I personally don't have a problem with traditional Christians, so long as they keep to their values and don't go off on another bloody inquisition on those that share those values, but don't agree with their dogma.
It sure would be nice if certain "thought leaders" stopped focusing on the esoteric (in what appears to be an attempt to create content because they suffer from the belief that they need to keep pumping it out, regardless of quality) and instead focused on virtue, common values, and finding solutions to the very real problems directly in front of us.
What I like about your writing is that it almost never ceases to motivate me to read further on the thoughts of the people you choose to describe in your pieces. Much like Jordan Peterson did before, every time I read you I can at least add a few books to my reading list. You still have that quality, thank you for that. Peterson lost it when he decided to sell his soul to the Jews for 30 pieces of silver. Such a shame.
I was, however, wondering why you question the defense of gnosticism by christians. Would Oceania deny the existence or the works of Eurasia or Eastasia? If you have nobody to point to and say "you're doing the wrong thing", the automatic inference is that you cannot be right, or at least you can not "prove" that you're right by pointing out the wrong. Man needs an enemy, or and adversary at a minimum. The world is full of examples. It is therefore not the most advantageous strategy to destroy your enemy, it will only take the wind out of your own sails.
Why not check out the book by Jeffrey Kripal titled The Serpents Gift Gnostic Reflections on the Study of Religion, and all of his other books too, especially his most recent on The Superhumanities -Historical Precedents, Moral Objections and New Realities.
All of which is to say that the nature of reality is much more paradoxical than is even dreamt of or suggested in your scribbilngs Winston.
It seems to me that the gnostic understanding of the paradoxical nature of reality (under heaven) described by Jeffrey precludes any kind of association with modern socialism which is essentially an extension of the spirit-killing materialism of this dark age.
On the other hand the understanding promoted by Jeffrey points to the fact that this is an open-ended psycho-physical realm in which everyone and everything is inter-connected.
Wonderful essay which links many apparently disparate lines of thought and philosophical movements in a very compelling way. I knew there was something odd about the 'new utopians' but I'd never previously linked them with Gnosticism. Curiously, having read widely for years on religious topics and on the fringes of occultism, always searching for 'enlightenment' or 'secret knowledge' (without laying any claims to the degree of erudition in this post!) I had the forceful realisation in 2020, amidst all the COVID hysteria, that this search for knowledge was sheer vanity on my part and ultimately futile. Was this pure chance or due to the agency of the Holy Spirit? Whatever the source, I feel much more comfortable in the knowledge that I'm just a plodding sinner.
Interesting; will refer you to Howdie Mickoski. He’s got a YouTube channel and was recently on “Conversations with Dr. Cowan & Friends.” Their discussion centered around his book “Exiting the Cave” (Plato’s Cave)Ending the Reincarnation Trap. ???
The book is self-published, and it was very difficult for me to buy into the basic premise. Still; persisting, I find myself more intrigued.
I was really curious how this author’s interpretation of true historical events of the past of combining occult mysticism with factual “science” has been reinterpreted for our modern world with what she calls “pattern recognition” reads to you Winston. To me who is not educated in these areas she seems to offer an explanation for why all of these perversions of our morals and values that are happening everywhere in the world today also include spiritual and visible and visual depictions of ancient evil spirits or gods or whatever you want to call them and we can actually pick up on or actually feel that evil permeating all around us. I think the trans community was also infiltrated and taken over by activists just like universities and everything else for the purpose of “trying” to make pedophelia “acceptable “ to the silent majority and the current wave of “drag queen story hours”to young children held in publicly funded libraries or recreational centers is a step or maybe the final step towards this evil maniacal goal. Thoughts?
Two quotes from “Exit the Cave”, Book 1 by Howdie Mickoski: this is a Muse guiding a Seeker: “Rudolf Steiner spoke much about this when he was alive (*Died 1925), how those in command of this nuthouse eventually would create technological devices that would first divorce humans from the Spirit and eventually from their own souls.”
On next page, relevant to not only this post but your previous post on psychedelics: Muse: “You can become your own psychic, and you certainly do not need any of these crazy drugs out there to do it. Drugs of all kinds are another trap. You can do it all, unravel deception and the soul contracts, unravel the harvesting of energy, regain your mind and clarity, and walk into your Power, which is to exit this realm. The Gnostics and the Cathars pretty much understood a lot of this. The more you get to know what they knew, the closer you will be to grasping the secrets of the few.”
So much research required, reading so many different thoughts/ beliefs expressed by so many over such a vast period of time you must truly spend hours and hours and hours reading and researching Winston! Kudos for putting in so much effort in reading others and then remembering it all (getting harder to retain with age) in order to formulate your own opinions which you then convey to all of us! I would never be able to do this now if ever as I don’t have the staying power or the retention power so I really appreciate you! Only upon reading towards the end did a name jump out at me that I recognized with a shudder and that was Klaus Schwab sidekick Yuval Harari the transhumanist because listening to this guy for the very first time sent shivers down my spine and scared me down to the bone having never heard anyone speak this coldly and dispassionately about other human beings before. I’ve learned so much lately I realize just skimming the surface about philosophy through the ages and what the enlightenment meant, about socialism, communism, fascism authoritarianism totalitarianism even what the word menticide means and that brainwashing is a real thing they used on us! The more I learn the more there is to learn, I am so grateful I found Substack as the quality of the authors like you I have found along with the bright interesting stimulating commentary provided by the many subscribers has opened my mind and created a thirst to learn as much as I can now. Knowledge is definitely very powerful important and valuable in helping to explain and understand what we are living through which is what set me on this journey in the first place when covid hit. I couldn’t stand not knowing and not being able to explain that which I could not understand nor make sense of so I thank you Winston for bringing enlightenment to the likes of me.
Mans churches are failing as we enter the end of days of which we have been forewarned. I started to write a letter years ago to my family which turned into a website. Money has no value there, no trips to Alaska, no books to buy, no - none of that.
If nothing else at the top of the home page read from: GOD’S FAMILY, GOD’S CHURCH, MESSAGE OF THE VALE AND THE WOMEN AT THE WELL, REBUILD-RESTORE-RENEW.
What is God’s Church? It’s Jesus Christ and Born Again Believers
having the indwelling of the Holy Spirit our True Guide, our True
Teacher, our True Comforter along with God’s Word and the Testimony
of His Creation. They are the living breathing Church Of God, adopted
Sons and Daughters of God destined to be with Him throughout eternity.
Mans Churches have assumed to themselves priesthoods and authority thereby
dividing believers one against another. They also assumed responsibilities which God ordained and appointed for Men and Women (The Family) – not men’s churches. This is the main reason christian marriages are failing at the same rate as secular families.
Best to all and your loved ones in Jesus Christ – Daniel
"Anything could be true. The so-called laws of Nature were nonsense. The law of gravity was nonsense. 'If I wished,' O'Brien had said, 'I could float off this floor like a soap bubble.' Winston worked it out. 'If he thinks he floats off the floor, and if I simultaneously think I see him do it, then the thing happens.' Suddenly, like a lump of submerged wreckage breaking the surface of water, the thought burst into his mind: 'It doesn't really happen. We imagine it. It is hallucination.' He pushed the thought under instantly. The fallacy was obvious. It presupposed that somewhere or other, outside oneself, there was a 'real' world where 'real' things happened. But how could there be such a world? What knowledge have we of anything, save through our own minds? All happenings are in the mind. Whatever happens in all minds, truly happens." (1984 - duh)
Question is, which flavor of Gnosticism?
I've always preferred the Valentinian one: http://gnosis.org/library/valentinus/Brief_Summary_Theology.htm
Blame it all on Constantine. He started it.
Good read.
I personally don't have a problem with traditional Christians, so long as they keep to their values and don't go off on another bloody inquisition on those that share those values, but don't agree with their dogma.
It sure would be nice if certain "thought leaders" stopped focusing on the esoteric (in what appears to be an attempt to create content because they suffer from the belief that they need to keep pumping it out, regardless of quality) and instead focused on virtue, common values, and finding solutions to the very real problems directly in front of us.
Gnosticism is an ancient heresy that the Church denounced centuries ago. https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/church-history/second-century/protecting-the-church-from-falsehood-and-heresy
What I like about your writing is that it almost never ceases to motivate me to read further on the thoughts of the people you choose to describe in your pieces. Much like Jordan Peterson did before, every time I read you I can at least add a few books to my reading list. You still have that quality, thank you for that. Peterson lost it when he decided to sell his soul to the Jews for 30 pieces of silver. Such a shame.
I was, however, wondering why you question the defense of gnosticism by christians. Would Oceania deny the existence or the works of Eurasia or Eastasia? If you have nobody to point to and say "you're doing the wrong thing", the automatic inference is that you cannot be right, or at least you can not "prove" that you're right by pointing out the wrong. Man needs an enemy, or and adversary at a minimum. The world is full of examples. It is therefore not the most advantageous strategy to destroy your enemy, it will only take the wind out of your own sails.
Brilliant stuff! But thought I’d share this, as you keep mentioning the neo-Platonists in the same breath as the Gnostics: https://trisagionseraph.tripod.com/Texts/Plotinus5.html
A good and interesting read O'Brien. I'm looking forward to reading your defence of Gnosticism.
Why not check out the book by Jeffrey Kripal titled The Serpents Gift Gnostic Reflections on the Study of Religion, and all of his other books too, especially his most recent on The Superhumanities -Historical Precedents, Moral Objections and New Realities.
All of which is to say that the nature of reality is much more paradoxical than is even dreamt of or suggested in your scribbilngs Winston.
It seems to me that the gnostic understanding of the paradoxical nature of reality (under heaven) described by Jeffrey precludes any kind of association with modern socialism which is essentially an extension of the spirit-killing materialism of this dark age.
On the other hand the understanding promoted by Jeffrey points to the fact that this is an open-ended psycho-physical realm in which everyone and everything is inter-connected.
Wonderful essay which links many apparently disparate lines of thought and philosophical movements in a very compelling way. I knew there was something odd about the 'new utopians' but I'd never previously linked them with Gnosticism. Curiously, having read widely for years on religious topics and on the fringes of occultism, always searching for 'enlightenment' or 'secret knowledge' (without laying any claims to the degree of erudition in this post!) I had the forceful realisation in 2020, amidst all the COVID hysteria, that this search for knowledge was sheer vanity on my part and ultimately futile. Was this pure chance or due to the agency of the Holy Spirit? Whatever the source, I feel much more comfortable in the knowledge that I'm just a plodding sinner.
Returning to Gnosticism is as moronic as persisting in following uman animals invented religions...
Interesting; will refer you to Howdie Mickoski. He’s got a YouTube channel and was recently on “Conversations with Dr. Cowan & Friends.” Their discussion centered around his book “Exiting the Cave” (Plato’s Cave)Ending the Reincarnation Trap. ???
The book is self-published, and it was very difficult for me to buy into the basic premise. Still; persisting, I find myself more intrigued.
Agree, we live in an insane world.
I was really curious how this author’s interpretation of true historical events of the past of combining occult mysticism with factual “science” has been reinterpreted for our modern world with what she calls “pattern recognition” reads to you Winston. To me who is not educated in these areas she seems to offer an explanation for why all of these perversions of our morals and values that are happening everywhere in the world today also include spiritual and visible and visual depictions of ancient evil spirits or gods or whatever you want to call them and we can actually pick up on or actually feel that evil permeating all around us. I think the trans community was also infiltrated and taken over by activists just like universities and everything else for the purpose of “trying” to make pedophelia “acceptable “ to the silent majority and the current wave of “drag queen story hours”to young children held in publicly funded libraries or recreational centers is a step or maybe the final step towards this evil maniacal goal. Thoughts?
https://unherd.com/2023/03/we-are-living-in-mystic-megs-world/
Two quotes from “Exit the Cave”, Book 1 by Howdie Mickoski: this is a Muse guiding a Seeker: “Rudolf Steiner spoke much about this when he was alive (*Died 1925), how those in command of this nuthouse eventually would create technological devices that would first divorce humans from the Spirit and eventually from their own souls.”
On next page, relevant to not only this post but your previous post on psychedelics: Muse: “You can become your own psychic, and you certainly do not need any of these crazy drugs out there to do it. Drugs of all kinds are another trap. You can do it all, unravel deception and the soul contracts, unravel the harvesting of energy, regain your mind and clarity, and walk into your Power, which is to exit this realm. The Gnostics and the Cathars pretty much understood a lot of this. The more you get to know what they knew, the closer you will be to grasping the secrets of the few.”
So much research required, reading so many different thoughts/ beliefs expressed by so many over such a vast period of time you must truly spend hours and hours and hours reading and researching Winston! Kudos for putting in so much effort in reading others and then remembering it all (getting harder to retain with age) in order to formulate your own opinions which you then convey to all of us! I would never be able to do this now if ever as I don’t have the staying power or the retention power so I really appreciate you! Only upon reading towards the end did a name jump out at me that I recognized with a shudder and that was Klaus Schwab sidekick Yuval Harari the transhumanist because listening to this guy for the very first time sent shivers down my spine and scared me down to the bone having never heard anyone speak this coldly and dispassionately about other human beings before. I’ve learned so much lately I realize just skimming the surface about philosophy through the ages and what the enlightenment meant, about socialism, communism, fascism authoritarianism totalitarianism even what the word menticide means and that brainwashing is a real thing they used on us! The more I learn the more there is to learn, I am so grateful I found Substack as the quality of the authors like you I have found along with the bright interesting stimulating commentary provided by the many subscribers has opened my mind and created a thirst to learn as much as I can now. Knowledge is definitely very powerful important and valuable in helping to explain and understand what we are living through which is what set me on this journey in the first place when covid hit. I couldn’t stand not knowing and not being able to explain that which I could not understand nor make sense of so I thank you Winston for bringing enlightenment to the likes of me.
Mans churches are failing as we enter the end of days of which we have been forewarned. I started to write a letter years ago to my family which turned into a website. Money has no value there, no trips to Alaska, no books to buy, no - none of that.
If nothing else at the top of the home page read from: GOD’S FAMILY, GOD’S CHURCH, MESSAGE OF THE VALE AND THE WOMEN AT THE WELL, REBUILD-RESTORE-RENEW.
What is God’s Church? It’s Jesus Christ and Born Again Believers
having the indwelling of the Holy Spirit our True Guide, our True
Teacher, our True Comforter along with God’s Word and the Testimony
of His Creation. They are the living breathing Church Of God, adopted
Sons and Daughters of God destined to be with Him throughout eternity.
Mans Churches have assumed to themselves priesthoods and authority thereby
dividing believers one against another. They also assumed responsibilities which God ordained and appointed for Men and Women (The Family) – not men’s churches. This is the main reason christian marriages are failing at the same rate as secular families.
Best to all and your loved ones in Jesus Christ – Daniel
https://www.knowingforyourself.com
"Anything could be true. The so-called laws of Nature were nonsense. The law of gravity was nonsense. 'If I wished,' O'Brien had said, 'I could float off this floor like a soap bubble.' Winston worked it out. 'If he thinks he floats off the floor, and if I simultaneously think I see him do it, then the thing happens.' Suddenly, like a lump of submerged wreckage breaking the surface of water, the thought burst into his mind: 'It doesn't really happen. We imagine it. It is hallucination.' He pushed the thought under instantly. The fallacy was obvious. It presupposed that somewhere or other, outside oneself, there was a 'real' world where 'real' things happened. But how could there be such a world? What knowledge have we of anything, save through our own minds? All happenings are in the mind. Whatever happens in all minds, truly happens." (1984 - duh)