Monthly Archives: August 2002

Books im reading…1

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I am not sure how I found my way to reading and “collecting” Clive Barker`s books, but I suppose my bookshelf bears testimony of a certain consistency in my shopping for books – either Gnostic and esoteric subjects (becoming more and more eclectic) or books by such authors as Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (the latter two having co-operated on a peculiar little thing called Good Omens, so I really should have two of it),
In fact, in terms of Barker and Pratchett who are quite odd combinations, I have almost the complete works.. except they are paperbacks, far from mint condition.. and read more times than I can actually account for.

I was planning to read a lot of serious things,but then I got distracted by the arrival of Clive Barker`s Coldheart Canyon in the shelves at some store I would never suspect of peddling such goods (and which I am sure wouldn`t peddle such goods, if they could read the book.. but thankfully, such people as exercise censorship here does not possess the linguistic skills of figuring out anything about the contents of foreign language paperbacks and kindred goods.. except if the covers somehow betray their content.. such as Jamie The Naked Cook or somesuch..).. I am far too distracted a fellow to write a review of the book, and I have only traversed 600 pages of it, so I couldn´t do it justice.
The storyline is far more Gothic than the preceeding books Sacrament and Galilee..Hollywood must be familiar to Barker since he has been at hand as director and creative advisor for many cinematic productions, some of which were produced out of the blueprint of some story or other made by him (if only Philip K. Dick could have had as good creative controll over his legacy..)..but Hollywood is only actually embodied by the unfortunates who trespass into the forbidden..the most central character being Todd Pickett, Hearthrob, who have been talked into plastic surgery that goes terrible wrong…
So goes the journey into the shelter of the wildernesses exterior and interior, in a hidden canyon, in a dream palace..to the discovery of a terrible legacy from the Golden Age of Cinema and beyond..
It is not the best Barker novel I have read, it is the most recent, and the fact that he is so productive is reassuring, since I find I come back to reading his books again and again..

Some old friends turned bloggers

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I found Jacob Holm Lupo`s hidden-away (and apparently neglected) Diary tonight…
Been following the white.willow.net site for
some time, trying to keep track of the developements of the group.

I´ve searched the net a bit for the combinatin gnostic+blog and came by
Jordan Stratford`s weblog,
I corresponded with Jordan, who hails from Vancouver and have accomplished quite a lot
while I have not in the years gone by, also in the Multimedia/Graphic design business –
for a period in the mid-90´s and onwards, but we lost touch.

That`s not what I meant….

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In Norway it is considered clever to be able to communicate with
foreigners in the English language. It proves, more or less, that
you had an education, is media-savvy and probably didn`t sleep
through your years in school as well. Our grammar is terrible,
but our vocabulary, however small, is usually correct.
I remember passing by a sign at the Oslo docks saying “Fresh Rakes”
, underneath the sign were a perfectly normal selection of freshly
boiled prawns, the small salmon-pink variety of it we have around the
North Sea… and it brought a smile to my face. I didn´t mean to be
smug about it, it just came out that way….
now,many years later.. I found the webspot dedicated to
Japanese Engrish……
I thought it was fun, don`t ask me why.. 🙂

Buddhism and Gnosticism in The Matrix

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Philosophical Action movies appears to be a sign of the times..

In 1999 (I know it is three years ago) The Matrix were released

upon the world, and currently there are plans for a 2nd Matrix..sequels

being instrumental in disseminating all the potentional nonsense which

somehow didn`t make it into the movies…

The linked article : Wake Up! Gnosticism and Buddhism in the Matrix, by Frances Flannery-Daily and Rachel Wagner

is featured in the Journal of Religion&Film and were brought to my attention at

Tinka`s Sixth.Edition weblog as a fun and interesting link.. Im trailing through

the weave of weblogs now to find kindred as well as new inspiration, and this article

were indeed interesting.

The abstract/blurb (which I hope the authors of the article will forgive me for citing)

says :

[1] The Wachowski

brothers’ 1999 hit release The Matrix draws

on multiple religious traditions to establish its

complex worldview. Two of the most prominent are

Gnostic Christianity and Buddhism, which, like the

film, pose humanity’s fundamental problem and its

solution in terms of ignorance and enlightenment.

Because of ignorance, people mistake the

“material” world for something real, but

they may “wake up” from this dream with

help from a guide who teaches them their true nature.

This article explores the film’s pervasive allusions

to Gnosticism and Buddhism, which in turn opens up

the question of the film’s overarching message and ultimate

view of reality.

—

This is precisely the reason why movies like The Truman Show and The Matrix

deserves note as having some relevance in terms of the discussion concerning

the re-emergance of Gnosticism or The Gnostic Revival in Modernity, which

is how I personally would term it. A boy of Six might indeed be capable of asking

questions of an Ontological complexity which stifles contemporary Philosophers.

What is real? is ancient and perhaps instinctual to all growing children,

especially in context of being indoctrinated into a mode, not only of “understanding”

reality, but also of accepting context.

The response of prince Siddharta`s parents, to the prophecy that their son would

renounce his birthright and become a great “seer” – were to build a new “world”

wherein all subjects,animals and servants alike, would not _apparently_ be subject

to old age,poverty,sickness and all other ailments which would provoke a questioning

attitude towards the _nature_ of the World, in its nakedness. Parents don`t want their

children to experience anguish or pain, and would dearly like to shelter them from the

sight of evil (as we can see in the endless Censorship campaigns, while children are

being protected from products which “corrupt” them morally, the product of such

_apparent_ safety is precisely that, and what is more treacherous and fragile than

an outright lie, may I ask?)- as such, the response to the unease in themselves

about the _nature of the world_ and the fact that there are things which do not

explain or even lend support to _things as such they are_, since they are not

– sets off the parents in the manner they are conditioned to respond: Shut everything off, close the blinds and hope that it blows over..

However, I have derailed..

A.I. – the intelligent organism of ultimate technology, is the hidden god-mind

in the Matrix “mythos”, and upon discovering that what brings about the doom

of mankind is the autonomy of her creature: Technology, we recognize a theme which isn`t necessarely wrought out of a conscious reading of the Gnostic mythos when it comes to

past cinematic and literary escapades in the same territory… Science Fiction is riddled with Doomsdays brought about by the sudden Autonomy of Technology..

What makes it relevant is the presentation of how _things are only so in appearance_,

that the world we are likely to see, upon leaving the dark of the movie theatre..

possibly could be an artificial one we are conditioned to accept and relate to as

real, and that behind its paper-thin facade the “truth” lays lurking, namely, we

have been had.. Buddhism and Gnosticism shares in common an _attitude_ towards

consensual reality (not reality itself, but a judgment/definition of what reality is)

– namely that the senses and even the analytical mind which processes the signals from

our senses – can only reach as far as the illusion, and therefore they cannot reinforce

anything but the illusion.

More reading on the same

The Matrix: Gnosticism Reborn

Gnostic and Esoteric forums

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My interest in Gnosticism,Manichaeanism,the Mystery religions in antiquity,early Christian heresies,Mysticism etc. has brought me to several forums, most of them have a high noise/signal ratio.

Gnosticism I have subscribed to since late 1999, while I have had to see many forums on the subject die, or had to unsubscibe for various reasons, I have been around there for quite some time.

Eglise Gnostique is an online community for those churches in modern time which belongs, in some way or other, to the current of the Gnostic Revival in France during the late 19th century with figures such as Jules Doinel,Papus,Jean Bricaud,Charles Detre etc. at the head. Quite a lot of my confreres in the Gnose, since I have been active in Ecclesia Gnostica since 1995, subscribe to or participate in that forum.

Martinism is a forum dedicated to the study and research in the Initiatory tradition begun by Louis Claude de Saint-Martin at the end of the 18th century and revived by, among others, Papus (Gerard Encausse) in the late 19th century. I am not a Martinist in the sense of having been initiated or being active in a Martinist order, but I consider myself an Reintegrationist, pointing towards the main objective of the Orders – namely to consciously assist in the Reintegration of all Beings into their Origin, in another word, Greek one at that, the Apokatastasis panthon – of which doctrine Origen, Evagrius of Pontus and Gregory of Nyssa are the chief ancient representatives. This forum, like Eglise Gnostique, hosts quite a few Confreres in the Gnose.

Finally I´d like to mention atroubador´s Philosophia forum which is dedicated to the Courtly Love/Troubador/Fedeli de Amore tradition…it has been quite a place growing on me, but things have changed since last year, and there is little activity there..

the aformentioned Gnostic and Esoteric forums are hosted by Yahoo, although I do not agree with the ways the new management are running things, its nice that a lot of other people than myself have also put up with the changes and inconveniences caused by the takeover..

Gnostic Weblogs

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Apparently I am not alone in the writing of Gnostic themed weblogs,I discovered by chance, on the Gnosticism discussion forum at yahoogroups.com – Enheduanna`s Gnostic Kitten weblog.
It consists mainly of snippets of news,reviews,reports concerning things which
are tangentially related to a Gnostic`s orientation, or reorientation – as I would have put it, with regards to self,universe and divinity. I´ll post further suggestions about other “gnostic” weblogs later.