Toward Aeonic Accomodation - I believe in Buddhas
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I'm writing this because of an inner prompting. I have been accused of fighting the beliefs of others for so long that I have left behind or forgotten my own core. Here it is.
I believe in Buddhas – Awakened Ones. Naturally mystics, they awaken, for whatever reason, more quickly into participation with the Divine Mind. They become living expressions of the Universal and Eternal Logos in whatever particular place and point in history and culture they appear. They must necessarily express themselves through the limitations of their native language and theology.
I believe Christianity, like several other major religions, was founded on the phenomena surrounding the appearance of a Buddha in the Middle East, specifically in Israel, to the Jewish religion. Depending on one’s perspective, this appearance was either foretold, or conversely complicated, by Jewish prophecies about a coming Messiah who would initiate God’s Kingdom on the Earth.
Because this Buddha’s message struck directly at the underpinnings of the religio-political power balance of the area, he was eventually condemned by the regional religious authority for (gasp!) theological reasons. Because he would not submit to the theological authority of the local leadership, they offered him no protection from (indeed, served him up to) the political authorities for whom claims to divine inspiration and leadership were challenges to the authority of the Caesar, himself a god-man.
This Buddha was tragically crucified in order to maintain the political stability of the region. However, because this Buddha had only ever preached peace and the turning over of a new spiritual leaf, and because he was killed overtly to "protect the peace," the story of his life and tragic death spread rapidly through the empire, reflecting itself in myriad mythologies, ancient hero stories, and initiation rites, enflaming them with new life and focus. The people converted. The empire persecuted. This martyrdom would become so severe a challenge to the very empire that struck the blow that only through the symbols of the newfound religion could the empire be unified, and the empire itself necessarily became overtly Christian.
It is in this belief that I make my departure from many of you, as well as the master Therion, who seemingly could not accept the Master Jesus as the same quality of being he regarded himself. Perhaps he was blinded to it by those who directed him to other ends. It does not matter. While much has been done to protect the political power of Christianity as a religion by the standardization of its theology and the persecution of its mystical minorities, I cannot believe that any actual Buddha would set up discipleship of himself as the sine qua non for liberation from a literal hell through the end of time. It's simply better to evolve. Such doctrines are the result of an over-literal interpretation of spiritual teachings that arose from the desire to protect the political power of the Roman Empire through the enforcement of theological doctrine.
Though this Buddha had expressly taught freedom from such manmade spiritual enslavement, his reported words were used to shackle the citizens of the empire to one religion only – the State Religion. Where such doctrinal uniformity was not directed personally by the Caesar, it was directed by the popular vote of those bishops who wished to preserve their own newfound importance in the empire – they were given yet another apple to bite.
The more Gnostic expressions of Christianity were persecuted, scattered, and driven underground. I believe it quite likely that their initiations and the resulting enlightenment still posed a threat to the authority of the Caesar, who was now head of the Church. If Caesar could not officially be a “god man,” and rule by that power, then it was not necessarily safe to have other potential Awakening Ones running around causing the kind of politically destabilizing mischief Jesus and his early persecuted brothers/disciples/martyrs did. No, that kind of initiation must be preserved for rulers and kings, not the unwashed masses. Bottle up the wine of the gods!
And of Therion?
I believe in Buddhas. I try to pay attention to the Buddhas.
The rest you know.
I think I'm basically some form of Hindu who believes that both Jesus and Therion were avatars. That the latter could not conceive of so simple a conception remains a mystery to me. It seems so entirely obvious that I can only imagine that he cleared the slate of this possibility only to prevent against the weaknesses he thought this would inherently create in his system of training - training expressly designed to correct the abuses which remained of the Christian State Religion even after seperation between Church and State became philosophically idealized. And, while I don't think the previous western Buddha minds in the least, I wonder why the latest one was so ...exclusive.
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I came to a bit of an epiphany last night about why I try to find such expressions and post them.
To say that this is what I truly, deeply believe for myself in a quiet room... It's close. But there's so much more tucked away in that concept of what it means to be an Awakened One to me - especially when you have a sort of ...meta-buddha... or quantum buddha... like Crowley - not only be it but observe the process and record it and attempt to understand it. post-modern buddha? You could use all kind of catchy labels, but the main idea is that there was a quantum leap in Science's ability to reflect on such occurrences - at least potentially, for those who themselves explore. I look at it like there was a new spin, a new layer revealed (at least to us), to a very old phenomena.
Now, all that aside. I'm not worried about anyone else coming to my own exact beliefs. And this was my epiphany.... I'm still thinking like a Baptist church-planter. I'm trying to put together a core idea around which a group of friends could meet and progress together on their spiritual journeys. Only, I'm not longer looking to start a church - just - I'm just looking to start a local group of something that I would actually go to.
So, the previous post would be an example of how I explained my own beliefs to such a group of people. That's why it's so generic. It allows many, many voices and the freedom to explore.
You start with nothing more than the old synagogue "house church" formula, with some friends who gather to discuss the same sacred (or mystical, philosophical, holistic) text, reflect a bit both inwardly and outwardly, maybe sing or listen to something, and you eat a communal meal. That's really what I'm looking for.
Right now, I'm toying with some words for a gnostic-style mass to be said with the breaking of bread and drinking of wine - as ever.
Something about how "The seed becomes bread, the bread becomes thought, the thoughts become divine life and love and laughter. And so we affirm ourselves as centers of the union of matter and spirit, earth and heaven, and we affirm our decisions to live our lives as free and whole."
Or something to that effect. And I was hoping that others might like to suggest one thing or another. It's all very formative at this stage.
Thoughts?
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@Aegis said
"Hmm.... Sun conjunct my Venus (Leo). Pluto conjunct my Jupiter (Sag).
Mercury (Leo) in opposition to Neptune (Aqu).
Any takers?"
Random bursts of utterly pointless energy directed towards aims that are neither clear nor pertinent to the absolute good; this good is itself rather vague and preposterous, and operates to create an even greater sense of futility to one's enthusiastic lack of purpose.
This is my least favorite time of year besides Christmas. Leo transits excite my chart in a predictably annoying way.
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@Aegis said
"
I believe Christianity, like several other major religions, was founded on the phenomena surrounding the appearance of a Buddha in the Middle East, specifically in Israel, to the Jewish religion."Ehem, not really.
@Aegis said
" Depending on one’s perspective, this appearance was either foretold, or conversely complicated, by Jewish prophecies about a coming Messiah who would initiate God’s Kingdom on the Earth. "
Jewish prophecies were twisted during translation, actually none can be fitted into that story.
@Aegis said
" Because this Buddha’s message struck directly at the underpinnings of the religio-political power balance of the area, he was eventually condemned by the regional religious authority for (gasp!) theological reasons. "
If you are referring to Sanhedrin by 'religious authorities' , that's false too.
@Aegis said
"Because he would not submit to the theological authority of the local leadership, they offered him no protection from (indeed, served him up to) the political authorities for whom claims to divine inspiration and leadership were challenges to the authority of the Caesar, himself a god-man."
@Aegis said
"This Buddha was tragically crucified in order to maintain the political stability of the region. However, because this Buddha had only ever preached peace and the turning over of a new spiritual leaf, and because he was killed overtly to "protect the peace," the story of his life and tragic death spread rapidly through the empire, reflecting itself in myriad mythologies, ancient hero stories, and initiation rites, enflaming them with new life and focus. The people converted. The empire persecuted. This martyrdom would become so severe a challenge to the very empire that struck the blow that only through the symbols of the newfound religion could the empire be unified, and the empire itself necessarily became overtly Christian."
We have no idea what he preached. He was a Jew, a rabbi and a Kabbalits, that much we know; other stuff was written way later, by folks who hardly understood what he was going on about.
He preached peace? Hmm. "Apostles" were actually acting as his body guards - read more on the history of the region in that period - firstly, a blond hippy as he is presented, would burn out after 5 min in the middle eastern sun, and secondly - had he survived by miracle - wasn't he heavily guarded, he would be killed and robbed in another 5 minutes. Think of the story when he enters the temple and starts turning upside down the tables with merchandise... you think local sellers would just stand by and gaze in amazement, yes? Certainly no, weren't they pushed to the corner and threatened by guns of the heavily-armed body guards slash apostles.
You know, in the moment of its appearance, Christianity was merely one of 24 Jewish sects in Jerusalem. Yehoshua was born a Jew, died a Jew.
Virgin birth... sure.
Most of the changes to the teachings were made by Paul actually, while he was lobbying in Rome to convert as many pagans as possible.
Did Yehoshua ever dreamed of starting a new religion? Not in his wildest dreams.
Facts are one thing, science fiction all another.
But of course, everyone is free to believe what ever rocks their boat - some believe in Spagetti Monster , some believe in Faeries, some in Santa Claus - and some in Jesus-Buddha.
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@Aegis said
"
No beliefs required. "
Exactly. Try stuff, see if it works for you, 'tis all. If you need intellectual back up - it takes more.
@Aegis said
"That's about where I live every day, and why I couldn't be a preacher. lol..."
Why would anyone* normal* want to be a preacher?
Its all within the domain of the mind and is absolutely unrelated to the actual experience, goodness - is it more dogma that we need in our times?! Or we need first and foremost the actual spiritual tools that do work? I am in the second camp.I joined this very forum because LBRP and Thoth Tarot work for me personally, so now i am here to learn (so to say) the story behind it.
Now i guess, some wouldn't start practicing without having an extensive theoretical knowledge, but those guys mostly sit in academia and are not practicing magicians or whatsover. Just my 0.2 cents.
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"Why would anyone normal want to be a preacher?
"Because that's what Christians program into people with natural spiritual leanings when they're young. It's the ideal held up - to Evangelicals, anyway.
But some of it was great!
At Halloween, we had the youth come walk down into the woods in the pitch black. I had several campfires rigged with fuel and flashpots so that they would fully ignite immediately. Flash! Flash! POOF! And then in the shadows of the firelight and in my hooded robe, I'd recount ancient stories.
They laughed at me a lot, but they got a kick out of the show - especially the campfire that exploded and went out instead. rocked it though]. And then we played capture the flag and videoed Josh being dared to drink a gallon milk and puking it everywhere. I never mentioned I was a youth minister, right?
Are you kidding? I miss it.
I mean, not the stupid parts.
But I miss the people and the fun.
Can't stand "hell" though. I'm again' it.
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@Aegis said
"
"Why would anyone normal want to be a preacher?
"Because that's what Christians program into people with natural spiritual leanings when they're young. It's the ideal held up - to Evangelicals, anyway.
But some of it was great!
At Halloween, we had the youth come walk down into the woods in the pitch black. I had several campfires rigged with fuel and flashpots so that they would fully ignite immediately. Flash! Flash! POOF! And then in the shadows of the firelight and in my hooded robe, I'd recount ancient stories.
They laughed at me a lot, but they got a kick out of the show - especially the campfire that exploded and went out instead. rocked it though]. And then we played capture the flag and videoed Josh being dared to drink a gallon milk and puking it everywhere. I never mentioned I was a youth minister, right?
Are you kidding? I miss it.
I mean, not the stupid parts.
But I miss the people and the fun.
Can't stand "hell" though. I'm again' it."
Oyy... insert a biting tongue and full of remorse emoticon I apologize if my posts come across as harsh - i had misread your intent and reacted from my own (and everyone else's around where i am from) pretty bad experience with established religious institutions who absolutely acted like ass**es here during the Balkan wars - enabling people to go fight (and kill!!!) those who believed in other concepts and called their God another name...
I don't think hell/heaven should withold you from what makes your soul happy - if its the practice and the surrounding activities that enriches you , who cares about the afterlife concepts - no one yet made the actual comeback to tell us as it is.
Sorry if mine comes across as harsh, due to my background i put some words into very different discourses -and, once again, thank you for taking the time and effort to explain what it means to you personally. -
"I don't think hell/heaven should withold you from what makes your soul happy - if its the practice and the surrounding activities that enriches you , who cares about the afterlife concepts"
LOL..! Church members would disagree.
Welcome to the location-based conundrum I am currently in for a while. Very conservative here. That's why I'm thinking of starting a book-club and why it would have to be broad-based. My friends are mostly atheists and agnostic types - the ones who aren't very, very Christian. They're spiritual but not religious, you know... or maybe you don't. Once spiritually inspired in youth but now cynical about all that stuff - they are curious but highly skeptical and very practical where spirituality is concerned. That kind of thing.
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@Aegis said
"
"I don't think hell/heaven should withold you from what makes your soul happy - if its the practice and the surrounding activities that enriches you , who cares about the afterlife concepts"LOL..! Church members would disagree.
Welcome to the location-based conundrum I am currently in for a while. Very conservative here. That's why I'm thinking of starting a book-club and why it would have to be broad-based. My friends are mostly atheists and agnostic types - the ones who aren't very, very Christian. They're spiritual but not religious, you know... or maybe you don't. Once spiritually inspired in youth but now cynical about all that stuff - they are curious but highly skeptical and very practical where spirituality is concerned. That kind of thing."
Well, you'll ajar the doors of Thelema for them - the smart, but disappointed ones.
I pulled couple of cards for you, with Thoth - here is which ones came out for you.Base: 2 Disks
You are indeed an agent of change there - mind you, its a willing change, so it will go smoother than you think now.Root: Emperor; current - 5 Swords, gate - princess of wands, advice - the High Priestess, outcome - the Tower.
You do have all it takes to incite all the change needed - the influence, and the authority as well; do look into your own believes that confuse you and confine your progress (5 Swords as related to the Hierophant); you know from life experience that when everything is ready for the change - usually it takes spreading of the word to ignite the actual process (Princess.)
Don't forget that you are supported by the actual powers - its not only up to you, neither will you be left alone in your undertaking.
The book club is an excellent idea - look at the Priestess in the position of advice.
You will stir the waters there, that for sure, you might go through a rough patch for a while - but yours will affect many, and for better.
Other than that, i don't think you are "in that" for a while, i think you will relocate in foreseeable future. (Another side of the Tower.)Now, take Jim's Liber Theta and **consciously ** strengthen the energies you need for this situation to achieve the best possible outcome for everyone involved.
Being you - i'd do his meditation"Meditation pattern: Place side-by-side Atus VII, The Chariot; XI, Lust; and IX, The Hermit. Center the Princess of Wands above them. Optionally, place the Ace of Wands above her. "
from: www.thelema.org/publications/books/LiberT.pdf
I appreciate your being a minister, now that i get it what you mean by that - but yours being on this board also indicates that you are brave enough to deal with your own thinking patterns and take the responsibility for the actual situation you are resolving (which again is not that bad at all.
)