Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Songs of Solomon, Song 4

Make note of which words are not capitalized and also of line four, which speaks of the age of certain beings.

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Oh my god, no one can seize your holy place
nor alter it, for no one has such power.

You designed your sanctuary before you drew the world.

What is older will not be undone by the younger.

You gave your heart to your believers, O lord,
and will not stumble or be fruitless.

One hour of your faith is more precious than all days and years.

Who can feel pain by wearing your grace?

Your seal is known. Creatures know it.

Archangels are robed in it.
You gave your fellowship. Not you, but we, were in need.

Distill your dews upon us.

Open your rich fountains and let milk and honey pour out.
You hold back nothing that you promise

and know the ends and give freely
so that you might withdraw and give us again.
You know all, god, and from the beginning fix order.

And you, O lord, make all things.


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"What is older will not be undone by the younger."
So what the demiurge tries to do (persuade you away from looking deeper into yourself and instead fixating on His pointless rituals) will never sway pleroma from doing what he wishes, which is to draw you closer and teach you everything you could possibly wish. The arrogant son will not undue what the father is or has done, no matter how hard He tries to convince himself otherwise.

Want to test this out? Ask a preacher, chaplain, priest, rabbi, minister, or any other church cleric exactly why yoga or eastern meditation techniques are considered blasphemous. The answers you get will astound you. Probably make you develop a permanent eye twitch if you're especially sensitive. The resounding answer I have always gotten was, "keep your eyes on the Lord and you will not falter." Ask for clarification and they reply, "God already knows you. You don't have to look inside yourself any more." And then they generally repeat themselves, going in circles.

That's the nice version.

The not-so-nice version response is, "yoga is a path to Hell and damnation." Asking for further clarification on exactly how physical movement in certain combinations will send me to Hell I get a response of, "it opens you to the devil." And again, there is no clear answer given. Simply that I will go to Hell for doing a Downward Dog, Sun Salutation, or Balancing Stick pose. Even most modern clerics still believe that to do yoga requires you to swear faith to other gods, that Buddha is worshiped as a god, and that henna is the mark of the devil. Not true. Eastern mysticism is steeped in lore and therefore the stories are interpreted as metaphors for life and death, Buddha is simply a wise man, and henna is a purification/beautification ritual. A little bit of research would have made this all clear. But since research on such topics is taboo (lest the devil tempt you, of course) then such things will never be understood by such people. Like the Tree of Life in the garden of Eden, knowledge is EVIL!!!


Dogmatic church clerics typically have a more elaborate answer regarding why meditation is evil. "You'll be visited by demons and spirits who will try to sway you from the Lord." Then they yammer on and on about cults and their poison Kool-Aid drinking suicide pacts. My argument has always been, "If I'm looking inside myself and I see demons doesn't that mean I'm already damned? And what if I see something more beautiful than anything I've every seen anywhere else?" Frowns and then a confused blinking usually ensues. They don't get the connection. And they won't. They want to see us as sinners. It keeps them in their positions of power and influence.

2 comments:

Paul said...

Seems like you have the same experience with "religious" people that I do. I ran into the same thing with taichi. I haven't seen a reference where the Songs of Solomon are from, I would like to check them out more.

Angel said...

Sorry I didn't post your comment or reply back sooner!! Turkey Day turned my house upside down and I just now got a chance to sit down.

The Songs of Solomon are also known of as the Song of Songs in the Old Testament. A book of love songs from god to humans.

In order to "get" the gnostic translation/annotations from the Songs of Solomon/Songs, it's important to read it from the Gnostic Bible. I mean, it's a standard book in the Tanakh, but it's easier to understand all the nuances of it if you have the annotations from gnostic translators.

Here's curious little piece of trivia for ya. Did you know that in the Nag Hammadi collection a gnosticized version of Plato's 'Republic' was found?!! Strange. Then again, when you're talking about the separation between church and state..... the gnostic thinkers back in the day had a LOT to say about various political formats being bandied about. Very strong opinions.