 Slack and sleeping senses must be addressed with thunder and heavenly fireworks. But the voice of beauty [Tiphereth] speaks gently [since as Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, taught: "There is no compulsion in religion" -Qur'an 2:256]: it creeps only into the most awakened souls. Gently trembled and laughed my shield [Bodhichitta] today; that is the holy laughter and tremor of beauty [since Tiphereth in Kabbalah is the human soul, the spiritual warrior or Bodhisattva]. About you, the virtuous [whose false piety makes small, petty, and foolish], my beauty [Tiphereth] laughed today. And thus its voice [telepathically] came to me: "They still want to be paid [recompensed for their false virtues]."
You who are virtuous still want to be paid [for you are Pharisees]! Do you want rewards for virtue [Bodhichitta], and heaven [spiritual experiences] for earth [Malkuth, the body developing through initiation], and the eternal for your today? And now are you angry with me because that I teach that there is no [Dharmic] reward and paymaster? [for "Go into your loneliness with your love (Gedulah) and with your creation (Bodhichitta and solar bodies), my brother (fellow initiate); and only much later will justice limp after you -Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Book I: On the Way of the Creator]. And verily, I do not even teach that [false] virtue is its own reward. Alas, that is my sorrow: they have lied reward and punishment into the foundation of things, and now also into the foundation of your souls, you who are [falsely] virtuous. But like the boar's snout, my words shall tear open the foundation of your souls: a plowshare [who preaches the doctrine in Malkuth, the earth] will I be to you. All the secrets of your foundation shall come to light; and when you lie uprooted and broken in the sun [the light of Ahura Mazda, the Cosmic Christ], then will your lies also be separated from your truths. For this is your truth: you are too pure for the filth of the words: revenge, punishment, reward, retribution. You love your [egotistical] virtue as a mother her child; but when has a mother ever wished to be paid for her love? Your virtue is what is dearest to you. The thirst of the ring [of damnation in Yesod, see: Der Ring Des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner] lives in you: every ring strives and turns to reach itself again [through Karma and Recurrence]. And like a dying star [Ain Soph that is without realization] is every work of your virtue: its light [in Malkuth and in the Abyss] is always still on its way [seeking to return to the Absolute] and wanders [confused and disoriented in hell]—and when will it no longer be on its way [wandering in the Abyss]? Thus the light of your virtue is still on its way [seeking to return to the Absolute with cognizance) even when the work has been done [you Pharisees continue to be filled with mystical pride even after you have performed good works; you are attached to your concepts of "virtues"]. Though it be forgotten and dead, the ray of its light [Glorian] still lives and wanders [trapped in the Abyss]. That your [genuine] virtue is your [Inner] self [Atman the Ineffable, the spirit mentioned by Nietzsche] and not something foreign, a skin [to be torn off in hell through the Second Death], a cloak [covering the truth of the Abyss, that the gods are born from the work in the inferno], that is the truth [Glorian] from the foundation of your souls, you who are [falsely] virtuous [and ignore your single Virtue: Ain Soph Paranishpanna!]. Yet there are those for whom virtue is the spasm under the scourge, and you have listened to their clamor ["noise," Hebrew: Sana, as in the name of the demon Sanagabril] too much. And there are others who call it virtue when their vices grow lazy [hidden from their perception as a result of lacking self-observation]; and when their hatred and jealousy stretch their limbs for once, then their "justice" comes to life and rubs its sleepy eyes [through false piety]. And there are others who are drawn downward [towards hell]: their [egotistical] devils draw them. But the more they sink, the more fervently glow their eyes and their lust for their [false, monotheistic] god. Alas, their clamor [Sana] has too reached your ears, you who are [falsely] virtuous: "What I am not, that, that to me are God and virtue!" [For as Nietzsche wrote about in the chapter On the Priests, "Verily, their redeemers themselves did not come out of freedom (the Absolute) and the seventh heaven of freedom (the spheres of Kether, Chokmah and Binah). Verily, they themselves have never walked on the carpets of knowledge (Gnosis, Da'ath, Marifah, etc.). Of gaps was the (false) spirit of these (delusional) redeemers made up; but into every gap (of their understanding of the sacred scriptures) they put their delusion, their stopgap, which they called God.] And there are others who come along, heavy and creaking like carts carrying stones [of Yesod] downhill [towards Klipoth, like Sisyphus condemned for his fornication with the boulder of sex]: they talk much of dignity and virtue—they call their brake virtue. And there are others who are like cheap clocks that must be wound: they tick and they want the tick-tock to be called virtue [the intellectuals and scholars who will tell you precisely everything they do not know from experience; for "They are good clockworks; but take care to wind them correctly! Then they indicate the hour without fail and make a modest noise (when you ask them questions and they repeat the library of their intellect with precision)." -Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Book II: On Scholars]. Verily, I have my pleasure in these: wherever I find such clocks, I shall wind and wound them with my mockery [from the heights of mount Empyrean, the winds of the spirit; see Book II: "On the Rabble"], and they shall whir for me. And others are proud of their handful of justice and commit all outrages against all things for its sake, till the world is drowned in their injustice. Oh, how ill the word virtue comes out of their mouths! And when they say, "I am just," it always sounds like "I am just—revenged." With their [false] virtue they want to scratch out the eyes of their enemies, and they exalt themselves only to humble others. And then again their are such as sit in their swamp [of resentment] and speak thus out of the reeds: "Virtue—that is sitting still in a swamp. We bite no one and avoid those who want to bite; and in all things we hold the opinion that is given to us." [See Mr. Goliadkin from Dostoevsky's The Double]. And then again there are such as love gestures and think that virtue is some kind of gesture [appearance]. Their knees always adore [through kneeling], and their hands are hymns to virtue, but their heart [Tiphereth] knows nothing about it [through conscious works and voluntary sufferings]. And then again there are such as consider it virtue to say, "Virtue is necessary"; but at bottom they believe only that the police is necessary. And some who cannot see what is high [heavenly] in man call it virtue that they see all-too-closely what is low [Klipothic] in man: thus they call their evil eye virtue. And some want to be edified and elevated, and they call that virtue, while others want to be bowled over, and they call that virtue too. And thus almost all believe that they have a share in virtue; and at the very least everyone wants to be an expert on [the Tree of the Knowledge of] good and evil. Yet Zarathustra [a Bodhisattva from the Ray of War and Power] did not come to say to all these liars and fools: "What do you know of virtue? What could you know of virtue?" Rather, that you, my [Gnostic] friends, might grow weary of the old words you have learned from the fools and liars. Weary of the words: reward, retribution, punishment, and revenge in justice [since Geburah, severity and the law, must be balanced by Chesed, Mercy]. Weary of saying: what makes an act good is that it is unselfish [for the demons all believe themselves to be without "self"]. Oh, my friends, that your [Innermost] self be in your deed [Bodhichitta] as the [Divine] mother is in her child [Bodhisattva] —let that be your [Christic] word concerning virtue! Verily, I may have taken a hundred words from you and the dearest toys of your [false] virtue, and now you are angry with me, as [egotistical] children are angry. They played by the sea [of the Divine Mother Urania, the Ocean of Uncreated Light] and a wave [Bodhisattva] came and carried off their toy to the depths [the emptiness]: now they are crying. But the same wave [Bodhisattva] shall bring them new toys and shower new colorful shells before them. Thus they will be comforted [by entering into initiation]; and like them, you too, my friends, shall have your comfortings—and new colorful shells. Thus Spoke Zarathustra. From Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Nietzsche, translated by Walter Kaufmann
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 You give but little (and receive less dharma) when you give of your (material) possessions.
It is when you give of yourself (through bodhichitta, sacrificing your last drop of blood for suffering humanity) that you truly give. For what are your (material and psychological) possessions (your vanity, pride, self-esteem, social prestige, and position) but things you keep (out of attachment and identification) and guard (defend) for fear you may need them tomorrow (since you dread the uncertainties of both life and death)? And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the overprudent dog (the terrified intellectual animal) burying bones (securities, investments, projects, and commitments that spiritually are but refuse) in the trackless sand (life's impermanence) as he follows the pilgrims (solar initiates) to the holy city (the heavenly ירושלים Jerusalem, the Chakra Sahasrara or Church of Laodicea)? And what is fear of need but need itself (for when afflicted by the disease of "more," always striving to acquire more impressions, are we not truly impoverished in soul)? Is not dread of thirst (hunger, starvation, ordeals, and pains) when your well is full (with the sexual creative waters of transmutation) the thirst that is unquenchable (because we squander the energies of sexual alchemy in futile apprehensions)? There are those who give little (with genuine selflessness) of the much (ego) which they have―and they give it for recognition (among spiritual communities) and their hidden (egotistical) desire makes their gifts unwholesome (before divinity, as Cain's offerings were compared to Abel's). And there are those who have little and give it all (as humble initiates in the Great Work). These are the believers in life (alchemists who know how to be through the power of love, worshiping חי Chai, life, the Holy Spirit) and the bounty of life (for all dharma emerges through the Gnostic mysteries of chastity), and their coffer is never empty (due to the rights of Canchorrita and the rigors of probationism). There are those who give with joy (Arcanum 19: Inspiration), and that joy is their reward. And there are those who give with pain (Arcanum 9: The Hermit), and that pain is their baptism (entrance into initiation). And there are those who give (sacrifice for humanity) and know not pain in giving (for they are not identified with the mind), nor do they seek joy (rewards or recognition), nor give with mindfulness of virtue (attachments towards the Kabbalistic pillar of Mercy); They give as in yonder valley (the worlds of Klipoth) the myrtle breathes its (chaste) fragrance (of sexual transmutation) into (the Abstract Absolute) space (for the greatest masters exude the exotic and rare perfume of humility even from within the depths of the greatest suffering). Through the hands (ידיים Iodim, singular יד Iod, the bodhisattva or terrestrial personality) of such as these (Innermost masters) God (the Intimate Christ) speaks, and from behind their (purified) eyes (of דעת Da'ath) He smiles upon the earth (Malkuth). It is well to give when asked (out of ethics, compassion, and Shravakayana teachings), but it is better to give unasked (through the Mahayana), through (intuitive) understanding (the diamond vehicle of supreme tantra); And to the open-handed (Apostolate of the twelfth arcanum) the search for one who shall receive (the Gnostic teachings) is joy greater than giving (for in the words of Friedrich Nietzsche in Thus Spoke Zarathustra: "Which of us has to be thankful? Should not the giver be thankful that the receiver received? Is not giving a need? Is not receiving mercy?). And is there aught you would withhold? (due to bodhichitta and the complete sacrifice of yourself, for as Samael Aun Weor wrote in The Aquarian Message: "If you are willing to give the last drop of blood for the love of this suffering humanity, then you are one of us. Whosoever wants to reach the altar of initiation must transform the self into the immolated lamb upon the altar of supreme sacrifice"). All you have (materially received due to return, recurrence, transmigration, and karma) shall some day be given (since the only certainty is that life is transient); Therefore give now (voluntarily through initiation), that the season of giving (the eternal beatitude of Christic compassion) may be yours (here and now) and not your inheritors' (those who will later walk the spiritual path after your time has eclipsed). You often say, "I would give (the Gnostic teachings), but only to the deserving (to those candidates who have proven their worth)." The trees (of Life and Knowledge) in your orchard (your soul and spirit) say not so, nor the flocks (of students and initiates) in your pasture (esoteric school). They give (sacrifice for humanity) that they may live (through spiritual blessings and inner mystical experiences from divinity), for to withhold is to perish ("For to every one who has [spiritual development] will more be given, and he will have abundance [dharmic blessing]; but from him who has not [who lacks compassion and inner psychological work], even what he has will be taken away" Matthew 25:29). Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights (the cycles of fortune's retributive wheel within Arcanum 10), is worthy of all else from you (since Aquarian charity demands we give this knowledge to those who least deserve it, and not stint due to Piscean conservatism). And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life (the Abstract Absolute Space, the אין Ain, אין סוף Ain Soph, אין סוף אור Ain Soph Aur) deserves to fill his cup from your little stream (of direct knowledge and mystical experiences). And what desert (wilderness of initiation, בַּמִּדְבָּר be'midbar) greater shall there be, than that which lies in the (lion of Judah's) courage (in the three spiritual metamorphoses) and the confidence (discrimination, zeal, and certainty), nay the charity, of receiving (the doctrine with an open mind and heart)? And who are you that men (solar initiates) should rend their bosom and unveil their pride (debase themselves before you), that you may see their worth naked and their pride unabashed (for the masters of humanity are worth less than the ashes of a cigarette)? See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver (through the three factors of spiritual revolution), and an instrument of giving (through meditation). For in truth it is life that gives unto life while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness (الشاهد al-Shahid). And you receivers (gnostic students)―and you are all receivers―assume no weight of gratitude (psychological attachments and dependence) lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him (the instructor) who gives (you Gnosis). Rather rise together (upon the path of initiation) with the giver on his gifts (spiritual teachings) as on wings (of Ida and Pingala: the two witnesses that take you to the superior worlds); For to be overmindful of your (karmic) debt, is to doubt his (solar) generosity who has the freehearted earth for (divine) mother, and God for (divine) father.  Sexual union is holy and pure (chaste), when performed in the right way (through retention and sublimation of the libido), at the right time (in accordance with the creative magnetic pause), and with the right intention (bodhichitta). Let no one think that there is anything shameful (lascivious) or ugly (selfish and egotistical) in such (alchemical) union. The right kind of union is called knowing (דעת Da'ath, sexual transmutation or divine knowledge from experience). Unless it were very holy, it would not be called knowing (since through commanding sexual energy with expedient knowledge, comprehension, intelligence, purity, and compassion, we validate how love is the highest religion). This matter is not as Rabbi Moses Maimonides, of blessed memory, imagined and thought in his Guide to the Perplexed, where he praises Aristotle for stating that the sense of touch is shameful (lustful). This matter is not as that Greek said; what he said smacks of subtle heresy (because there is more to sexual union than mere gratification of animal pleasure). If that Greek scoundrel believed that the world was created with divine intention, he would not have said what he said. But we, who possess the holy Torah (the law of the great arcanum: sexual magic), believe that God created everything as divine wisdom decreed (for in בְּרֵאשִׁית Bereshit, "In wisdom Elohim created" the superior states of consciousness and the solar bodies through a perfect matrimony). God created nothing shameful or ugly (since it is the ego, animal desire, that corrupts sexuality). If (chaste) sexual union is shameful, then the genitals (which can give birth to the superhuman through transmutation) are too. Yet God created them! How could God create something blemished, disgraceful, or deficient (since the רוח אלהים Ruach Elohim, the spirit of God, hovers upon the face of the Genesiatic waters of sexuality during alchemy)? After all, the Torah states: "God saw everything that he had made, and behold: very good!" The evidence is clear (to alchemists who do not fornicate). In the account of Creation we read: "The two of them were naked, the man and his wife, yet they felt no shame" (since primordial humanity did not create the ego). Before they ate from the Tree of Knowledge (perverting the sacramental sexual act into prostituted desire), they were contemplating (in the superior worlds of consciousness) the pure forms (the masters of the White Lodge who completed the work and with whom ancient humanity could communicate with easily), and their intention (concentration and purpose for sexual union) was entirely holy (chaste). To them, the genitals were like eyes (עיניים Aynim, since the power of the testes is how we testify to divine truths from experience or דעת Da'ath) and hands (the force of action, since all of our psychological processes originate from the creative energy) or other parts of the (microcosmic) body (of Adam Kadmon, the solar human). When sexual union is for the sake of heaven (spiritual development, and not the satisfaction of lust), there is nothing as holy or pure. The union of man and woman, when it is right (according to divine law), is the secret of civilization (the esoteric doctrine of all the great mystery schools throughout antiquity). Thereby, one becomes a partner with God in the act of Creation (for as stated in John 3:6: "that which is born of the flesh" through orgasm "is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit" through transmutation "is spirit"). This is the secret meaning of the sages: "When a man unites with his wife in holiness, the divine presence is between them."  Human thought (conscious willpower, תפארת Tiphereth: Jacob) has the power to expand (conscious virtues) and ascend (within the base of the spinal medulla) to its origin (the atom of the Holy Spirit, "Who," מי Mem-Iod, the מ waters of the Father, י Iod, residing within the brain, for as stated in Psalms 113:5: "מי Who is like unto אֱלֹהִים Elohim our God, who dwelleth on high?" within the cerebral-spinal fluids). Attaining the source (the Innermost, whose throne is the cranium and its nervous systems), she (Shekinah-Kundalini from the sacral Chakra Muladhara) is joined (via the spine, Tree of Life, or Jacob's ladder) with the upper light (of בינה Binah, the solar intelligence of our superior intellectual center) from which she emanated. She (Shekinah-Shakti, the force of מה Mah or מ waters of sexuality, the womb, ה Hei, of spiritual creation in יסוד Yesod) and he (אברהם Abraham, the Holy Spirit or Shiva) become one (through initiation, for as declared in Lamentations 2:13: "מה What thing shall I take to witness for thee?"). Then, when thought (conscious will, תפארת Tiphereth: Jacob, the power of the heart) emanates once again, all becomes a single ray (of perfected Kundalini): the upper light (or heavenly Akashic water, the cerebral spinal fluid) is drawn down by the power of thought (concentration and conscious perception, to coagulate and mingle within the sexual crucible of creative energy). In this way the divine presence appears on earth (מלכות Malkuth: the physical body). A bright light (superior level of being) shines and spreads around the place where the meditator is sitting (since the sacred fire helps to deepen one's internal states of serenity and focus). Similarly, when a man and woman unite (to practice white tantra: alchemy), and their thought (concentration and conscious perception) joins the beyond (the remembrance of divinity), that thought draws down the upper light (of the Logos within their spinal columns to guide their practices). You should welcome her (your spouse) with words that draw her heart, calm her mind, and bring her joy (through "Happiness, Music, Dance, and the Kiss"). Then her mind will be linked with yours, and your (pure) intention (bodhichitta) with hers. Speak with her in (chaste and innocent) words that arouse desire (sexual yearning), (conscious) love, and passionate (fiery) union―and in words that draw her to the awe (remembrance) of God (within the blissful and divine ritual of tantra). ―Anonymous (thirteenth century) Iggeret ha-Qodesh, from The Essential Kabbalah by Daniel C. Matt Seeking Alchemical Knowledge?  I love the forest. It is bad to live in cities: there too many are in heat. Is it not better to fall into the hands of a murderer (Divine Mother Death) than into the dreams of a woman in heat (Kali in the abyss of fornication: Lilith and Nahemah)? And behold these men: their eyes say it—they know of nothing better on earth than to lie with a woman. Mud (fornication) is at the bottom of their souls; and woe if their mud also has spirit (Bodhichitta)! Would that you were as perfect as animals at least (who are still in the process of evolution upon the Bhavachakra)! But animals have innocence (because they obey instinct without having intellect, lacking the capacity and knowledge to discriminate purity from impurity: good and evil). Do I counsel you to slay your senses (through repressing your sexuality)? I counsel the innocence of the senses (through the path of balance, comprehension, transformation of impressions and conquering desire through sexual magic). Do I counsel you to chastity (sexual abstinence)? Chastity (sexual abstinence) is a virtue in some, but almost a vice in many (such as with the Catholic priesthood). They abstain (from sexual relations), but the bitch, sensuality, (lust) leers enviously out of everything they do. Even to the heights of their virtue and to the cold regions of the spirit this beast follows them with her lack of peace (because despite severe austerities and repression, the ego continues to exist in the subconsciousness, unconsciousness, and infraconsciousness, following them wherever they go. Without comprehension of their animal instincts, there is no elimination). And how nicely the bitch, sensuality, (lust) knows how to beg for a piece of spirit (impressions through lustful gazing) when denied a piece of meat (physical copulation. Yet: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:27-28). Do you love tragedies (sexual dramas, adulteries, fornications, betrayals) and everything that breaks the heart? But I mistrust you bitch (lust). Your eyes are too cruel (fanatic and obsessive from Poisonioonoskirian vibrations, which is the outcome of sexual repression) and you search lustfully for sufferers (people to make jealous of your lustful appearance or to subjugate through blind obedience to your religious forms). Is it not merely your lust that has disguised itself and now calls itself pity (for your innocent devotees whom you abuse, molest, corrupt, and kill)? And this parable too I offer you: not a few who wanted to drive out their devil have themselves entered into swine (like Wagner's Klingsor in Parsifal whom, once a Knight of the Holy Grail or sexual mysteries, thought he could conquer his lust by castrating himself, thereby converting into a eunuch black magician for rejecting what he could not command). Those for whom chastity (sexual abstinence) is difficult should be counseled against it (to practice sexual sublimation), lest it become their road to hell (as as happened with many Catholic priests)—the mud and (lustful) heat of their souls. Do I speak of dirty (sexual) things? That is not the worst that could happen. It is not when truth is dirty (sexual), but when it is shallow (superficial, like many theories given to sexual expression today) that the lover of knowledge (דעת Da'ath, كيمياء Alchemy, γνῶσις Gnosis) is reluctant to step into its waters (the universal symbol of Aquarian sexual knowledge: the Water Bearer of the Zodiac). Verily, some are chaste (pure) through and through (in both mind and body): they are gentler of heart (because of pranayama, prayer, and profound devotion to divinity), fonder of laughter, and laugh more than you (because transmuted sexual energy brings the genuine love, joy, and compassion of the soul, unlike those who are abstinent but do not transmute the sexual energy, and thereby live within a sour, morbid, pessimistic, and shameful psychological atmosphere). They laugh also at chastity (sexual abstinence), and ask: "What is chastity (sexual abstinence)? Is chastity (sexual abstinence) not folly (when compared to sexual magic, because how can you compare the victories of a single person to a married couple who masters the sexual act through White Tantra)? But the folly came unto us, and not we unto it (since we found the teachings when we were not married yet). We offered that guest hostel and heart: now it dwells with us—may it stay as long as it will (until the moment we find our destined spouse for alchemy)!" From Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Nietzsche, translated by Walter Kaufmann Learn why love and sex are the highest religion: Sacred Sexuality and Transmutation Sex: to all hair-shirted despisers of the body (fakirs who repress any sexual expression because of fanaticism and fear), their thorn and stake (because sexual transmutation or chastity is a source of pain for them), and cursed as "world" (lustful and degenerate) among all the afterworldly (people who believe in a vague, superfluous heaven) because it mocks and fools all teachers of error and confusion (who do not know how to transform the sexual act into a sacrament of Rome: Amore, love). Sex: for the rabble (fornicators), the slow (lustful) fire on which they are burned (with animal passion); for all worm-eaten wood (the egotistical decay of the tree of knowledge) and all stinking (lunar) rags (or kamarupa: desire-body of the astral dimension), the ever-ready rut and oven (of bestial copulation, whether physically, or through masturbation and wet dreams). Sex: for free hearts (initiates on the solar path), innocent and free (chaste and pure), the garden happiness of the earth (יסוד Yesod: Eden), the future's exuberant gratitude to the present (since through alchemy, the Superhuman can be realized here and now). Sex: only for the wilted (those who are diseased and decrepit from too much fornication), a sweet poison (the orgasm that is sweet to the senses, but destructive for the flowers or chakras of the soul); for the lion-willed (bodhisattvas), however, the great invigoration of the heart (since תִּפְאֶרֶת Tiphereth, the "beauty" of the soul, is enflamed through the sexual stone of יסוד Yesod, the secret science of סוֹדי Sodi: transmutation) and the reverently reserved wine of wines (the sexual energy that is always conserved, never expelled through orgasm, and transformed into the serpents of Fire and Light upon the First Mountain: Initiation). Sex: the (natural and divine) happiness that is the great parable of a higher happiness and the highest hope (since all true realizations are the result of working in the perfect matrimony: the secret path of initiation that has never been made public until the writings of Samael Aun Weor, existing previously in in the form of scriptural allegories and Biblical symbolism). For to many is (terrestrial, common) marriage promised, and more than marriage (the alchemical wedding of the soul)—to many who are stranger (mysterious) to each other than man and woman. And who can wholly comprehend (with the exalted, superlative consciousness of the Being) how strange (mysterious) man and woman are to each other (for love is a divine mystery)? Sex—but I want to have fences (allegories, parables, symbols) around my thoughts and even around my words, lest swine (fornicators) and swooners (adulterers) break into my garden (my kabbalistic and alchemical teachings in order to mock it)! From Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Nietzsche, translated by Walter Kaufmann Discover Alchemy, Kabbalah, and Gnosticism in Nietzsche's writings: The Energy of the Consciousness Herein is contained The Introduction to Awareness: Natural Liberation through Naked Perception, which is an extract from the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities: A Profound and Sacred Teaching, entitled Natural Liberation through Recognition of Enlightened Intention. The Introduction to AwarenessThough this single nature of mind, which completely pervades both cyclic existence and nirvana, Has been naturally present from the beginning, you have not recognised it. Even though its radiance and awareness have never been interrupted, You have not yet encountered its true face. Even though it arises unimpededly in every facet of existence, You have not as yet recognised this single nature of mind. In order that this single nature might be recognised by you, The Conquerors of the three times have taught an inconceivably vast number of practices, Including the eighty-four thousand aspects of the sacred teachings. Yet, despite this diversity, not even one of these teachings has been given by the Conquerors, Outside the context of an understanding of this nature! And even though there are inestimable volumes of sacred writings, equally vast as the limits of space, Actually, these teachings can be succinctly expressed in a few words, which are the introduction to awareness. The Actual Introduction to AwarenessOh fortunate children, listen to these words! The term 'mind' is commonplace and widely used, Yet there are those who do not understand its meaning, Those who falsely understand it, those who partially understand it, And those who have not quite understood its genuine reality. Thus there has arisen an inconceivably vast number of assertions as to the nature of mind, Posited by the various philosophical systems. Further, since ordinary persons do not understand the meaning of the term 'mind,' And do not intuitively recognise its nature, They continue to roam through the six classes of sentient rebirth within the three world-systems, And consequently experience suffering. This is the fault of not understanding this intrinsic nature of mind. The Three ConsiderationsThe following is the introduction to the means of experiencing this single nature of mind Through the application of three considerations: First, recognise that past thoughts are traceless, clear, and empty, Second, recognise that future thoughts are unproduced and fresh, And third, recognise that the present moment abides naturally and unconstructed. When this ordinary, momentary consciousness is examined nakedly and directly by oneself, Upon examination, it is a radiant awareness, Which is free from the presence of an observer, Manifestly stark and clear, Completely empty and uncreated in all respects, Lucid, without duality of radiance and emptiness, Not permanent, for it is lacking inherent existence in all respects, Not a mere nothingness, for it is radiant and clear, Not a single entity, for it is clearly perceptible as a multiplicity, Yet not existing inherently as a multiplicity, for it is indivisible and of a single savour. This intrinsic awareness, which is not extraneously derived, Is itself the genuine introduction to the abiding nature of all things. Consequences of the Introduction to AwarenessWhen the introduction is powerfully applied in accordance with the above method for entering into this reality: One's own immediate consciousness is this very reality! Abiding in this reality, which is uncontrived and naturally radiant, How can one say that one does not understand the nature of mind? Abiding in this reality, wherein there is nothing on which to meditate, How can one say that, by having entered into meditation, one was not successful? Abiding in this reality, which is one's actual awareness itself, How can one say that one could not find one's own mind? Abiding in this reality, the uninterrupted union of radiance and awareness, How can one say that the true face of mind has not been seen? Abiding in this reality, which is itself the cogniser, How can one say that, though sought, this cogniser could not be found? Abiding in this reality, where there is nothing at all to be done, How can one say that, whatever one did, one did not succeed? Given that it is sufficient to leave this awareness as it is, uncontrived, How can one say that one could not continue to abide in that state? Given that it is sufficient to leave it as it is, without doing anything whatsoever, How can one say that one could not do just that? Given that, within this reality, radiance, awareness, and emptiness are inseparable and spontaneously present, How can one say that, by having practised, one attained nothing? Given that this reality is naturally originating and spontaneously present, without causes or conditions, How can one say that, by having made the effort to find it, one was incapable of success? Given that the arising and liberation of conceptual thoughts occur simultaneously, How can one say that, by having applied this antidote to conceptual thoughts, one was not effective? Abiding in this immediate consciousness itself, How can one say that one does not know this reality? Observations Related to Examining the Nature of MindBe certain that the nature of mind is empty and without foundation. One's own mind is insubstantial, like an empty sky. Look at your own mind to see whether it is like that or not. Divorced from views which constructedly determine the nature of emptiness, Be certain that pristine cognition, naturally originating, is primordially radiant -- Just like the nucleus of the sun, which is itself naturally originating. Look at your own mind to see whether it is like that or not! ---------- Be certain that this awareness, which is pristine cognition, is uninterrupted, Like the coursing central torrent of a river which flows unceasingly. Look at your own mind to see whether it is like that or not! ---------- Be certain that conceptual thoughts and fleeting memories are not strictly identifiable, But insubstantial in their motion, like the breezes of the atmosphere. Look at your own mind to see whether it is like that or not! ---------- Be certain that all that appears is naturally manifest in the mind, Like the images in a mirror which also appear naturally. Look at your own mind to see whether it is like that or not! ---------- Be certain that all characteristics are liberated right where they are, Like the clouds of the atmosphere, naturally originating and naturally dissolving. Look at your own mind to see whether it is like that or not! ---------- There are no phenomena extraneous to those that originate from the mind. So, how could there be anything on which to mediate apart from the mind? There are no phenomena extraneous to those that originate from the mind. So there are no modes of conduct to be undertaken extraneous to those that originate from the mind. There are no phenomena extraneous to those that originate from the mind. So, there are no commitments to be kept extraneous to those that originate from the mind. There are no phenomena extraneous to those that originate from the mind. So, there are no results to be attained extraneous to those that originate from the mind. There are no phenomena extraneous to those that originate from the mind, So one should observe one's own mind, looking into its nature again and again. If, upon looking outwards towards the external expanse of the sky, There are no projections emanated by the mind, And if, on looking inwards at one's own mind, There is no projectionist who projects thoughts by thinking them, Then, one's own mind, completely free from conceptual projections, will become luminously clear. ―Excerpts from The Tibetan Book of the Dead by Padmasambhava Want to learn more about this topic? Introduction to Awareness
Gnostic Commentary on a Buddhist Text:
On a certain day when the Buddha dwelt at Jetavana, a celestial deva (angel, master) came to him in the shape of a Brahman (priest), whose countenance was bright and whose (inner) garments (solar bodies) were white as snow (due to his perfect chastity).
The deva asked the Buddha, "What is the sharpest sword? What is the deadliest poison? What is the fiercest fire? What is the darkest night?" The Buddha replied, "A word spoken in wrath is the sharpest sword (because it cuts both speaker and hearer); covetousness is the deadliest poison (because poison kills the entire body, not just the mouth that ingests it); hatred is the fiercest fire (the agony of hatred burns without rest); ignorance is the darkest night (lack of gnosis is the deepest suffering)." The deva asked, "What is the greatest gain? What is the greatest loss? What armor is invulnerable? What is the best weapon?" The Buddha replied, "The greatest gain is to give to others (this is the law of the Christ); the greatest loss is to receive (Kabbalah) without gratitude (those who receive wisdom and horde it, or who corrupt it, suffer the greatest loss, because the Christ will never incarnate in them). Patience is an invulnerable armor (patience is the secret key to initiation, and with it, one can never be harmed by any ordeal); wisdom (Chokmah, Christ) is the best weapon." The deva asked, "Who is the most dangerous thief? What is the most precious treasure?" The Buddha replied, "Unwholesome thought is the most dangerous thief (the mind is our worst enemy); virtue (vir- comes from virility: sexual potency) is the most precious treasure." The deva asked, "What is attractive? What is unpleasant? What is the most horrible pain? What is the greatest enjoyment?" The Buddha replied, "Wholesomeness (that which is in accordance with the Law; that is, it is whole in Christ) is attractive; unwholesomeness (that which is contrary to the Law) is unpleasant. A bad conscience is the most tormenting pain (that is, a consciousness trapped in evil deeds); awakening the height of bliss (ecstasy, samadhi, the clear perception of the awakened bodhicitta)." The deva asked, "What causes ruin in the world? What breaks off friendships? What is the most violent fever? Who is the best physician?" The Buddha replied, "Ignorance (lack of gnosis / da'ath) causes ruin in the world; envy and selfishness break off friendships; hatred is the most violent fever; the (inner) Buddha is the best physician." (These are the three poisons which are the axle of the wheel of suffering.) The deva then continued, "Now I have only one doubt to be cleared away: What is it fire cannot burn, nor moisture corrode, nor wind crush down, but is able to benefit the whole world?" The Buddha replied, "Blessing! Neither fire, nor moisture, nor wind can destroy the blessing of a good deed (right action); and blessings benefit the whole world." (Therefore, learn how to embody right action: the will of the Inner Buddha as performed by his human soul: Tiphereth.) Hearing these answers, the deva was filled with joy. Bowing down in respect, he dissapeared suddenly from the presence of the Buddha.  Flee, my friend, into your solitude (meditation)! I see you dazed by the noise of the great men (who pretend to be initiates) and stung all over by the stings of the little men (the common rabble, the fornicators). Woods and crags know how to keep a dignified silence with you. Be like the tree (of life of the Kabbalah) that you love with its wide branches: silently listening (in comprehension, knowledge, and understanding), it hangs over the sea (the creative waters of transmutation). Where solitude (meditation) ceases the market place begins (the pseudo-spiritual and esoteric groups); and where the market place (esoteric schools) begins the noise of the great actors and the buzzing of the poisonous flies begins too. In the world even the best things amount to nothing without someone to make a show of them (not even the great teachings of the prophets, the messengers of the Superman, can remain alone; they are prostituted by the rabble): great men (initiates, masters) the people call these showmen. Little do the people comprehend the great—that is, the creating (through sexual alchemy). But they have a mind for all showmen and actors of great things. Around the inventors of new values the world revolves: invisibly it revolves (since the prophets, the heralds of the Superman, guide humanity). But around the actors revolve the people and fame: that is the way of the world. The actor has spirit (גדולה Gedulah, the Innermost) but little conscience (awareness, conscious knowledge, or initiatic development) of the spirit. Always he has faith in that with which he inspires the most faith—faith in himself. Tomorrow he has a new faith, and the day after tomorrow a newer one (since these students are mere butterflies who wander from esoteric group to esoteric group, adopting and abandoning multiple teachings). He has quick senses, like the people, and capricious moods. To overthrow (in an argument)—that means to him: to prove. To drive to frenzy (through impassioned speech)—that means to him: to persuade. And blood (energy, attention, adulation) is to him the best of all reasons. A truth that slips into delicate ears alone he calls a lie and nothing (because these so-called "initiates" really are not that; they have no development). Verily, he believes only in gods (egos, idols in his mind) who make a big noise in the world! Full of solemn jesters is the market place (these pseudo-esoteric and esoteric institutions throughout the world)—and the people (Gnostics) pride themselves on their great men, their masters of the hour. But the hour presses them; so they press you. And from you too they want a Yes or No (they secretly want you to agree with them or to provide an answer to their obtrusive questions). Alas, do you want to place your chair between pro and con (the battle of the antitheses, the subjective rationalizations of the animal ego)?  Do not be jealous of these unconditional, pressing men, you lover of truth (you genuine Gnostic initiate, who has suffered too much)! Never yet has truth hung on the arm of the unconditional (those who do not place into action the causes and conditions that would make these people genuine initiates). On account of these sudden men, go back to your security: it is only in the market place (public, esoteric schools) that one is assaulted with Yes? or No? Slow is the experience of all deep wells (for the hermits of the ninth arcanum, as described by Nietzsche in "On the Adder's Bite," do not genuinely understand the true initiates; the so-called practitioners of gnosis or esotericism are easily insulted by genuine generosity and the progress of others): long must they wait before they know what fell into their depth. Far from the market place and from fame happens all that is great (away from the politics of esoteric institutions, the Gnostic Movement): far from the market place and from fame the inventors of new values have always dwelt. Flee, my friend, into your solitude (upon the mountain of initiation): I see you stung all over by poisonous flies (the gossip and slander of these so-called missionaries and Gnostic students). Flee where the air is raw and strong. Flee into your solitude! You have lived too close to the small and the miserable. Flee their invisible revenge! (For as Samael Aun Weor stated, "Unfortunately, and even if we were very courteous and even sincere at times, there is no doubt that invisibly and internally we treat each other very badly. People who are apparently very generous drag their fellow men daily into the secret caves of themselves to do with them whatever they please (abuse, mockery, contempt, etc.) ―Treatise of Revolutionary Psychology). Against you they are nothing but revenge. No longer raise up your arm against them. Numberless are they, and it is not your lot to shoo flies. Numberless are these small and miserable creatures; and many a proud building (initiate) has perished of raindrops and weeds (gossip, criticism, and slander). You are no (philosopher's) stone (perfected completely through the Mountains of Initiation, Resurrection, and Ascension), but you have already become hollow from many drops. You will yet burst from many drops. I see you wearied by poisonous flies, bloody in a hundred places; and your pride (solar dignity) refuses even to be angry. Blood (energy and attention) is what they want from you in all innocence. Their bloodless souls crave blood, and so they sting in all innocence. But you, you deep one (you genuine hermit of Arcanum Nine), suffer too deeply even from small wounds; and even before you have healed, the same poisonous worm crawls over your hand. You are too proud (dignified) to kill these greedy creatures. But beware lest it become your downfall that you suffer all their poisonous injustice. They hum around you with their praise too: obtrusiveness is their praise. They want the proximity of your skin and your blood. They flatter you as a god or devil; they whine before you as before a god or devil. What does it matter? They are flatterers and whiners and nothing more (they have no development and they will sooner or later enter devolution and the Second Death). Often they affect charm. But that has always been the cleverness of cowards. Indeed, cowards are clever! They think a lot about you with their petty souls—you always seem problematic to them. Everything that one thinks about a lot becomes problematic. They punish you for all your (solar) virtues. They forgive you entirely—your mistakes. Because you are gentle and just in disposition you say, "They are guiltless in their small existence." ("They do not know any better and perhaps in time, through Gnosis, they will learn"). But their petty souls think, "Guilt is every great existence." Even when you are gentle to them they still feel despised by you: and they return your benefaction with hidden malefactions. Your silent pride (humility and dignity) always runs counter to their taste; they are jubilant if for once you are modest enough to be vain (to entertain them and be a fool, to act upon the whims and enthusiasm of their animal ego, such as through functions and gatherings for these so-called esoteric groups). That which we recognize in a person we also inflame in him: therefore, beware of the small creatures. Before you they feel small (they recognize they are not initiates), and their baseness glimmers and glows in invisible revenge. Have you not noticed how often they became mute when you stepped among them, and how their strength went from them like smoke from a dying fire? Indeed, my friend, you are the bad conscience of your neighbors: for they are unworthy of you. They hate you, therefore, and would like to suck your blood. Your neighbors will always be poisonous flies; that which is great in you, just that must make them more poisonous and more like flies.  Flee, my friend, into your solitude (upon the Mountain of Initiation, the Superior Worlds) and where the air is raw and strong! It is not your lot to shoo flies. Thus spoke Zarathustra. From Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Nietzsche, translated by Walter Kaufmann Intelligently navigate the dangers of spiritual groups: Gnostic Groups and Mind I have a question for you alone, my brother: like a sounding lead, I cast this question into your soul that I might know how deep it is. You are young and wish for a child and marriage. But I ask you: Are you a man entitled to wish for a child? Are you the victorious one (who has conquered Netzach: the mind, Victory in Hebraic Kabbalah), the self-conqueror, the commander of your senses (pratyahara in the eightfold path of meditation), the master of your virtues (Bodhichitta)? This I ask you. Or is it the animal (ego) and (lustful) need that speak out of your wish? Or loneliness? Or lack of peace (Shamatha: the nine stages of calm abiding) with yourself? Let your victory (Arcanum 7: Triumph in the spiritual revolution) and your freedom long for a (golden) child (of alchemy: the revolutionary Christos or Superhuman). You shall build living monuments (solar bodies) to your victory and your liberation. You shall build over and beyond yourself (through sexual magic), but first you must be built yourself, perpendicular in body and soul (you must achieve the four points of the cross in yourself, the equilibrium of the four elements: air (thought), fire (emotions), water (sexuality) and earth (physicality). This is achieved by becoming the fourth type of human being in the Fourth Way teachings: a psychologically equilibrated human being). You shall not only reproduce yourself (for that which is born of the flesh is flesh), but produce something higher (since that which is born of the spirit, is spirit; John 3:6). May the garden of marriage (עֵדֶן Eden, signifying voluptuousness and sexual bliss in Hebrew) help you in that! You shall create a higher (solar) body (Christ Astral, Christ Mental, and Christ Causal), a first movement (Kether, for "He is the One Who He is" or "I Am the One Who is Becoming" in a perpetual state of movement), a self-propelled wheel (or chakra, since the chakras are enlivened and permanently spin once awakening / raising the sexual Kundalini fire through initiation)—you shall create a creator (since the solar bodies create Christic power continually through the continuum of tantra). Marriage: thus I name the will of two (Adam and Eve, male-female, י Iod and הוה Chavah) to create the one (יהוה Iod-Chavah: the Solar Human Being) that is more than those who created it. Reverence for each other (Awe or פחד pechad on the leg of the gnostic pentagram indicates reverence for controlling the sexual energy, the thigh where is written "King of Kings and Lord of Lords" [Revelation 19:16] since this power makes one a מלך Melech, a solar king of nature), as for those willing with such a (solar) will (תִפאֶרֶת Tiphereth, the human soul), is what I name marriage. Let this be the meaning and truth of your marriage. But that which the all-too-many, the superfluous (fornicators), call marriage—alas, what shall I name that? Alas, this poverty of the soul in pair! Alas, this filth of the soul in pair! Alas, this wretched contentment in pair! Marriage they call this; and they say that their marriages are made in heaven. Well, I do not like it, this (egotistical) heaven of the superfluous. No, I do not like them—these (lustful) animals entangled in the heavenly net (who use marriage papers to justify fornication and prostitution of the soul). And let the god who limps near (Vulcan) to bless what he never joined keep his distance from me (since when man and woman sexually unite, they establish a bond in the world of eternity, Hod and Netzach; fornicators abuse the powers of the forge of Vulcan / Yesod: sexuality)! Do not laugh at such marriages! What child would not have cause to weep over its parents? Worthy I deemed this man (initiate), and ripe for the sense of the earth (how to practice sexual magic by dominating his own מַלְכוּת Malkuth, his kingdom / body, so as to become a King, מלך Melech); but when I saw his wife, the earth seemed to me a house for the senseless. Indeed, I wished that the earth might tremble in convulsions when a saint (initiate) mates with a goose (a woman who has no inclination to practice gnosis). This one went out like a hero in quest of truths, and eventually he conquered a little dressed-up lie. His marriage he calls it. That one was reserved and chose choosily. But all at once he spoiled his company forever: his marriage he calls it. That one sought a maid with the virtues of an angel (a woman who practices transmutation and gnosticism). But all at once he became the maid (slave) of a woman (who does not want anything to do with the spiritual work); and now he must turn himself into an angel (since certain gnostics marry persons who do not support them in the path of initiation). Careful I have found all buyers now, and all of them have cunning eyes. But even the most cunning still buys his wife in a poke. Many brief follies—that is what you call love (גדולה Gedulah, the spirit). And your marriage concludes many brief follies, as a long stupidity. Your love of woman, and woman's love of man—oh, that it were compassion for suffering (Bodhichitta), and shrouded gods (Elohim)! But, for the most part, two beasts (fornicators) find each other.  But even your best love is merely an ecstatic parable and a painful ardor. It is a torch that should light up higher paths for you (upon the Tree of Life). Over and beyond yourselves you shall love one day (since חֶסֶד Chesed / גדולה Gedulah, the spirit, is above תִפאֶרֶת Tiphereth and גבורה Geburah: the human and divine souls). Thus learn first to love (as גדולה Gedulah / Love or Goodness, the Innermost Spirit). And for that you had to drain the bitter cup of your love (in meditation upon the death of your defects). Bitterness (karmic suffering) lies in the (alchemical) cup of even the best love: thus it arouses longing for the Superman; thus it arouses your thirst, creator (alchemist). Thirst for the creator (Chesed, Binah, Chokmah, and Kether, since the upper trinity of the Tree of Life creates along with the spirit), an arrow and longing for the Superman: tell me, my brother, is this your will to marriage? Holy I call such a will and such a marriage. Thus Spoke Zarathustra. From Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Nietzsche, translated by Walter Kaufmann Prepare yourself for the spiritual marriage:  Behold, this is the hole (infraconsciousness) of the tarantula (pseudo-esoteric spiritual person or so-called "gnostic missionary"). Do you want to see the tarantula itself? Here hangs its web (deceits and lies); touch it, that it tremble! There it comes willingly (to persecute you with its fanaticism): welcome, tarantula! Your triangle and symbol sits black on your back (representative of the three traitors: the demon of desire, the demon of the mind, and the demon of evil will); and I also know what sits in your soul. Revenge sits in your soul: wherever you bite (criticize and gossip), black scabs grow; your poison makes the soul whirl with revenge. Thus I speak to you in a parable—you who make souls whirl, you preachers of equality (because the so-called "gnostic" missionaries, who pretend to be initiates, are filled with supreme spiritual envy towards their superiors, those initiates who know how to have internal experiences from daily meditation, even when such initiates are only students in these spiritual groups). To me you are tarantulas, and secretly vengeful (because you are jealous of those who actually succeed in the Great Work; you have no direct knowledge of the truth, so you hate those who do). But I shall bring your secrets to light; therefore I laugh in your faces with my laughter of the heights (because I have internal development and a higher Level of Being born from the rigors of the initiatic path). Therefore I tear at your webs (your false beliefs that you weave around yourself and which you use to inhibit, repress, and trap your students), that your rage may lure you out of your lie-holes and your revenge may leap out from behind your word justice (since the hypocritical gnostic pharisees use the words of Christ in order to condemn Christ; see Samael Aun Weor's Gnostic Bible: The Pistis Sophia Unveiled). For that man be delivered from revenge, that is for me the bridge to the highest hope (Kether), and a rainbow (of קֶשֶׁת Qesheth, the path which leads from Malkuth to Kether on the Tree of Life) after long storms (ordeals and karmic suffering). The tarantulas, of course, would have it otherwise. "What justice means to us is precisely that the world be filled with the storms of our revenge"—thus they speak to each other (they want revenge because they are in despair; they lack conscious knowledge and direct experience of the internal worlds). "We shall wreak vengeance and abuse on all whose equals we are not"—thus do the tarantula-hearts vow. "And 'will to equality' shall henceforth be the name for virtue (which makes such people very small in comparison to the giants of initiation); and against all that has power we want to raise our clamor!" You preachers of equality, the tyrannomania of impotence clamors thus out of you for equality (you are impotent because you suffer from nocturnal pollutions or are unable to command the sexual energy): your most secret ambitions to be tyrants thus shroud themselves in words of virtue (you pretend to be a great initiate when you cannot even meditate). Aggrieved conceit, repressed envy—perhaps the conceit and envy of your fathers (from the times of Jesus)—erupt from you as a flame and as the frenzy of revenge. What was silent in the father speaks in the son; and often I found the son the unveiled secret of the father (because we live on in our descendants through return and recurrence; the hypocritical "gnostic" missionaries are simply the return and recurrence of the pharisees from the Piscean Era when Christ taught). They are like enthusiasts, yet it is not the heart that fires them—but revenge. And when they become elegant and cold , it is not the spirit but envy that makes them elegant and cold (they criticize the solar initiates and belittle them with many inhibitions and so-called rules; they believe they are the only legitimate gnostic movement or school in the world and that the rest are of the black lodge). Their jealousy leads them even on the paths of thinkers (the great prophets and meditators); and this is the sign of their jealousy: they always go too far (they take what was taught by Samael Aun Weor and distort it), till their weariness must in the end lie down to sleep in the snow (of chastity, since such hypocritical gnostics may practice transmutation, and for a few moments their hypocrisy may go to sleep, only to reawaken later). Out of every one of their complaints (that they cannot be chaste, abstain from drugs, meditate, or transmute) sounds revenge; in their praise there is always a sting (because they recognize their worthlessness before the humble presence of the solar initiates), and to be a judge seems bliss to them (because in the gnostic congresses, such pharisees demand to be president, in command, at the head, so as to enjoy the spiritual envy of their subordinates).  But thus I counsel you, my friends: Mistrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful. They are people of a low sort and stock; the hangman and the bloodhound look out of their faces. Mistrust all who talk much of their justice! Verily, their souls lack more than honey (transmuted sexual seed and direct knowledge, the sweetness of the soul). And when they call themselves the good and the just, do not forget that they would be pharisees, if only they had—power. My friends, I do not want to be mixed up and confused with others. Some preach my doctrine of life (חַיִים Chaim, transmutation and alchemy) and are at the same time preachers of equality and tarantulas (people who are in the gnostic movement and working as missionaries, yet who have no development and who seek to belittle others out of their spiritual envy). Although they are sitting in their holes (in Klipoth), these poisonous spiders, with their backs turned on life (Chokmah, the Christ), they speak in favor of life (Chokmah, the Second Logos, who is compassion and selfless love for humanity), but only because they wish to hurt. They wish to hurt those who now have power (through initiation, since they lack initiation themselves), for among these the preaching of death is still most at home (referring to those so-called spiritual leaders or instructors who have no genuine hope and illumination within themselves; they say they are in the gnostic movement, but do not practice at all; they believe in futility and the inevitability of the second death, like the soothsayer in the fourth part of Thus Spoke Zarathustra). If it were otherwise, the tarantulas would teach otherwise; they themselves were once the foremost slanderers of the world and burners of heretics (and have returned within the gnostic movement due to return, recurrence, and karma). I do not wish to be mixed up and confused with these preachers of equality. For, to me justice speaks thus: "Men are not equal." Nor shall they become equal! What would my love of the Superman be if I spoke otherwise? (since Christ, the Superman, is far above and beyond the degeneration of demons in Klipoth, the intellectual animals, and even the gods of the spiral path) On a thousand bridges and paths they shall throng to the future, and ever more war and inequality shall divide them (because the gnostic movement has split into multiple factions and organizations that all fight for political supremacy; such division has occurred in every religion): thus does my great love make me speak. In their hostilities they shall become inventors of images (eikonon, relating to Eikasia, the state of unconscious sleep without dreams) and ghosts (Pistis, sleep with dreams, which resemble lunar phantoms of the mind), and with their images (Eikasia) and ghosts (Pistis) they shall yet fight the highest fight against one another (they will encounter those who truly understand and follow the gnostic teaching in order to recognize their emptiness and worthlessness). Good and evil, and rich and poor, and high and low, and all the names of values—arms shall they be and clattering signs that life (חַיִים Chaim, the power of the Holy Spirit within our sexual glands) must overcome itself again and again (through incessant alchemical transmutations).  Life wants to build itself up into the heights with pillars (of Mercy, Justice, and Equilibrium) and steps (on the ladder of Being); it wants to look into vast distances and out toward stirring beauties (since to see mountains in the internal planes signifies that one is walking the path of initiation): therefore it requires height (elevated states of consciousness). And because it requires height, it requires steps and contradiction among the steps and the climbers (because until the ego is dead, one is contradictory). Life wants to climb and to overcome itself climbing. And behold, my friends: here where the tarantula has its hole, the ruins of an ancient temple rise (since the pharisees base their hypocrisy in the most venerated traditions); behold it with enlightened (clairvoyant) eyes! Verily, the man who once piled his thoughts to the sky in these stones—he, like the wisest, knew the secret of all life (the ancient cultures knew the esoteric science of enlightenment in depth: alchemical transmutation). That struggle and inequality are present even in beauty (Tiphereth), and also war for power (Yesod) and more power (in Da'ath): that is what he teaches us here in the plainest parable. How divinely vault and arches (remind us of the great arcanum, the Ark of the Covenant) break through each other in a wrestling match (like Jacob against the angel Samael, whose doctrine unveils the secret of the great arcanum: sexual magic); how they strive against each other with light and shade (since the white lodge and black lodge fight an eternal war to the death), the godlike strivers (in meditation)—with such assurance and beauty let us be enemies too, my friends! Let us strive against one another like gods (because we must inspire one another to overcome our own egos by confronting each other and having dialogue, which the hypocritical gnostic pharisees are unwilling to do). Alas, then the tarantula, my old enemy, bit me. With godlike assurance and beauty it bit my finger. "Punishment there must be and justice," it thinks; "and here he shall not sing songs in honor of enmity in vain."  Indeed, it has avenged itself. And alas, now it will make my soul, too, whirl with revenge. But to keep me from whirling, my friends, tie me tight to this column (like Odysseus tied to the mast of his ship in order not to go mad with lust from the sirens of the sea, who desired his shipwreck within the Abyss, Klipoth). Rather would I be a stylite even, than a whirl of revenge. Verily, Zarathustra is no cyclone or whirlwind; and if he is a dancer, he will never dance the tarantella. Thus spoke Zarathustra. From Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Nietzsche, translated by Walter Kaufmann Prepare for initiation and the dangers of Phariseeism: |
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