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Post by maat on Apr 13, 2007 1:23:44 GMT
"Often the best way to find something one thinks has been lost or hidden is to look afresh in the most obvious place. Esoteric Christianity has been hidden well and truly under our noses, in the very practice—or even in the attempted practice, continually renewed—of esoteric Christianity. In other words, esoteric Christianity can be found only by those humble enough to believe that God would not hide it from the simple and ordinary.ESOTERIC CHRISTIANITY or THE LESSER MYSTERIES by ANNIE BESANTwww.theosophical.ca/EsotericChristianity.htmChapter -1- The hidden side of Religions 1 Chapter -2- The hidden side of Christianity 31 Chapter -3- The hidden side of Christianity (concluded) 59 Chapter -4- The historical Christ 103 Chapter -5- The mythic Christ 125 Chapter -6- The mythic Christ (concluded) 147 Chapter -7- The Atonement 166 Chapter -8- Resurrection and Ascension 199 Chapter -9- The Trinity 218 Chapter -10- Prayer 238 Chapter -11- The forgiveness of sins 259 Chapter -12- Sacraments 279 Chapter -13- Sacraments (continued) 298 Chapter -14- Revelation 318 Afterword 333 Index 335 As Freemasonry is sometimes referred to as part of the Lesser Mysteries in the western mystery tradition I thought the above book might be of interest. Would love to have some feedback on this one. I have the baptism of my granddaughter coming up and I wanted to refresh my memory for the occasion... Cheers Maat
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imakegarb
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Post by imakegarb on Apr 13, 2007 1:35:03 GMT
It is, indeed, interesting to look at the old stories with fresher eyes. To see what Gnostic/Ebionites/Marchionites/etc. would have seen.
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jmd
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Post by jmd on Apr 13, 2007 2:43:02 GMT
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Post by maat on Apr 13, 2007 3:45:29 GMT
Great link/s jmd - made me think ooh, yum, ice cream! These two books should provide us with fodder to feed on for some time. I opened one of your links at random and came up with this little piece.. "The communities of the Essenes and Therapeutae form a natural transition from the Mysteries to Christianity. Christianity, however, wished to extend to humanity as a whole what these communities had made the concern of a sect. This of course prepared the way for a still further weakening of its strict character. From the existence of such sects it becomes evident how far the time was ripe for the comprehension of the Mystery of Christ. In the Mysteries the neophyte was artificially prepared so that at the suitable stage the higher spiritual world would arise in his soul. Within the community of the Essenes or Therapeutae, by means of a suitable way of life, the soul sought to prepare itself for the awakening of the “higher man.” The sections I highlighted are relevant to masonry IMO. The first part begging the question "Which is best, retaining purity and strength for the few or diluting it down so that even 'babes' may eat therefrom and grow?" We have debated this issue before on this forum and have adherents to both side of the argument. The second section highlighted reminds me of the artificial preparation we do in Masonry. The words Higher Man suggests 'raising'? I do hope we have some readers here who will come and play 'spot the similarities' with us. It is quite surprising what you find when you go looking.. Maat
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Post by gipsyrose on Apr 13, 2007 13:56:17 GMT
Has anyone come across the thinking that if Jesus' family fled to Eqypt when he was a child, he may have spent time with the Therapeutae community? Also I have seen it suggested that the Therapeutae community may have been connected with Theravada Buddhism?
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Tamrin
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Post by Tamrin on Apr 13, 2007 21:55:58 GMT
Has anyone come across the thinking that if Jesus' family fled to Eqypt when he was a child, he may have spent time with the Therapeutae community? Also I have seen it suggested that the Therapeutae community may have been connected with Theravada Buddhism? You may wish to read Gruber & Kersten's, " The Original Jesus: The Buddhist Sources of Christianity." A common fallacy is to overstate the isolation of communities in the past. Gruber & Kersten remind us that there was contact between east and west and point out that there were Buddhist missionaries in Egypt and the Levant who may have influenced the Essenes generally and / or Jesus in particular.
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Post by lihin on Apr 15, 2007 12:02:10 GMT
Greetings, Several negative experiences at this forum obligate yours truly to preface his recommendation with the following cautions: - Yours truly has no financial interest whatsoever in the sales of books he may recommend.
- Whoever purchases books based on yours truly's recommendation does so enitrely at his own responsibility, the tables of contents, number of pages, etc. of such books being usually available on line.
- Whenever possible, yours truly reads books in their original languages. He does not vouchsafe the accuracy of translations.
M.'. M.'. René Guénon's writings on the subject matter of this thread have been compiled and published in an English translation available for example here: Insights into Christian Esoterism[/url] The Table of Contents and text excerpts may be viewed on line.
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Post by Liberty on Apr 15, 2007 13:23:52 GMT
Gipsyrose,
It seems quite probable if Jesus had spent any time in Eygpt he would have had contact or at least periphel contact with the ideas of the Therapeutae community. Baignet mentiones this in his recent book The Jesus Papers.
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Tamrin
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Nosce te ipsum
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Post by Tamrin on Apr 15, 2007 15:03:46 GMT
Greetings, Several negative experiences at this forum obligate yours truly to preface his recommendation with the following cautions: - Yours truly has no financial interest whatsoever in the sales of books he may recommend.
- Whoever purchases books based on yours truly's recommendation does so enitrely at his own responsibility, the tables of contents, number of pages, etc. of such books being usually available on line.
- Whenever possible, yours truly reads books in their original languages. He does not vouchsafe the accuracy of translations.
M.'. M.'. René Guénon's writings on the subject matter of this thread have been compiled and published in an English translation available for example here: Insights into Christian Esoterism[/url] The Table of Contents and text excerpts may be viewed on line.[/quote] As you provided no such cautions when I acted upon your recommendation for another of the anti-Masonic writer Guénon's books and found it to be replete with pretentious obfuscation and factual errors, does that mean you do accept responsibility in that case? If so, when may I expect reimbursement? Alternatively, you may care to make an equivalent donation to the American Federation of Human Rights. The cost to me had been AUS$33.93.
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Post by Liberty on Apr 15, 2007 15:40:16 GMT
Greetings Bro. Tamrin,
I have recently read Guenon's "Perspectives on Initiation" and did not find anything "anti-masonic" about Bro. Guenon. He may have been critical at times as to the state of Masonry in the time frame of his writings (1930's & '40's) but cetainly I did not see anything "Anti" in that volume. Please be more exact as to your statement.
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Post by lihin on Apr 15, 2007 18:46:05 GMT
Greetings,
Precisely the kind of content and style of tamrin's last post obligates yours truly to repeat the cautions each time he recommends in this forum a book or article he himself has read and found useful as a Freemason.
Others may view have different impressions but to yours truly's ears, the style exemplfied by tamrin's last post in this thread is more reminiscent of a heated, ill-willed profane partisan political debate than of a polite discussion.
Readers are cordially invited to make their own considered evalutations in the light of reason rather than in the heat of polemics.
Obviously, yours truly again disagrees with tamrin concerning M.'. M.'. René Guénon's works.
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Tamrin
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Nosce te ipsum
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Post by Tamrin on Apr 15, 2007 21:00:14 GMT
Greetings Bro. Tamrin,
I have recently read Guenon's "Perspectives on Initiation" and did not find anything "anti-masonic" about Bro. Guenon. He may have been critical at times as to the state of Masonry in the time frame of his writings (1930's & '40's) but cetainly I did not see anything "Anti" in that volume. Please be more exact as to your statement. Greetings Brother LibertyIn an Editorial Note to Guénon’s Studies in Freemasonry and the Compagnonnage, one may read the following excerpt, (which appears to have been cut and pasted on this web page): On the excellent website of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon, one reads:
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Post by a on Apr 15, 2007 21:43:42 GMT
I have been thinking deeply about this thread.
I used to do karate and recently bumped into an old dojo friend who has recently converted to Roman Catholicism. We chatted about the esoteric side of karate that I found, and he explained that he has found exactly the same thing in one of the rituals of his new faith. It was a special moment hearing him explain this.
I wonder what a wise man born two millenia ago would think about all that has been done in his name if he were to walk in our world again today. Would he be proud or would he shake his head?
Or adapting form Da Vinci Code would he renew faith and strengthen the churches, or would he let Christianity as we know it fade away?
Christianity, as with all aspects of life, is I would suggest, inherently esoteric.
Whether you talk in terms of angels and demons or light and darkness, there are as much in common as there are differences.
But the esoteric is there ready to be revealed to those who have done sufficient Work, and will remain hidden from those who haven't. And the flame of light can only be found by those who are true of heart.
Annie Bessant is I would suggest completely correct when she says, in Maats original post that "Esoteric Christianity has been hidden well and truly under our noses". I would broaden out from this and say that the esoteric is hidden in the plain sight of our everyday lives. You need look no further than your life situation, your work, your family, friends, acquaintances, shopping, hobbies etc to find all of the answers that you seek. It is the easiest thing and yet the most difficult thing.
If men would only stop wanting power, they would realise that they actually have more power than they can perhaps imagine, sitting right at their fingertips. Now there is an esoteric though that is perhaps relevant to Christianity.
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Post by maat on Apr 16, 2007 0:34:15 GMT
FORGIVENESS " Among the sayings of Jesus the words frequently recur: "Thy sins are forgiven thee", and it is noteworthy that this phrase constantly accompanies the exercise of His healing powers, the release from physical and moral disease being thus marked as simultaneous.It is interesting to note that the Huna method of healing relies on the practitioner 'convincing' the patient that he is worthy of being healed .. ie forgiven his past transgressions. The subconscious believes everything we tell it... little thoughts like I was mean to that person will seem like 'I am a mean person' to the subconscious who will act accordingly. To the Huna way of thinking it is via the subconscious that we approach the Superconscious or Christ Spirit, so to get the middleman, the subconscious, offside is not beneficial. " So also of one woman it was said: "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much".[S. Luke, vii, 47]Another thing I have learned is that to truly love/like another with all their faults you must love/like yourself, with all your faults and weaknesses. Bit like saying I acknowledge that I am a nice person with faults but I am loveworthy - therefore others with faults are probably nice and loveworthy persons also. Can't think of one forumite who isn't nice and love worthy .... so you are all healed! SMIB. Maat
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Post by maat on Apr 16, 2007 0:47:22 GMT
"In one form or another the "forgiveness of sins" appears in most, if not in all, religions; and wherever this consensus of opinion is found, we may safely conclude, ... that some fact in nature underlies it.
Moreover, there is a response in human nature to this idea that sins are forgiven; we notice that people suffer under a consciousness of wrong-doing, and that when they shake themselves clear of their past, and free themselves from the shackling fetters of remorse, they go forward with glad heart and sunlit eyes, though erstwhile enclouded by darkness.
They feel as though a burden were lifted off them, a clog removed. The sense of sin" has disappeared, and with it the gnawing pain. They know the spring-time of the soul, the word of power which makes all things new. A song of gratitude wells up as the natural outburst of the heart, the time for the singing of birds is come, there is "joy among the Angels". This not uncommon experience is one that becomes puzzling, when the person experiencing it, or seeing it in another, begins to ask himself what has really taken place, what has brought about the change in consciousness, the effects of which are so manifest.
One of my collegues at work was ill near to death last year. Before the illness she was considered 'difficult' to say the least - now you would not know her. Wonderful. Her change in consciousness was bought about by an 'other worldly experience' in hospital.
Do you think that the Third, if truly understood, could bring about 'a song of gratitude welling up as the natural outburst of the heart, a time for the singing of birds is come, and there is "joy among the Angels?'
"They know.... the word of power which makes all things new"
Maat
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Post by Liberty on Apr 16, 2007 0:52:21 GMT
Bro. Tamrin,
Thankyou for your followup. That is an interesting and contrasting turn of events! None the less I still enjoyed his book.
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Post by hollandr on Apr 16, 2007 2:04:51 GMT
>They feel as though a burden were lifted off them, a clog removed. The sense of sin" has disappeared, In one of Charles Williams books en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_W._S._Williams#Williams.27s_novels he recounts a character who is able to lift a person's troubles (or at least their sense of being troubled.) As I recall Williams makes a statement (as narrator) that is rather odd for a christian theologian. He says something about forgiveness of sin that he says can never be understood by christians. Anyway it seems to me as if troubled people have a dense emotional and/or mental energy cloud around them and if they are willing, it is not too hard to remove I suppose that is related to forgiveness of sin - at least in the feeling of release Cheers Russell
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Tamrin
Member
Nosce te ipsum
Posts: 3,586
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Post by Tamrin on Apr 16, 2007 4:14:40 GMT
There is also the Planet of Tarot series, by science fiction writer Piers Anthony, in which Satan is depicted as the alter-ego of God who, as a psycho-analytical devil, rejects each soul and, feigning disappointment, convinces each they are not bad enough to deserve hell.
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Post by middlepillar on Apr 16, 2007 7:54:04 GMT
FORGIVENESS " Among the sayings of Jesus the words frequently recur: "Thy sins are forgiven thee", and it is noteworthy that this phrase constantly accompanies the exercise of His healing powers, the release from physical and moral disease being thus marked as simultaneous.It is interesting to note that the Huna method of healing relies on the practitioner 'convincing' the patient that he is worthy of being healed .. ie forgiven his past transgressions. The subconscious believes everything we tell it... little thoughts like I was mean to that person will seem like 'I am a mean person' to the subconscious who will act accordingly. To the Huna way of thinking it is via the subconscious that we approach the Superconscious or Christ Spirit, so to get the middleman, the subconscious, offside is not beneficial. " So also of one woman it was said: "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much".[S. Luke, vii, 47]Another thing I have learned is that to truly love/like another with all their faults you must love/like yourself, with all your faults and weaknesses. Bit like saying I acknowledge that I am a nice person with faults but I am loveworthy - therefore others with faults are probably nice and loveworthy persons also. Can't think of one forumite who isn't nice and love worthy .... so you are all healed! SMIB. Maat Hi Maat I feel the important thing in Jesus's 'observed' healings was the need for 'belief', obviously already in Jesus but also in those he was healing, they also had to believe. I would think from this as a Christian the power of positive thought and the use thereof becomes so important. I have a young guy (25) works for me, and I met up with him to discuss work, he told me of his friend who had been rushed in to hospital with a Brain Tumour, and had taken a turn for the worse. He was upset because when he went to visit his friend all the family were really down and were thinking the worse. They were sitting with him an saying the right things but secretly believing the worse, especially when they went outside for a break. I suggested that next time he went (later that day) he quitely had a word with the family, especially the father who was convinced his son was going to die, I just suggested that he should ask them all to believe (and I mean truly believe) that he would be OK and to really be positive with absolutely no negative thoughts. He did this and 4 weeks later, last night he telephoned me to say his friend had turned the corner and the prognosis was so much better than it was. He had told all the family and they all agreed to his suggestion. As a young man of 22 I feel his body and spirit would not need much encouragement to start fighting for him, however surrounded by negative energy I dont think it could get out there!
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Post by maat on Apr 16, 2007 23:46:44 GMT
How true middlepillar. A really uplifting story, something for us to truly think about. The power of the mind, hence prayer and positive thinking, has even been proven by scientific experiments these days. I have a similar (?) story with a bit of twist. When my dad was 80, he was desperately ill in hospital with emphysema, double pneumonia and they also thought he had Legionnaires disease. Mum and I were just waiting for THE phone call. This went on for a week, when I finally come to the stage of stopping praying for his recovery and to started to think that God wanted him back so we should let go and just be grateful we had him so long. So I mentally gave him back to God and thanked him for his joyous gift. Our bedside manner instantly became relaxed and we just sent positive joyous thoughts to him. The very next day he started to improve immensely, doctors were amazed, and he lived another 7 years. I think God returned the gift Maat PS..Years later I used the same approach with a dying pet.... God gave her another year.
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