Hypatia

Hypatia

Excerpt from the Great Initiate Women by Guillermina Bautista Sanchez:

Hypatia was born in Alexandria, in Egypt, and lived from the year 375 to 405 A.D.

Hypatia was the daughter of Theon, who taught her mathematics and astronomy from an early age, when he was a teacher in the Museum and she learnt philosophy in the Neo-Platonist School.

Hypatia became head of that school around 400 A.D., and she taught the works of the pre-Socratic philosophers, of Plato and of Neo-Platonism. She possessed the rare honour of receiving payment from public funds of the Christian government of the city of Alexandria, for running the school, in spite of being both esotericist and woman. 

Hypatia of Alexandria is well-known for her comments about three great mathematical works of her time, especially the “Mathematical Syntax” by Ptolemy. She is also known for her book on “Almagest”, which means “the greatest one” in Arabic. We can reconstruct the philosophy that she was teaching thanks to a set of letters written by her pupils, specially by Synesius. This man traveled from Cyrene to Alexandria with the aim of having the privilege of learning from Hypatia. According to one of his letters, “Hypatia was so renowned that her reputation seemed literally incredible”.

In those times Alexandria was the centre of the intellectual activity in the western world. Its library had thousands of scientific works and works of ancient wisdom. 

At that time, Christianity was flourishing in the political and intellectual environments, and it started to get into conflict with the pagan religions and philosophies. Emperor Theodosius’ edict about the pagan worship had unleashed riots between pagans and Christians.

Nevertheless and for a while, Hypatia managed to survive and to prosper in her studies and teachings. But finally, her wisdom became unbearable for the vested interests that always put out the light in the darkness of a Kali-Yuga.

Thus, a group of monks, fulfilling the desire of the bishop of Alexandria, dragged her to a church where they murdered her by scraping her flesh off with bits of seashells, and then burnt her bones. This was the beginning of the aggressive anti-paganism that later on provoked the burning of the great Library of Alexandria.

Hypatia was a woman of incomparable strength who seemed to fear nothing. She had the courage to teach the ancient wisdom in a new, rising intellectual environment, and she did not mind dying for that cause. 

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky

“I can see the sun, but even if I cannot see the sun, I know that it exists. And to know that the sun is there – that is living.”
-Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky, author of Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov, The Idiot, and many other novels and short stories, managed to capture something profound about human nature in all of his works. In a way he was a brilliant psychologist before the science of psychology had been founded. His writings cover themes of mysticism and transcendence, religious and spiritual despair, and the human inquietudes that exist within every person no matter their stage or station in life. 

In his life Dostoevsky was exiled and imprisoned for reading and promoting subversive literature. He lived many of his later years in poverty, and also suffered from epilepsy. He also found great love in his life and he never stopped writing despite many financial and physical difficulties. 

His books reveal the mind of someone sensitive enough to capture the subtleties of a person’s nature and draw deep, realistic characters from the briefest of descriptions. Dostoevsky grappled head-on with the real human struggle of seeking God, finding peace, and knowing love, in a cruel world with the terrible knowledge that we all have some of that cruelty within ourselves as well. Reading his works brings us to a certain truth about the human condition and inspires real compassion and hope by not turning away from the darkness.

 

“What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.”
– from The Brothers Karamazov

“The darker the night, the brighter the stars,  The deeper the grief, the closer is God!”
-Crime and Punishment

“The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.”
-The Brothers Karamazov

“The world says: “You have needs — satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Don’t hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more.” This is the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder.”
-The Brothers Karamazov

“The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there and the battlefield is the heart of man.”
The Brothers Karamazov

Jiddu Krishnamurti: A Gnostic Perspective

Jiddu Krishnamurti: A Gnostic Perspective

“If you begin to understand what you are without trying to change it, then what you are undergoes a transformation.”
-J. Krishnamurti

Philosopher, Writer, and Speaker

Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986) was philosopher, writer, and speaker, known for his clear and direct take on the nature of truth, self-knowledge, and human suffering.

Our look is as bound by time-space as our brain. We never look, we never see beyond this limitation; we do not know how to look through and beyond these fragmentary frontiers. But the eyes have to see beyond them, penetrating deeply and widely, without choosing, without shelter; they have to wander beyond man-made frontiers of ideas and values and to feel beyond love. Then there is a benediction which no god can give.”
-J. Krishnamurti, Krishnamurti’s Notebook

Krishnamurti spoke about self-observation and taking personal responsibility for one’s own perceptions, feelings, thoughts, and actions. He spent most of his adult life in the small town of Ojai, California, giving talks and writing books on his philosophy. At the same time he maintained that it is impossible to reach truth through any kind of teacher, organization, or spiritual path.

“I maintain that Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect. That is my point of view, and I adhere to that absolutely and unconditionally. Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organized; nor should any organization be formed to lead or to coerce people along any particular path.”
-J. Krishnamurti, speech at the dissolution of the Order of the Eastern Star, 1929

The Paradox of Krishnamurti

This is the paradox inherent in the message of Krishnamurti: someone with profound spiritual experiences and insights, whose words provided great inspiration for others, insisting that there was no path, no teacher, no need for guidance.

This is addressed by Samael Aun Weor in his book Endocrinology and Criminology. Samael explains the difference between the inner Being and the bodhisattva.

The bodhisattva is the mind, feeling, and will. The Being is the inner monad, the spirit which is beyond the mind, feeling, and will.

According to the gnostic understanding of spiritual and psychological development, the Being and the bodhisattva can be at different levels of development and experience within the same person. The Being of Krishnamurti had achieved the level internally of a Buddha. But the bodhisattva of Krishnamurti was subject to a great trauma within his adopted family in the Theosophical Society.

That is why his teachings provide such sublime spiritual guidance, because his Being had already walked upon the path in previous existences and he could access that awakened consciousness. But his personality, based on mind, feeling, and will, rejected spiritual teachings, systems, and schools because of his childhood experience.

The Krishnamurti Case

The following is from the chapter “The Krishnamurti Case”, in the book Endocrinology and Criminology by Samael Aun Weor:

A great conflict occurred inside the Theosophical Society during those times when Annie Besant was occupying the presidency of this marvelous organization, whose founder was the great initiate Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. The problem that presented itself was the Krishnamurti case. Lady Besant lifted her finger aloft in order to asseverate to the four winds that the Hindu boy Krishnamurti was the living reincarnation of Jesus Christ. The great clairvoyant Leadbeater and other eminent Theosophists totally agreed with Lady Besant. All of them were asserting that the Hindustani boy was Jesus Christ newly reincarnated.

We still remember that foundation of that order named “The Star of the East” whose unique purpose was to welcome the Messiah. Later on, Krishnamurti himself dissolved it.
In that epoch a division occurred in the heart of the Theosophical Society. Some asserted that Krishnamurti was the Messiah. Others did not accept that concept, thus they withdrew from the Theosophical Society. Among those who withdrew was Dr. Rudolf Steiner, the powerful illuminated clairvoyant, eminent intellectual, founder of the Anthroposophic Society. The work of Rudolf Steiner is grandiose. His books are wells of profound wisdom. The Spanish group Marco Aurelio also withdrew from the Theosophical Society. The split that occurred in the heart of the famous Theosophical Society was a true tragedy.

We need to analyze the Krishnamurti case.
While some Theosophists were convinced that Krishnamurti was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, others stated that he was just an ignorant boy. They stated that the only thing he knew was how to drive an automobile and play tennis, etc. So, what was the matter? Why did they not agree? What is most intriguing is that the greatest clairvoyants of the Theosophical Society were divided into two opposite camps.

Absolutely logical questions emerge: why did the clairvoyants split apart? These clairvoyants saw the internal Being of the Hindu boy. Then why did they not agree? Is it perhaps because some clairvoyants see in one way and other clairvoyants in another distinct way? Is it possible that the clairvoyants contradict each other? If the clairvoyants saw the inner Being of Jiddu Krishnamurti, what was the cause of their disagreement?

When a thousand people see an object with their physical sight, they say, “This is a table, a chair, a rock, etc.” When they see a person, they say, “This is a man or a woman or a child, etc.” Then, what is going on with clairvoyance? What is the reason in the concrete case of this Hindu boy in which the clairvoyants could not agree on their concepts? There is no doubt that Krishnamurti was a true puzzle for the Theosophical Society.

The most critical thing was to see those clairvoyants fighting amongst themselves. This is something that confuses the minds of those that are starting in these studies. Krishnamurti fell into skepticism. He remained skeptical for many years. Yet, finally he responded and started his mission. All of us, the endoteric Gnostic brothers and sisters, proposed ourselves to investigate the Krishnamurti case in the superior worlds.

After many patient works, we arrived at the following conclusions:

  • First: Every human being is a trio of body, soul, and spirit.
  • Second: When the spirit defeats matter, it becomes a buddha.
  • Third: When the soul purifies and sanctifies itself, then it is called a bodhisattva.
  • Fourth: The spirit of Krishnamurti is a buddha.
  • Fifth: The soul of Krishnamurti is a bodhisattva.

There are many buddhas in Asia who have not incarnated the Christ yet. There is a ray within every human being that unites us to the Absolute. That ray is our resplendent dragon of wisdom, the internal Christ, the sephirotic crown. The buddhas who have not incarnated the internal Christ have not Christified themselves yet. Krishnamurti’s buddha has already incarnated his resplendent dragon of wisdom, his particular ray, his own internal Christ.

When Lady Besant, Leadbeater, and other Theosophists studied the Krishnamurti case, they became astonished with the splendid light of that Christified buddha. However, since they did not know the Christic esotericism, they completely believed that Krishnamurti was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. The mistake was not in their clairvoyance. The mistake was in their lack of intellectual culture. They only knew about the Theosophical septenary. They only knew about the body, soul, and spirit. Yet, they ignored that beyond these three aspects (body, soul, and spirit) every human being has a ray (the internal Christ) that unites us to the Absolute.

They saw the internal God of Krishnamurti and believed that he was Jesus of Nazareth; that was their mistake. What is most critical is the damage that they perpetrated upon the Hindu boy. When a bodhisattva is told that his internal God is a master, he becomes confused; he is damaged; he develops a complex.

The Hindu boy saw those instructors arguing among themselves because of him. Thus, the outcome was a psychological trauma for his human personality. Krishnamurti had a psychological trauma.
There is no doubt that the Theosophist clairvoyants did great damage to the Hindu boy. The Theosophist hierarchs should have left the Hindu boy in peace. He would have developed himself freely in India. Then, his work would have been marvelous. The great buddha of Krishnamurti did not give his whole message, because his bodhisattva had a psychological trauma.

If we examine the doctrine of Krishnamurti, we see that the best of it is Buddhism. Unfortunately, he did not know the Christic esotericism. The Hindu body drank from the fountain of the Buddhist gospel. It is a pity that he did not know the Christic esotericism. Later on, he mixed the Buddhist philosophy with the conventional philosophy from the Western world. Thus, the doctrine of Krishnamurti is the outcome of that mixture. The doctrine of Krishnamurti is Buddhism. However, the doctrine of Aquarius is the outcome of the mixture of Buddhist esotericism with Christic esotericism. The doctrine of Krishnamurti is free Buddhism. However, the living fountain of that doctrine is the marvelous gospel of the Lord Buddha.

We are not against Krishnamurti; we only regret the fact that the internal buddha of that Hindu philosopher could not give the whole message. That is all. When a clairvoyant discovers that the Innermost (the spirit) of someone is a master, then it is best for that clairvoyant to be silent, in order not to damage that person. When somebody knows that his inner being is a master, he becomes filled with pride and arrogance. Fortunately, Krishnamurti learned how to be humble.

There are also fallen bodhisattvas. They are worse than demons. No one has to be told that his inner Being is a master. The clairvoyant must be prudent. The clairvoyant must learn how to be silent. The spirit of someone could have achieved the degree of master in some ancient reincarnation. The bodhisattva (human soul of the master) could have fallen later on, thus now that soul can live upon the path of evil. The master never falls. The one who falls is the bodhisattva (human soul) of the master.

The clairvoyant must be prudent; thus, before announcing a new master, he must wait with patience many years, in order to see how the person of flesh and bones, the terrestrial bodhisattva, behaves. The master could be very great above; yet, the person of flesh and bones (bodhisattva) here below is dangerous.
In any case, “By their fruits you will know them.” [Matthew 7:15-20] Madame Blavatsky stated that one of the greatest mysteries of esotericism is the mystery of the double personality. All the fights and errors of the Theosophical Society were the cause of the trauma of Krishnamurti. The Krishnamurti case is very important.

Solomon Ibn Gabirol

Solomon Ibn Gabirol

Ahava

For you, oh Living God, my being yearns,
My spirit and soul is consumed by fire.

Your Shekinah indwells the hearts
Of your chosen sons and fathers,
And Your living creatures harness to chariots

And as my heart is filled,
Its radiance illumines from within.

The mystery wearies even the wisest
Who struggle to comprehend it,
Weary of scanning the icon of splendour:
How then, shall I nourish my soul
At the Temple of honour?

Desiring, I long for my beloved
My aim and purpose: my soul

Like sapphire, the house of understanding,
The moon’s semblance fine gold of Ophir,
And like a young lion she made her home
In the body, secretly.

She is my bliss and joy in sorrow,
While chattering thoughts occlude my purpose.

Can a guileless man praise her?
And who could deny her perfect beauty?
Answer, oh God! Be swift,
For Your daughter is sick with love.

Drink, my daughter, gently drink
From the waters of my salvation:
Because you are my reverence.

This poem is from the 9th century Andalusian poet, mystic philosopher, and Kabbalist known as Solomon ibn Gabirol. His Arabic name was Abu Ayyud sulaiman ibn Yahya ibn Jebirul and in Hebrew Shlomo ben Yehuda ibn Gabriel. He was later known as Avicebron in the West and held up among the great Neo-Platonic philosophers.

Gabirol lived during a time of great expansion and integration of intellectual and philosophical ideas. Andalusian Spain was a mixing ground for Arab, Jewish, and Christian cultures and a rich hub of religion and philosophy. Gabirol is sometimes credited with developing the Tree of Life glyph as a way to understand Kabbalistic teachings. He died in poverty and obscurity around the year 1070, but his teachings and poetry remain as deep inspiration and wisdom.

The Wedding Night of Rumi

The Wedding Night of Rumi

Jalalludin Rumi was a Sufi mystic and poet who founded the Mevlevi Sufi order and the famous moving prayer of the whirling dervishes.

Rumi was the son of a theologian in 13th century Turkey, which was at that time a part of the Persian empire. The first part of his adult life was spent in religious study, meditation and teaching, until he met the wandering mystic Shams of Tabriz.

After that encounter, and through continued sohbet, or mystical conversation, with Shams, Rumi left the scholarly work and entered into the mystical Sufi path.

Rumi expresses through his poetry a deep devotion, often using the imagery of lovers and wine, which evoke- however dimly- the pure bliss he felt while in communion with God, his Beloved.

The ceremonial whirling is called the sema. The story goes that it was inspired by a spiritual experience Rumi had while in the marketplace one day, when suddenly the mundane sounds of life transformed into the music of the heavenly realms and he whirled in a state of ecstasy. Sema is an imitation of, and communion with the orbiting of the planets and the subatomic particles, and is now part of the legacy of Rumi’s Mevlevi Sufi order.

The Sufi devotees enter the sema in a formal way, first wrapped in black cloaks and wearing tall wool hats symbolizing their tombstone, the death of their personality. When the music begins the dark cloaks are shed, revealing white garments and the Sufis whirl in circles, under the guidance of the ever-watchful sheik, the teacher, guru, master.

The sema is a prayer of complete surrender to God, the letting go of the attachments to life and entering a timeless state in harmony with the universal rhythms.

Rumi died on December 17, 1273 and that day is a sacred Sufi holiday known as Sheb-i Arus, Rumi’s Wedding Night, celebrating when he was finally reunited with his Beloved.

“Those who don’t feel this Love
pulling them like a river,
those who don’t drink dawn
like a cup of spring water
or take in sunset like supper,
those who don’t want to change,
let them sleep

This Love is beyond the study of theology,
that old trickery and hypocrisy.
If you want to improve your mind that way,
sleep on
I’ve given up on my brain.
I’ve torn the cloth to shreds
and thrown it away.

If you’re not completely naked,
wrap your beautiful robe of words
around you,
and sleep.”

-Jallaludin Rumi, Diwan-e Shams-e Tabrizi (translated by Coleman Barks)

 

Musical piece: Mowashah Al Refku Be Maftoon from the album Nawa: Ancient Sufi Invocations & Forgotten Songs from Aleppo.

 

Saint Hildegard of Bingen

Saint Hildegard of Bingen

Hildegard of Bingen, (1098 – 17 September 1179), also known as Saint Hildegard and Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, visionary, and polymath.

All of the following paintings are by Hildegard of Bingen.

 

Hildegard of Bingen is considered to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany. Hildegard was elected magistra by her fellow nuns in 1136; she founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150 and Eibingen in 1165. One of her works as a composer, the Ordo Virtutum, is an early example of liturgical drama and arguably the oldest surviving morality play.

She wrote theological, botanical, and medicinal texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs, and poems, while supervising miniature illuminations in the Rupertsberg manuscript of her first work, Scivias. She is also noted for the invention of a constructed language known as Lingua Ignota[source]

In addition to her devout religious life, Hildegard was also a healer and herbalist. She wrote two texts of medieval medicine of herbalism, moxabustion, bleeding and other types of cures. These texts also discuss the theory of the Four Humors, the four vital liquids in the human body, each corresponding to one of the Four Elements, and which is the basis of all premodern Western medicine.

One principle in Hildegard’s works is viriditas, usually translated as “greenness” or “greening power” and interpreted as meaning growth or life. Hildegard wrote that God transmits life into plants, animals, and gems. People eat plants and animals and acquire gems, thus obtaining viriditas. They, in turn, give that life out by practicing virtue, becoming an important link in the chain of being. Hildegard considered the emerald the chief of jewels because of its green color, and one of her favorite herbs was fennel, which in ancient rites was used to honor Adonis, the Greek god of vegetation. [source]

She experienced mystical visions from a young age which inspired her music compositions, writings and paintings.

Hildegard spoke openly of her profound mystical experiences at a time when this put her at risk for heresey. As a nun, she left her home monastery and founded two new ones in a different towns, something almost unheard of for any devotee of the Church, much less a woman.

She is well-known for the beautiful music she composed, which her nuns would sing as part of their devotional prayer, and enter into mystical ecstasy. These pieces are still performed and recorded today.

Quotes from Hildegard of Bingen

“Holy persons draw to themselves all that is earthly.  The earth is at the same time mother,
She is mother of all that is natural, mother of all that is human.
She is the mother of all, for contained in her are the seeds of all.”

 

“The marvels of God are not brought forth from one’s self. Rather, it is more like a chord, a sound that is played. The tone does not come out of the chord itself, but rather, through the touch of the Musician. I am, of course, the lyre and harp of God’s kindness.”

 

“‘With my mouth,’ God says, ‘I kiss my own chosen creation. I uniquely, lovingly, embrace every image I have made out of the earth’s clay. With a fiery spirit I transform it into a body to serve all the world.'”

 

“I do not know myself, either in body or soul. And I consider myself as nothing. I reach out to the living God and turn everything over to the Divine.”