"When I was a Christian in the dogmatic sense, I never once felt the Holy Ghost. I did feel(what I now recognize) pleroma trying to bust down my mental doors, but there was nothing Ghostly about it, not in anyway the Holy Ghost has ever been described as a spirit or essence of god."
With the vibrancy and overwhelming love and sense of completion people report feeling when the "Holy Ghost comes upon them" do you think it's possible that the Holy Ghost for hylics/somatics, for your typical literalist Christian is really pleroma?!!
Is it possible? Has he been trying to sneak in like this all along? Is this just one way literalists are waking up?
Maybe the people who dogmatically read and study the Holy Ghost are only looking at the tip of the iceberg. Maybe, just maybe, those people who actually experience it are tapping into something those dogmatic intellects aren't seeing at all. And maybe it's not what they've been told it is at all.
What do you think about this?
5 comments:
Interesting timing or a God thing? hmmm. After so many years I don't know how long it would take me to use different terminology. You make it easy to see another side. Or, at least the fact that there could be more. I have tried to read some of the things you've posted from the Gnostic Bible and kind of got lost. Like trying to read the King James for me. I understand more when you explain things. I will go over to the Eckankar website and check it out. I think it's cool how you can grasp it in such a short amount of time. You were right I need to mull it over for a while and let it sink in. I think I also need to check out the Gnostic Universe diagrams again. I think I was so struck by how they compared to what I had seen years ago, I need a little more time to let that sink in to. Talk to you soon
Nope. Definitely not timing. No such a thing as coincidence. Nada. No how. No way. All things made from pleroma are connected by the very fact of our soul's existence. We're one big lump of HIM, to put it short. Just.. spaced out here and there in different bodies.
Another gnostic friend of mine, Steve in Australia(truebluehealer.com), we do this kind of thing ALL THE TIME. It's infuriatingly funny. We know it's a cosmic raspberry pleroma is blowing at us.(He doesn't like to use standard gnostic terminology, either.) Like, "hehehe.. you can't escape it, my lovelies! I'm going to remind you time and time again that there is no such thing as an original idea from one person. You're only borrowing from other people just like yourself." Steve is on the other side of the planet so the time zone thing, sleep, and receiving/sending ideas gets really bizarre sometimes. And he and I both seem to snag stuff from other gnostics we know and then talk about the same things on the net. He makes vids and I write. The overlap and entanglement with topics is truly strange at times. We don't talk all that often, either. But when we do trip over one another's topics we always laugh about it because we understand what's going on. Collective consciousness IS something to laugh about! What privately concerns me right now could be something you happen to be writing an article on tomorrow for no other reason than the idea just got stuck in your head and you don't know why. Or you had a snipped of a dream and can't shake it. Maybe this thing you'll write an article on is exactly what I need to hear at that point in time.
I'm glad that you find my explanations easy on the intellect. Like you, I started my blog as a way to further examine what I am learning. I think that by writing to other people it helps me to refine the ideas. It definitely didn't happen overnight.
The Gospel of Philip, Judas, Thomas, and all those others.... it's complicated stuff! Then you mix in the weird Manichean, Hermetic, and Mandaaen concepts and wow. That's why I had to make diagrams- for myself!!! I couldn't even keep it all straight. The blog is my own reference tool.
I'm glad you're not beating yourself up over admitting that this stuff makes you feel lost. Most people hit the first puzzling thing in gnostic texts and then turn tail and run. I think that taking small bites here and there is best. You'll just do yourself harm if you try to cram it all in your head at once. I know I had many a migraine from doing that. After a real doozy of a three-day migraine I finally sucked it up and decided I had to start taking notes and drawing diagrams. All my books' spines are broken because they're so stuffed full of little slips of paper with notes. It felt like homework at first. Now I simply acknowledge it as a part of religious study that must be done or I wont retain anything I just read.
The terminology is rough in the beginning. The fact that it takes real study to understand and absorb these things is upsetting to most people. I started off reading those in-between books by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy. They're an awesome primer.
Part II because I am long winded:
Under the Book Reviews area on the right-hand side find The Laughing Jesus. There are excerpts for you to read. I strongly recommend that book. It's stark in it's reality of defining the difference between literalism and gnosticism but it's also uplifting and helps you to understand what the ultimate goal is of gnosis. A wonderful, beautiful book. They're amazing scholars. I still flip through the book from time to time and the citations are astounding. THAT really opened my eyes as to just how much work it takes to sort all this stuff out in a meaningful and cogent manner. A few months ago I started compiling their sources and actively looking to buy or at least borrow from the library all the sources which I felt the need to dig into. I haven't been let down. It's been an amazing experience, exploring this rich history. Intra-library loan has been a real blessing.
'The Jesus Mysteries' is also a very good book by the same two authors but it's more about tearing up literalism by the roots and examining it. Dissection at it's painful worst. The first book I mentioned would really be more up your ally at the stage you're in, I think. Very inspirational.
Read, absorb. Have fun with it!
Anything you ever want to ask about or just say, "Hey! look at this weird thing!" -- hit me with it. You may teach me something and I will always appreciate that.
Like the Eckankar group. Wow. Just WOW! I had no idea they existed. I'm going to have fun picking their teachings apart and analyzing them. You can count on an article coming from that, too. People making money from gnosis... eek. Or should I say, "Eck" ?
Wow! I am loving this post big time as well as your comments, Angel! Pleroma as the Holy Spirit is an awesome thought and totally seem plausible to me. I will have to go over this with my mother as I think she will find it interesting. :)
-Merry
PS Just added the Laughing Jesus book to my Amazon wishlist. Can't wait to get to buy it now.
You will NOT be sorry you picked that book up, Merry! Let me know how you like it. It's pretty beefy. Not a light read but it is pretty easy to read. Quirky, I know.
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