the timboucher experience

As a follow-up to my deconstruction of the meaning of “conspiracy theory” I looked up the word origin of “paranoia” which is perhaps the most commonly used follow-up term. Paranoia comes from the Greek prefix “para-” meaning “beyond” and “nous” meaning “mind.” So paranoia meant madness, it meant that you had gone beyond your mind.

But going “beyond the mind” might also be seen in a more positive light. I like to use the term “transrational” which is defined here as:

Etymologically, think of it similarly to the word “transnational”. Transnational means beyond and including the national, pertaining to many nations. A transnational corporation started out as a national corporation, transcended its national boundaries, and became multinational and beyond a single nation. A transrational mind has first become fully rational, logical, and educated. Then, through the development of advanced intuition, it becomes transrational — beyond the merely rational, at least sometimes partially in touch with aspects of the world that are not reducible to rationality.

To me, this is also a fairly good synonym for “gnosis,” the innate divine wisdom so prized by the Gnostics. The spark of divinity in each of us isn’t accessible via reason alone, rather through a full engagement of your mind and heart, and a going “beyond” all that.

Also interesting is that in the gnostic cosmology of Basilides, “Nous” or “Mind” is the first emanation which God the Father sends forth from himself. So to go “beyond the mind” (paranoia) would be to go back to the Father himself. Another great resource is the Russian tradition of the “yurodivy” or “Holy Fool” who is essentially a figure struck by madness, and who is seen as being close to God for it, and is allowed to exist outside the rules which everyone else in the society is bound by. It’s like a holdover from shamanic practices, where altered (perhaps permanently altered) states of mind were prized and accepted rather than shunned and made fun of. There’s also a great Bible passage on the “fool:”

“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound those who are mighty.”
— 1 Cor 1:27

And of course, anyone familiar with the Tarot will recognize that the Fool is the 0th card in the Major Arcana. The journey of spiritual progress represented by those cards is not begun without first passing through the stage of the fool.

• A New Era Dawns…
• Gnosticism & the Eytmology of Paranoia
• Occult Investigator’s Greatest Hits
• The Tao of Gnosticism
• Chaotic Patterns in Divination