One of the things that is really great about the Internet is that it affords a common avenue and accessibility to a wealth of information and knowledge that would otherwise only be available to privileged classes. By “privileged classes” I do not necessarily mean those who are so far up on the social totem as to be considered elitist but rather those fortunate enough to have received the benefit of “good” counseling and guidance to set them on the path of continual learning and advancement. Not all of humankind is so encouraged and for whatever reasons be they rebellious nature’s or unconcerned and/or disinterested teachers and mentors, the mass of humanity plods along accepting whatever is plopped on their plate as being the gospel – the absolute of “what is”. But not so no more “if” one is so inclined to seek out for themselves what they know they are lacking, and so come to a better understanding and knowledge of the truth that had been denied them and/or distorted to such a degree as to make it intellectually and spiritually indigestible.
We live in a world that is not of our own making that is rather the product of thousands of years of creation, recreation and manipulation of those that have gone before us. There are many who believe (and I cannot totally disclaim this) that we are recycled through this reality learning the lessons from one life to the next, cursed to relive prior experience until we eventually figure it out or “get it right”. I reserve my right to consider or reject this notion – in my own mind the jury is not in. But regardless of what may or may not be reincarnated the world we inhabit exists and the product of millenia of perversion for the sake of the gratification of the few. Our religions are not immune to these perversions and manipulations. And in the wake of their grounding and growing and domination of the minds and consciences of the masses they would influence and guide a legacy is created that enslaves what should be the “free thinking spirits” of that which is the human species.
I believe in a divine impetus that resides in the nature of the human. Some don’t – that’s their own business – I don’t try to convince them of anything. Theirs is to look inside themselves and live based on what they find there accordingly. But there are some who realize there’s more than the crap that is dished out to us and desire to find their path to understanding what that is. This is a journey inside – into the caverns of our minds – into the depths of our being – in the hopes of finding and realizing some “truth” – some vestige of “good” that makes sense – and transcends the ever so pervasive “bull shit” that we’re unceasingly bombarded with either through “the tube”, the media, politicians, religious zealots, viagra commercials, empty rhetoric, economic illusions, and whatever else can twist the conscience of humanity.
There’s not a discipline “under the sun” that is not subject to some form of “political correctness”. Science is every bit as dogmatic as the religion it divorced itself from 400 years ago. Within every discipline there’s a mindset or vein of thought that is the “accepted” and to diverge from these parameters sets oneself up as a target for ostracizing. To find ones way outside of the “accepted” channels of recognition, or submission to the recognized powers that be, virtually ensures rejection and at the very least renders one subject to the contempt of the “lesser” though acknowledged hierophants.
Gerald Massey (1828-1907) is such whose impetus to transcend the mundane accepted definitions and dogma of this era, has left us with a legacy that might be considered “the shoulders of giants” that those following can stand on. I suppose he might be considered an enigma. He was an English poet and self-taught Egyptologist. His parents were poor and as a child he was made to work in a silk factory and later took up straw plaiting. He educated himself in his spare time gradually cultivating a taste for literary work. He became a poet, publishing several works, and also published works on spiritualism and studies of Shakespeare’s sonnets. “In regards to Egyptology, Massey first published The Book of the Beginnings, followed by The Natural Genesis. His most prolific work is Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World, published shortly before his death His work, which draws comparisons between the Judeo-Christian religion and the Egyptian religion, is largely unrecognised in the field of modern Egyptology and is not mentioned in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt or any other work of modern Egyptology.” As I speak of Massey as an “enigma” “…although he might have been considered a Christian Socialist, was in actuality a practicing druid, presumably a neo-druid. Not only that, Massey was elected Chosen Chief of the Most Ancient Order of Druids from 1880 through 1906”. This is in stark contrast as a friend and colleague “praised him for having thrown off the constraints of religion in favor of science and philosophy for the advancement of knowledge.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Massey
Today, in our contemporary world there are many researchers who follow a path similar to that of Gerald Massey. Much of their work is not recognized by the established academic/scientific/religious communities as it stands in such sharp contrast to what has become the accepted “dogma” of accepted truth. Much of this “dogma” is both religiously and politically motivated. There’s a great deal that archaeologists and researchers have been digging up, and answers to questions long held becoming realized. But because these answers do not fit into the accepted “religious” and “political” paradigms of the powers that be and would virtually turn the academic world upside down – thus dismantling the reputations of those at the top of the pyramid. Of course this kind of truth is not limited to the disciplines of spiritual studies and archaeology, science and the such – this is the way of the world. Those that are in control will do whatever is necessary to stay in control – and the rest be damned. For those who are not knowledgeable in might be well to do some research on “Nikola Tesla and JP Morgan” and better understand the ways of the world.
We have a concept of the history of the world or should I say the history of “civilization” that extends back some 6000 years to generally the time of 4000 BC. We are taught that essentially around this period – this is where it all began. But I don’t think there are very many of us who really buy it. And that probably is for very good reason. The three major religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam all date the beginnings of the history of mankind to this 4000 BC timeframe. Each of these religions has a vested interest in this “creation” perspective in order to maintain a dogmatic foundation upon which the entire premise of their “truth” exists. We can’t buy it because resident in us – in that thing we call consciousness – it simply doesn’t square. It Has been said “it takes one to know one”. Many of us as we mature have been shoveled a lot of “bull shit”. And most would probably not like to have themselves numbered among the “bull shit artists”, yet we have acquired a knowledge of enough of it to recognize it when it is spewed our way. At the same time when rational and reasonable evidence and facts are presented to us our innate human ability to discern and judge can be called upon to either accept or reject whatever it is that does or does not make sense to us. But this is not the way of “religion”. Religion finds its power and authority in un-reasoned acceptance of less than substantiated dogma.
There have always been arguments concerning the “objective” and “subjective” nature’s of what might be regarded as “evidence”. I personally believe – but more than believe – “know” – there are subjective dimensions to knowledge and understanding to be realized in the human character. As long as this “knowledge” remains a matter of my subjective experience – as regards relating it to anyone else – it doesn’t mean “diddly squat”. I can talk about it until my face turns blue and it will mean absolutely nothing. Until the one being communicated to actually realizes that “experience” for themselves. And what is it that allows one to experience this “inmateness” and another not to? Theories abound and I don’t think it is any one thing. Natural predisposition I’m certainly sure accounts were much (some might call that divine choosing, I’m not sure I’d go that far), educational and environmental factors to no doubt come into play, being pushed to an edge where there’s seemingly no other choice, and the degree of our indoctrination and assimilation of what we have been taught as absolute. Absolutes potentially being either religious or scientific, in some respects content of the dogma doesn’t matter -- the fact that dogma is dogma establishes its own parameters.
Realizing that much that I had been taught and living was only so much “bull shit” my curse has been that I cannot stop digging until I get closer to something that is more than the said bovine matter.
Most of my peers had not lived religiously defined the lives. Yet that is not entirely true. The difference to a great degree is that I studied and sought to understand the intricacies of what established and defined that life. This is something that even those within the religious community neglect or care little for. For the most part their religion is a matter of doing what we’re told , obeying a few obvious commands and let the pastors and priests deal with the rest. And this is exactly what most of the clergy would desire. Of course I know there are exceptions, but as a general fact, there’s little desire to actually see spiritual growth and development accomplished in the lives of the congregation as such will naturally lead to an independence of thought and action. And this – as far as the “religionists” is concerned – is a dangerous thing. But the acquisition of dogma and doctrine is quite acceptable as long as it remains unquestioned. At some point: I became dangerous. I kid you not – in the fall of 2004 a minister actually said that to me regarding some of the essays I was producing at the time.
That seems like a long time ago. Since then a lot has changed – not necessarily of my choosing – but I do not know what could have been done differently. Oh I know things could have been done differently -- but could they have been done differently and could I still have acted with integrity regarding to the truth as it was beginning to emerge in my own understanding and being? I don’t think so. And at least it is never been demonstrated or proved to me.
I am beginning to understand there are many who have come before me who have wrestled with many of the same questions and yet did not succumb to the pressures of the status quo. Regarding religion and the responsibility of those who teach it Gerald Massey expressed a truth quite eloquently answering my question “Why?”:
If the teachers of the fleshly cult could but see how their fallacies dissolve in death—how the false ideal set up in this life dislimns and fades as the terrible light of reality whitens in the next; if they could but see that mournful multitude of the helplessly deceived who staked their all upon the truth of what they had been taught and find they have lost because the teaching was false! If you could see them wander up and down on the other side of the dark river and wring their hands over their blighted hopes and broken hearts; hear the pitiful wailings for the Christ that is no more objective there than he was here—for the visionary glory that they may not grasp, the distant rainbows, never reached, that weep themselves away in tears—for the lifeboat gone to wreck on the wrong shore because of the false beacon-lights. If you could only dream how these poor souls desire to have the deception made known on this side of life—how they want to send some word of warning to their friends—how they will almost hiss at me through the mouths of mediums whenever they have the chance, as if their fierce feelings had turned into tongues of flame, praying for us to work on faster and cry louder against the established lie, for time is getting short and the helpers are few, and the atmosphere around each live soul is so deathly dense with indifference! This would be unbearable but for those calm other voices of the Gnostics who in this life walked our world lords of themselves with “inward glory crowned,” and who lived on after the Gnosis was suppressed and the ancient oracles made dumb—who live on yet, and are working with us still— who fill and inflate us at times with their influence, as if each single soul of us were a hundred thousand (“cent mille,” as his men used to call Napoleon). It is they who are joining hands with us to-day to bridge over that dark gulf betwixt two worlds which the historic and fleshly faith first excavated, and has been deepening and widening now for eighteen centuries. This is the Resurrection Day of the pre-Christian Gnosticism, as shown by the recent revival of Spiritualism, by the restoration of the Tree of Knowledge, by the elevation of Womankind, instead of the Fall of man; and we are living witnesses of the fact thatAnd again:
“Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again,
The eternal years of God are hers;
But Error, wounded, writhes with pain,
And dies among his worshippers!”
The same correspondent desires to know whether I would exclude the Bible from our children’s schools. Most certainly. I would have the Bible-basis superseded for all future teaching as unscientific, immoral, and false to the facts in nature. The mass of people who are Bible-taught never get free from the erroneous impressions stamped on their minds in their infancy, so that their manhood or womanhood can have no intellectual fulfilment, and millions of them only attain mentally to a sort of second childhood.http://www.scribd.com/doc/67690444/GeraldMassey-Lectures
No comments:
Post a Comment