THE LUMINIST MANIFESTO
This is a preliminary draft of a proposal for the formation of a new Church. It is being circulated, prior to further revision, in the hope that it may stimulate feedback and discussion.
This proposal is a fantasy, a work of imaginative fiction, describing an institution which does not exist, except in the mind of the writer of these words. But although it is a fantasy, that does not mean that it is not serious. Every idea encompassed in this proposal is presented in utmost seriousness; and it is the author’s intention to work toward the precipitation of fantasy into reality, with the actual creation on Earth of an institution like the one proposed here, should such prove possible. Readers who wish to assist in this work, or who would like to discuss the ideas involved, are invited to correspond. The future is unwritten, and it may be that we can have a hand in editing the script. As Emerson said: “Every revolution was first a thought in one man’s mind.” Note also Robert Anton Wilson’s remark that “Reality is what you can get away with.”
A word of warning: as a careful reading of this document will make clear, the positions necessarily taken by the proposed Church on certain controversial issues may result in conflict with entrenched civil, ecclesiastical, and economic power structures. In the words of Edward Abbey: “If freedom is outlawed, only outlaws will be free.”
The word “church” derives from the Greek kyrios, “lord.” In popular usage, a church is “the Lord’s house”.
The term “Lord,” as used here, refers not to any anthropomorphic “God” or to any hierarchical power; rather it is an esoteric cipher for the consciousness of transcendent unity that lies hidden, like the memories of our dreams, just beyond the reach of our rational minds.
It is our thesis, based not on belief but on empirically verifiable research, that this gestalt consciousness of all being is very real and very powerful, and that contact, communion, and union with it is potentially possible for every woman and every man on Earth.
The consciousness of transcendent unity is repressed, separated off from the normal waking state, in the average member of late-20th century society. This oceanic communion seeps subtly into our awareness through our dreams, myths, and emotions. It is the source of aesthetic inspiration, creative imagination, passion, and the sense of humor. It is the mysterious magnetic energy that, at a touch, transforms our dim, somnolent lives into vibrant clarity, splendor, and ecstasy. It is the light reflecting from the eyes of a new-born babe and of an aroused lover. Universal gestalt consciousness is the Holy Grail that we all, knowingly or not, spend all our lives seeking, or mourning the lack of.
According to the spiritual tradition that our proposed Church will acknowledge, this higher level of consciousness can be accessed and integrated into our daily lives, through techniques and technologies that have been discovered and refined in “underground” laboratories since the time of Pythagoras. Indeed, the secret science of consciousness transformation predates civilization, and has roots in Neolithic shamanism. Over the centuries its lore has been preserved and passed down the generations, guarded by strict vows of secrecy and transmitted only to select initiates. This policy of secrecy was necessary for two reasons: firstly, because of repression by social forces motivated solely by the pursuit of power and wealth, who have a vested interest in maintaining public ignorance and superstition; and secondly, because the tools of Illumination can be dangerous in the hands of those who are unprepared. We are moving now, however, into an æon in which that which was formerly hidden must be revealed to all. The spiritually somnolent society of the 20th century must be awakened so that the human race will be able to cope with the crises that lie ahead in the new millennium. It is “make it or break it” time, and Spaceship Earth will need all hands on deck when we pass through the Straits of Aquarius.
Integration of higher consciousness with the normal waking self is the true goal of all valid religious practice, whatever the symbols used to embody the idea. Its attainment triggers a personal transformation or “rebirth”, an Initiation; it is the only true “salvation.”
If a sufficient number of individuals develop this integration, the infusion of new creative energy into human society will trigger a worldwide revolutionary transformation, an evolutionary leap into the future. This will constitute the onset of puberty for Homo sapiens.
It is to this personal and social transformation — Revelation and Revolution — that our new Church will be dedicated.
I. ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS.
A. Society of the Future. The Church of Gnostic Luminism will seek to manifest an embryonic embodiment of the human society of the future in the present age. As these words are being written, we are entering the final three years of the 20th century. Humanity is still living, during these last years of the Old Millennium, in the late prehistory of true civilization. The first social system of the future that can justly be called “civilized” must be humane and equitable, sustainable and ecologically sound. It must have a voluntary, cooperative worldwide economic system that can provide fully for all Earth citizens. The foundation of this new society must be a worldwide cultural recognition of absolute individual liberty and personal sovereignty. Such a society is, in the CGL’s view, the proper destiny of the human race; its blueprint is encoded in our genes, awaiting the conscious awakening of a “critical mass” of humanity to trigger the changes that will bring it into being. It is to this conscious awakening that our efforts are dedicated. Our goal is to make the Utopian vision of “how it ought to be” an obtainable reality in our lifetime.
B. Syncretic/Eclectic Method. The teachings of the CGL will be based on a synergistic and holistic method of obtaining experiential knowledge of reality. The CGL’s approach will harmonize and utilize the combined perspectives of science, philosophy, and theology, providing access to a new type of mental comprehension which can overcome the limitations of the sterile rationalism of the 20th century. The traditions of Gnosis and Luminism teach that humanity can have access to an enlightened and scientifically calibrated subjective intuition, a precision instrument of consciousness. Once this technique has been learned and mastered, direct revelation of truth about reality (gnosis) will be possible, along with liberation from all limitation. The CGL will utilize technologies of consciousness expansion ancient and modern as a means of achieving this power. The Church curriculum will incorporate safeguards against superstition and dogma, based on a rigorous critical examination of all things.
1. Syncretism, the first of two equally important elements of the Gnostic-Luminist method, prescribes an attitude of openness to and respect for all of the varied religious, philosophical, and scientific traditions, disciplines, and schools of thought that exist now or have existed on Earth. While not necessarily implying acceptance, the syncretic approach mandates an unbiased and fair evaluation of each school of thought, and an honest attempt to recognize and appreciate the values to be found therein.
2. Eclecticism, the second element, is the selective use of only those aspects of each tradition that prove to be valid after exhaustive analysis and research, and disregard of all other aspects. The eclectic approach provides a safeguard against the superstition and error that has plagued the religious traditions of the past.
3. Intuition. The faculty of intuition, or direct, unmediated perception of reality, is a natural human trait, although it has been largely overlooked in modern Western (Euro-American) traditions. Once awakened and properly attuned, the intuitive faculty will guide and empower the intellect in its pursuit of the syncretic/eclectic method. Training in intuitive receptivity and its practical applications will prove to be a powerful instrument for the acquisition of the true knowledge of reality (gnosis) that, in Gnostic theology, confers redemptive and liberating power.
4. Revelation. Direct revelation and visionary experience will be available to all who choose to make use of the CGL’s techniques of consciousness expansion or entheogenesis. Grounded by the syncretic/eclectic method and guided by an enlightened intuition, the Gnostic Luminist will be prepared to utilize the revelatory or “psychedelic” (soul-manifesting) experiences that are available on the frontiers of consciousness to maximum effect. These combined consciousness technologies constitute a “macroscope,” an instrument that 21st century science may find to be as vital as the microscope was to the biologists of the 19th century, or the telescope to the astronomers of the 18th.
C. Gnosis. The word “gnostic” derives from the Greek word gnostikon, one who has secret or esoteric knowledge; from the Greek root gnosis, knowledge. Stemming from the same Indo-European root as the English word “know,”1 gnosis forms the basis of words like “agnostic” (one who lacks knowledge), “diagnosis” (knowledge obtained by observation), etc. The “knowledge” referred to, when the word is used in its theological sense, is absolute certainty with no possibility of error. The Gnostic schools of spiritual and philosophical thought hold that this knowledge, which may be obtained by the Initiate, is the basis of all true “salvation” or spiritual self-transformation — or, in Oriental terms, liberation from bondage to the limitations of materiality. Gnosis supplants the “faith” or blind belief of exoteric religion. The CGL will assert that such knowledge is both possible and necessary. Our task will be to research, develop, perfect, and teach methods by which true gnosis may be acquired.
1. Early Gnostics. Various ancient spiritual and/or “occult”2 movements have been known as “gnostics,” including Egyptian, Persian (Iranian), Palestinian (Hebrew and Arabic), and Babylonian (Iraqi) esoteric schools and initiate orders. Gnostic spokespersons in the ancient world included Simon Magus, Valentinus, and Basilides. The gnostic movement in the first two centuries of the common era was a major formative influence on early Christianity. Gnostic texts of the early Christian era included the Apocryphon of John, the Pistis Sophia, the Gospel of Thomas, and others, some of which were among the manuscripts discovered at Nag Hammadi in the 1940s3. The Orphites and the Phibonites were two of the major Gnostic sects. Of primary importance to medieval and subsequent gnostic thought was the Qabalah (an esoteric Hebrew tradition that was preserved by the Essenes of Qumran and, later, the Knights Templar4). The Sufis and other esoteric sects of Islam were contributors to the tradition as well, including the infamous Hashishim or “Assassins”, an Ishmaili initiate order founded in 1090 by the legendary Sheikh Hasan ibn al-Sabbah, the “Old Man of the Mountains.”
2. Modern Gnostics. In the medieval, renaissance, and early modern periods, proponents of views influenced by Gnosticism included Meister Eckhart (1260 - 1327), Giordano Bruno (1548 - 1600), Jakob Boehme (1575-1624), George Fox (1624 - 1691), Baruch Spinoza (1632 - 1677), William Law (1686 - 1761), William Blake (1757 - 1827), and Alphonse Louis Constant a/k/a/ Eliphas Levi (1810 - 1835). The gnostic tradition in the 20th century includes the German philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889 - 1976), and the French Islamic scholar and mystic, Henry Corbin (1903-1978). Also showing the influence of Gnosticism are the archetypal or depth psychologies of Carl Jung, James Hillman, David Miller, Roberts Avens, and others.5 At the present time, organized representatives of the gnostic tradition include the Theosophical and Anthroposophical movements, the schools of Gurdjeif and Ouspensky, and the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholicæ (religious affiliate of the Ordo Templi Orientis6). The study of the history, lore, and teachings of this Gnostic tradition will form a part of the CGL’s curriculum of study; the CGL will honor these voices as antecedents in its spiritual lineage.
D. Luminism. The word “Luminism” comes from the Latin lumen, meaning “light”. Its implication is “inner light” or “enlightenment,” or a subjective experience of spontaneous awareness and understanding of truths about reality. Also spelled “Illuminism,” this term relates to a religious and philosophical tradition based on direct experience of reality as opposed to faith, belief, or rational speculation. Rather than trying to obtain true information about reality through the abstractions of rational thought, the Luminist will seek to awaken the mind into higher levels of consciousness in which the object of inquiry can be interacted with directly without the intermediary of abstractions. Luminists adopt a rigorously critical skepticism not unlike the modern scientific method; the major distinction is that the Luminist laboratory admits evidence acquired by instruments other than the five physical senses.
1. Early Luminists. Historical antecedents to the CGL in the Luminist tradition include the pre-Christian “Mystery Religions”: the Greek and Roman cults of Dionysus, Bacchus, and Pan; of Demeter, Kore, and Persephone; of Orpheus, Attis, and Osiris. Important Luminist movements included the Greek initiate societies of Eleusis and Delphi, and the Pythagorean school7 founded at Crotona in Southern Italy in the 6th century BC, a syncretistic learning center that established links with Persian, Syrian, and Egyptian cultures and engaged in dialog with Hindus, Buddhists and Taoists. The Ptolemeic cult of Serapis of the second century BC and the cult of Mithra that flourished in the second century CE contributed to the Luminist tradition. The esoteric philosophies of Neoplatonism and Hermeticism carried the movement forward through the balance of the first millennium. Later Luminists included the medieval alchemists, Paracelsus (1493 - 1541), the Rosicrucian orders, and renaissance magicians like John Dee (1527 -1608) and Edward Kelly (1554 - 1595). Luminism took definitive shape as the doctrine of the esoteric movement within Freemasonry, beginning with the Knights Templar, and including the Illuminati of Bavaria, which combined Tantric, Zoroastrian and Manichaean mysticism with revolutionary anarchism.
2. Modern Luminists. More recent manifestations of Luminism include the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the Scientific Illuminism of Aleister Crowley (1875 - 1947) as taught through the O.T.O. and in Crowley’s periodical, The Equinox, and his other writings. In the 20th century, the Luminist tradition was manifested in the “psychedelic revolution” of the 1960s, and in the works of Wilhelm Reich, Aldous Huxley, Alan Watts, Timothy Leary, and others. The tradition continues today with the work of modern Luminists like Ram Dass, Stephen Gaskin, Stanislav Grof, Terence McKenna, and many others. The CGL will respect all of these sources and draw upon them for inspiration.
E. Utopianism, anarchism, and the rainbow nation. An essential and honored part of the CGL’s acknowledged heritage will be the many individuals and groups throughout history, and at the present time, who have put, or are putting, their “lives, fortune, and sacred honor”8 on the line to aid in the creation of a truly civilized society, as we have defined the term above, on Earth. These movements have had widely varying beliefs, from devout religion to atheism; but they have shared an essential vision: the possibility, and the necessity, of a worldwide voluntary-cooperative society on Earth, and a worldwide economy based on mutual aid rather than competition. In many cases, these views have placed these movements at odds with State and Church, and there have been bitter centuries of cruel persecutions, which continue to this day. In some periods, there has been actual warfare and genocide perpetrated against the Libertarian Visionaries; and this, also, to our sorrow, continues today. Some of the major elements of this movement have been the following:
1. Early anarchists and utopians. The vision of a society based on cooperation and liberty was elaborated in the writings of Lao Tzu (612 - 531 BC), the Chinese founder of Taoism; and by Aristippus (c. 400 BC) and Zeno (336 - 264 BC), representatives of the Greek Cynic and Stoic philosophies respectively. Pythagoras (572 - 479 BC) put many similar ideas into practice at his school in Crotona, as did the Essenes of Palestine in the first century BC. The Christ of the New Testament portrays the essential anarchist vision in many of his teachings, particularly the Sermon on the Mount, the parable of the judgment in Matthew 25: 31-46, and the tales of the woman taken in adultery and the Good Samaritan.9 The gnostic-influenced Alexandrian philosopher Carpocrates founded a communitarian society in the second century CE. In the medieval period in Europe, the utopian vision was kept alive as a secret tradition by the Knights Templar. The renaissance period saw the emergence of the Levellers and the Diggers, proto-anarchist movements, as well as many communitarian religious movements. The Illuminati of Bavaria, founded in the 18th century, preserved the vision of a social system based on liberty, equality and fraternity, and pledged to work toward its establishment on Earth.10
2. Utopian socialists and communitarians. In 19th century Europe and America there was a widespread and popular utopian movement. Religious communists like the Shakers, Amish, Mennonites, Doukhobors, Bruderhof, and many others, fled repression on the Continent and established colonies in the New World. The religious communist movement reached its pinnacle with the Perfectionists and John Humphrey Noyes (1811 - 1886), founder of the Oneida Community in New York. There was also a secular communitarian movement, built largely around the ideas of Claude Saint-Simon (1760 - 1825), Robert Owen (1771 - 1858), and Charles Fourier (1772 - 1837). Another strand in the 19th century tapestry was the transcendentalist movement, including Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882), Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862), and Walt Whitman (1819 -1892).
3. The anarchists. The philosophy of anarchism, which holds that, as Emma Goldman put it, “...all forms of government rest on violence, and are therefore wrong and harmful, as well as unnecessary”11, has developed into several distinct schools, as roughly outlined below. The proponents of these traditions will all be respected by the CGL as our spiritual forebears, one branch of the Revolutionary Luminist family tree. Despite continued persecution, the anarchist movement remains alive today, and the CGL will attempt to support, nurture, and network with it in every possible way.
a. Revolutionary anarchism began with the writings of William Godwin (1756 - 1836), and was elaborated by Pierre Joseph Proudhon (1809 - 1865), Michael Bakunin (1814 - 1876), and Peter Kropotkin (1842 - 1921). Other important anarchist voices included Johann Most (1846 - 1906), Voltarine de Cleyre (1866 - 1913), Emma Goldman (1869 - 1940), and Alexander Berkman (1870 - 1936). More recent names include Paul Goodman and Murray Bookchin.
b. Individualist anarchism was propounded by Josiah Warren (1798 - 1874), Max Stirner (1806 - 1856), Lysander Spooner (1808 - 1887), Stephen Pearl Andrews (1812 - 1886), and Benjamin Tucker (1854 - 1939). Modern libertarians who acknowledge this tradition include Thomas Szasz and Milton Freidman.
c. Labor movement anarchism is represented by the anarcho-syndicalists, and was elaborated by William Bradford Greene (1819 - 1893), Ezra Haywood (1829 - 1893), Mary “Mother” Jones (1830 - 1930), Joe Hill (1879 - 1914), the Haymarket Martyrs,12 and Sacco & Vanzetti.13
d. Religious anarchism was preached by John Humphrey Noyes (1811 - 1886) and William Lloyd Garrison (1805 - 1879). The 20th century anarcho-pacifist movement has roots in religious anarchist thought as well as the transcendentalism of Thoreau and Emerson; major names in this area include Leo Tolstoy (1828 - 1910), Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi (1869 - 1948), Dorothy Day (1897 - 1980), and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 - 1968).
4. The rainbow tribes or “Woodstock Nation”. The spontaneous emergence in the American Empire of a massive and overwhelming spiritual awakening of a visionary-libertarian nature was the primary event of historical significance in the 1960s. Indeed, in the view of the Church of Gnostic Luminism, it was of comparable importance to the advents of Buddha and Christ in previous generations, or to the discoveries of Copernicus and Galileo. Often called “the psychedelic revolution,” this movement was a culturally shared experience of expanded consciousness and a glimpse attained by millions of a higher, truer reality than that admitted by the dominant paradigm. Important voices that gave utterance to the ideals of this movement included Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary, Stephen Gaskin, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, John Sinclair, and poets and musicians like Allen Ginsburg, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Jerry Garcia. As is often the case with radical spiritual movements on Earth, the Rainbow Tribes were subjected to immediate reaction and persecution from the civil and ecclesiastical powers of the day; the psychedelic counterculture that sprang from the revelations of the 1960s was, and is still being fought by the Empire in a ruthless campaign of violent suppression amounting to virtual cultural genocide. Yet vital remnants of the Rainbow Tribes survive underground today, as did the early Christians persecuted by Rome in the 2nd and 3rd centuries of the common era, and the Knights Templar, who were massacred en masse by Church and State in the early 14th century.
II. ACQUISITION OF TRUE KNOWLEDGE
A. Reason. An essential element of the CGL’s perspective will be the realization that the rational intellect alone is not a reliable source of true knowledge about reality. While reason is an essential tool for circumscribed exterior, objective, manipulative areas of study, it is unreliable and inappropriate for higher philosophical research. The attempt to obtain true knowledge about reality through reason alone is fruitless, frustrating, and futile. Real acquisition of truth is possible only when the faculty of reason is augmented and supplemented by the equally essential and complementary faculty of intuition.
1. Ratio = comparison of parts. A “ratio” in mathematics is a method of analysis of a number by breaking it down into its component elements and studying the relationships that appear between them. Similarly, the “rational” thought process involves cutting ideas or thoughts into parts and arranging them into patterns and categories. Ratiocination does not conceive of the “whole”, but only the “part”; its only concern is differentiation. It is the function of intuition to conceive of the whole, and of unity; it is the function of reason to conceive of the part, and of division. Intuition focuses on similarity; reason focuses on distinction.
2. Pairs of opposites. Reason resolves ideas into bipolar dualities or pairs of apparently contradictory propositions (A vs. Not-A). It focuses on one element of each duality as “true” and on the other as “false”. Rational thought necessarily excludes any awareness of the validity of the complementary polar element. Thus it is capable of dealing with only half of each equation, and is blinded by its nature to the other half. Every rational thought contains an inherent contradiction, because each thought is inseparably linked to an opposite and equally true hidden counter-thought.
3. Annihilation and transcendence. True knowledge of reality can be obtained only when rational thought is transcended by the conscious combination of the apparently contradictory elements of each proposition, so that the “paradoxical” validity of each polar opposite is recognized. The “positive” and “negative” elements (thesis and antithesis) combine [(+) + (-) = 0] in an explosive (orgasmic) cognitive reaction, resulting in the “annihilation” of rational thought and the emergence of a higher, more holistic form of cognition (as it is written, “Your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as the gods, knowing good and evil”).14
B. Intuition. It is the faculty of intuition that makes this transformative transcendence of rational thought possible. Though largely denied, denigrated or dismissed by modern Western science, philosophy, and religion, intuitive thought is an inherent element of the human psyche. Intuition is direct perception or awareness of reality, unfiltered by the categorical analysis of ratiocination, and not dependent on the five physical senses.
1. Interior senses. Intuitive thought can be described as the
operation of “interior senses” — channels of perception that are not
dependent on the physical sense organs — or “extrasensory” forms of
perception. The existence of these “interior senses” was aptly expressed by the
British poet William Blake, recognized as a Prophet by the CGL:
and:
For man has closed himself up,
till he sees all things
through narrow chinks of his cavern.
a. ESP. Such “ESP” (extra-sensory perception) phenomena as telepathy15, clairvoyance and clairaudience16, psychometry17, etc., which are studied in the field of parapsychology, comprise one aspect of the “interior senses” referred to here. (Traditional spiritual perspective on these “powers” is provided in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, one of the scriptures of the Hindu religion, which will be recognized by the CGL as canonical.)
b. Mystical experience. Another way the “interior senses” are manifested is through the “mystical experience” referred to in the religious literature of the world. The mystical experience is a spontaneously emerging psychic state of expanded awareness in which impressions and realizations about nature, reality, and life arise in the mind, often with great power and authority, accompanied by a blissfully celebratory sense of certainty.18
c. Aha! A form of intuitive thought familiar to many is the sudden “hunch” that provides valuable information or the solution to a perplexing problem; this is the “Aha!” or “Eureka!” experience in which answers are suddenly, inexplicably available and obvious.
2. Sense of certainty. Intuitive thought is often accompanied by a clear subjective sense of absolute certainty, of such intensity that it cannot be ignored. Properly attuned and augmented, this sense can be developed into an instrument of exacting precision, a “truth detector” — an invaluable and infallible guide in the search for truth — if insured against dogma and superstition by the checks and balances of the syncretic/eclectic method of comparative analysis.
3. Intuitive talents. The intuitive faculty, like musical or artistic talent, occurs naturally in some people more than in others. All humans have access to it to some degree, just as all have, to some degree, the capacity for rational thought. Like the creative talents, the ability to use intuition must be nurtured, disciplined, and respected if it is to be developed. In some people it may be latent, undiscovered, or inhibited by contrary social conditioning. Techniques exist, and are being refined, by which the intuitive talents can be developed. Many of these techniques require training and involve certain risks. It is often possible to combine them for synergistic effects. The CGL will study, research, perfect, and teach the known techniques of consciousness expansion and intuition enhancement, along with any new approaches that prove to be valid and effective. Among the presently recognized techniques for development of the intuitive talents are:
a. Yoga, the science of physical and mental training that originates with the Hindu, Buddhist and Taoist spiritual traditions.
b. The martial arts.
c. Religious practices, including prayer, meditation, ecstatic dance, fasting and austerities, etc.
d. Qabalah.
e. Ceremonial magick, including the arts of Invocation and Evocation.
f. Biofeedback and “brain machine” technologies.
g. Dream work, including “lucid dreaming” and the conscious exploration of the “dream dimensions” through use of the dream journal.
h. Astral travel or out-of-body experience.
i. Channeling and other forms of communication with non-human or extraterrestrial intelligence.
j. Vision quests in the wilderness.
k. Skrying and other forms of divination.
l. The Tantric arts.
m. Entheogenic psychochemistry or spiritual, scientific, and philosophical use of psychedelic sacraments.
III. REVELATION.
A. Universal truths. The CGL will teach that certain universal truths become clear to anyone who seriously and open-mindedly examines reality by the light of the awakened intuitive faculty. When universal truths become known to the individual in this way, it is called revelation; truths are “revealed” to the consciousness of the individual. Just as the same general landscape will be experienced by any tourist who travels to a particular locale on Earth, so the same essential “landscape” of ultimate reality will be experienced by anyone who activates her/his ability to become intuitively aware of it.
B. The holographic universe. Revelation occurs as a function of the holographic quality of cosmic intelligence, or the process by which macrocosmic (universal) mind manifests a perfect replica of itself in each of its microscopic (individual) component parts (as the Sun is reflected in the planes of a prism or in the plethora of morning dew-drops).19
C. False beliefs prevent revelation. Revelation is enabled in
the individual to the extent that obscuring false beliefs and false identifications are
transcended. “Ego”, or identification with finite/temporal phenomena, is like an
accretion of opaque matter on a lens that prevents the transmission of light. Mystical
writer and CGL Prophet Rebecca C. Berg expresses it this way in her discussion of
“salvation” in Life Eternal And Its Work:20
“It is false belief believed in as true that the human personality needs to be saved from.”
The same realization is expressed in the language of the Vedas: belief in the reality of the ego and the spatio-temporal dimensions (maya) leads to entrapment, limitation, and enslavement, binding the soul (atman) to the wheel of lives and deaths (samsara); activation of the awakened intuition can open one to the Light of Revelation (samadhi), providing the soul with access to the visionary realization of its ultimate identity with the One Self of All Life (brahman) and liberation (moksha) from this bondage to the illusion (maya).
D. The Golden Thread. The CGL will assert that universal truth is fragmentarily reflected throughout the religions, philosophies, sciences, mythologies and folk traditions of the world. Despite an admixture of confusion, delusion, and error in each of these categories, there is a “golden thread” of truth that can be detected in them all. An essential harmony of agreement will be found among the multitude of traditions on those elements in each which are in fact true. Screening out the false and retaining the true is the goal of syncretic/eclectic analysis.
E. No intermediary. The CGL will teach that there is no need for an intermediary between the individual and the luminous source of revelation (i.e. between “man” and “God”). We will not presume to act as an authoritative priesthood with a monopoly on access to the Light; rather, we hope to establish the CGL as a resource of aid, encouragement, and support that individuals can make use of in their own unique adventures into the realms of Gnostic Illumination.
IV. CANON OF REVEALED TRUTH.
A. A catalog of findings. The CGL will compile a Canon of Revealed Truth: a compendium of recognized discoveries about reality that can be independently verified by each aspirant to Revelation. This Canon will not be an inflexible system of dogma; on the contrary, it will always be subject to refinement, revision, and expansion — for there is no final plateau of revelation; however much we know, there is always more to learn. The Canon will consist of a catalog of findings to date, to be used as a suggestive guide by individuals, always subject to each one’s own Illumination.
B. General agreement. Membership in the CGL will be defined as general agreement with the ideas contained in the Canon of Revealed Truth as published and periodically updated by the Church — with the understanding that the member need not agree with it in every particular.
C. Essential points. Among the most important primary principles of the Canon of Revealed Truth will be the following:
1. Unity of all life. The CGL will recognize as a primary Revealed Principle the fact that all life in the universe is ultimately a single Being.
a. Self of all life. All living beings are connected as are the individual cells of our bodies; every being is part of a larger being, and every being is composed of smaller beings. There is a commonality of consciousness between all living beings, great and small. At its esoteric core, every entity shares a common identity with the Self of All Life — for there is, and can be, only one Life extant in this infinite universe — and we are it! There is in reality one Actor playing an infinitude of roles. In the language of the Vedas, the individual self (Atman) is one with the Universal Self or World Soul (Brahman). In the Hebrew tradition, the universal Self is called “I Am That I Am”21 (as if to say, I am any being who can say “I am”). In Christian mysticism, the all-inclusive Supreme Identity is the paraklete, the Holy Spirit that indwells the redeemed, identical with the Logos through which the phenomenal world came into being (Gospel of John 1:1) and the Hebrew ruach elohim, the “Spirit of Life” blown into Adam’s nostrils (Genesis 2:7).
b. The Great Mother. The planet Earth is a living and conscious being, a Goddess; we have our individual lives within the continuity of Her Life. The Sun is the source of the life of Earth and all of Her component beings; a God. The energy that flows forth from our Sun, and from every Sun, is identical with the energy found in the core of every atom: this energy is Spirit, Life, and Consciousness; personified in the Thelemic tradition as the Egyptian god Hadit. The living suns of infinite space together make up the body of Nuit,22 the Cosmic Goddess, the Great Mother, “in whom we live and move and have our being”. The Goddess will play an important role in the religious ceremonies and teachings of the CGL as the primary object of “worship” or passionate ideation.
2. Universal consciousness. An essential Recognized Revealed Principle will be that consciousness is an inherent element of all life — and, since all that exists is alive, consciousness permeates all that is. To be is to be conscious. Every living being is conscious to some degree all the time. The state we commonly refer to as “unconsciousness”, as in deep sleep or coma, is in reality merely a primordial level of consciousness. Even a rock is conscious to some degree. (An old Sufi proverb states: “God sleeps in the rock, dreams in the plant, stirs in the animal, and awakens in man.”)
3. Consciousness is a basic force. The human brain does not generate consciousness as an “epiphenomenon”, the way a generator produces electricity, as some materialist theories suppose; rather, the brain acts like a radio receiver, picking up the “broadcast” of consciousness. Consciousness is prior to, not a product of, material forms; it is the Prime Mover, the First Cause, the Supreme Being of theology. It is one of the primary forces of the universe, like gravity and the nuclear forces that bind atoms together.
4. Samadhi. Consciousness is focused differently in different forms of life, but ultimately, all beings share the same “I Am That I Am” identity. At its core, deep in the “unconscious mind”, every living being is aware of the unitary nature of consciousness and of the interconnectedness of all life. The part of each being that lives in this awareness all the time is called the “higher self” or the “silent watcher” in Theosophy; in the Vedas it is the atman; in Thelema it is the Augoeides; it is referred to by Abramelin23 as the “holy guardian angel”; the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn referred to it as the “Genius”; the ancient Gnostics knew it as the Logos; to the ancient Egyptians it was Asar-un-nefer; in Christian mysticism it is “Christ in us, the hope of glory”24; in Buddhism it is the Adi-Buddha or the “Buddha Nature”. The goal of Gnostic Luminism is to establish a permanent connection between our “normal” awareness and this “higher self”, the part of us that always enjoys the ultimate transcendental awareness of cosmic unity. The connection is made by discovering and eliminating the illusory barriers between the parts of one’s self. When this connection is established, the experience known as Samadhi in Vedic philosophy is the result: full awareness of and complete identification with the infinite/eternal unity rather than, or in addition to, the spatiotemporal particularity of the “ego” or Earth-lifetime identity channel.
5. Focusing of consciousness. The Gnostic Luminist will learn to gain voluntary control over the focusing of consciousness between “higher” (more inclusive) and “lower” (more tightly focused) states. Techniques will be developed and taught for shifting between the “exterior” awareness (the realm of the ego, “normal” reality, objective rationalist materialism, maya) and the “interior” transcendental awareness of cosmic unity. With the proper training and technology, it will be possible to voluntarily shift one’s awareness so as to cognitively apprehend the subjective experience of life at any of its levels of manifestation, from the subatomic to the metagalactic; to subjectively experience each of the stages of organic evolution, past, present and future; to experientially grasp the microcosmic (particular) and macrocosmic (universal) qualities of existence; to comprehend the human and the divine.
6. Life energy. An essential Revealed Principle will be that life itself is a form of energy analogous to the spectra of energy known to present-day physics (heat, light, radiation, etc.). Classically, this life energy has been referred to as “spirit” or “soul”; in Greek, pneuma; in Hebrew, ruach, neschama; in Latin, anima; in Sanskrit, prana, shakti, kundalini; in Chinese, chi; to Rosicrucian alchemists, vril, or the odic force; and with many other terms in different times, languages, and cultures. In the 20th century the term “orgone energy” was coined by Wilhelm Reich to refer to the same “life energy”, and he began developing technologies for measuring and interacting with it; unfortunately his work was crushed by political repression. Hopefully Reich’s work will be rediscovered and carried forward in the 21st century. The CGL will promote this research, as well as studying and codifying traditional methods of managing and working with this energy, as taught in the religious, mystical, and “occult” traditions of the world.
7. Personal reality. Study of the nature of personal reality will be an important part of the work of the CGL. Among the essential Revealed principles in this area will be the following:
a. Spiritual indestructibility. The life energy that makes up the “true self” of each person (as distinguished from the “ego” or exterior identifications) cannot die, always has existed and always will exist — in conformation with the laws of conservation of matter and energy (neither matter nor energy can be created or destroyed; they merely change form). “Death” is merely a transition from one stage of existence, or form of manifestation, to another; there is no “final end” of one’s most essential “self”. The only part of oneself that can be touched by death is the “ego” (the illusory shell of exterior identifications). If you think that is you — if you choose to identify with the exterior form rather than the interior reality — then, yes, “you” may indeed “die”.
b. Reincarnation. The life energy or “spirit” that constitutes one’s conscious self returns to physical life as an infant after the end of each lifetime, in obedience to an attractive force as real as the force of gravity. This attractive force arises from karma, or actions performed in life which cause reactions. Every action, every spoken word, and even every thought in one’s mind, will cause vibrations to pulse outward through the “æther”, or the subtle matter of which space is composed; these vibrations ripple outward through time and space, and eventually rebound on the entity that originated them, shaping the nature and quality of that one’s life experience in a present or future incarnation. In the average person, this process occurs unconsciously. The task of the Gnostic Luminist is to gain conscious control over the process of karma, and harmonize the vibrations as they rebound, canceling out each wave without creating any new ripples. When the soul is karmically harmonized like the clear, calm surface of a windless lake, liberation can be obtained from the compulsive attraction that mandates a return to material manifestation.
c. Involution and evolution. The desire of spirit to merge with matter and taste the dark magnetic bliss of Earth-life, a blind and inexorable hunger, arises like wind-ripples on the lake, luring the life energy away from its focus in the infinite/eternal realm of cosmic unity, and into discrete particularity within the finite/temporal dimension. This descent of Spirit into Matter (involution), a “fall from grace”, continues until a state of maximum saturation is achieved and the hunger of Spirit for material experience is satiated. At this point, a rebound begins; the incarnate Spirit starts to remember its origins and begins working its way back toward Unity; thus involution ends and evolution begins. The classical tale of the involution and evolution of Spirit into/out of Matter is recounted in the Christian parable of the Prodigal Son in the New Testament (Luke 15: 11 - 32).
d. Illumination and liberation. The culmination of spiritual evolution is the expansion of consciousness in the individual until it reaches a point at which the individual becomes fully aware of the true trans-spatiotemporal unity of all life, the identity of the particular with the universal. This experience is called samadhi, i.e. “cosmic consciousness” or Illumination. It makes possible a release from the necessity of continued physical incarnation; liberation (moksha) from the wheel of lives and deaths (samsara). This liberation is the only true “salvation”; conscious unity with the Self of All Life is the true “heaven”.
e. Telepathy, mind-to-mind communication that is not dependent on the spoken or written word, is a natural function of the human mind (and other minds as well).
i. The golden age. In earlier epochs, before the way of life we (falsely) call “civilization” began, telepathy was our normal, primary means of communication. Spontaneous mutual awareness of subjective mental experience was “normal” for the vast majority of the time humans have existed on Earth, well over a million years; it has only been “paranormal” for the last few thousand years. Common awareness of the subjective quality of life experience was shared across species boundaries, between all forms of life. The advent of the Pleistocene ice age brought this Edenic golden age to a close. The traumatic struggle for survival in the wake of the great glaciers, as scarcity and difficulty replaced the abundance and ease of the paleolithic period, caused a rapid change in the nature of human life on Earth. The remnants of our ancient memory of the pre-glacial period and its demise are preserved in the myths and folktales of many lands. An example is the Biblical tale of the Tower of Babel (in Genesis 11: 1 - 9), which symbolically depicts the loss of conscious telepathy that accompanied our adoption of spoken language, linear-rational thought, and the accoutrements of “civilization” — and the accompanying retreat from a culture based on sharing and empathy, to one based on struggle and competition.
ii. Repression and taboo. Telepathy is still a fact of life for humans, but it now occurs on a subconscious level. The fact is that — as Stephen Gaskin has taught — we are really telepathic all the time, but we refuse to admit it to ourselves and to each other. Our natural telepathy is inhibited by social conditioning that denies and forbids it. The struggle against this anti-telepathic conditioning is an essential part of the Luminist path, a prerequisite for attainment of higher consciousness. And in the political realm, the struggle to free human minds from anti-telepathic social conditioning is an essential part of the Revolutionary Luminist strategy. It is a necessary precursor to the revolutionary reorganization of human life on Earth and the emergence of true civilization. As it has been said: We have seen the First and Second World Wars; now we must have the First World Revolution.25
8. Post-revolutionary society. The Church of Gnostic Luminism will recognize as Revealed Truth the fact that the human race is evolving toward an enlightened social system based on absolute individual liberty and voluntary mutual aid (i.e. the advent of true civilization). This evolutionary ascension has been brewing for 6,000 years. The nature of evolution, organic and social, involves alternating periods of rapid advance (revolution) and quiescence or retreat (reaction), as the force for change builds up enough to break its bonds, then surges back to build the next wave. As evolutionary advancement increases, its momentum increases as well, like a snowball rolling down a mountain slope. Eventually its inertia becomes irresistible, a breakthrough is attained, and a major evolutionary milestone is passed.26 We are approaching that point today. In the post-revolutionary worldwide social system, every human individual will be free from coercion, so long as the equal freedom of others is respected; and everyone on Earth will have full access to all the resources that Nature and Technology can make available. The false claim that this Utopia is impossible is passed on as a part of the social conditioning the entrenched power structure uses to keep us enslaved. The globe-spanning State, Church, and Corporate network (“new world order”) maintains its vampiric hold on the people through brainwashing in the media and the state-controlled educational systems, through coercive military/police force, and through monopolization of the necessities of life. It is the futile attempt of an outmoded evolutionary epoch to stop the clock or roll it back to a more primitive social order. This is not to be; we can no more hold back the tide of evolution than a child could restrain the onset of puberty. The few who have indulged themselves in excessive wealth and power at the expense of the many must yield up the reins of the world; their free ride is over. If it were managed cooperatively, making imaginative use of existing technologies, the world economy could easily provide practically unlimited abundance for all Earth citizens. In the future, the institutions we know as “government” and “money”, the machineries of repression and exploitation, will no longer exist. Production will be for use, not for profit. All goods and services will be offered as free gifts to whoever needs or desires them; without the artificially maintained scarcity of the “market”, there will be ample supply of all things. All work will be voluntary; the motivation to contribute to the common effort will be the natural human desire to devise, share, and enjoy a better life.
a. The organic metaphor. Post-revolutionary society will be modeled on the biological processes of living organisms. Each individual will be supplied with all that s/he needs, just as the cells of the body are nourished by the circulatory system. An electronic information and communication system, utilizing computers, satellites, and technologies not yet imagined, will connect us all, as the nervous system connects the brain with all the cells of the body; each individual will have full access to all of Earth’s libraries and museums, to the accumulated knowledge of the human race. Absolute individual liberty and autonomy (sovereignty) will reflect the fact that, in a healthy organism, every discrete unit is automatically self-regulating. The egoistic “profit motive” (personal advantage at the expense of others) will be replaced by mutual aid (personal advantage that includes the advantage of others) as the primary motivating and organizing factor of society, reflecting the way the units that make up organic systems work together to maintain the health and integrity of the whole; a cell or organ that disrespects the harmony of the body is diseased (as it is written, “Cancer is cellular ego”27).
b. Consensus decision-making. Collective decisions in post-revolutionary society will be made by mutual agreement between individuals, communities, regions, trade associations, and other forms of association, which will evolve and dissolve and re-emerge as need and preference dictate. Agreements will be arrived at by a consensus process, in which every person affected by a decision will have a voice in it, and no arrangement will be binding on anyone who has not voluntarily agreed to it. The “authority” upon which collective decisions are entered into and enforced will be considered legitimate only if they have the full agreement and consent of every person affected. “Authority” imposed without consent is tyranny; the tyranny of illegitimate authority may justly be resisted by any means necessary.
c. Universal citizenship. Every individual on Earth will be recognized as a Citizen of the Universe, a jurisdiction which supersedes all lesser constituencies such as nation, race, class, or gender. As an attribute of this citizenship, every Earth-dweller will have equal rights of inheritance to the world of her/his birth; i.e. an absolute right to a fair and equal share of the benefits and resources wrought from Nature by the collective efforts of humankind. Under true civilization, the social and economic structures of Earth will be considered a joint enterprise, a “corporation” of which every Earth citizen is an equal “shareholder” by right of birth (but without a “corporate hierarchy”; self-regulating at every level). Instead of collecting taxes, society will distribute “dividends”, shares of the accumulating “profit” or mutual benefit. No person may be legitimately denied access to the necessities of life, including food, shelter, clothing, medical care, and education. Any society or social institution that denies any person access to the necessities of life is committing a criminal act, and it is the right and responsibility of all people of good heart to “alter or abolish” such institutions.
9. The mandate. The CGL will recognize and affirm that it has a Divine Mandate to aid, encourage, and support, in every possible way, the quickening of social evolution (i.e. the social revolution) that will enable us to implement the Organic Social System, as outlined above, on Earth, at every level of society.
a. The revolutionary duty. Each individual within the CGL will have the responsibility of honoring this Mandate according to the promptings of each one’s own Gnostic Illumination and the teachings of the Church. No action, word, or thought, however slight, is wasted; in every case it either aids or impedes the work; as it is said: You are either a part of the solution, or a part of the problem. It will be our challenge, and our delight, to ensure that our every moment of consciousness is consecrated to the Great Work to which we are committed.
b. The Gnostic/Luminist strategy. The work will be accomplished by facilitating in every possible way the voluntary self-illumination of increasing numbers of human beings, so that the holographic vision of Universal Consciousness and recognition of the common identity of all life will be effected in more and more members of the human family.
10. The singularity. When a requisite percentage of the human population of Earth (a “critical mass” of humanity) attains Illumination, a quantum leap of evolution will be triggered.
a. The group mind. A massive evolutionary acceleration will begin as Illumination spreads like wildfire around the globe, linking minds into the telepathic network of the planetary neuropsychic grid. A shock will run through the neuroplasm of all sentient beings as the simultaneous vision strikes everywhere at once. The “group mind” of all Earth-life will blink awake for the first time. At that point, the human race will undergo an Initiation or coming-of-age ceremony. Our long racial childhood will have ended.
b. Beyond the curve of infinity... Global telepathic communion and simultaneous worldwide Illumination will trigger a chain reaction of increasingly rapid innovation, leading inevitably to a cataclysmic and orgasmic event of a nature that we cannot yet imagine (which we refer to as the Singularity, a term borrowed from interstellar physics, which there refers to the space-and-time-warping gravitational effects of a Black Hole). The most we can say about this event is that it will probably involve a transformation of spaciotemporal reality into something new and strange, a new order of being that transcends our present capacity for rational understanding (although visionary glimpses of it have been attained by millions of mystics, Luminists, and psychedelic pioneers). Likely many who are not prepared will not survive the shock of transition. The enigmatic apocalyptic prophecies of the many religious traditions are foreshadowings or retro-temporal (tachyonic) reflections of this event that looms ahead of us. It is as inevitable as the caterpillar’s metamorphosis into the butterfly.
V. ETHICS
A. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. This principle, called the Law of Thelema28, will provide the basis for all of CGL’s ethical and moral teachings. Please understand, lest you be led astray, that this means: find out what your true will is, and then do that, and nothing else. This maxim is based on a theology for the New Aeon, the next phase of human evolution; it views Samadhi or Illumination as a prerequisite, a basic starting point, rather than the final goal, as it was viewed by Old Aeon systems. Once one’s mind has been “turned on” to the light of the macrocosmic perspective, the true will, or the optimum choice that an individual can make in every situation, can be clearly distinguished from the “false will”, the idle whims and desires of the finite ego.
B. The divine will. Ultimately, the true will of every woman and every man is identical with the “divine will” as it applies to them. The Christian prayer, “Thy will be done”, and the Thelemic commandment, “Do what thou wilt”, are identical from a Luminist perspective, as the hidden identity between the real self and the deity has been revealed and recognized. Thus, the new spiritual orientation proposed here is a fulfillment of, rather than a contradiction of, the old religions of Earth. (As it was written in the Testament of Christ: I am come not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it.)29
1. Karmic patterns. From the universal or macrocosmic perspective, it can be seen that the choices we make every moment of our lives — our every action, every spoken word, and even every thought — cause waves of vibration to radiate out through the universe, forming intricate patterns and designs as they resonate and interact. These patterns, which can be “read” clairvoyantly by Initiates, color and shape the experienced reality of incarnate beings in the material worlds. (The subtle impressions made in the trans-spatiotemporal “æther” or psychoplasm by these patterns are traditionally called the “akashic records”.)30
2. Divine aesthetics. The Divine Will (the collective consciousness of all that is in its active mode), motivated by an aesthetic sense of beauty and harmony, reaches out into time and space and shapes these karmic patterns into artistically pleasing designs.31 From the incarnate or particular perspective, this shaping action manifests as our own deepest or most intrinsic volition (true will), if we attend to and attune ourselves to it. By aligning our conscious will with our true will (or, in mystical terms, surrendering the ego to the divine), we allow our lives to be harmonized with the Cosmic Purpose.
3. The fates. An image of this process is given in the inspired paganism of ancient Greece: the experiences we have in life are symbolized as threads of destiny that are interwoven on the cosmic loom with the strands of possibility, into a tapestry of intricate design, by the Goddesses of Fate (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos). Devout prayers and invocations directed to these Goddesses have been known to produce truly miraculous effects.
C. Universally applicable suggestions. The individual is the final authority for all practical applications of the principle of Thelema, “Do what thou wilt”. Nevertheless, though every individual is unique, certain ethical teachings will be found to be universally applicable. Among them, the CGL will recognize these:
1. Personal responsibility. Participants in the experience of gnostic revelation will find that they are ethically bound to live in such a way that their every action, word, and thought aids the spiritual evolution of all sentient beings, rather than hindering or distracting others from it (no actions are neutral; each either weighs or lifts).
a. Harmlessness. All life is sacred; every living being is a manifestation in material form of the Divine One. We must each live in such a way as to cause the least possible harm to the other beings that share our reality. This is the ideal referred to in Christianity as “the golden rule” — and the same idea appears in almost all traditional religions of the world. Obviously this implies an attitude of forbearance and compassion for other beings we encounter in life. Other implications include the following:
i. Vegetarianism: refraining from the eating of animal flesh and the use of products resulting from the slaughter of animals (fur, leather, animal-fat soaps, etc.), and preferably avoiding as well commercially produced chicken eggs (which support the lifelong torture of literally billions of animals) and bovine mammary secretions (an industry interlocked with the “veal” market which slaughters baby cows that are cruelly tortured for the duration of their short lives).
ii. Pacifism: refusing to participate in the deliberate infliction of physical harm to other beings, except for acts of self-defense or defense of loved ones; boycotting militarism and other forms of organized violence, including the payment of taxes used for such purposes; in our private lives, avoiding the projection of anger and destructive thoughts at others, which constitute violence on a telepathic level.
iii. Anarchism: refusing to participate in or condone social institutions that allow coercion of, or the deprivation of essential life support to any person; working for the elimination of all such institutions; and in our private lives, seeking solutions within family and community that do not involve coercion.
b. Truthfulness. We must each strive always to refrain from deliberately misinforming, misleading, or deceiving others, either by commission (lying, bearing false witness) or omission (failing to fully and accurately embody and represent the truth). Lack of truthfulness creates static and dissonance in the collective psyche, prevents conscious telepathic communion, isolates us from other beings and from higher consciousness, and inhibits the development of gnostic illumination. (Of course, tactical compromises may be necessary in these Last Days of pre-revolutionary society, and during the revolutionary period itself; but we must not lose sight of the ideal, nor forget to adhere to it in our homes, liberated areas, and guerilla camps; for it will form the cornerstone of post-revolutionary society.)
c. Purity. We must strive to constantly maintain an awareness of the sacredness of Life in all of Its manifestations, eliminating from our lives anything that dulls or distracts from the vision. Such areas as diet, hygiene, home economics, family relations, and sexuality are directly related to this concern, which constitutes the first two of the Eight Limbs of Yoga, yama and niyama.32
2. Social responsibility. Our individual lives comprise essential elements of the social groups and communities that we move through and partake of. As we move among them, we must strive to be aware of the effects we are having on each. Our external responsibilities are as important as our “internal” responsibilities to ourselves; the difference is just a question of which part of the phenomena you choose to focus your attention on. The following are among the essential guidelines for conscious, Illumination-friendly interpersonal and community relations:
a. Custodianship of personal resources. The “property” that life has placed under our control comprises a trust that we are caring for on behalf of the community that we are a part of. It is our responsibility to care for such property, and to make it available to those who, in our judgment, most need it, or could most benefit from it: it is for such ones that it has been placed temporarily in our hands. This particularly applies to:
i. Land and natural resources.
ii. The necessities of life, such as food, shelter, and medicine, and the facilities for their production and distribution.
iii. Books, works of art, musical recordings and instruments, and other cultural and educational resources.
b. Care of the less fortunate. It is everyone’s responsibility to share in the care of those among us who are temporarily or permanently unable to provide for themselves. Rather than exteriorizing this responsibility and placing it in the hands of “government” or other forces outside of ourselves, we must each recognize our own responsibility and make it a priority to ensure that those close to us are properly cared for.
c. Participation in collective decision-making. Freedom implies responsibility. To maintain a free society, we must each take an active part in shaping the collective decisions that affect our lives. We must learn to cooperate on areas where agreement is possible, while agreeing to disagree about other matters; and we must learn to reach agreements in a non-threatening, non-authoritarian, non-hierarchical manner.
3. Ecological responsibility. The third major area of ethical concern is our responsibility to the planet of which we are a part.
a. Custodianship of planetary resources. We must strive to be aware of the effects our actions will have on future generations, and of our responsibility to maintain the balance of the living systems that make up our environment. Through involvement in collective decision-making at all levels of society, we must remind others of this vital responsibility.
b. Preservation of biodiversity. We must act to ensure the safety of the myriads of species of life that share our world, and protect their habitats from disturbance or destruction.
c. Eco-friendly technology. Technologies and industries that are harmful to Earth and/or Her inhabitants must be either abolished, or moved to a safe distance from the planet’s fragile biosphere. The infinite expanse of space awaits us with unlimited opportunity for alternative locations to which industries harmful to the planet’s bioplasm can be safely moved. The development of extraterrestrial space for human industrial use must be made a top priority. There, unlimited free solar energy can be tapped, and harmful wastes can be disposed of by placing them on barges and pushing them into the Sun. Vast fortunes await us in Lunar and Asteroid Belt mining colonies, enough to reverse all deficits and underwrite a cooperative economy that provides not only sustenance, but wealth and leisure, to all Earth citizens. Alternatives to the primitive and dirty rocket propulsion system, based on electromagnetic gravity repulsion, are being worked out theoretically and may soon await implementation. The industries that remain inside the biosphere must be certified harmless to organic life. New technologies like “zero-point” energy systems, biomass (i.e. hemp) fuels, and hydrogen fuel cells will provide alternatives to the deadly fossil fuel and nuclear power industries. Our motto will be: “Heal the Earth that gave us birth; seize the stars whose wealth is ours!”
VI. SACRAMENTS.
A. Entheogens (Psychedelics). The Church of Gnostic Luminism will recognize the sacredness and spiritual efficacy of certain herbs and chemicals that can be used to expand human consciousness, enhance intuition, awaken the creative Imagination or Genius, and facilitate the inward focusing of the attention that is the prerequisite for Gnostic Illumination.
1. Religious use of psychedelics. From the beginning of recorded history, religious traditions throughout our planet have known of and used psychedelic plants and chemicals as material aids to religious practice, or sacraments. Taoists of ancient China, Hindus of India, and the ancient religions of Ethiopia and Egypt are known to have honored and used Cannabis and other sacred herbs. Other ancient Cannabis users included the Persian Zoroastrians (a/k/a the Magi), and the Scythians, whose use of Cannabis in funeral rites is described in the Histories of Herodotus. The Sanskrit Vedas, among the Earth’s oldest extant sacred scriptures, speak of Soma, a psychedelic elixir which may have contained Cannabis and/or psilocybin or other psychedelic mushrooms. The ancient Greek Initiate movements, including the Dionysian, Elusinian, and Delphic, combined “secret herbs” with their ceremonial wine, perhaps including ergot, the source of lysergic acid (from which LSD is made).33 The ancient Hebrews evidently knew of the spiritual uses of Cannabis, and in fact the Greek word cannabis may ultimately derive from the Hebrew kanneh bosm, literally “sweet cane”, given in the Bible as an ingredient of Yahweh’s “holy anointing oil” (Exodus 30:23). The indigenous religions of the Americas used peyote (mescaline), “magic mushrooms” (psilocybin), and certain types of Morning Glory plants, which contain lysergic acid. In the early centuries of the common era, the Buddhists of Tibet honored Cannabis and used it as an aid to meditation and illumination, as did the Sufi and Ishmaili sects of Islam; and in India, Patanjali cited “the yoga of light-containing herbs” as one valid path to mystical attainment in his Yoga Sutras. In the medieval and renaissance period, many of the persecuted “witches” were users of the sacred herbs, including the hallucinogenic daturas and nightshades as well as Cannabis and many others. The alchemists of Europe respected the Elixirs of Light, and Paracelsus places Cannabis at the head of his list of spiritually efficacious herbs. The Coptic Christians who fled to Egypt to escape Roman persecution in the first century used Cannabis as a sacrament from the beginning, and still do to this day. There are a number of other extant religions that recognize the spiritual use of psychedelics, some officially incorporated and recognized by the State, and others awaiting relief from persecution to take their rightful place in the public forum.
2. Prohibition and persecution. As is made evident in the section above, the use of psychedelic sacraments has had a valid place in human religious tradition since history began, and before. The U.S. Constitution clearly states in its First Amendment that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The prohibition laws of the present era are a blatant violation of this constitutional protection. They are not valid law, but criminal acts perpetrated under the color of law by an outlaw regime that has subverted and corrupted the American democratic tradition and made a tyrannical mockery of it. The Church of Gnostic Luminism will utilize every valid means of seeking redress from this unconstitutional policy of persecution, by working within the established systems of legal appeal and public discourse, in order that our constitutional right to practice our religion may be properly recognized and honored by the State. However, in the event that such redress is not obtainable from the present regime, the CGL will also affirm, in this connection, the sacred tradition of Civil Disobedience that was honored by Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Henry David Thoreau, Martin Luther King, and Mahatma Gandhi; as it is written: “We ought to obey God rather than men.”34
3. Proper uses of psychedelics. The consciousness-expanding herbs and chemicals are powerful tools, and, like all tools, they can be dangerous if they are used inappropriately. Proper training and preparation are important. Looking forward hopefully to a more libertarian future, the CGL will develop plans for such training for aspirants to the Yoga of Light-Containing Herbs. A goal will be the establishment of a monastery and a Holy Order of Light. An underground tradition of psychedelic science has developed over the decades, originating before the “legal” prohibition of LSD began in 1965; and the CGL will draw upon this body of lore, along with the experience and teachings of the established psychedelic churches.
4. Recognized sacraments. Among the substances recognized as Holy Sacraments by the CGL will be the following:
a. Mescaline and the plants in which it naturally occurs, including the Peyote and San Pedro cactus;
b. Psilocybin and its natural plant sources, including the “magic mushrooms” known to the Aztecs as Teonanacatl;
c. Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and the plants which contain its natural precursors, including Ololiuhqui (the Aztec name for the sacred flowers that are botanically named Rivera or Turbina carymbosa and are commonly known as Morning Glories), the Hawaiian Rosewood flowers, and the ergot or Claviceps purpurea, a purple fungus that grows on rye;
d. Cannabis: all plants of this genus, and all psychoactive derivatives therefrom;
e. Ayahuasca and its constituent chemicals, and their natural plant sources;
f. MDA, MMDA, and other “designer psychedelics”; and
g. The Bufo alvarius toad and its “venom”.
B. Sexuality. The CGL will recognize and acknowledge that human sexual energy is a supremely sacred manifestation of the creative life energy of the universe, having in and of itself the actual presence of the highest Divinity.
1. The body as temple. The human body
is the temple or dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, according to the Christian New
Testament.35 In the Luminist view, the “Holy
Spirit” is the spirit or energy of life itself, the intrinsic source and fountain of
all Holiness (and all sat, chit, ananda or “being, consciousness, and
bliss”). Sexual energy (the “libido” of Freud; the “orgone” of
Reich, Eros or Shakti) is the active, passionate, magnetic aspect of the
Holy Spirit of Life, the source of the Poetic Imagination and all aesthetic arts, the
“Energy” of William Blake.36 The organs of
generation are the sanctum sanctissimum, the “holy of holies”, of the
body/temple; this fact is recognized in the Hindu religion, where the lingam and yoni
are personified as deities. Worship of the Incarnate Divinity in this most sacred
sanctuary may take diverse forms;37 in the majority of
cases they do not involve procreation, which is a sacrament in its own right. Repression
of this worship as “sin” is blasphemy and tyranny. Writes Blake:
“Let the Priests of the Raven of dawn, no longer, in deadly black, with hoarse note, curse the sons of joy.”38
2. Sexual morality. Moral teachings in the CGL will be focused on maintaining conscious awareness of the sacredness of this Living Energy as it manifests in us, while avoiding and eliminating anything that profanes or degrades it. No external moral codes will bind the sovereign individual in this matter, except for the words of the Goddess Nuit in The Book of the Law: “Love is the law, love under will”39 and “...take your fill and will of love as ye will, when, where, and with whom ye will! But always into me”.40
3. The sacrament of marriage will be formalized in Church ritual. The sincere desire of sovereign individuals to unite in marriage will be honored and recognized by the Church without restrictions based on gender, number, age, race, or any other external factor. The sincere desire to end one’s marital relations will be recognized as well.
4. The sacrament of procreation. Bringing souls into incarnation on Earth is a most sacred duty, and it should be approached consciously.
a. Birth control technologies and alternatives should be freely available to all, beginning at the age of puberty; the CGL will work toward this goal. Natural cooperative methods of birth control exist,41 and these will form a standard part of the CGL’s curriculum of religious education, along with information about herbal contraceptives.
b. Abortion. A sovereign woman has the right to choose whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term. The CGL recognizes this right: the State cannot extend its jurisdiction of authority to the inside of a woman’s womb; it is the most sovereign of territories. However, we also recognize the fact that the fetus is alive from the first moment of conception, and is a miniaturized but virtually complete human being by about the second month of pregnancy. The unborn child is aware, feeling, drifting in dream, a coherent “self” by the third or fourth month. Telepathy between mother and unborn child is quite possible and quite real, as many mothers will attest. Abortion is a horribly violent act, involving incredible agony and the traumatic terror of abandonment and despair. The CGL will seek to provide nonviolent alternatives for women in need, including prenatal care, midwife networking, child care, and adoption. Our goal will be to build a secure, “life-friendly” community in which mothers will be encouraged to “give life a chance”. Also, through political action and education, the CGL will work toward social reforms that will provide economic security for all, thereby relieving the desperation that drives many women to consider abortion.
c. The open door. In Crowley’s Gnostic Mass, the official rite of the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholicæ, are these words: “Be the hour auspicious, and the gate of life open in peace and in well-being, so that she that beareth children may rejoice, and the babe catch life with both hands.” The Sacrament of Procreation should be approached consciously, and should be planned and prepared for by ceremonial purification, meditation, and devotion. Acknowledgment of the incarnating entity should be made ceremonially and telepathically. From this secure beginning, the new arrival will have the best chance of getting an early start on the lifetime’s spiritual work, and progress will be made toward the CGL’s goal of global Illumination.
5. The Tantric Arts. The lore and science of tantric and kundalini yoga includes esoteric techniques of working with the sacred energies of sexuality for mystical or magical ends. This lore forms an essential part of the CGL’s acknowledged spiritual tradition. Training in these matters will be provided privately.
VII. SCRIPTURES.
The CGL will recognize the traditional religious writings of all cultures as Holy Writ, with the proviso that certain dilutions and corruptions of the original Divine Inspiration may have occurred, in the writing itself, or in the transmission of it over generations and centuries. Therefore the rule of syncretic/eclectic evaluation in the light of each aspirant’s own Gnostic Illumination applies to these writings, as to all. In addition, certain other writings, ancient or modern, that are not included in any established canon, but that bear witness to True Inspiration, will be recognized by the CGL as authoritative scriptures. The following are among the primary Scriptures recognized by the CGL:
A. The Tao Te Ching
B. The I Ching
C. The Bhagavad Gita and the Mahabarata
D. The Vedas and the Upanishads
E. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
F. The Ramayana, the Srimad Bhagavatan, and the Shiva Sutras
G. The Kama Sutra and the Ananda Ranga
H. The Dhammapada, the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra
I. The Bardo Thodol and the Tibetan Books of Natural Liberation
J. The Tantra Shasta
K. The Papyrus of Ani and the Stele of Revealing
L. The Golden Verses of Pythagoras
M. The Gathas and the Zend-Avesta
N. The Corpus Hermeticum
O. The Nag Hammadi Library and other extant Gnostic texts
P. The Torah; the Holy Bible, including Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
Q. The Qur’an and the Hadis
R. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell and the other Prophetic and Illuminated Books of William Blake
S. Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Freemasons, by Albert Pike
T. Septem Sermones ad Mortuous, a channeled document received by Carl Jung
U. Life Eternal And Its Work, by Rebecca C. Berg;
V. Liber AL vel Legis and The Holy Books of Thelema, by Aleister Crowley.
VIII. THEOLOGY.
A. Diverse valid perspectives. The theological teachings of the Church of Gnostic Luminism will harmonize and include many of the disparate perspectives of Earth’s religious traditions; among them the following:
1. Animism, the idea that all of Nature is alive and sentient;
2. Pantheism, the realization that living Nature is in fact Holy, in whole and in each part; or that the Creator and the Creation are one;
3. Polytheism, the view that this Holiness manifests Itself to us as many distinct Gods and Goddesses;
4. Monotheism, the realization that all of these Divine Manifestations are veils or partial personalities of the One;
5. Monism, the further realization that the One includes all that is, was, or can be; and
6. Atheism, the realization that the One is really None (or Void), since the universe is composed of pairs of contrary opposites which mutually annihilate in combination [(+) + (-) = 0]42; the realization that anthropomorphic conceptions of God are false, illusory constructs (“idols”) based on superstition.
B. The synthesis. The holistic synthesis of these theological perspectives into a harmonious unity, a seamless garment of Initiation, will comprise one of the major gifts that the Church of Gnostic Luminism will offer to humanity.
IX. SAINTS AND PROPHETS.
Certain persons, both historical and contemporary, will be recognized by the CGL as Saints and Prophets. Such recognition implies that these persons have shown evidence of Divine Inspiration to such a degree that they have contributed measurably to the Spiritual Evolution and Liberation of the human race. This recognition does not necessarily imply “perfection” or infallibility, however; and as in all things, their teachings must be evaluated by the syncretic/eclectic method in the light of each student’s own Gnostic Illumination. The CGL will honor the Collect of the Saints from Crowley’s Gnostic Mass. Additionally, the following will be among the figures particularly selected for recognition:
A. Legendary figures, which have a historical basis although exoteric knowledge of their Earthly lives has been lost, or is uncertain:
1. Lao Tzu
2. Krishna, Rama, and Shiva
3. Siddhartha, Gautama, and Sakyamuni
4. Padma Sambhava
5. Zoroaster
6. Enoch, Melchizedek, Solomon, and Christ
7. Thoth and Hermes Trismegistus
8. Quetzacoatl
9. Merlin and Arthur
B. Historical figures:
1. Pythagoras
2. Jaques de Molay and Adam Weishaupt
3. St. Francis and Joan of Arc
4. Giordano Bruno and Baruch Spinoza
5. William Blake
6. John Humphrey Noyes
7. Helena P. Blavatski
8. Aleister Crowley
9. Mahatma Mohandas Ghandi
10. Black Elk
11. Aldous Huxley
12. Timothy Leary
13. Terence McKenna
C. Contemporary figures:
1. Albert Hofmann
2. Stephen Gaskin
X. STRUCTURE OF THE CHURCH.
A. Membership. As mentioned above, membership in the CGL will be defined as general agreement with the Church’s stated positions, as roughly outlined in this document. If, after reading it carefully, you find yourself to be in essential agreement with it, then you are a member already. You need only make yourself known to be recognized. There will be no “dues”, but members will be asked to contribute what they can, however they think best, to ongoing and potential Church projects. All decisions, at every level, will be made by unanimous consensus of all persons involved. There will be no hierarchy; every person will have an equal right to propose projects and volunteer for tasks.
B. Cooperative network. The membership of the CGL will be a cooperative network of sovereign individuals, united and focused on the common goals of attaining higher consciousness and quickening worldwide social evolution, for the mutual benefit of all sentient beings.
C. Public acknowledgment. Members will be invited to affirm their dedication to the pursuit of personal and social Illumination (Revelation and Revolution), ceremonially, in the presence of other members and invited guests.
D. Church offices. Members who are qualified, or accept training, may volunteer to fulfill specific tasks for the Church, including the following positions:
1. Priest/Priestess: will prepare and organize ecclesiastical functions, including rituals and ceremonies; and may provide counseling and the healing arts.
2. Scribe: will maintain the Library and Archives of the Church, oversee the publication and distribution of Church documents, and handle official Church correspondence.
3. Alchemist: will undertake the acquisition, production, and oversight of the physical sacraments of the Church.
4. Missionary: will promulgate the message and mission of the Church to the world.
5. Knight: will pledge to establish and maintain the security of the Church. Responsibilities may include such areas as maintaining telecommunications privacy, protecting the security of meetings and offices, and interfacing with legal officials. Special Crusades may be proposed and undertaken, such as, for example, a concerted attempt to end the persecution of the psychedelic churches.
6. Ambassador: will communicate and intercede with other Churches, other social organizations, and the general public, on behalf of the Church; will handle the Church’s public relations.
XI. RITUALS AND CEREMONIES.
A. Ecclesiastical presentations. The CGL will promote and sponsor certain ceremonial observances. Among them will be the following:
1. Seasonal observances. As a means of attuning the individual’s life with the ecosphere that we are each a part of, the ancient pagan ceremonial observances of the turning-points and mid-points of the seasons will be adopted as official Church rituals. Presentations may incorporate traditional and contemporary elements, and may make use of the creative arts, music, dance, drama, poetry, incense, and whatever else is deemed appropriate. The seasonal observances will include these:
a. The Vernal Equinox, Ostara (Easter), the beginning of Spring, March 21;
b. Beltane, Mayday, May 1;
c. The Summer Solstice, Midsummer, June 21;
d. Lammas, Lugnasadh, August 1;
e. The Autumnal Equinox, the Harvest Festival, September 23;
f. Samhain, Hallowe’en, October 31;
g. The Winter Solstice, Yule (Christmas), December 21; and
h. Oimelc, Candlemas, the Purification Rite, February 1.
2. Lunar observance, four times in each 28-day Lunar month, commemorating the four primary moon phases (new, first quarter, full, and last quarter).
3. Solar observance, four times each day, commemorating the four stations of the Sun (Sunrise, Noon, Sunset, and Midnight).43
4. Life passages. These ceremonies will commemorate important events in the lives of Church members. They will include the following:
a. Birth, a ceremonial welcome of new souls into Earth incarnation and into the Church community;
b. Puberty, a ceremonial recognition of the beginning of sexual maturation of members of the Church community, and initiation into adulthood; marked in women by the first menstruation, and in men by the first ejaculation;
c. Marriage, a ceremonial recognition of the decision of two or more Church members to join their lives together in matrimony;
d. Menopause, a ceremonial recognition of the change of life in Church members, in which they are recognized as Elders of the Church;
e. Death, a ceremonial recognition of passage from Earth incarnation.
5. Confirmation, public commemoration of stages in the association of individual members with the Church, including:
a. Initiation into Church membership, and
b. Initiation into Church office.
B. The Invocation. The object of Gnostic Luminism for the individual is the absolute identification of the human personality with the infinite/eternal gestalt consciousness of All That Is; i.e. the total surrender of the Ego to the Universal Self (or “God”, if one prefers that term). But this surrender involves no loss to the individual; for, in reality, all aspects of oneself that are not already one with the Universal Self are false constructs made of illusion and dream. From this dream we now choose to wake.
We bear no ill will or disdain toward the dream dimensions; we have languished at our leisure in their fragrant fields, and our woes therein were but spice to our passionate play. But the time has come to stir and rise into the light.
The aspiration of the individual to this awakening is formalized and declared to the Universe by the Art of Invocation. When successful, the execution of this Art is answered by a very real Response from the One invoked. Each aspirant must study, practice, and become proficient in this Art, and must create, utilizing the tools of music, the visual arts, poetry, yoga, alchemy, Qabalah, meditation, and the rest, a pure expression of her/his intention to persevere in the Great Work to its ultimate end. This Work often takes many lifetimes; but by taking advantage of the technologies gathered and taught by the CGL, its attainment may be gained as rapidly as one’s aspiration and volition will allow.
The object of invocation, the infinite/eternal Self of All Life, may be visualized and addressed in the guise of any of the Gods and Goddesses of Earth’s many religious traditions, according to individual inspiration and inclination. In the Canon of the CGL, the primary archetype referred to will be the Goddess of Infinite Space, the Great Mother (L. mater, mother, the “matter” of which all Being is composed); as it is written:
“Sing the rapturous love-song unto me! Burn to me perfumes! Wear to me jewels! Drink to me, for I love you! I love you! I am the blue-lidded daughter of Sunset; I am the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night-sky.”44
Classical versions of the Invocation include Crowley’s Liber Samekh45 and the invocation of the Holy Guardian Angel in The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage46.
The text below is provides an example of one way the Invocation might be approached:
* * * Let there be incense, and the music of flutes, and the sound of drums. * * *
O holy One, from which there is no other! I stand now at the threshold of Thy temple. No more do I run from Thee. I have come To offer myself at Thy altar. I recognize the totality of Thy Spirit As it permeates every particle of Matter Of all that is, was, is to come, or might have been. I know I am naught but Thee! Therefore, if it be Thy will, Take this vehicle which I am, And let its every fiber Reflect and manifest Thy light. Let there be naught of Me That is not Thee: Now And forevermore.
“There is no part of me that is not of the Gods.”47
XII. AFFILIATION.
The CGL will seek communication, dialogue, and ecumenical association with other Churches and spiritual organizations that share essential aspects of its doctrine and belief. The following are among the groups with which the CGL will seek initial contact:
A. Church of Ecstasy, 5337 College Avenue #705, Oakland CA 94618;
B. Ecclesia Gnostica, 4516 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90027;
C. Ecclesia Gnostica Catholicæ, c/o O.T.O., JAF Box 7666, New York NY 10116-4632;
D. Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church, PO Box 1161, Minneola FL 34755-1161;
E. Fane of the Psilocybe Mushroom Association, PO Box 8179, Victoria BC V8W 3R8;
F. Gnostic Orthodox Church of Christ in America, c/o St. George Press, Rt. 1, Box 75, Geneva NE 68361;
G. Holy Hemp Sisters, c/o The Hemp Council, PO Box 8137, Santa Cruz CA 95061;
H. Israel Zion Coptic Church, PO Box 292, Ferryville WI 54628;
I. Peyote Way Church of God, Star Route 1, Box 7X, Wilcox AZ 85643;
J. Order for Christic Tribalism, PO Box 5988, Salem OR 97304;
K. Our Church, 1027 Hickory, Fayetteville AR 72703; and
L. Rainbow Family of Living Light, PO Box 28, Oglala SD 57764.
XIII. BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME.
If you, the reader, would like to take part in the creation and establishment of a Church as described in these pages, you are encouraged to contact us. The work of creation will begin as soon as there is a core group of two or more participants who choose to commit themselves to the task. It is up to those who are now alive on Earth to shape the history of the future. As we move through the last days of the Old Millennium, the opportunity for creative change is wide open. Dangers there are in this endeavor, no doubt; but the attainments of greatest value always are accompanied by the greatest risks; and if nothing is ventured, nothing will be gained. May the One True Self of All That Is smile upon this, our Magnum Opus; and may it be a boon and a blessing to all sentient beings!
NOTES
1. The derivation of the English word “know” and the Greek gnosis from a common Indo-European base, gno, is noted in A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language by Walter W. Skeat (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882, revised edition 1911), considered a standard reference in the field of etymology.
2. The word “occult”, from the Latin oculere, to conceal, literally means knowledge or lore that is hidden, obscure, or available only to initiates of a secret tradition.
3. The collection of 4th-century gnostic texts found near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1945, popularly known as the Coptic Gnostic Library, are published in annotated English translation in The Nag Hammadi Library in English, edited by James M. Robinson (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988). For further information, see The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels (NY: Harper & Row, 1979).
4. For background on the Knights Templar, see (1) Edward Burman, The Templars: Knights of God (Vermont: Destiny Books, 1986); and (2) Peter Partner, The Murdered Magicians: The Templars and their Myth (Oxford University Press, 1981). Web info is available at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/3194/ and http://www.cnct.com/home/grantf/index.htm .
5. (1) The Collected Works of Carl Jung, translated from the original German by R. F. C. Hull, are published jointly by the Bollingen Foundation and Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. (2) James Hillman’s works include Re-visioning Psychology (NY: Harper & Row, 1975), The Dream and the Underworld (Harper & Row, 1979), and Archetypal Psychology: A Brief Account (Dallas: Spring Publications, 1983). (3) David L. Miller, The New Polytheism: Rebirth of the Gods and Goddesses (Spring, 1981). (4) Robert Avens, Imagination is Reality: Western Nirvana in Jung, Hillman, Barfield and Cassirer (Spring, 1980), Imaginal Body: Para-Jungian Reflections on Soul, Imagination and Death (University Press of America, 1982), and The New Gnosis (Spring, 1984).
6. The O.T.O. may be contacted c/o JAF Box 7666, New York NY 10116-4632.
7. Pythagoras and his school originated the two major branches of ancient knowledge which diverged during the centuries and became the esoteric tradition of Qabalah and Magick, and the exoteric tradition of mathematics and science.
8. The phrase in quotes is from the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
9. For the Sermon on the Mount, see Matthew chapters 5, 6, & 7, and Luke chapter 6. For the woman taken adultery, see John 8: 1-8. The story of the Good Samaritan is in Luke 10: 30-37.
10. For information on the Bavarian Illuminati and the controversies surrounding it, see Dale R. Gowin, The Principles of Revolutionary Luminism.
11. From Emma Goldman, “Anarchism”, in her Collected Essays (Dover Books). This quote appears on the masthead of Fred Woodworth’s occasional anarchist journal, The Match ($10 for four issues, preferably in cash, stamps, or a postal money order, from PO Box 3012, Tucson AZ 85702.
12. The Haymarket Martyrs were eight anarchist labor leaders who were executed in Chicago on November 11, 1887, supposedly because they were implicated in a bomb-throwing incident, but in reality because of their political beliefs. See the Haymarket Scrapbook, edited by Dave Roediger and Franklin Rosemont (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Pub. Co., 1986).
13. Like the Haymarket Martyrs, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were anarchist labor organizers who were arrested for expressing their political views and executed on trumped-up charges. They were electrocuted in Boston on August 23, 1927.
14. Genesis 3:5.
15. Telepathy: Thought transference, sharing of awareness, “mind meld”.
16. “Distant viewing”— seeing and hearing from a distance, through other media than the physical sense organs.
17. Psychometry: the ability to “read” from material objects information about persons who have touched them.
18. See Mysticism by Evelyn Underhill (NY: E. P. Dutton, 1955).
19. For more on the holographic theory, see The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot, and True Hallucinations by Terence McKenna.
20. This rare, unparalleled classic of mystical literature will be reprinted in the near future by The Church of Gnostic Luminism.
21. “I Am That I Am” is the traditional English translation of one of the Biblical names of the Deity, Aheieh (Exodus 3:14), derived from the same ancient root as the Hebrew Yahweh or Jehovah, the Sumerian Iahu and the Gnostic Iao.
22. The goddess Nuit (pronounced noo-EET), and her mate Hadit (hah-DEET), are described in The Book of the Law, a channeled document received by Aleister Crowley in 1904; included in The Holy Books of Thelema (York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1983) [see note 28 below].
23. The reference is to The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, an important Medieval text that Crowley used and incorporated into his system, which was translated into English in 1898 by S. L. MacGregor Mathers; reprinted in a Dover Books paperback edition.
24. Epistle of Paul to the Colossians, 1:27 (New Testament).
25. “The First World Revolution” was the theme of the editorial in the second issue of the Revolutionary Luminist journal, (R)EVOLUTION, published in Syracuse NY in 1986.
26. In the words of Proudhon: “A revolution is a force against which no power, divine or human, can prevail, and whose nature it is to grow by the very resistance it encounters.... The more you repress it, the more you increase its rebound and render its action irresistible.... Like the Nemesis of the ancients, whom neither prayers nor threats could move, the revolution advances, with somber and predestined tread, over the flowers strewn by its friends, through the blood of its defenders, over the bodies of its enemies.”
27. A quote from Lawrence Block’s novel, Random Walk.
28. The Law of Thelema was transmitted to Earth through the prophet Aleister Crowley, in a channeled document called Liber AL vel Legis or The Book of the Law. It was received in 1904 in Cairo, Egypt. The text is available in several editions, including The Holy Books of Thelema.
29. Gospel of Matthew 5:17.
30. For a discussion of the akashic records, see the introduction to The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ by “Levi” (Leo H. Dowling), a visionary document detailing the hidden life and teachings of the Messiah (Santa Monica, CA: DeVorss & Co., 1908, regularly reprinted).
31. The aesthetic “shaping” of reality by the “divine will” is poetically reflected by Aleister Crowley in the sublime verses of Liber Cordis Sincte Serpente: “Let us take our delight in the multitude of men! Let us shape unto ourselves a boat of mother-of-pearl from them, that we may ride upon the river of Amrit!” [The Holy Books of Thelema, p. 55.]
32. Crowley, Eight Lectures on Yoga.
33. The potion used in the Eleusinian mysteries, called the kykeon, and its possible connection with LSD, is discussed in the book The Road to Eleusis by Albert Hofmann, R. Gordon Wasson, and Carl A. P. Ruck (New York: Harcourt-Brace-Jovanovich, 1978).
34. Acts of the Apostles 5:29.
35. I Corinthians 3:16.
36. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, a true pinnacle of mystical literature (see the 1975 Oxford University Press reproduction, published in association with the Trianon Press, Paris). Blake writes: “Energy is the only life, and from the body; and Reason is the bound or outward circumference of Energy. Energy is eternal delight.”
37. Specific instruction in this area will be published separately by the CGL.
38. Blake, Marriage of Heaven and Hell.
39. Liber AL vel Legis (The Book of the Law), I:57.
40. Liber AL, I:51.
41. Ina May Gaskin, A Cooperative Method of Birth Control (Summertown, TN: The Book Pub. Co.)
42. See Liber AL, I:27-30.
43. The standard rubric for the Solar Observance is Crowley’s Liber Resh, included as an Appendix to Book Four Part Three [Magick in Theory and Practice] (York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser).
44. Liber AL, I:63-64.
45. Included in the Appendix to Book Four Part Three.
46. See note 23 above.
47. From Crowley’s Gnostic Mass (included in the Appendix to Book Four Part Three).
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