Tag: philosophy

The Self

When we use the term, “the self” we are usually referring to our identity, the ego, the face we wear to maintain our illusion of individuality. This includes our subconscious 12043058_897901876964651_8829313765351631143_n.jpgmind and everything our brains produce that make us believe we are separate and apart from everything in the universe. So what is the Self?

Philosophers have pondered that question for centuries. Socrates, believed to be born in 470 BC, maintained that our true self is our soul.   Rene Descartes, born 1596, thought there is one thing of which we can be absolutely certain: “I think, therefore I am.”  William James, born 1842, added that there’s one thing about our conscious experience that we’re never uncertain about; we’re never uncertain whose conscious experience it is. It’s mine, of course. But who is this “me”?  Jean-Paul Sartre, born 1905, believed every individual to be a “being for itself that has a self consciousnesses. 

Western philosophers typically try to figure out the theoretical truth, going from there to 68395567_2628362577247376_4371379888091824128_npractical applications. Eastern philosophers tend to speak of truth as something you approach through practice rather than theory. In important ways, Eastern philosophy does not even ask the same question and offers a different answer. Hinduism, Buddhism, meditation, and yoga are alternative approaches. Self to them, refers to what lies within each of us and is what remains when our bodies dies. Self is what we discover when we wake up and is all that exists. Self in Hinduism is called Atman, and the self is Brahman or God. The difference between self and God is our distinction we make ourselves. Remove that distinction and all that remains is God, or universal mind or Tao.

Gnostics, believed to be the first true Christians, referred to Self as the Divine spark, and God as the Divine Light from which the spark emanated. Even Jesus tells us in Luke 17:20–21, the Kingdom is not coming in any way you can observe. The Kingdom of God is68447731_2628372797246354_7655717426310414336_n already here, within your midst.

The word philosophy means “love of wisdom”. It is a love of wisdom that guides all of us to explore the fundamental questions about where did we come from, why are we here and where are we going. The search to understand the self is an individual effort.  We are all philosophers, with our opinions, ideas and concepts. It is interesting to explore what others think and believe, but ultimately, we have to find our own way. With the world at our fingertips, we can explore and discover how different cultures, religions and belief systems are so intertwined.

Our teachers speak of the self. Jesus said in the Dialogue of the Savior, “Those who have truly found the self within recognized that it exists everywhere”.  Buddha tells us  10481390_779094098814404_8884657755310544376_n“Everyone has recognized the Self, one’s essential nature. But few realized it.”  Krishna said “Recognized that all things exist in the One, and you will become the One.” Lao Tzu provided his insight in the Tao Te Ching, Wisdom comes from knowing oneself. He who knows himself is enlightened.”

Consider the self as your divine essence, your soul, your spirit living in a material world.  To know the self, this four step exercise can be performed to produce an acceleration of knowing the self. The first step is the cornerstone.  The moment contains love as we consciously seek that love in our awareness and understanding in everything we do. The second step is to realize the universe is one being. When we see others, family,  friends, strangers, and even enemies, 300px-Loowe see the the Creator.  The third step is Gaze into a mirror, and see the Creator.  Fourth step is Gaze into the world and all of creation and see the Creator. You can build your foundation of these steps by being mindful and  through  meditation, contemplation, and prayer.

I am not I. I am this one walking beside me whom I do not see, whom at times I manage to visit, and whom at other times I forget; who remains calm and silent while I talk, and forgives, gently, when I hate, who walks where I am not, who will remain standing when I die.

Juan Ramón Jiménez, won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1956.

The Gnostics, the True Christians?

Gnosticism is one of the most fascinating and perplexing phenomena in western  theological history.   At the heart was the Greek word gnosis meaning,  “Knowledge or Direct knowledge of God”.  Existing far before its Christian descendants, Gnosis in Classical Greek meant true knowledge or wisdom depending on which ancient slide_3philosopher one reads. According to Plato, reality as perceived by the five senses is merely the surface of a highly complex and structured system. The act of seeing and recognizing this system Plato calls “ideas.” A key element in his philosophy, which would later transfer to Gnosticism and Gnostic, is the  concept that every human had a previous and thorough understanding of the structures of reality. Unfortunately, this knowledge was somehow lost. The reclaiming of this knowledge through the comprehension of reality underlying structures is Gnosis.

Gnosis in the first century was a quiet movement, adapting to the situations and locations of the societies it encountered. From early Christian literature, there is an impression that Gnosis was a threat to subvert Christianity, even though there seems to be no unified front of Gnosis during this time. The Gnostics were just a variety of independent, small sects that on the whole seem very different from each other. However, these different sects even debated the same metaphysical,  cosmologic, soteriological, and ethical themes as their more mainstream Christian counterparts.  Gnostics were the early movement of Christianity and lost the early E9F625CB-1D92-43E3-A3FC-33CC72001CE7Christian struggle to define orthodoxy.  

So who were the Gnostics?  Irenaeus of Lyon, a bishop in the late 2nd century was an enemy of the Gnostics whom he called heretics.  Irenaeus claimed that a single true Christianity originated with Jesus  and the apostles. In his view other groups, such as the Gnostics, may claim to be Christians, but they were false deviations for the one true Christianity, and all competing Christians were heretics.  Today we know Christianity was diverse from the very beginning.  Even the original apostles did not agree on a single Christian message.

One of the most striking features of the Gnostic myth as Irenaeus tells it is that the God of Genesis is  lower than the ultimate God and is arrogant, ignorant and evil. He is hostile to humans beings because humans beings have a share of the divine spirit that belongs to the  higher God.  The real name of the god who created this world is Ialdabaoth, a spiritual being who runs this universe like a tyrant.

This biblical father god of the Old Testament, also known as Yahweh or Jehovah, was hostile to human beings when he AdamEve-600x397commanded Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, preventing them from knowing the spiritual truth.

When Adam and Eve eat from the tree, they gain gnosis, knowledge of the true God.  Eve was  encouraged to eat the fruit from a female deity  known as Sophea, (Wisdom).   As human beings continue to see true spiritual knowledge,  Yahweh grows jealous of their devotion to the higher God and causes a flood to wipe out humanity.  The higher God,  Universal Intelligence, saves Noah and his family from the Yahweh evil plot.

Finally, human beings begin to lose the knowledge that Adam and Eve gain when they ate from the tree, but Universal Intelligence sends Jesus to restore this lost gnosis and rescue them from Yahweh and his fellow rulers. 5a4da62576d47c9081ee29e510cd504e

The Gnostic Version of the Garden of Eden is much like the Sumerian Tablets and  the Law of One Yahweh is mentioned 19 times and agrees with much of what the Gnostics said about the God of the Old Testament.

Orthodox Christianity created the idea of heresy to condemn the Gnostics quest for higher knowledge because of the different belief system. Early Christians wanted a single harmonious system and considered themselves as a single body of Christ and did not want any division. Overtime, people who followed the Gnostics were considered godless and imperious members of a school of thought and therefore heretics. Some in the Christian religion still believe that today. The destruction of their sacred texts was inevitable, so some hid them in caves and various other places so they could not be found.

In 1945, one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the 20th century occurred. Thirteen ancient codices containing over 50 texts of Gnostic works were found in caves in Upper Egypt untouched by scribes. All of these can be found in the Nag Hammadi Library.

The discovery in 1945 provides a new and refreshing school of thought about spiritualitygnostic-christ-1024x791 and Jesus message. The discovery also came at a time when it could be shared with the world and not suppressed as it was for the last twenty centuries. Jesus is a teacher of wisdom and understanding, speaking in metaphors and parables of love and enlightenment. Much different from the sin and repentance as the Church teaches. Since the discovery and publications, the Gospel of Thomas has been the most celebrated of the 50 ancient texts discovered in 1945.

 Jesus said in saying 5 of the Gospel of Thomas,  “Recognize what is in your sight, and that which is hidden from you will become plain to you . For there is nothing hidden which will not become manifest.”  Have we come to a time when all the secrets of the world are manifesting?  Gnosticism was not confined to the Christians but is part of the belief systems of Sufism and the Saints of India and other eastern mystics. Gnosticism is not only alive but reemerging in a world that needs much love and wisdom.