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He Ain’t Heavy…
…He’s My Demiurge
The other day Carlos left a comment which I think people interested in gnosticism may enjoy:
people claim not to want to be fooled or controlled, but we secretly love to be thrown for a loop. no matter how much shit you endure, when you die the demiurge is there grinning at you and you laugh and hug him cause he’s your brother, and all that shit made you a better person. evolve. […]
the demiurge is the only god there is. it has to do things this way because it’s the only way anything holds together. if there’s a plan, it’s a motherfucker. die when you’ve had enough. you’ll be back. what else are you gonna do?
This reversal of poles in contemporary gnostic thought has been popping up a lot lately. Hebrides also left an interesting comment about this recently:
Here’s another one for ya, about the Demiurge. The Demiurge ain’t really evil–not all gnostics believed that. Some believed he was simply mad or under delusion, as much as those below him–makes sense…as above, so below.
One dead Radhasoami (Indian gnostic sect of the Sant tradition) guru even came out and said that ultimately the Demiurge (or Kal or the devil) is a metaphor for a certain “negative” power that exists and eminated from the Creator and this “negative” power does necessary work and without it, there would be no universe. On this read, the Demiurge limits us, yes, but limitation is in the nature of and is necessary for the creation and maintenance of the universe. So maybe it’s an apparent conspiracy to keep us in a Black Iron Prison on one level, but at a deeper level that’s not the case at all. Gurdjieff had a similar view in saying that becoming awake, in terms of the mechanics of creation, was a superfluous thing and sort of an act against god. Put another way, it’s like you have to build up a certain amount of force and momentum to take flight and even more to leave the Earth’s atmosphere for the stars, but is there a conspiracy of gravity to “keep us down”? No, just certain “laws” (or “conspiracies”) to make us work and think our way beyond their limits.
Anyway, here’s the reason I find all this so interesting: when people first discover that in (certain strains of) gnostic thought, that what we’d normally call “God” is actually the delusional/evil “Demiurge”, it’s a real kick in the metaphorical pants. It upsets and realigns your concepts of religion and reality, and encourages you to look for the “true” god beyond. Once you’ve had that experience of symbolic paradigm shift though, it seems like the next biggest shock that you can experience is another reversal: that God and the Demiurge are of one substance, and that your splitting them into two was a necessary step in your psychological and spiritual maturation. And that the Palm Tree Garden and the Black Iron Prison are the same place. Is anybody else on the gnostic trip feeling this same pinch?
You know, it’s stuff like this that makes me understand why people have mystery religions and initiatory traditions where you’re only exposed to certain sets of symbols, rituals and stories once you’ve completely explored and integrated the previous step. If you get them out of order, it screws with the process of development that the whole thing is designed to invoke. So maybe I shouldn’t even be talking about this at all. Or maybe some would-be gnostics are ready to take this up a notch. How bout it?
- Prev: Seeking the Face of God
- Next: Alternate Universe Dreams
December 6th, 2005 at 2:30 pm
Mystery schools are like a computer-programming school for the occult. Its not like history where you can just pick up at any point. Its a step-based system, an approximation of the spiraling staircase of infinity. Once one actually fully understands the staircase of infinity, you become infinity. Or so I believe.
The whole idea of splitting God apart and putting him back together is much like the idea of splitting the atom, fission, and putting two together into one, fusion. The energy released (one psychological, one physical) is very similar.
December 6th, 2005 at 3:33 pm
Tim says: “The Palm Tree Garden and the Black Iron Prison are the same place”
hebrides says: Come on, man. You’ve gotta read the Invisibles already. Enough procrastinating! Why? Cuz nearly that same sentiment is in there. Is it a money thing, cuz eye’ll take up a collection for ya so you can go get the thing!
Then hebrides says: And so the Kingdom of Heaven IS within you; as is the Kingdom of Hell. You might see those little demonic grays (Qlippoth) and fear them and thereby be foo*’d; or you may have no fear and you’ll go past them and see the angels. S’pose it all depends on where you’re at and what and how much you’re holding on to.
December 6th, 2005 at 3:59 pm
Haha, yeah! Totally. I just haven’t been able to justify splashing down the funds for it when I’m in the middle of trying to sort out the next phase of my life.
December 6th, 2005 at 6:33 pm
Note: I posted more thoughts about this over at the Palm Tree Garden forum, which will hopefully evolve a conversation all on its own:
http://www.palmtreegarden.org/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=95
December 6th, 2005 at 10:39 pm
Totally feeling the pinch, Tim. Gilles Quispel put my Gnostic worldview in a headlock and smacked me around for a good portion of the past few days. I thought that the whole thing had affirmed my Christianity at the expense of my Gnosticism, and then wondered if it had affirmed my Gnosticism at the expense of my Christianity. Turns out, I think it affirmed both. My studies into Valentinian Gnosticism are showing me just how damn Christian this Gnosis can be.
Anyhow, on the Demiurge, I added a section to this post
Scroll down to “Is the Demiurge Good or Evil?”
He’s on our side, and not on our side. In fact, he might just be the True God, manifest in our Universe, putting on dozens of masks to fuck with us like the Trickster he is.
Heavy, man. Totally heavy.
December 7th, 2005 at 1:40 am
And the demiurge laughed at the mass-o-christ. (whatever keep from screaming at what your pimp has instore for is a lie) is gnosticism coruptable?
December 7th, 2005 at 3:20 pm
I think eyensane is a sentient computer. They have an idiosyncratic way with language.
December 9th, 2005 at 12:18 am
Hebrides said: “Kingdom of Heaven IS within you; as is the Kingdom of Hell.”
Reminds me of the thought that Peter Carroll had in which he explained that the reason Crowley’s experience with Choronzon was so powerful and damaging was because Choronzon was actually his Holy Guardian Angel (and is to any of us that work with the HGA).
The more power and importance you give to that “highest expression of Self” the harder it fights back when you finally trek across the Abyss and have to let go of what you know of as Self.