MEGATHREAD: New World Religion

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Brief introduction to gnosticism, antinomianism and others.

Gnosticism has its roots in kabbalah, which in turn has its origins in previous doctrines which some trace back to Platonism, Egypt and Mesopotamia. It shares the same view as many mystery schools; the universe is a series of emanations; each of them further away from the Monad; the divine absolute source of everything (think of the platonic concept of the "Form of the Good"; a perfect source of all ideas and the further away something is from it, the less perfect it is). In their view, the material world was the lowest plane of existence, created by an evil entity called "the demiurge" (Originally, a platonic idea which wasn't evil; thought to have fashioned the material world by connecting the world of ideas with the material plane).

Since everything emanates from this source, we all have a remnant or divine spark; all is part of this divinity. Our mission is to awaken ourselves to the fact that the world we live in is an illusion (think of the allegory of the cave), release our divine spark (that is, our true nature, which is divine) so that we can return to the source through a process called "gnosis", knowledge; achieved through meditation, fasting, instrospection, etc. During this state of gnosis, practitioners believed they could do magic; since they are one with everything, the barriers of space, time and materiality are overcome. Some sects maintained that once a person achieved this state of "perfection", they could commit sins without actually sinning, since their actions were aligned with divine will.

Some branches of gnosticism associated the god of the old testament, Jehovah, with this demiurge. In their view, man was held prisoner in the Garden of Eden by an unjust and vindictive god, and it was Lucifer, the serpent, who released them from the illusion of the Garden of Eden, by giving them the fruit of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. Lucifer means "the light bringer". The serpent, according to Manly P. Hall's "Secret teachings of all ages", represents the individual mind, as well as the kundalini.

In the yoga tradition, the Kundalini is a creative, cosmic energy which we all have at the base of our spine. It must climb through the 33 vertebrae, unfolding the chakras, until it reunites with the divine, opening the third eye, bringing enlightenment and giving the practitioner "siddhis"; supernatural powers.

It is this individual intellect, Lucifer, which must be spiritually enlightened, achieving "Christ consciousness" or enlightenment. Reuniting the individual mind with the universal mind.

Bear in mind that if the demiurge is evil, then the material world is evil as well. If this evil god is Jehovah, the wrathful god of the old testament, then all his commandments and rules must be evil as well. Jesus Christ and the Serpent are thought to be envoys of the real god to rescue humanity from the material prison created by the demiurge. Some state they are one and the same, others say they are two distinct entities.

Therefore, since the commandments and morals were created by a false god, it is acceptable and advisable to disregard them as evil creations which keep humanity away from its true destiny. The traditional notions of good and evil are abolished. This idea is called "antinomianism"; also known as "redemption through sin" (see Robert Sepherh's 1666: Redemption through sin, which is a book on the jewish kabbalist sect of the sabbatean frankists, who believed exactly this)

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Extracts from 5/5/2000 Ice: The Ultimate Disaster by Richard W. Noone.

Tom Valentine: … If you pursue this hint, so to speak, you find out that the builders of the Great Pyramid are the same people that wrote the original text of the Old Testament, and they laid out their plan in the Great Pyramid as well as in the Scriptures.

Richard Noone: Who are these people?

Tom Valentine: My opinion is they were what we call Hyksos and we find traces of them throughout Meso-America, India, and the Middle East in the earliest of times. The Egyptians had two or three different waves of Hyksos rulers come in. The word "hyksos" for many years was translated "shepherd kings," which is a paradox, you see -- looking at life the way he look at it today. How can a group who were non-warlike come into a land and take over and run things without any fighting? Yet they obviously did, and these ancient builders had a profound influence wherever they went. The years of research I have done tell me that the Hyksos were a group of people who had in their culture information stemming from a previous civilization. I think that our view of history, saying that it started in the "cradle of civilization," in Egypt and Mesopotamia, is wrong. The surviving evidence indicates both Egypt and Mesopotamia are actually later civilizations -- remnants of a far, far greater early empire.

Richard Noone: Do you think the Hyksos race was a race chosen by some greater intelligence to impart a superior ideology to the rest of the human race?
Tom Valentine: Not so much chose, but actually chose themselves. All genius is self-appointed. I would say these people were a remnant from a previous culture and they had something they wanted to do, and they embodied their thinking in their work and the influence to people by their works.

Tom Valentine: They came into the land, and there were already humans in the Nile Valley, but they came into the land in an unobtrusive and dexterous maneuver so as not to alarm the existing culture. They came in without fighting. They took the worst land. They didn't try to impress their knowledge on the others. They just did things in a better way. Soon the people in that area were paying attention to them. Once they gained the attention of the people, it didn't take very long before they were running everything, because they did everything with better methodology, which is the way life ought to be -- you ought to show by example.

Richard Noone: What happened then?
Tom Valentine: Fairly soon after arriving, they suggested to the people that as life was now so peaceful and harmonious, it would be a happy challenge to build a monument to the future, to the future of mankind. In my opinion the Hyksos philosophy and the philosophy of many modern people is identical, in that human beings can be perfect if they work toward that end.

Richard Noone: What happened to the ancient tribe, the Hyksos?
Tom Valentine: I think they are still in existence today and have not died out but have gone underground many thousands of years ago. What we call Masonry, Freemasonry is an offshoot of the group that started out. The Hyksos group became what The Ultimate Frontier calls, "The Brotherhoods." These are a group of people who have knowledge about what it really means to be human...

Tom Valentine: These are a group of people who have knowledge about what it really means to be human, to be a human becoming, to grow toward human perfection -- it's a philosophical thing. These people still exist. They still band together in groups here and there, and they show by doing. Again, their lifestyle shows that they really have a handle on life is all about. They don't try to impress others with numbers or with what they know, they just live doing something they want to accomplish while they are here. We know in Egypt these people have formed secret societies and that Pharaoh Akhnaton came up "under the rose" out of one of these secret societies and took over the land of Egypt in a manner that forbids disclosure, at a time in which the superficial popular theology left a want unsatisfied, which religion in a wider sense alone could supply.

Tom Valentine: Oh, that's a big topic! The Ultimate Frontier ties together a history of this planet, the idea and purpose for mankind being a part of it, and a philosophy of growth towards human perfection -- and how this philosophy is what life is really all about. The truth of this was lost when the great civilization on the Pacific continent of Mu was destroyed by a sudden cataclysmic change on the crust of the earth 50,000 years ago. There are a group of individuals who call themselves the "Brotherhoods," unobtrusively working to uplift mankind back to this ancient wisdom belief, and the Great Pyramid is indeed a monument to this particular Brotherhood.

Richard Noone: As Jesus stood between the two columns Jachin and Boaz on the outer porch of King Solomon's temple (John 10[, verse 23]) on [25th] December -- the celebration of the winter solstice -- a large majority of the people did not understand him when he said, "Ye are gods" (John 10[, verse 34]). Some people in the crowd took up stones to kill him as the money-changer in the temple cocked his head away from his table to see what some in the crowd were yelling about. He heard Jesus say, "Is it not written in your law, I said ye are gods," as he saw a law-giver of the temple sit bolt upright to listen to this man speaking to the crowd. The money-changer wondered why such an important law-giver of the temple sat up to listen, as rigid as a rod of iron, remembering the law and his responsibility. As the lawgiver remembered Psalm 82:6, he remembered a song of Asaph, in which God said, "Ye are gods." The man speaking to the crowd said, "The Father is in me, and I in Him," and what he meant could not have been other than what he said. As the crowd screamed, "Blasphemy!" and moved forward to kill Jesus, he simply disappeared. So when you say humans have the capability to bring themselves up to the equal of their creator, it would seem to me that this "new-age idea" is in reality a very, very ancient idea. However, you did say that that this is part of the message of the Great Pyramid -- but what about these ancient brotherhoods, these people who are responsible for all these secret type of teaching, which seems to be such a mystical type of notion -- are they still around today?

Tom Valentine: I think so, very much. In fact, I can say I know it -- you can say it's information now. The "brothers" are those individuals who have obtained a degree in advancement over other humans. ...if you meet a Brother, and you get him alone and you say, "I've noticed about you certain things, and...want to ask you if you are familiar with the Rosicrucians or the Masons or the Stelle Group or the book The Ultimate Frontier or some of these metaphysical philosophies" -- you, when you ask, are allowing him to interfere in your environment. This is the teacher appearing when the student is ready. But unless you ask, the Brothers won't help.
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Tom Valentine: ...Yes. The fifth level of intelligence is responsible for the direct work with the planet, and they can make mistakes. The story of Lucifer and Jehovah is a tale of the mistake made by the angelic intelligence. The argument between the angelic forces on the fifth level of existence is that Jehovah, according to my philosophy, believed that humans could advance with a perfect environment, so at first, humans were given the Edenic State. All they had to do was eat bananas, sleep, chase the girls, make love, swim, sun and sleep. But they didn't grow in that Edenic state. All they wanted to do was eat, drink, make love, and sleep some more. They didn't want to grow, so Lucifer said, "We should help mankind grow -- and you know the rules, we can't go down and do it for them, so we'll give them problems to overcome." And ZAP -- like the thunderbolt of Zeus, Eden was gone and we now have winters in Chicago. And man has to overcome.

[TheRealSkeptic5000]

Extracts taken from "What the Ancient Wisdom expects from its disciples" - Manly P. Hall 33º

There is no greater honor than to be called to the service of
this eternal Wisdom which was before the beginning and which
will ultimately become the visible exoteric ruling body of the
planet.

In the very early period of human differentiation, man was
incapable of self-government, but was ruled by those appointed
by Nature to preserve him and unfold him to the point when he
would be capable of taking care of himself. We are told that when
our solar system began its labors, spirits of wise beings from
other solar systems came to us and taught us the ways of wisdom
that we might have that birthright of knowledge which God
gives to all His creations. It was these minds which are said to
have founded the Mystery Schools of the Ancient Wisdom, for
this Wisdom was the knowledge of the will of Nature for Her
children.

The Ancient Wisdom tells us that there is but one religion and
that its seed was planted in the souls of things with the beginning
of the world. It became a mighty tree with its roots in heaven
and its branches on earth, like the sacred banyan of India. As all
the branches depend upon one trunk, so all faiths and religions
depend upon one source, one light for all that they have been,
are, or ever shall be. Some branches are large and strong, while
others are small and weak, but through all of them courses one
life. That life is light, and that light is the life of men.

It is the duty of all living things to produce some truly constructive labor as recognition of
the divine life which is within them. God is most glorified when
His children glorify His spirit within themselves.

In the remote past the gods walked with men and while the
instructors from the invisible planes of Nature were still laboring
with the infant humanity of this planet, they chose from among
the sons of men the wisest and the truest. These they labored
with, preparing them to carry on the work of the gods after the
spiritual hierarchies themselves had withdrawn into the
invisible worlds. With these specially ordained and illumined
sons they left the keys of their great wisdom, which was the
knowledge of good and evil. They ordained these anointed and
appointed ones to be priests or mediators between themselves
(the gods) and that humanity which had not yet developed the
eyes which permitted them to gaze into the face of Truth and
live.

Overshadowed by the divine prerogative, these illumined
ones, founded what we now know as the Ancient Mysteries.
These were schools of religious truths, religion being here used
in its sense of implying divine wisdom. To these spiritual
universities were admitted the most worthy and most capable of
the sons of men. At first these schools were publicly recognized.
Great temples were built to house the priests and serve as
chambers of initiation. The record of the mystical arcane was in
the form of carvings, baked clay tablets, and papyrus rolls.
Generation after generation was illumined by the wisdom
secreted in these sacred repositories.

Gradually a separation took place among the schools of the
Mysteries. The zeal of the priests to spread their doctrines in
many cases apparently exceeded their intelligence. As a result,
many were allowed to enter the temples before they had really
prepared themselves for the wisdom they were to receive. The
result was that these untutored minds, slowly gaining positions
of authority, became at last incapable of maintaining the
institution because they were unable to contact the spiritual
powers behind the material enterprise. So the Mystery Schools
vanished. The spiritual hierarchy, served through all generations
by a limited number of true and devoted followers, withdrew
from the world; while the colossal material organizations, having
no longer any contact with their divine source, wandered in
circles, daily becoming more involved in the rituals and symbols
which they had lost the power of interpreting.

It is really remarkable how down through the ages, by word of
mouth, by allegory and symbol, and by natural example, the
truths revealed to the ancients have been perpetuated to our own
day and yet have ever been concealed from the eyes of the profane.
It has been said that wisdom lies not in seeing things but
in seeing through things. For the occultist at least, this is doubly
true.

During the Atlantean periods of which Plato dreamed, the
work of gathering and arranging the Ancient Wisdom went on
apace, for the people of Atlantis were the greatest exponents of
concrete thought the world has ever known. The Atlanteans
never fully understood the wisdom that was theirs, for even in
those early times the gods had withdrawn from the mass of
humanity, and spoke to man only through appointed priests and
oracles. The method of communication used by the spiritual
powers is faithfully set out by Josephus in his description of the
Ark of the Covenant and the priests who served it. This ark was
an oracle, and the gods spoke to the high priest by means of the
language of symbolism. From the Atlanteans, with their ancient
Tabernacle Mysteries, we have secured nearly all that we know
concerning the Ancient Wisdom and its Mysteries. According to
the Sacred Book, they were the keepers of the spiritual records
which had been given to them by their progenitors, the Serpent
Kings, who reigned over the earth.

It was these Serpent Kings who founded the Mystery Schools
which later appeared as the Egyptian and Brahman Mysteries and
other forms of ancient occultism. The serpent was their symbol,
for they taught man the use of the creative energy which courses
through Nature and his own bodies as a serpentine line of force.
They were the true Sons of Light, and from them have descended
a long line of adepts and initiates duly tried and proven according
to the law. These have kept alight the divine truths through
many generations of ignorance and thoughtlessness. The later
Atlantean world crumbled because it wavered from the law. It
forgot that Nature was the ruler of all things, and in attempting
to survive unnaturally it was destroyed. Before its disintegration,
however, the Ancient Wisdom passed into the new Aryan world,
where from the heart of the lofty Himalayas its adepts and
initiates began the process of building a new people to be the
living tabernacles of the gods among men.

Man has not always been a material being. Eternities ago he
was a spiritual creature, of radiant and glorious powers.
Gradually he assumed the coats of skins which we call bodies,
and his radiance was darkened by the sheaths of clay. Little by
little he lost touch with his Fathers, the Sons of Light, and began
to wander in darkness. At the time when the third eye closed in
man, during the period of the ancient Lemurian world, the
human race lost contact with its invisible teachers. Gradually
even the memory of them faded out until only myths and legends
remained. Mythology is the authentic record of those periods of
transition when the diviner sparks were gradually assuming the
bodies of mortality.

But man was never left to wander alone in ignorance. When
the ties connecting him to the unseen worlds were broken,
certain methods were established whereby the will of the gods
could be made known. To this end, a certain number of men and
women were instructed how to bridge the chasm which then
separated the gods from men. The method of establishing this
communication was the greatest of all the secrets of ancient
occultism. This secret has been preserved for the race, for at a
later time all human beings will be able to communicate directly
with the gods once more. During the great interval of ages, this
wisdom has been perpetuated in the Mystery Schools, and a few
chosen disciples in each generation have been given the sacred
privilege of knowing the gods. This wisdom and the power and
knowledge they have gained they in turn impart to a few chosen
and beloved disciples. Thus the work is carried on.

The ability of the Mystery Schools to communicate with the
invisible worlds is the basis of their power; for all the creative
hierarchies dwell in the unseen worlds, and there the disciple
must go in order to consult them. The reason for this is that the
human race is the only one in our scheme of things that is
equipped with both a physical and a mental body. The gods, so-
called, have never descended into physical substance.
Consequently, having no body composed of dense chemical
elements, they are incapable of manifesting here. In order to
communicate with them, man must, therefore, learn to function
consciously in his own invisible bodies. When he is capable of
doing this, he can communicate with the spiritual beings who
dwell in similar superphysical substances.

As every ray of
light breaks into seven colors when it strikes a prism, so this
ancient truth, striking the prismatic body of the material world,
appears in a septenary body. This body is called the seven-headed
serpent, for although it speaks with seven mouths it has but one
brain, one life, one origin.

These seven schools, each composed of twelve initiates and
their disciples surrounding a thirteenth exalted brother, are the
God-ordained perpetuators of the Ancient Wisdom as it has come
from the dawn of the world when the gods descended from the
nebula of the sun and took up their dwelling place on the sacred
island at the north polar cap.

Every one of
these Mystery Schools is invisible and unknown. They can only
be found after long searching and repeated disappointment. In
recognition of the dignity of these schools and the sanctity of the
wisdom which they represent, this treatise has been prepared to
give in a simple way some of the marvelous truths for which
they stand.

Every hundred years the voice of the Great School is heard,
and into the world comes one to bear witness to the unseen.

2. The Maker of the great plan which we call life, the Being
from which we have been differentiated, has given man certain
potentialities; these when awakened to dynamic powers will give
to each the faculties whereby he may know that plan. By learning
it himself and applying his wisdom, he may then reach the
position where he can assist others to harmonize their lives with
the same law.

3. For the purpose of disseminating this wisdom wisely
among all the nations of the earth, the Schools of the Ancient
Mysteries have been established, not by the will of man but by
the gods themselves laboring through channels chosen from the
most highly evolved children of earth.

4. Having established these schools, the superior intelligences
became the central invisible powers of these schools and are still
in actual communication with the Adepts and Masters who at the
present time manipulate the destinies of these secret orders.

6. These seven schools, together with their branches in all
parts of the earth, constitute the Great White Lodge. This is the
divine institution appointed to give the Ancient Wisdom to our
planet. It is composed of all of the initiates and adepts of the
White Path and forms the invisible government of the earth.

7. The Ancient Wisdom contains the true and accurate
knowledge of the plan whereby the gods, man and the universe
were established, are being maintained, and will later be
dissolved into eternity. It is the knowledge of all things in their
relation to God, Nature and themselves, and it is the only guide
by which man can be shown the path he must follow if he would
liberate himself from the ignorance and darkness of materiality.