The Bear & the Monkey
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 Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2003 6:05 am Post subject: It's not what you Gnow... take 2! |
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We'll try that again... somehow my newsgroups settings got changed to plain text...
It's not what you Gnow, it's who you Gnosis...
Since the Matrix's big finish (or is it?) I've found myself going back to my Gnosticism studies, picking up so long ago where I left off. I've finally picked up and begun Elaine Pagels book The Gnostic Gospels, which I thought would be too basic. But now that I've allowed myself such a gap from the immersion of Gnostic thinking I once had so long ago (before a sudden sex-life and interest in tarot interrupted it). I find that basic is precisely what I'm needed to put it all back into perspective.
I own a copy of the English translation of the Nag Hammadi Library, the discovered Gnostic gospels and texts found in Egypt around the same time as the Dead Sea Scrolls' discovery. Anyone with the slightest interest in bursting Fundamentalist Christianity's bubble ought to read these texts, several of which I have read and found fascinating. (Click the image above to order it from Barnes & Noble). They are intense studies that were declared heresy and nearly erradicated from the earth. Apparently someone in Nag Hammadi, Egypt, figured they were worth preserving, and placed them in a clay pot to be discovered hundreds of years later. Those who've seen the recent movie, Stigmata, will recognize the below text from the Gospel of Thomas, one of its most infamous texts, which we see her here scribbling on the wall:
If those who lead you say, "Look, the kingdom is in heaven," then the birds of heaven will precede you. If they say, "It is in the sea," then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is within you and outside you. When you know yourselves, you will be known, and you will know you are children of the living father. But if you do not know yourselves, you live in poverty and you yourselves are the poverty.
I am the Light that is above everything, I am all; all came forth from me and all has returned to me. Split the wood and I am there. Lift up the stone and you will find me there.
The Gospel of Thomas
sayings # 3 and 77
Something fascinating has come to me as I do this. I'm finding myself open to newer possibilities. Having since then read the entirety of Zechariah Sitchin's Earth Chronicles (volumes 1-6) I'm fascinated by how the texts constantly refer back to the old Genesis story. Zech's research of the old Sumerian tells us a tale of how the gods splashed down on Earth and began setting up shop. Anu, lord of Nibiru, set his two sons in charge: Ea and Enlil. Ea was Anu's first born, but Enlil was the favored, for Enlil was born by Anu and Anu's half sister, setting him above all others as heir... a common issue in all pantheons and in biblical tales as well (such as Abraham's favoring Jacob over Ishmael).
Ea was given the job of operating the digs in the Abzu, which we now refer to as the Underworld, to scavenge for minerals and supplies... a harsh job. His name wsa changed from Ea (home in the waters) to Enki (Lord Earth and my chief deity in my pagan rituals) as he was digging in the Earth, but it was an empty title compared to Enlil (Lord of the Command) who operated the Edin (house of the lofty ones). Enki's workers began to revolt because the work was hard and hardly as glorious as what Enlil and his workers were privileged to do, and Enki decided to make a new creature to do the digging work for him in the Abzu. Enki was set to this work, after all, for his intense scientific research, which is why he earned the title of the Nachash, or "he who solves troubles", which |
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