Right Time Right Place

"To be born when you will be born, that's good fortune. To die when you will die, that's good fortune. To be born and yet not to cherish life, that's opposing heaven. Not to want to die when it's time to die, that's opposing heaven."    ~Liezi

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Pleroma has a time and a place for us to live, breathe, and explore. How do you plan to go about doing that in 2013?

Hermetic Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth

What were see in this Discourse is the preface of an initiation ceremony; a gnostic sage is speaking to his student right before his ascension into a higher realm of enlightenment. In antiquity, the seven planets were known as the seven spheres while the eighth was thought to be where the fixed stars resided. It was also a pivotal, transformative place. The ninth sphere was literally 'god's realm' and what all gnostics reach for when learning, praying, and considering the nature of life itself. In regard to these 'spheres'-- think of an onion.

Hermes Trismegistos is the teacher and the student is unknown. The student could be anyone. The student could be you. (Note: I have an article about Hermes Trismegistos coming up next.)

I find this text, as well as the rest of the Hermetic Literature, to be especially instructive when contemplating lay gnosis(search 'lay gnosis' in the search engine in the blog). Lay gnosis is a physical manifestation of a spiritual transition, and I think it is the eighth realm touched upon by Hermes. This is one of the most esoteric works of his which has survived.

It is lamentable that more Hermetic Literature has not survived the centuries because supposedly there are hundreds of texts which are hidden or were destroyed. Here is what is translated as of today. The complete Hermeticum is available now as well as verified fragments. It's really no wonder that Cosimo de Medici was neck deep in the collection and restoration of the texts, they're such a unique spiritual work. If not for Cosimo then more likely than not the small dialogues in the Nag Hammadi codices would be all we would be left with.

Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth

(The Ogdoad and the Ennead)

"My father, yesterday you promised you would take my mind to the eighth heavenly sphere and after that you would take me to the ninth. You said this is the sequence of the tradition." 

"Yes, my child, this is the sequence, but the promise was made about human nature. I said to you when I first made the promise, 'If you remember each of the stages.' After I received the spirit through the power, I established that action for you. Clearly understanding dwells within you. In me it is as if the power were pregnant, for when I conceived from the spring that flows to me, I gave birth."

"Father, you have spoken every word rightly to me, but I am amazed at what you said. You said, 'The power is in me.'"

He said, "I gave birth to it as children are born." 

"Then father, I have many siblings if I am to be counted among the generations."

"Right, child. This good thing is counted... always. So, child, you must know your siblings and honor them rightly, since they have come from the same father. For each of the generations have I addressed. I have named them, since they are offspring like these children."

"Then, father, do they have a day?"

"Child, they are spiritual, for they exist as forces that nurture other souls. That is why I say they are immortal." 

"Your word is true. From now on it cannot be refuted. Father, begin the discourse on the eighth and ninth, and count me also with my siblings."

"Let us pray, child, to the father of the universe, with your siblings, who are my children, that the father may grant the spirit of eloquence."

"How do they pray, father, when they are united with the generations? Father, I want to obey." 

"... It is right for you to remember the progress you have experienced as wisdom in the books. Child, recall your early childhood. You have posed, as children do, senseless and foolish questions."

"Father I have experienced progress and foreknowledge from the books, and they are greater than what is lacking- these matters are my first concern." 

"Child, when you understand the truth of your statement, you will find your siblings, who are my children, praying with you." 

"Father, I understand nothing else than the beauty I have experienced in the books." 

"This is what you call the beauty of the soul- the edification you have experienced in stages. May the understanding come to you, and you will teach."

"I have understood, father, each of the books, and especially...." 

"Child... in praises from those who raise them."

"Father, I shall receive from you the power of the discourse you will utter. As it was spoken to the two of us, let us pray, father."

"Child, it is fitting for us to pray to god with all our mind and all our heart and our soul, to ask god that the gift of the eighth reaches us and that each receive from god what belongs to god. Your job is to understand, mine is to be able to utter the discourse from the spring that flows to me."

Donut and Coke Bottle Challenge-- Hint #4

Hint #4 in the Donut and Coke Bottle Challenge: Studying astronomical phenomena is certainly fun in all it's technocolor/political/religious driven drama, but the end game here is the metaphysical state of things and not the actual state. And yet the study of the astronomical is necessary to understand how this riddle explains the fundamental state of our being alive.

The All can only work with the language constructs we know how to use and so he gives us images and comparable words to help us unravel and ponder these ideas in our mind. Our human brains can only comprehend a certain 'size' of things before we start twitching and seizing in our confusion. We literally cannot comprehend how vast the universe could possibly be. We can imagine the size of a galaxy, alright. Yes, we can put a quantitative value as to the number of stars and planets a galaxy can hold. But the universe?!! We can't hold that big of a number in our mind. It makes our brain stutter and shut down.

Don't get hung up on the 'donut' and the 'soda bottle' as actual items. Remember that they are merely props to get you from Point A to Point B.

The universe is vast, winding, and moving in strange ways. Is that a heartbeat I hear? How many? And is it really a heartbeat or is it something else?

As a young child I had a much simpler version of this metaphysical phenomena which was shown to me. Very bizarre and much less eloquent than the donut and soda bottle. This first vision of the phenomena made me very uncomfortable; like I was too tight in my own skin. It was this: A pot of overflowing oatmeal. It just kept coming out and spilling over the sides with no ending. (I guess it didn't help that I really hated oatmeal as a kid. lol) Only now, over twenty-five years later did I recognized the vision for what it has become-- the donut and the soda bottle! It metamorphosed over the years; baby steps, leading up to what has become the final image I see today.

Showing What Needs To Be Shown

Vanessa Carlton wrote a humdinger of a gnostic song in "Twilight"(NOT the movie!). This melody has always touched a nerve with me. Read, listen, and see what you think. Complete catharsis. Rebirth and eye-opening bittersweet agony. We have to recognize a few hardcore facts about ourselves and learn to forgive ourselves if we want to move on and grow within the All.

"And it was so easy not to behold what I could hold..." Yes, it is definitely easier to continue to live with the wool over your eyes, so nicely stitched and arranged by the demiurge. And that is the point isn't it? We have to do the difficult thing and rip the wool off like it's a bandaid that we know is going to sting like a bitch. But we have to do it if we want answers. 

"I didn't know that I could be so blind to all that is so real
But as illusion dies I see there is so much to be revealed
But you taught me I could change 
Whatever came within these shallow days."

Gnosis, once glimpsed and accepted, then becomes our soul's sustenance. What a beautiful feast it is!

[Verse 1]
I was stained, with a role, in a day not my own
But as you walked into my life you showed what needed to be shown
And I always knew, what was right I just didn't know that I might
Peel away and choose to see with such a different sight

[Chorus]
And I will never see the sky the same way and
I will learn to say good-bye to yesterday and
I will never cease to fly if held down and
I will always reach too high cause I've seen, cause I've seen, twilight

[Verse 2]
Never cared never wanted
Never sought to see what flaunted
So on purpose so in my face 
Couldn't see beyond my own place
And it was so easy not to behold what I could hold
But you taught me I could change 
Whatever came within these shallow days

[Chorus]
And I will never see the sky the same way and
I will learn to say good-bye to yesterday and
I will never cease to fly if held down and
I will always reach too high cause I've seen, cause I've seen

[Bridge]
As the sun shines through it pushes away and pushes ahead
It fills the warmth of blue and leaves a chill instead and
I didn't know that I could be so blind to all that is so real
But as illusion dies I see there is so much to be revealed

[Chorus]
And I will never see the sky the same way and
I will learn to say good-bye to yesterday and
I will never cease to fly if held down and
I will always reach too high cause I've seen, cause I've seen, twilight

[Verse 3]
I was stained, by a role, in a day not my own
But as you walked into my life you showed what needed to be shown
And I always knew, what was right
I just didn't know that I might
Peel away and choose to see with such a different sight

[Chorus]
And I will never see the sky the same way and
I will learn to say good-bye to yesterday and
I will never cease to fly if held down and
I will always reach too high cause I've seen, cause I've seen, twilight...

Farmers Are Suing Monsanto!

Like food? Alright! Let's help our farmers get HEALTHY - non-GMO!-- food to our table! These guys need all the assistance they can get. I don't have much money in my PayPal account but every dime is going to them tonight. I hope all my Readers donate at least a few dollars, too. This is an issue which affects all of us in a very basic way. 

Family Farmers to Travel to Washington, D.C.  

to Take on Monsanto

Image Source

Activist Post,

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Dozens of family farmers, Plaintiffs in the landmark lawsuit Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association et al v. Monsanto, will travel from across America to Washington, D.C. next week to take on Monsanto and demand the right to farm. They will attend the January 10th Oral Argument in the Appeal of Dismissal to be aired before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. A Citizen's Assembly in support of family farmers at 10am in Lafayette Square will coincide with the beginning of the Oral Argument inside the court room.
"Our farmers want nothing to do with Monsanto," declared Maine certified organic seed farmer, Jim Gerritsen, President of lead Plaintiff Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association. "We are not customers of Monsanto. We don't want their seed. We don't want their gene-spliced technology. We don't want their trespass onto our farms. We don't want their contamination of our crops. We don't want to have to defend ourselves from aggressive assertions of patent infringement because Monsanto refuses to keep their pollution on their side of the fence. We want justice."
Many farmers have been forced to stop growing certain crops to avoid genetic contamination and potential lawsuits from Monsanto. This case challenges the validity of Monsanto's genetically engineered seed patents and seeks Court protection for family farmers who, through no fault of their own, may have become contaminated by Monsanto's patented seed and find themselves accused of patent infringement.
Monsanto filed 144 lawsuits against America's family farmers and settled another 700 out of court between 1997 and 2010. These aggressive lawsuits have created an atmosphere of fear in rural America and driven dozens of farmers into bankruptcy.

"The District Court erred when it denied the organic seed plaintiffs the right to seek protection from Monsanto's patents," said attorney Dan Ravicher of the not-for-profit Public Patent Foundation "At the oral argument on January 10, we will explain to the Court of Appeals the District Court's errors and why the case should be reinstated."
A Citizen's Assembly In Support of Family Farmers is scheduled for 10am in Lafayette Square on Thursday, January 10. Family farmers, their lawyers, and supporters will join after the hearing to explain why they traveled thousands of miles to protect their farms and communities.
"Farmers have planted and saved seeds for more than 10,000 years without interruption until Monsanto's genetically engineered seeds entered the market in 1996. Almost immediately Monsanto began a campaign of harassment against America's farmers, trespassing on their land and launching frivolous patent infringement lawsuits," said Dave Murphy, founder and executive director of Food Democracy Now!. "It's time to end Monsanto's campaign of fear against America's farmers and stand up for farmers' right to grow our food without legal threats and intimidation."
The lawsuit was originally filed in March 2011 by a large group of 83 Plaintiffs, which included individual family farmers, independent seed companies and farm organizations, whose memberships total over 300,000 individuals. The case was dismissed in February 2012 by Federal Judge Naomi Buchwald who ruled that the farmers lacked standing.
Lawyers from the Public Patent Foundation representing the farmers have identified numerous reversible legal and factual errors committed by the judge, which they assert caused her to mistakenly dismiss the case and have filed a powerful appeal brief with the court. Amici briefs in support of the Plaintiffs have been filed by a group of eleven prominent law professors and by a group of fourteen non-profit agricultural and consumer organizations.
OSGATA has established a Farmer Travel Fund to provide travel assistance to Plaintiff farmers for the case. Donations can be made here:  www.osgata.org/support-osgata/.

About OSGATA: The Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association is a not-for-profit agricultural organization made up of organic farmers, seed growers, seed businesses and supporters. OSGATA is committed to developing and protecting organic seed and its growers in order to ensure the organic community has access to excellent quality organic seed free of contaminants and adapted to the diverse needs of local organic agriculture. www.osgata.org

Bald Heinies and Ringing In The New Year

Alright guys, I swore my first article of the New Year wasn't going to be a news article, that it'd be a profound gnostic revelation or at least a scripture or two. Nope. As soon as I saw the following article I knew it was The One. Canucks are losing their crotch hair because of Monsanto cucumbers. 

At first I thought it was satire. I was wrong. I did thorough net searches and it's true. Those hair removal wax and cream companies are going to be pissed. And I know this is a serious issue; GMO's are killing us. But it was so hard to read this article and not laugh myself silly.

Monsanto Cucumbers Cause Genital Baldness -- 

Immediately Banned in Nova Scotia

A six-month study by AgriSearch, an on-campus research arm of Dalhousie University, has shown that genetically modified (GM) cucumbers grown under license to Monsanto Inc. result in serious side effects including total groin hair loss and chafing in "sensitive areas", leading to the immediate and total ban of sales of all that company's crop and subsequent dill pickles.
The tracking study of 643 men and women in Nova Scotia came about after reports began to surface about bald field mice and the bald feral cats that ate them being discovered by farmers on acreages growing the new crop.
"The bald wild animals raised a huge flag and we immediately obtained subpoenas for the medical records of all 600 plus adults who took part in focus groups and taste tests of the cucumbers by Monsanto in Canada," said Dr. Nancy Walker, Director of Public Health Research at Dalhousie. "Fully 3/4 of the people who ate these cukes had their crotch area hair fall out. This is not a joking matter at all...these people now have hairless heinies."
Nova Scotia became the first province or state in North America to ban a Monsanto GM food product, although GM corn and other food crops are currently outlawed in Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Greece and Hungary. Governments in Australia, Spain, UK, France, Turkey, India and Mexico have public petitions or legislative bills under consideration. Californians recently voted down a bill that would have required all GM foods to be clearly labeled. Monsanto cucumbers have been ordered removed from all food stores in Nova Scotia, while Quebec stores have begun a voluntary removal, partially because the UPC code stickers contain some English.
"I pulled down my boxer shorts to get ready for bed one night and there it was...a pile of hair that looked like a chihuahua puppy," said Eric LaMaze, who was paid $50 by Monsanto to compare the tastes of natural cucumbers to Monsanto GM cucumbers in March of this year in Halifax. "Then I saw my bits and whoa they were like all shiny skin. Bald."
Mr. LaMaze and other taste test participants said the GM cucumbers tasted the same as the naturally grown cucumbers but made a slight "fizzing noise" when swallowed. The participants also complained of raw skin in their genital area and some bed wetting.
Monsanto Inc., a self-described Sustainable Agriculture Company based in Creve Coeur, Missouri, where they share offices with major shareholder Bain Capital, issued a statement saying, "Next generation fruits and vegetables, including VO5 cucumbers, are safe for human consumption with some potential minor side effects. Some fine-tuning is underway."
McDonald's Corp. issued a statement following the Nova Scotia ban announcing that they will replace dill and sweet cucumber pickles on their burgers with non-GM pickled zucchini as a precaution until it is proven that no Monsanto pickles were sold into the North American market. McDonald's website contains a bulletin to that effect and includes a revised hip-hop Big Mac jingle that now sings, "Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickled zuke, onions on a sesame seed bun."
Federal Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq said a Canada-wide recall and ban will be issued within 24 hours. "The Government of Canada takes this very, very seriously," said the Minister. "Being hairless down there should be a matter of personal choice for Canadian men and women and not one taken away by a cucumber."
"They used to have the real cucumber slices in those salad things at the City Hall Dining Club," sighed Former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford on the courthouse steps after being impeached by a Provincial Judge. "Those were good times..."

Robin Steel
Reporting for The Lapin