Redemption from what, exactly?

Stephen Hoeller, the modern day gnostic philosopher and Bishop of the Ecclesia Gnostica, put together a fantastic lexicon concerning the How's and Why's of gnosticism.

(Pay careful attention to number thirteen as it concerns "lay gnosis.")

Here is what he has to say concerning gnosis and salvation:

1. What is Gnosis?

Gnosis is the revelatory and salvific knowledge of who we were, of what we have become, of where we were, of wherein we have been thrown, of whereto we are hastening, of what we are being freed, of what birth really is, and of what rebirth really is. This is an ancient definition which is still accurate.

2. Is there more than one kind of Gnosis?

The experience of Gnosis comes to human beings in individual manifestations, yet it always has common features and a common keynote.

3. Is Gnosis an experience or a doctrine?

It is both. The experience of Gnosis is mystical knowledge that liberates. This is both accompanied and preceded by a kindred kind of Gnosis that informs. These were called (by Clement of Alexandria) the Divine Gnosis and Human Gnosis respectively. The human or doctrinal part of Gnosis consists of a certain kind of knowledge of the spiritual, psychic and material worlds and their relationships.

4. How is Human Gnosis acquired?

Primarily by way of the study and assimilation of the teachings of the Messengers of Light and of the seers and sages of the Gnostic tradition and by way of the amplification of these by individual insight.

5. How does one come to Divine Gnosis?

By divine grace combined with sincere and informed human aspiration.

6. What specific help is there available to us in order to receive both Divine and Human Gnosis?

Such help comes to us from Messengers of Light and other enlightened teachers of Gnosis.

7. Was there a time when humans were without Gnosis?

From the beginning of the human race, some people were in possession of Gnosis. These early Gnostics were at times symbolically called the "Great Race of Seth", after Seth, the third son of Adam, who was recognized as the prototype of all Gnostics.

8. Who was the latest great revealer of Gnosis?

It was the Lord Jesus Christ, who acted both as the rectifier of the existing tradition of Gnosis and as the revealer of new elements of Gnosis.

9. Can Gnosis be given by another?

A Messenger of Light comes to enlighten humans by his teachings and to transform their spiritual lives by the mysteries he bestows on them. But only those in whom the true spiritual intuition ("the Light Mind") is awakened will welcome the message and benefit from the mysteries.

10. What are we to be saved from?

We are to be saved first from ignorance which prevents us from knowing our true source, our real nature, our condition and our destiny. At last we shall also be saved from the burden of earthly existence with its attendant conditions of suffering and exile from our true home.

11. What brings about salvation?

Salvation is brought about neither by faith (belief in God, or Christ) nor by works (the performance of good deeds), but by Gnosis.

12. Why is this so?

Because faith and works do not result in a radical change in the being of one's consciousness, but Gnosis does.

13. What does the radical change of consciousness brought about by Gnosis accomplish?

It establishes a renewed link of the soul with the spirit and of both with God. This breaks the bonds that have shackled our true being to the forces of earth. Ultimately it brings liberation from all earthly things.

14. What are the further benefits of salvation by Gnosis?

A turning away of the soul from the attachments of life, a constant straining upwards to the pure Divine Spirit, wherein is our true home. Also, God's friendship in this life, a good death, and after that a swift passage through cleansing regions to God's presence in the Fullness (PLEROMA) of divine glory, goodness and love.

Part 1 of Gnostic Defininitions

Aeons??! Who are they? What are they? And who the heck is Sophia? I never heard of her in my Sundays School class as a child.

When I first began to delve within gnostic texts there were so many confusing new terms to learn I thought I'd go nuts. Gnostic literature is entrenched in metaphor and pseudonyms to both distance the reader from the question of "who is the author?" and grab their attention concerning the real meaty substance of their writing. A double edged sword, really.

This rampant use of metaphor, personification, directional paradox, and other literary tools confound most beginners. They think they're reading riddles which are purposely created to drive them insane. Gnostic writing is another language and flavor of communication altogether than what modern readers are accustomed to. Equate it with elaborate poetry; something which takes time and patience in order to unravel. Think it's another language? You're right. Most terms are, coincidentally, in Greek. That is the difficult thing to consign yourself to. There is studying involved in the search for gnosis.

I'd like to put together some simplified definitions and examples of basic concepts in gnosticism. There are variations within different sects and even within time frames between gnostic text authors. Once these main ideas are learned and well thought out, real gnosis begins. So yes, you are reading words based in the Greek language. But only because that is where the written ideas began to take shape on paper.... er.. papyrus. You're reading about a completely different way of thinking. And this demands a different discipline of the mind. So relax... and get ready for your brain to be twisted into a knot. I promise it'll be worth it.

Gnosis: Knowledge. To know. To explore learning. Insight. Intuition. Intuitive reasoning. Enlightenment. Knowledge via contemplation.

Gnostic: Person who pursues gnosis. Because of the radical anti-Nicene views of gnostics this has led to quite a bit of trouble for them through the centuries. Dubbed as heretics by the Vatican and often pursued for trial, even today.

Proto(first)-Gnostics: Valentinus, Philo, Basilides, Simon Magus, Cerinthus. Menander of Antioch, Zostrianos, early Sethian leaders, Ptolemy, Heracleon, Mary Magdalen, John the Evangelist, Jesus Christ, St. Paul, Plato .... and dozens more. Too many to name. Many of them were philosophers you've seen and heard of all your life. They all have connections to one another in some way. A great many of them even wrote to one another. And as you can tell from that eclectic list several of these were martyred for their beliefs.

Later Gnostic Leaders: the prophet Mani, St. Augustine of Hippo(until he turned tail and decided he wanted to be a bishop of the Christian Church instead), and the in-hiding leaders of the Manichean, Sethian, Archontic, Basilidean, Cerdonina, and Valentinian sects. After the third century announcing you were a gnostic was akin to putting a neon Shoot Me sign on your forehead. By the fourth century all gnostic books were banned and gnostic meetings were illegal. In the Roman Empire such religious leanings were met with a death penalty. There are many other sects of gnosticism. This list is by no means complete. For example: William Blake is a known gnostic. However he was a cryptic one. A closet gnostic.

Pleroma: Greek, meaning "the fullness." The totality of divine powers. The Divine Principal. The good god. The one who is incomparable and incomprehensible. The All. The one who made the elements that the universe is made from but not the one who made the universe itself. He did not give it form. He simply exists as The All.

Yahweh/God/Jehovah/demiurge/the arrogant one: the Judeo-Christian God described in the New Testament who said in Exodus, "for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God." The child of Sophia and the grandchild of pleroma. The one who formed the universe from the elements pleroma made. Also known as the "half-maker" because he had taken the divine substance and fashioned out of it a world. He is the spiritual being who had become forgetful of his origins, even of the ultimate God. He thinks that he is God and there is no other God before him.

Archons: servants of the demiurge. False rulers. The angels and demons of the Old Testament. The lures and distractions of this material world.

Sophia: Greek for "wisdom." This female personality is a bit tricky to pin down. In some Eastern Orthodox Christian sects she is seen as the Virgin Mary. In some gnostic texts she is also known as Eve, in that she was duped or made a mistake which lead to the flaws and separation of man from God. In others she is described as the female child of the Divine Principal. There are correlations between these variations but some are subtle while others are more blatant. The cross over from the Christian tradition into the Gnostic tradition is that "Eve" was the first female child of a god and so was Sophia. Both gave birth. Sophia's childbirth was virginal whereas Eve's was not. So this calling Sophia "Eve" is more of a half-truth based descriptive, merely letting readers know that Sophia was The First of her kind.

The gnostic Sophia was formed out of the mind of The All. Sophia then makes a decision to do some action(text explanations vary widely) and in the process of attempting this, she creates the demiurge(God/Yahweh). Embarrassed, and fearing reprisals from The All, she hides Him away in a void all by himself. God, thinking he's all alone and the only god in existence creates the earth and heavens as well as human beings to worship Him. That's the extremely short and sweet version.

Aeons: emanations of The All. In the various systems these emanations are differently named, classified, and described, but the emanation theory itself is common to all forms of Gnosticism. They are described as existing in layers(like an onion) between human beings and The All. Complex hierarchies of Aeons are thus produced, sometimes to the number of thirty. These Aeons belong to the purely ideal, noumenal, intelligible, or supersensible world; they are immaterial, they are hypostatic ideas. Together with the source from which they emanate they form the Pleroma ("region of light"). The lowest regions of the Pleroma are closest to the darkness—that is, the physical world.

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In the Letter of Peter to Philip, Peter is relating a mystic occurrence on the Mount of Olivet in which the spirit of Jesus appeared to teach them.

On The Deficiency of the Aeons:

"To begin with, concerning the deficiency of the aeons, this is the deficiency. When the disobedience and the foolishness of the mother(Sophia) appeared, without the command and majesty of the father, she wanted to set up eternal realms. When she spoke, the arrogant one(demiurge) followed. But when she left behind a portion, the arrogant one grabbed it, and it became a deficiency. This is the deficiency of the aeons.

"When the arrogant one took a portion, he sowed it. He placed powers and authorities over it, and he confined it within the mortal realms. All the powers of the world rejoiced that they had been brought forth. But they do not know the preexistent father, since they are strangers to him. Rather, he was given power, and they served him and praised him.

"But the arrogant one grew proud because of the praise of the powers. He was jealous and wanted to make an image in place of an image and a form in place of a form. He assigned the powers within his authority to mold mortal bodies. And they came into being from a misrepresentation of the appearance."

On Fighting The Rulers, Peter relays:

The messengers worshiped again, saying, "Lord, tell us, how shall we fight against the rulers, since the rulers are over us?"

A voice called out to them from the appearance, saying, "You must fight against them like this, for the rulers fight against the inner person. You must fight against them like this: come together and teach salvation in the world with a promise. And arm yourselves with my father's power, and express your prayer, and surely the father will help you, as he helped you by sending me. Do not be afraid. I am with you forever, as I already said to you when I was in the body."

(Deficiency is also synonymous in gnostic texts with "smallness" or "pettiness.")

Tree of Life

Since I was first old enough to read and comprehend the Bible from cover to cover there has always been something which upset me in Genesis. Gnosticism answers this question for me in such a way that while it makes sense, it also gives an example of the kind of simplicity which can be used to understand(and decode) the rest of the mysterious oxymoronic whims of the Bible's writers. Especially its editors and compilers.

The Tree of Life was placed in the Garden of Eden... why?

Literal/dogmatic Christians answer this question making a grand assumption. They say, "it was placed there to tempt humans to see if they were worthy of God's love." This answer worked for oh.. the first ten years of my life. After that it began to taste a bit sour. The reason is that I couldn't believe God would want to do something so vile to his own children. It's like leaving a book of matches out for a ten year old to find. Damn straight they're going to play with them!!

Adam and Eve were simple. They lived simply. They supposedly had no desires or needs beyond eating, naming animals and plants, and playing. But when Big Daddy puts a pretty tree smack in the middle of their playground and says, "Touch it and you'll die" what do you think they did? They did what any curious child would do. They circled it. Looked at it. Touched it. Trying to discern what was so special about it that their God didn't want them to know.

Gnostics' take on the Tree of Life is simple: God couldn't control what happened or what was created in Eden because it was a reflection of himself. ("I made humans in the image of myself.") Therefore the Tree of Life was created and the only thing He could do was warn his children away from it. What, he couldn't destroy it? Why not? And why wouldn't He? Answer: Eden is a reflection of what He is and therefore the Tree reflects a certain aspect of God at that age-- flawed concerning knowledge of surroundings and Himself in the grand scheme of the universe. He can't see past his own nose.

Think about it. What did the fruit do? It opened Adam and Eve's eyes to see their bodies and surroundings in new ways. God hobbled his two children with blindness. Why? For what purpose? Why would a father do such a thing to his children? This is the reason why Gnostics call the demiurge(God/Yahweh) "the arrogant one." He made humans to be a science project. He wanted someone to worship him. Then the guinea pigs got their eyes opened and saw the cage they were in. Darn! So naturally He does what any pissed off narcissist does: he threw them out of His playground. "You don't want to play right ... so go! Leave. Scram. Get out of here!"

And from then on humans have looked toward God with more fear than love.

A lighter, more humorous way to see just how out of control the demiurge's powers of creation are: look at the platypus.


What in the world was He thinking when he made that bizarre animal? A poisonous beaver/duck whose young lick it's mother's milk off its fur instead of from a teat. And whoever said all duckies were sweet, innocent little creatures should have their head examined. True story: I had my pants pulled down by a duck when I was five years old in a park because I wasn't feeding it fast enough. Evil little bastards.

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.

*****************

"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.

Songs of Solomon, Song 3

I clothe his limbs and hang from them;
I hang from his limbs. He loves me.
How would I know how to love the lord
if he didn't love me?
And who can tell us about love?
Only one who is loved knows.
I love the beloved and my soul loves him,
and I am where he reposes
and will be no stranger, for he is not petty.
He is my high merciful lord.
I have gone to merge in him.
The lover has found the beloved,
and to love the son I become the son.

Who joins the eternal? the eternal,
and who delights in the living one lives.
Such is the lord's spirit.
It doesn't lie. It teaches us ways. Be wise,
understand, and keep your eyes open.

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Did you noticed the theme of being an actual part of god in lines one and two? And then in line eleven "I have gone to merge in him." Not to merge with. To merge in. This implies that the two are really one already, merely separated for a short while.

The lover has found the beloved, (I have found my love.)
and to love the son I become the son. (and to understand/love/accept the demiurge's place in this world and to get closer to the All, the Song's author feels he must metaphysically take the place of the demiurge in god's eyes. Replace him/skip him. Like chess when you're taking a piece out of play. You're closer to your goal. Become the son, not merely the grandson.)

The whole 'skip the demiurge and come to papa' concept is a bit difficult to comprehend in the beginning. Gnostics have a tendency to wax poetic about this in such a way that while it flows beautifully from the lips- it's murder on your sense of direction. It's best to read verses a couple dozen times and then let them stew and simmer in the back of your mind for a good while.

"Who joins the eternal? the eternal"
Simply put: we are immortal sparks from the well of the good god. When we die we are going home.
"and will be no stranger, for he is not petty." In this case, ET can phone home whenever he/she wants. There's no mystery to it. Just pick up the receiver, sweetheart. The good god is about as talkative as a teenager given telephone privileges for the first time; he'll talk your ear off.

The Gigas Codex- Devil's Bible

It is becoming more and more clear to me that even National Geographic documentaries are turning toward sensationalism for profit. I watched a documentary this afternoon on the Gigas Codex also known as the Devil's Bible and it really ticked me off.

Wikipedia has the basic facts on it:

(English: Giant Book) is the largest extant medieval manuscript in the world.^[1] It is thought to have been created in the early 13th century in the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice in Bohemia (modern Czech Republic). During the Thirty Years' War in 1648, the entire collection was stolen by the Swedish army as plunder and now it is preserved at the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm.^[1] It is also known as the Devil's Bible because of a large illustration of the devil on the inside and the legend surrounding its creation.

The codex is contained in a wooden folder, covered with leather and ornamented with metal. At 92 cm (36.2in.) tall, 50 cm (19.7in.) wide and 22 cm (8.6in.) thick it is the largest known medieval manuscript.^[2] It initially contained 320 vellum sheets, though eight of these were subsequently removed.^[3] It is unknown who removed the pages or for what purpose but it seems likely that they contained the monastic rules of the Benedictines. The codex weighs nearly 75 kg (165 lbs.) and the vellum is composed of calfskin (or donkey according to some sources) from 160 animals.

...............

The Codex includes the entire Latin Vulgate version of the Bible, except for the books of Acts and Revelation, which are from a pre-Vulgate version. Also included are Isidore of Seville's encyclopedia Etymologiae, Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews, Cosmas of Prague's Chronicle of Bohemia, various tractates (from history, etymology and physiology), a calendar with necrologium, a list of brothers in Podlažice monastery, magic formulae and other local records. The entire document is written in Latin.

The manuscript includes illuminations in red, blue, yellow, green and gold. Capital letters are elaborately illuminated, frequently across the entire page. The codex has a unified look as the nature of the writing is unchanged throughout, showing no signs of age, disease or mood on the part of the scribe. This may have led to the belief that the whole book was written in a very short time (see Legend). But scientists are starting to believe and research the theory that it took over 20 years to complete.

Page 290, otherwise empty, includes a unique picture of the devil, about 50 cm tall.


Ok, here's their initially insane theory. It would have taken about 20-30 years of nearly nonstop work for one man to create this codex. They don't see any type of change in handwriting indicating aging or health issues. So naturally it has to be supernatural, right? The legend of the codex is that a Benedictine monk sinned so grievously that the leader of the order planned to wall him up alive. The monk pleaded for his life and stated that if he was allowed to live he would perform a miracle; he would create in a single night the most astounding feat of artistry ever seen. He would create a book which would glorify and even save life. Naturally, this is the Bible. But this book contained everything from the New and Old Testaments to herbals, incantations, to exorcism rituals. Long story short, he was a guy in trouble and he vowed to perform a miracle to save his life. Midnight came and went and he was frantic. He knew he wouldn't be finished in time. So he sold his soul to the Devil and voila! The book was completed by morning prayer time.

The beginning of the investigation leaves a lot to be desired in deductive reasoning skills. Wanna know how they made the LEAP at guessing that only one guy wrote it? Quote: "Inks used in writing during the 13th century were based in either metal or animal nests. If there is only one type of ink used throughout the book then this proves only one scribe wrote it."

*blog author slams head into keyboard*

Ye gods, people. This is not the Dark Ages. Yes, it was written in the Dark Ages but that does not mean that our brains cannot or should not have evolved to be a bit more sophisticated since then. The sun is yellow so it's made of gold? I can't see the other continents out there so the earth is flat? Gimme a break!! Their logic is so faulty it makes my head hurt to think about it. (Besides the head-keyboard thing.)

You're talking about a monastery. With multiple people. Why wouldn't the commune use one ink? Or even have a choice between the two? Why is it so impossible to think that given an option artists will choose whichever medium they feel most comfortable or confident with? How do you know that both types of inks weren't available and a group of monks simply chose to use the same one? (It was animal's nests, by the way.)

Handwriting analysis was the final straw, though. The g's are all the same throughout the text. National Geographic swings wildly from saying the codex is, "superb workmanship, astounding in it's artistry" to "amateurish and crude. From a self taught writer." How can one book be both? And why couldn't a group of artisans agree to use one uniform script for the text? Why is that such a stretch? Uniformity and conformity is encouraged in religious orders. They would have seen it as a community effort which was proof of their devotion to God.

I think it was the overall tone of the documentary which aggravated me so much. Flagrantly sensationalistic. Ink types and handwriting analysis were the only kinds of research done to dismiss the theory of a guild of writers working on the book versus one solitary scribe. Oh wait. Then there was one "Hermann, recluse" who was included in that list of names on page .... it's GOTTA be him!

The old adage about assuming makes an ass out of someone still holds true.


One last note: on the opposite page of the devil is a painting of the gates of heaven. It's quite pretty. I couldn't find a really good closeup image of it anywhere, unfortunately.

Celebrate 2012!

...because it's just another year.

Gospel of Thomas, 51 "When will the repose of the dead come about, and when will the new world come?"

He said to them,"What you look forward to has already come but you do not recognize it."

The scripture before this is even more insightful:

Jesus said, "If they say to you, 'Where did you come from?', say to them, 'We came from the light, the place where the light came into being on its own accord and established itself and became manifest through their image.' If they say to you, 'Is it you?', say, 'We are its children, we are the elect of the living father.' If they ask you, 'What is the sign of your father in you?', say to them, 'It is movement and repose.'

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

Living. Dead. It's all the same stuff to the good god. Energy isn't spent or destroyed. Merely moved. He loves you so much he wants to love you and squeeze you and call you George. Or Georgette. (blatant Loony Toons reference.) He doesn't want to let you go. You are a part of him. If he lost you then he would be losing a part of himself and any sentient, pleasure loving creature wouldn't want that. They'd do anything to stop losing a part of themselves.

Yes, I'm still planning on making my regular credit card payments in 2012. No, I'm not going to run naked through the streets like a crazed lunatic fearful of hellfire. If anything, I'll be celebrating it, if it is the end of all this madness!

Human beings have been preparing/going psycho on their fellow man for the apocalypse since 999AD. Nada gosh darn thing has happened.

According to tabloids the present day descendants of the Mayans who created the 2012 doomsday calendar are rolling their eyes at us. "White man so stupid," they're saying to themselves. Seriously. What exactly can we do to stop this supposed End of Days?

*crickets chirping*

Exactly.

So get off your arse and enjoy your life. Go grab a Smirnoff.Or a good book. Or both.

Falun Gong

Falun Gong is a spiritual sect begun in mainland China. Gnostics. And they are being tortured, murdered, and even harvested for organs.

Wiki says:

"Falun Gong (alternatively Falun Dafa) is a system of beliefs and practices founded in China by Li Hongzhi in 1992. The practice emerged at the end of China's "qigong boom" as a form of qigong practice. Falun Gong differs from competing qigong schools through its absence of daily rituals of worship, its self-consciousness about outside critics,^[1] its greater emphasis on morality and the purported theological nature of its teachings.^[2][3] There is on-going debate about Falun Gong's classification as a religion, a new religious movement (NRM), or a "cult", term used by the Chinese government to describe the movement.^[4] Its teachings are derived^[5] from qigong, Buddhist and Daoist concepts.^[6][7][8]

In April 1999, over ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners gathered at Communist Party of ChinaZhongnanhai, in a silent protest following an incident in Tianjin.^[9][10][11] Two months later the Chinese government banned the practice through a crackdown and began a large propaganda campaign.^[12][5][13] Since 1999, Falun Gong practitioners in China have been reportedly subject to torture,^[14] illegal imprisonment,^[15] beatings, forced labor, organ harvesting, and psychiatric abuses.^[16][17] Falun Gong has responded with their own media campaign, and have emerged as a notable voice of dissent against the Communist Party of China, by founding organizations such as the Epoch Times, NTDTV and the Shen Yun Performing Arts to publicize their cause.^[18] headquarters,

The number of Falun Gong practitioners is unknown, and the group has no organized membership system. In 1998, the Chinese government published a figure of 70 million practitioners in China.^[19] Falun Gong asserts over 100 million practitioners of Falun Dafa in "114 countries and regions around the world".^[20]

Falun Gong was introduced to the public by Li Hongzhi(李洪志) in Changchun, China, in 1992. Its teachings cover spiritual, religious, mystical and metaphysical topics. Falun Gong is an introductory book that discusses qigong, which introduces the principles and provides illustrations and explanations of the exercises involved in Falun Gong practice.

The main body of teachings is articulated in the core book Zhuan Falun (轉法輪),^[21] published in late 1994. According to the texts, Falun Gong (or Falun Dafa) is a "complete system of mind-body cultivation practice" (修煉).^[22] 'Truthfulness' (眞), 'Compassion' (善), and 'Forbearance' (忍) are regarded as the fundamental characteristics of the cosmos—an omnipresent nature that permeates and encompasses everything. In the process of cultivation, the practitioner is supposed to assimilate himself or herself to these qualities by letting go of "attachments and notions," thus returning to the "original, true self." In Zhuan Falun, Li Hongzhi said that "As a practitioner, if you assimilate yourself to this characteristic, you are one that has attained the Tao."

Falun Gong draws on Oriental mysticism and traditional Chinese medicine, criticizes self-imposed limits of modern science, and views traditional Chinese science as an entirely different, yet equally valid knowledge system, according to Yuezhi Zhao, professor in the University of California. Concomitantly, it borrows the language of modern science in representing its cosmic laws. Zhao says: "Falun gong is not conceptualized as a religious faith; on the contrary, its practitioners, which include doctorate holders from prestigious American universities, see it as 'a new form of science.'"^[23]

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The Ban

On 20 July 1999, the Chinese government declared the Research Society of Falun Dafa and the Falun Gong organization under its control to be illegal for having been "engaged in illegal activities, advocating superstition and spreading fallacies, hoodwinking people, inciting and creating disturbances, and jeopardizing social stability."^[47] Xinhua further declared that Falun Gong was a highly organised political group "opposed to the Communist Party of China and the central government, [that] preaches idealism, theism and feudal superstition."^[48] Xinhua also affirmed that "the so-called 'truth, kindness and forbearance' principle preached by Li has nothing in common with the socialist ethical and cultural progress we are striving to achieve."^[49] In response, Li Hongzhi declared that Falun Gong did not have any particular organization, nor any political objectives.^[50]

The Chinese authorities branded Falun Gong, along with some other practices, movements or organizations xiejiao (Chinese: 邪教),^[51] it used the English word "cult" or "evil cult", and introduced a barrage of media material criticizing Falun Gong.^[48][52] A nationwide crackdown ensued with the exception of the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. In October 1999, four months after the ban, legislation was created to outlaw "heterodox religions" and applied to Falun Gong retroactively.^[15] Leung remarked that the effort was driven by large-scale propaganda through television, newspapers, radio and internet.^[15] According to Johnson, the campaign against Falun Gong extended to many aspects of society, including the media apparatus, police force, military, education system, and workplaces.^[13] An extra-constitutional body, the "6-10 Office" was created, charged with monitoring and taking action against various religious groups.^[53] Human Rights Watch (2002) noted that families and workplaces were urged to cooperate with the government's position on Falun Gong, while practitioners themselves were subject to severe coercive measures to have them recant.^[54]

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"Severe coercive measures to have them recant"... hmm... Doesn't that sound like TORTURE to you?

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Due to its ban in mainland China, Falun Gong practitioners have taken to their cause internationally, especially in Australia, Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and Britain. Since the ban in China, Falun Gong has alleged that its practitioners in China were subject to torture.^{[citation needed]} Falun Gong related cases comprise 66% of all reported torture cases in China, according to the Special Rapporteur on torture,^[63] and at least half of the labour camp population.^[64] Amnesty International urged the government to "take seriously its commitment to prevent torture and take action immediately."^[65][66] The United Nations asked the Chinese government to respond to the various allegations by Falun Gong and human rights groups.^[14] Falun Gong practitioners in the United States routinely file cases in U.S. federal courts against Chinese leaders once they step upon foreign soil. According to International Advocates for Justice, Falun Gong has filed the largest number of human rights lawsuits in the 21st century and the charges are among the most severe international crimes defined by international criminal laws.^[67][68]

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So Amnesty International is involved. GREAT! Not that they've been able to do much of anything about the torture going on except spread the word about it and be appalled by it. Be outraged all you want. But what are you doing about it?

The Epoch Times is an international and multi-lingual publication by the Falun Gong. This is what they are doing about the abuse:

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The paper has been in publication since May 2000.

The newspaper was founded by practitioners of the Falun Gong spiritual discipline, after the government of the People's Republic of China banned the movement in 1999.^[1][2] Its stated focus is coverage of China and human rights issues, but much of its content is general-interest.^[3][4][5] Its editorial stance is heavily critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and sympathetic to dissidents. The Chinese government blocks those in mainland China from accessing the Epoch Times website.^[6]

Headquartered in New York City, the newspaper has local bureau and a network of local reporters throughout the world. It is sold and also distributed free-of-charge in roughly 30 countries worldwide, and maintains editions in English, Chinese, nine other languages in print, and 17 on the web.

On the paper's integrity:

"- the journal's credibility as media professionals has been damaged by Wang Wenyi,^[18] who used her Epoch Times journalist pass to gain access to a White House lawn press briefing where she hurled insults at Chinese President Hu Jintao.^[44] President George W. Bush apologized to the Chinese for the incident.^[45] In turn, The Epoch Times apologized to the U.S. President,^[46] whilst denying any direct ties to, or funding from, Falun Gong.<sup>[18]

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So let me get this straight. You've got a pissed off Chinese woman who voices her opinion and all of a sudden the credibility of her newspaper is on the line??! Yes, the publication is anti-communist. Yes, they are fighting for the right to survive. And if the Epoch Times hadn't denied ties to, or funding from, Falun Gong there would have been an international incident. They've had to ... shall we say... retract/redact/backslide on their original theme of being a publication completely about the Falun Gong spiritual sect. They've had to slip in some other types of stories with their original rants. It's too dangerous to do otherwise. Even though they're still being hunted down and killed. Because of course Falun Gong is outlawed in China. The US would be seen as harboring criminals from China. Do you see the delicate dance in motion here?</sup>

• ^{Falun Gong: We know we're being hunted.}
• ^{Amnesty International: We know you're being hunted, tortured, killed, and your basic human rights are being ignored and even outlawed. Even if you had pictures it wouldn't do any good.}
  
• ^{China: DIE all you religious people! Communism will prevail!}
• ^{The US: We know what's going on but we can't do shit about it because we need the products China makes for us. We'd go bankrupt otherwise.}

Last I checked yoga and qigong never taught violence; it teaches passive resistance. So the only thing China's pissed about is that Falun Gong's followers don't want to be under the communist regime any longer.

Here is a link to the Epoch Time's official website: http://www.theepochtimes.com/ You can select your language at the very top of the page.

Rumi as the Universal Gnostic

Rumi's prose is a pleasure to read. Pure delight. I liken his style to God writing a love letter to his children. "I love you so much that I'm going to spell out exactly why I love you!" and the age-old adage of "Don't sell yourself short."

Living from 1207-1273AD, this Persian led quite a life. After his death, the Sufi order of Whirling Dervishes was born from his followers.

Here are a few snippets of what I've been indulging in. Like fine chocolate, I tell you! Godiva for the soul.

Excerpt 1:

"Once you get hold of selflessness,
You’ll be dragged from your ego and freed from many traps.
Come, return to the root of the root of your Self.

You are born from the children of God’s creation,
but you have fixed your sight too low.
How can you be happy?
Come, return to the root of the root of your Self.

You were born from a ray of God’s majesty and have the blessings of a good star.
Why suffer at the hands of things that don’t exist?
Come, return to the root of the root of your Self.

You are a ruby embedded in granite.
How long will you pretend it’s not true?
We can see it in your eyes.
Come to the root of the root of your Self."

Excerpt 2:

"I searched for God among the Christians and on the Cross and therein I found Him not.
I went into the ancient temples of idolatry; no trace of Him was there.
I entered the mountain cave of Hira and then went as far as Qandhar but God I found not.
With set purpose I fared to the summit of Mount Caucasus and found there only 'anqa's habitation. Then I directed my search to the Kaaba, the resort of old and young; God was not there even.
Turning to philosophy I inquired about him from ibn Sina but found Him not within his range.
I fared then to the scene of the Prophet's experience of a great divine manifestation only a "two bow-lengths' distance from him" but God was not there even in that exalted court.
Finally, I looked into my own heart and there I saw Him; He was nowhere else."

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Discovering Rumi's first poem which talks of selflessness was shocking since I had that epiphany a few days ago. He put into words almost exactly what the emotion was I felt when I discovered such a thing.

Intro to Lay Gnosis

What is it and what has it done for me?

www.TrueBlueHealer.com is the home of those strange "tingly hand people" on YouTube you may have seen around. Here's the starting point and beginner video. (If you go onto Steve's actual channel page, pardon his outlandish number of Mireille Mathieu vids. He's crazy about her.) He's created an entire series exploring lay gnosis. Explanations to diagrams to giving you hints on what to look for in the coming weeks/months. He's very thorough. No question is too mundane for this guy. Honest! Even criticism. He handles it well. Not everybody is ready for lay gnosis. But it is always ready for you.

I had never heard of lay gnosis before stumbling across that vid. Never occurred to me that something physical could happen from me tapping into my brain. Or God. Or the God connection within.

Here's the main gist of what lay gnosis is: You have so much potential within your mind because of your 'godling' (God-ling) self with it's connection to the fullness that is Pleroma(everything, anything, living, dead, material, immaterial, etc) that when you tap into this unused portion of your mind you are in fact reaching inward to seek out that connection to God that you have literally forgotten.

Imagine that. You have God's email address/fax number/home address and you had forgotten it. The address book wasn't tossed out the window. But the indoctrination you have received all your life from dogma driven religions has made you forget that you still have the address book in your possession. The trick is opening the book. You know where it is once you've found it. You feel it. You know it exists.

To open the book is what lay gnosis is all about. It opens that door. And saves you thousands of hours of meditation, reading, and all the stuff that goes along with the initial baby steps of self awareness exploration that can be so painful. It's as if a giant hurdle has been leaped, instantly. ZAP! And an instant connection is made.

When I first threw my dogmatic religion to the curb about ten years ago, I began exploring yoga. Ashtanga, specifically. The physical awareness I developed led me to a level of confidence and serenity which made me feel comfortable enough to ask for more instruction. I need not have asked. It was right there in front of me. I discovered that when I reached for more books and videos on yogic instruction in meditation or even advanced techniques I had already been doing it! How is this possible?

The answer is that yogis have tapped into this area of the brain for thousands of years. Even novices are capable of it to a certain extent. I was halfway home and I didn't even know it.

This piece of clay art is the closest example I can find to show you what lay gnosis feels like.

"When Holes Won't Heal" by MidnightOrange.

Notice that the heart which is removed from the individual is halfway up the string holding the larger heart? It's upside down due to artistic license. But it's there. And it is connected to the larger one. This is Pleroma. The Big Love which is your destiny and birthright.

Pleroma is the Gnostic God and this differs in relation to the Judeo-Christian God. So we refer to our all encompassing deity as Pleroma, the All, the perfect god, the good god, and more uncommonly 'Him', among other things. We interchangeably capitalize these names at whim. We're not too hung up on names as long as we can get our point across as to which deity we are speaking of. And most of the time when Gnostics speak to one another we can figure out which "Him" we're speaking of simply by the context.

When we refer to the Judeo-Christian God we call him: Yahweh, the demiurge, the intermediate one, God, Him, and anything else you've heard Christians say. (www.gnosis.org is a great place to start if this is all new to you.)

So what happens with lay gnosis? How is it different than say, going to church/temple/etc on a certain day and reading scriptures and praying, or even speaking in tongues? The easiest way to explain this fundamental difference is that when you are praying within a dogmatic religious scheme your prayers aren't going high enough up the totem pole to reach the one who can truly make you feel as whole and complete as you are; as you were made to be. There is no Original Sin with Gnosticism. You are whole and complete as you are. (And the whole Original Sin debate is actually turned on it's head in the Gnostic fora, but that's another blog post for another time and day.)

Here's a simplified totem pole in a Gnostic's eyes:

1) Pleroma/The All/The Good God
2) The Judeo-Christian Yahweh, the demiurge
3) You

If you are praying fervently to find inner peace, to help pay for your broken down car, or to help you deal with your a****** of a boss. You need to go to the highest source; the highest power. Yahweh is the middle man. When you call your bank with an outrageous problem and the person you immediately talk to isn't helpful, what do you do? You demand to speak to their supervisor. You have a problem and it's not getting solved. You don't want to waste your time with someone who can't help. Same thing here. Talk to Yahweh's supervisor. He doesn't like to acknowledge this supervisor. As a matter of fact, He despises him. Remember, "I am a jealous god. Thou shalt have no other god before me." So although Yahweh hates conceding that He does indeed have a supervisor, He can't stop you from speaking to Pleroma.

As a matter of fact, after you do talk to Pleroma the Judeo-Christian God does this little fake cough thing saying, "Ahem.. Yeah. Whatever" desperately trying to get you to dismiss the experience. This is the wool which has been pulled over your eyes for so long. There is a difference between the two. The Child doesn't want to acknowledge the Father while the Father calmly embraces the Son because he knows that humans will naturally gravitate toward his Child's religions first. There is too much physical ceremony attached to His religions. Human beings crave ceremony. Pleroma knows this. He has accepted it. Doesn't mean that he's not going to keep trying to reach out to you, though. He wants to embrace you fully, not at arms length.

You have freedom of choice.

Yahweh shackles you to the idea that Heaven and Hell and Earth is all that there is. Your place is below Him. Not beside Him in love. And certainly not as an equal, capable of understanding the mysteries of the universe.

The All wants you to lift yourself up to sit not beside him in love. No. More than that. With your arms around him. Hugging him as tightly as you can. And at the same time he will be giving you all the love, compassion, and confidence you could possibly need. He wants you to find the answers through your own intuition because that was the gift he was able to pass down to you through his child(Yahweh). You are, in essence, the grandchild of Pleroma.

Accessing that intuition, that cord which connects you(bypassing Yahweh!) to the All is what lay gnosis is all about. It's not voodoo or witchcraft. It's accessing your "Seventh Sense" and higher intelligence; your intuition.

Steve, from the TrueBlueHealer site dug up the most perfect quotes from ancient gnostics. Here are three.

Socrates, "You have often heard me talk of a divine oracle or Guide that comes to me. It is a kind of voice that I first heard in childhood. It always tells me what not to do but never commands me to do anything. (theme of freewill and companionship from a second internal intelligence)

Plato talked about a second Internal intelligence dwelling within- "Someone who has used his life for learning true wisdom and exercised his higher nature if he finds the truth he cannot fail to attain immortality as completely as human nature allows because he has always nurtured his Divine essence in himself. His Guardian Genius. He is the happiest of people."

Pythagoras talks about a second intelligence in everyone- "Father Zeus, free them from their great suffering and show everyone of them the Genius who is their guide."

The age-old concept of an internal guidance system survives today through rediscovering lay gnosis. Because lay gnosis is exactly the same type of diagnostic and healing techniques used by laying-on-of-hands-healers! The Eastern schools taught that the 'chakras were out of balance.' If you have explored the chakras or life energy then you're already halfway to lay gnosis.

I had never studied life energy before diving right into lay gnosis so the shock to my senses was overwhelming. Made me positively giddy. I felt like laughing and crying at the same time.

I'll admit, it seems hokey. It seems like a ridiculous waste of time when you first watch the video. (Sorry for the blunt honesty, Steve.) Initially, it looked like a hoax. But something was niggling in the back of my brain forcing me to pay attention to it. I watched it at least three times before I sighed and said to myself, "what the hell. I have a few minutes to kill. It certainly won't be the stupidest thing I've ever done."

Here's the link to the video again.

But when my hands started tingling and I felt the repelling magnet-like sensation creeping up my arms into my shoulders and neck then down my back, I just sat in front of my computer in shock. I'd never felt such a bizarre sensation. I had hot/cold chills when it was over and my teeth were chattering.

Two nights later I started having near delusional dreams. Made no sense whatsoever. Five or six a night. Woke up feeling like hell because they were so jumbled and I couldn't make heads or tails of them. Then the serenading started. In the SHOWER. No, I don't sing in the shower. It was Pleroma. He was singing to me in my head. Everything from Matchbox Twenty to oddball ballads I'd forgotten about that I loved as a teenager. The reoccurring theme here was in the lyrics: love. I've missed you. Hold me. Let me hold you.

It's like being in love. It's more than being in love. It's knowing just how much you are loved.

When two human beings love one another it's a complete mystery as to what is in the other person's heart. Their intentions can only be taken at face value. You're really going on faith that the other person feels as strongly as you do when the words tumble from your lips. Honestly, besides the things people do for one another or say to one another... you really haven't a clue how to position the gauge on that Love Scale.

When you meet the All, this Big Love which you suddenly feel surpasses every feeling of love you've ever felt in your entire life! Bigger love than when you watched your child being born. Bigger love than when you got your first car, first kiss, found that missing relative you haven't seen in 25 years. It's all encompassing. You don't think this person loves you. You FEEL it. You are in their mind and inside their very being. There are no mysteries being held from you. There are no intermediary priests, bishops, or popes to speak for you. There are layers of understanding waiting for you but they are always accessible. Pleroma says, "Let me show you!! I'm so excited to see you again! There's so much I want to show you I can't wait to get started!!" So yes, the 'honeymoon' phase can be a tumultuous love affair. Full of shower serenades, interrupted sleep, and warm hugs in the middle of the day when you think to yourself, "damn, I need a hug." And that hug is given. No questions asked. Nothing else is asked for and everything you need is given.

He'll make you laugh. He'll tell you jokes. Point out the most absurd details and then explain them to you in depth. And then you'll think, "TMI. Seriously. That's just gross." Pleroma has a universe-sized sense of humor. There is nothing better than a good joke or a good song on the radio that he'd love to share with you. Or help you remember. The Good God is big on helping your remember things from your past to re-analyze them in order to teach you something. Sometimes it's simply to show you how much you've changed for the better and to give you a pat on the back. So let him. You deserve it.

He'll soothe your anger. Allow you rest when you need it. Calm those frazzled nerves. Tune in to that connection you share and it's like sipping a pina colada on a beach. It will revive you, refresh you, and center your focus.

He'll also open metaphysical doors when they've previously been slammed in your face. Perfect example: dealing with a chronic illness and pain. I have a fairly painful illness which demanded an entire lifestyle change from food and skin/haircare products down to what medications I take. I cannot do yoga anymore. It has turned my life upside down and erased all the hard work I've done for myself over the past twelve years. Metaphysically speaking, I felt as though I'd become a useless lump of skin. All I did was concentrate on my pain and suffering. My latest epiphany occurred when I was dozing, right on the very edge of sleep. I heard, "You do not have a self" very clearly in my ear.

To anyone except a gnostic this is heresy. What do you mean I don't have a self? Does this mean I don't have a soul? That's an outrage!!!

Turning this phrase over in my mind for a day or so made me feel it's truth. It's simplicity. It's boldness. And it was from the one who loves me the most.

To not have a self is to acknowledge your connection with the true divine; your place in his arms instead of meekly at His side(Yahweh). Because of your connection with Pleroma you do NOT have a self. You are an extension of him. He, in fact, experiences your life through your eyes and body. Yes, you make your own choices. You have a separate consciousness from Pleroma. But your "self" is tied into his divine self because of the fact you are an extension of his being, the very fabric which makes up Pleroma. You are his granchild. You are part of him but separate. You complete him. Without you he would be missing a part of himself. He doesn't want that. He wants to love you as fully as he can; to show you all the wonders you are missing out on in this life. He's like a child in a playground beckoning you closer to come play with him so you can enjoy what wonders exist in life. Will you walk away?

You are everything and everyone. That is what it means to be selfless. This makes it easier to feel true empathy for a fellow human being or creature we inhabit this earth with. And by default, easier to sympathize with the physical situation I found myself living day in and day out. If I don't have a self then that means everyone is sharing my pain in one way or another. They may not know it on a conscious level but they are. And so my new goal was to bring joy to my life and therefore to others. If I enrich myself I am helping humanity grow.

As Steve says, 'Welcome Home, Godlings!'

In parting, I'd like to offer the Prayer of the Messenger Paul, the very first text of Nag Hammadi Codex I.

Grant me your mercy.
My redeemer, redeem me,
for I am yours.
I came from you.
You are my mind:
give me birth.
You are my treasure:
open for me.
You are my fullness:
accept me.
You are my rest:
give me unlimited perfection.

I pray to you,
you who exist and preexisted,
in the name exalted above every name,
through Jesus the anointed,
lord of lords,
king of the eternal realms.
Give me your gifts, with no regret,
through the human child,
the spirit,
the advocate of truth.
Give me authority, I beg of you,
give healing for my body, as I beg of you,
through the preacher of the gospel,
and redeem my enlightened soul forever, and my spirit,
and disclose to my mind the firstborn of the fullness of grace.

Grant what eyes of angels have not seen,
what ears of rulers have not heard,
and what has not arisen in the hearts of people,
who become angelic,
and after the image of the animate god(demiurge)
when it was formed in the beginning.
I have the faith of hope.
And bestow upon me
your beloved, chosen, blessed majesty,
you who are the firstborn, the first-conceived,
and the wonderful mystery of your house.
for yours is the power and the glory and the praise and the greatness,
forever and ever.
Amen.