to accept that label, I'd agree that, overall, our conversations have had some vague sense of importance about them. With and ARM especially (I'm not pinging him because I get the sense he'd just call us 'fags'), there is a powerful tension happening there, but a good one. I've said to Peace in the recent past, that even if nothing was resolved in these conversations, I believe the depth and the challenge have changed my views irrevocably and for the better. It seems like you'd agree, King.
That comment of yours was a very interesting interpretation.
Fags.
Interestingly, I once had an astrologist read my chart. I'd known this woman for several years, but for some reason she insisted on doing this reading, and later wrote me a letter. She said that I had the strongest Gemini character of any chart she'd ever seen, so take that for as much mileage as it will get you. As a side note, her letter also told me some interesting but fairly tragic things about what I could expect from life. I still remember the feeling I had reading her letter.
Smith takes astrology seriously. Not the horoscopes that pundits print in magazines every month, but the idea that the Zodiac does influence something about us in an almost primordial way - I don't dismiss it. There was art produced during the Crusades that depicted Christ with the twelve signs of the Zodiac behind him, and it's no coincidence that there were 12 tribes of Israel, and Christ chose twelve disciples. It comes back to the anthropic realism - this universe exists for us, and from Earth there are these twelve signs in the sky, and they are meaningful to us.
Anecdotally, I grew up in a house with three Tauruses, myself being a Capricorn. Taurus (depicted by a bull) is known to be aggressive, angry, hot-tempered - and this very much matched the way my three family members behaved, at least with each other, while I was always "peaceful".
I don't know where the overlap is with demonic spirits and genuine primordial knowledge with respect to the Zodiac / astrology. I'm sure there are palm readers who, just by visiting them, end up opening their clients up to demonic possession.
On your points about the seeming significance of our conversations, I've already said before I am sure our meeting was Providential. What God has in mind as a fruit to be born of all this, remains to be seen.
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