273

The Laughing Jesus

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

The Jesus ALSOBYTI M OTHYHUE ANDnTH GANDY The/esusMyslcries: \VastheOriginal/ems" aPaganGod! 'esusandIheLost Goddess: TheSecretTeachingsof the Original Christians The Lauhin esus RELIGIOUSLIES AND GNOSTIC WISDOM TIMOTHYFREKEANDPETERGANDY &. Harm",,, Boob /Newyork CopYIlgh, 01005 by T,mot hy F",x< and Petet wnJy All'Wt" .... ",to t hink for oUfl!elve., sothat webecome more coruciou. andwake up. Literali,,, te. chthatthe 'mponantthing i. to blindly belio.. inreligioo.dogmas. Literali"'..., t hoir t e.ching lit erallythetruthit..,lf. Lne"lt", mist. ke Gnostic myth. fOTliteral accoon" of muaculou. historical oven" and end uplostinir.-.t ional . upeTStition. Lite"h", believethat ..crcd .cripture i. theWordof God. Ln."lt", want .fixcdcanon of >eripturewhichh bsolute authority foralltime . Lit."h", wantu. tobelieve whatthoybelieve,so thatwe wijjjointheir cult. THELAUGHISGlEW. Gnosticsunde"und thatlife it ..U i, a process 0/ awakening. Gnostici.m i boutwaking up fromtheiIIu.ion of ",,,,,aten,,,.to onen",. md love. Gnostici.m unite.us, Literali,,, believetheir p_rticuw religioni.t he only wayto t hetruth . nd condemn everyone el.e .. 10" in diabolic.1 erro,. Literalismhep> u. a.t""l' inan 'us,-e"", them'world of divisionand ron/lict, inhabited byt he'chosen' andthe 'damned'. Literall.mdivid.. 01. Throughout lii"ory Gno"ics have coasele..ly exposed Literalist ..Ii_ gion asapemicious ""uree 01ignorance, divisionand suffering.Thi. Gnost icme . ..geh .. never been more rdevant th.n t oday. The three gw.. religion, 01theWest_fuorneevilmega_being outthere orchestrating allthischaos,But our pointwas soriou.,InourWestern spirit""lmytholog)lthe diaboJus " THELAUGHISGIESU. orDevilisthedivider.Hesymboli..,s.11that,epa.. tesu.instrife andpreventsusunitinginlove.Andnothing ismorehorrenoously divi.ivethan Literalistreligion. It i. now,and.lw.y. has been, adi._ bolieal forceof evil in the world. It i. easy to blame the current crisi, onmad Mu.lims ""d to forget the horrors the West hasperpetrated t hroughout history in thename of Christianity.Letusnotforgettheunspeakable sufferinginflicted onMusli m.andJewsduringtheCrusades.WhenJeru ... lemfellto thecru.aders theybutcheredmorethan,,-' venty thousandMu.lim. intheAl_Aq mo.quealone.Theyalsoburntthousand.ofJews alive intheir .ynagogue .AChristian chronicler recoru.'our t roop. boilcJ . dults incoolmadn"" gripped us in1947.Amadne.. . I was a part of it . When I w... killingthem .ll l could t hink 01was revenge . I knew I w .. destin"! forthe I,Jamic poradi ..,where >co",. 01Houri. werewaiting forme,S-eventy virgi ... withuprightbrea ...and Allah would giveme enoughvirilit yloreighty.four y"". Whatmorecould> youngman want' So )"" _, not only ",as I unal..id,buteven Ieking forward to continuous sexinH..ven.Youdon 'thn,profe.sorofOldTestamentstudi.. atthe University 01Copenh.gen,writes; ToJ.ayweno longer have. histOIYoIl"ael . Not only have Ad.am and Eveandthefloodstoryp . ...dovertomytholor;y,hutwecanno longer t.l k about a time 01the J"t riardu. The.. image. h,,'e no place in de>i,betweenthosewhoholdthat DavIdwa petty hilltop chieft1Jnwh""" writ extended no more than fewmIle, inany dir""tion, and. ,mall butvocifewm bando! 'bibli_ c,alminimalist, ' who maintain thathenover existed at aU" Solo mo n Sowhat aboutDavid'ssonSolomon!He i aidto have had aharem ofthreehundrNconcubines.nd""venhundredwives,whichin cluded Egyptian, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Zidonian and Hittite prince.ses.AccordingtotheBibleheruledava.. empire.Hehada neet of sh ipsthattr.dedwiththeEgypt ians and Mesopotamians on equal ter ms.Hewas so wealthy that hi .IIOldi e", had shieldsof gold, He w.s so famousfor hi.wisdom tMteven theQueen of Shebapaid himavi sit .He.pentthirteenyearsbui ldingapa laceto hou""the Ark of theCovenant,and embelli.hed itwith gold .ndprecious jew-els.Surely somebody somewhere shouldhave heardofhim. Yetthoreisnoevidencefort heexistenceofSolomon.It i s""id thathewasmarriNto the daughter of an Egyptianpha ..oh,butno THEW O ~ D of GoD' reference to this dynast icalliance hasbeenfoundin .ny of theEgyp_ t ian records_Hi ,name i.notmentioneJ in any contemporaryMiddle Easterntext,Butnoneofthisshouldsurpri..,us,a.att histime ferusafemwasnot the capi.. l of. vast empire,It was actu.lIy iust a . mall vill.ge. AroundJOOO"nthehighland.ofludeaconta inednopublic bui ldings,p.lace.,"ore_hou.e.ortemple .Sign.of.nysophisti _ catedkindofrecordkeeping,.ucha.writ ing,seal.andsealim_ pression.area lmostcompletely.b,ent.Almostnoluxuryitems, importeJ pottery or jewellery h.ve beenfound,The population 0/ the entire region c.n havebeenno more thanlorty_five thousandpeople, Wh"""erwaslivinginthePalestinianhighlond.atthi st ime,t hey werenotthe people the writers of t he Tanakhhave putthere, The MythofReturn TheTanakhwouldh.veu.believethatthereoncewasamighty kingdom 0/ Israel with ito great capi ..lferu.alem. Butthere i, very lit _ t le evidence concerning either hrael or Jeru.alem. Thc firstwc hear 0/ ferusa lemi.inEgyptiancuroetex.. datedfromISJOto1770"CE, whereit i .listedamong ""veral town. in Palest inetogether with the na mes oftheir chieftains_ Our eorliestmention of Israel i. inthe '0_ c.lIed'IsraelStele'ofPh. TaohMerneptah,datedfrom1207"CE.It " .ay. simply; ' Israel i.desolote; its seed i.no more'.There i di.pute ahout whet her the name 'Israel' role .. to. people or . imply. person, but it i.ironic thatour earliest mention of Israelt ell. us thot\sTOolno longer exist.! Ali ttlelaterwehaveaninscriptionfromthet imeofPharaoh She.honq, c,945t o924 BC. ,.nd .littlelater aninscription of Shal _ mane.erlll,c,853"n, whichrefe.. to aland ofsir-i/-/a-a-a, "This meagrehandlul of inscription.might a. well be ahoutla-la-land lor allthatthey cantellu.aboutthe Israel ofthe Tanakh.Additionally, noneofthe .. inscript ions wasfoundinPalestineor w written by thcpeopleto whomtheyrefer,whichwouldatlcastbe evidence 0/ their own high culture.Insteadt hey were written by their tr.dition.l overlord.and describevillage.inirnpoveri,heJregion.undertheir control. THELAUGHISGlEW. There i further problem withthe name. 'Jerusalem' .nd '[".e!', Theirderivotiontollsahistorythotiscompletelyatodd.withthe Tan.kh,The word Israelmeans ' fighter forEl'who w aCan.anite god.Jeru lemisname . \ 1 0 < ' 1 1 0 . \ ' O J . . . . , , n , ! ' m w ' I " ' " , d ' l ' ' 0 ' 1 0 ' 1 ' " U O W O M . . u . " " p u o ' 0 . 1 " ' 1 ' ' 1 ' 1 1 ' " " ' N 0 , w , ' l ' ' ' ' . O W ' < o " u o ' P ' Wa l . w ' I n p . a ' l ' , ( l u O P O J " t f l n o l ' ' . ' 1 A u r n ' . M 0 O , U l " ' O W ' 0 ' 1 " l d w n a l O j - ' u ' w- U Q J ' A U O J O " ' 1 ' ) 0 " n p o , d 0 n o " " u ' ' 1 ' " a s u , . ' ' 1 ' ) 0 " ' l u m pJ O, u ' H a d O J ' , < O U l q n , u o , " ' ' I " l " w o p . : > U l I " " , ' I ' ' ! . . . . ' 1 ' 0 ' : > . > < 1 . , ' ! , p , A o I u , ' A O ' ! 0 1 p ' ' ' ' . . . n , e u- u o J ' w ' ' 1 ' J O , u " - ' I U 1O J a " , u " P I ' ' ! ' p u . n o W O MJ l . , ' l ' " 1 ' ' 1 ' " ' p . : > ' J " m , ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' " ' 1 d 1 . ' ' ' ' 1 ' 1 A I , n o d , j O ' p O J p u n ' lP " ' 1 1 0 ) ' s n o . u u o !" ' A ' " p u a l l ' l . O M A ' l a m , 1 0 1 " , , , " d o , IntheseventeenthcenturyCEJamesUssher,ArchbishopofAr_ m.gh and01Alllreland,calculated the dat e01theof theworld to beSunday, 3October 4001BCE. U ..her's conclusion included intheAuthorizedVersionoftheBibleprinted in1701 and came to beregarued a> Bible Truth. The Archbishop further con_ cludedAdam.ndEveweredrivenfromParadiseonMonday, 10November 4004BeE,.nd t hatNoah'sarkh.d landedonMount on5M.y149 1"n,whichw ' aWedneod.y' .Archbishop U ..her madehis 'discovery' by together the t ime period. t hat are recordedthroughoutthetexts01theT.n.kh,Socare_ fully,in lact ,that itis a.ifsomeone had Ielt. tr.il t hat might , foirly be followed_Whywould someone do tMt ! Hellenistichi.totiansoftheperiodbelievedt hata' GreatYear', four thou>and yea.. in length,w coming to an end .nd. New Age soonto begin,He.-.clitu.,.nd theStoic philo.ophersh. d preciictt'd it . Virgi l and Cicero lamented thatthe world h.d become "" awful it waslong overuue, The Tan.kh, being a product of this environ_ .- " ment , abooonce!ve. of a'Great Year' 01four thousand year>In length. The Tan.kh'.Ye" begins with Adam .nd culminates in t he NewAgeofJewishindependence byt heH.,moneans , Arohbishop Us.herMdfollowedthetr. ilbacktowh.thebelieved w. st hedateofthecreation,butthisw notthepurposeofthe Tan.kh'scompile,,_Thecre.tors01thechronologywant edtheir readers to followitforwarufromthedawn of creationto their own time,whichtheyconside.-eJtobethe' Ye .. Zero'_Herei .t he chronologyof the Tanakh a. calculat ed bymodern Adam Birth of Ab ..bam Entry into Egypt Ixoom fromEgypt Solomon',temple Ixile to &bylon Return t o Jeru ..lem Rededication 01the temple 4164rICE 2218 1918 1498 1018 ,..

The'GroatYear '01the T.nakh terminatesin the very year thatt he templeinlerusalemw. ,rededicatedafterJuda.M.cc.beus.eized THELAUGHISGl EW. power. The thsrnonean.began. new c.lendar in this period bec.use they.. wthemselves a. the c","oro of. New Age. ContradictionsintheTanakh The Tanakh d .. wstogether fragments fromacommon lundof Pale. _ t inian,Egyptian.ndMellQpotarni.nlolktr.dition.thothadorigi . natedinI'ale.. ineo,'ercent urie .The..,fragmentswerethon ..",mbled and t,dited into an extended pseudo_histori",,1narrative by agroupofnation. li stic,religious.ectarians.BmtheH moneans, like.Jfcre.. oroofpropheticliterature,wereonlyinterestedinhi. _ toryifitcouldbemadet o.ervetheirint o",st. inthepresent,""d . 0they f.bricated. past thatm.de tho pre.ent .ppear inevitable. But their "".u.l disregardforhistorybequeathed u. acollec tion oftoxts that ..eriddledwith problems .nd inconsistencies. T.kethelirstlivebooksoftheTaruokh,known.s theBooks0/ M""".,A.earlyasthetwelfthcenturyCElewishrabbi.h. dex_ pre ..ed gravedoubtsthotthe.e texts could actuallyhave beenwrit_ ten by Mose . The lewi.h .cholar Isaac ibny.,hu.h noted that. Ii .. inGenesisn.med kingswholived long .fter Mos is now .Imostuniver..lIy ac_ cepted. A, one modem .eholar write.: There i.honlly. biblic.olscholar in the wmld actively working on t he problemwhowould claimth.. theFiveBook, of M.,... werEwritten byMoses_or by .ny one penon." Thoreother seriou,problem. withtho of thoBooks0/ Moses .Forexample,God t ell,Mo,.. thatthepatriarchs knew him only under the name ElShadda;, which is dref_ ." erencetothegodEIandmeans 'Elt he AlmIghty',And EIw t he god 0/ the Canaanites,who werethe suppose " ' ' 1 ' w " ' l P " ' P P l < n ! " " " I " A ' D ' 0 ' " ' I ' . ' ' I '' p n l l U 1 I n , ! ' . o D o f . u . ' P U I ) O " ' A D I , U l o d d . , p 1 1 ' M " M O U ' ! : a M - a I d- u m " A 1 O ' ' ' ' 1 U 1 o ; " " p a , D O S , . a p r o w ' ' 1 ' I " a u o 0 , 0 0 1 1 1 " " a ' l L- . a l I . m , ) o . b d w a A , . n l o u . . . ' A " ' 1" " I " , u l l " j " d ) 0 ' I d o . : > < l ' ' ' l ' l P l l ' P U l l a M . ' P l o ' ! " ' ! p u e 0 1 ' A w ' ' 1 d , " l ' 1 I nO I l ' " ' I 0 , . ! t p p " ' p , " u o : > A o t p p o S J 1 a l p J O O D ' p e w, u . " " < 1 a ' l l ' ' ' I ' J O P ' A O M a u J l ' ' 1 ' , p a l d 0 , . \ . . [ 0 1 < a ' j l a U I l- " I " d ) O " I d " " d " P ' A " u " P u , , , , . O I l ' U 1 " . ' " , u . " " d o ' P 0 ' ' 1 . . . . ' p o u- > < I " ' 1 , O U O l Y ' " 0 1 w ' q n J a , . p J O . ' X U I ' I d . O M , p u e ' \ , . U . ' I l l ' ". \ . . [ o o " u o , P " " 0 ' [ " , u n ' ' ' I " d ) 0 " 1 < 1 < > < > < 1 o ' P O S - , . 0 , . ( q ' . ' u. , x U l ' l d . ! f u , o " ] d p u e ' ' I ' . U . J O > < > < t U 1 p u n o l [ > O S " " P1 0 ) u . . . . o u ' l I I ' ' ' ' " 1 0 M 0 ' 1 ' " ' o o . u d A l l ] " ' . " l d 0 , p , t d . . " p A . I . n " u e ,' l l O C ( e A W " e p a , e ' D O U l " ' I " d U l , ( d o . > < ! ' ' I '' ' I ' U l " , ' " , u " " d A S 3 ' ' I ' u ' ' 1 ' " . u O l < ' ' 1 U l , m o d e ' V' 1 0 ' 1 " ) ' ' 1 'A ( l u e " u o , 0 1 m q 0 > 1 0 ' 1 ' o u p e " P U U ( - ' , U U I l l - O U ' " l ' U l " ' ' I ' "' ' I ' ' e l U u " ( ( 1 1 l l ' ' I ' " A O , a 1 1 d l l l ' u . . . . . . ' ' ' ' ! ' 1 u o l p u P ' P " ' lA ( P I ' ' ' '. . . " , o d J O " u e l " q . v - ' u " " " I l n q e , . I I p a u " " "p u P U l1 1 " ' , w o l lp u e ' e "- " d ' U O ( A q " 1 l ' e u A " ' P l ' O M , U . 1 I ' U P " , , , , o d , " a . I l I ' ' 1 L' p u n r u l l , ( " p q l u o u e l l l , a d e , e " , U e w . < I ' l l - ' U " " l " d ) 0 A J Q ,- " ' I p ' ( q n o , " ' ' I ' p u . , . , . p u n 0 , . , A " l < A I l l " ' 1 '0 ,' ' 1 L' , , ; o r J O A O U ' P ' "' ' I ', m e , , , , ! ' " z P N " P (' 0 ) 0 , P " " u A u e n " eI , U O P ' ' ' ' , n f f , n d " , . U O I l l' 1 " " 1 a t l ' p u e l O O J l ! ' f f u P ' I ' p e w p a u " , p d P ' I , U ' M ") 0- U O l l e u- ' l d x . , n 0 ' l l l ' " P ' ' 1 ' ' U P A ' A " ' 1 0 , " p a d d e V " ' ' 1 ' p u o' " . u P " ,- , u n ' ' I ' ' ' ' ' 1 ' D . O p' ' 1 ' ' J O A ' M 0 ' l ' ' ' ' 0 1 U I p ' A m eA , ' 1 ' u ' ' 1 ' " U I " P ' U e " U l p u e I l l m ) s ' 3 U I 1 ' P U " M' 1 0 ' 1 ' u o w ' ' 1 ' ' I l l ' " , n o q p V . ' ' I ', A U ' I 0 , p , e . o , e' ' l l ' . . . o w ) 0 ' ' ' 1 ' 1 0 ' 0 " ' , ' ' 1 ' p , m e , u l Y . > A l P " " o d d n . ' 1 " ' 1 ' " . n o" ' I ' 0 1 p " p u n ' l O M I O J " " ' ' 1 L ' , u " " . A 0 : J a ' l ' ) o , , " 0 1 , P " I l P : > - O < ' ' 1 L - , . u " , u a o 1 0 1' P l n d o d ' ' I ' p a l I d- u , A ( ' ' ' I P ' ' ' ' U . e ' l ' " ' 1 ' . , u , , . A w' ' 1 ' ) 0 ' u o p a . o d- 1 l l 1 Y . > ' P ' "' ' I ' ' 1 " ' 1 ' " U l A p " , P ' P Z " ' 1 d p q ' ' I 'j l S 0 1 J a A a N S C M l I J V corpora'edin'o'heTanakhand'hecontradic,ionbe,ween,hem wen' unresolveJ, Exacd}''hes.meconsideration!leJ'hecreators0/Biblical mythology to con.truct ' wo great lc.ders to be patriarch,of 'he fews, AbrahamcomesfromMesopotamia.ndMo, esfromEg}'pt.80th wereusefult ohaveinthearchive,toplea,eei,her!labyloniamor Eg}'ptians,dependingonwhowasin'heu cendancy.In'hesame way,whcn Rome beg.inbreathing downJudea"neck and an alliance withGreeceseemcdlike. goodidca,adiplomaticcorrespondence wu produced fromthe arch ives .howing that the fews andthe Greek Spart.n.wererela' ed,a.bothweredescendedfromAbraham."'It was absolute non.eme, 01cou,..."but de.pernte ,imes c.n for desper. ate measur,"" The First Monotheists? Tradj, ionallywearetold'hatJudai ,mbroughtthedoctrine0/ monothei,m ' 0 .poor benightod humanity for 'he firsttime, Butthis i. merelylewishand Chri st ianpropagand. Nowhere in the whole 0/ the Tanakh is,here anunequivocal"at ement of monotheism. Cun ni ngeJitorship.nd tr.mlationhasdisguisedthefact, ha'thore are anembarr .,ing number oj godsrunning around 'hcBible.The sto_ rie,told in t he Books of Mo, esrefert othe god,El.ndYahweh, bu, Eli .sometime,masculine,sometime.feminineandsomct ime. plural. TheJamous opening word. of Genesis.Jorcxomple, spe.ks 0/ god. in'hepIUT. I:' In ' he beginning the godscre..edt heearth'.Ar chaeologists have . 1,0 dilOCoverodaplurality of Yahweh"Weknow a y.huor Y.u of Nebo,' swell ., thoym weh.ofTeman .ndSamana. A. one schol., ..ates; Thenames u ...! forGodin 'he Bibleare astrangemixture01, hings. It', if t hebiblical. u, hor>,(temp'ed ' 0' Mimil"e all' hediJJeren, name. Jrom'he loc. l unni culturem d tran.!.'et hemin'o low_ i,h Thejewi . hprophets repeateJly condemneJ 'heirforworship_ ping o, her god,,h.nYahweh,suc has!la.l, Ammon,Chemo,h""d THELAUGHISGl EW. Tammuz.ArchaeulogyhasdiscoveredGretkdeiti.. sucha. Herade.andmanyotherswere aho worshipp,theword. 'brot her of Jesus'hadbeen added to theinocript ion in the third century.The ossuary was .cre.tion of the holy relic.in_ dustry, which traded endle ....cred artefac ..,. uch as. plinters of the 'true cro.. nail .used in the crucifixion,' largenumber of foreskin. purportingto have once be;,nbelonged to Jem.and evenhi.umbili_ c.l cord! The os.uary was announced to be .fa ke.But thi., of course, didnot become front _pagenew.around the world_ THELAUGHISGl EW. Paul'sMythic Christ Thetradi t ionalhistory ofChri!ti.nitycannotconvincinglyexpl.in why t helesus story is.., simil" to ancientPagan myth .Nor c.n it expl. inwhytherei .noevidenceforthehistoricallesus,However, there i,. solut ion t hat dispose, of hoth these problem. in one stwke, The Gnostics were right. The lesus story is.n .llegoric. l myth , This simpleexplanational..,.olve notherproblemthathastroubleJ scholarsforcenturies,Whydoe,Paulne,'ermention.n historic.l lesus in his lettersl AlthoughschoJ. .. havenowdismissed. lmosth.lIofPaul'slet_ ters a, forgeries, hi uthentic lette," arethe earliest Chri!ti.n docu_ mentswepo..e .. andprewtethego.pe l.bym.nydecades,They . houldbefullofstorie, about thelifeofje.u,. But t hey aren't.Paul never quotes Je.und never ment ion ny dcuils abouthis life.He neve, refersto Je.u.' miraculou. birth. He doe,n't tell any ""ecdote. aboutMaryandI""eph.Thereisnomentionof.nymiracle"No wat er into wine, no walking onwater,no miraculous meals or extr._ ordin.ry cat ches of fi,h,Therei. noSermon onthe Mountor Lord'. Pro}'e!.ThereisnoagonyinGeth.eman.,notri.l,noflogging.no crown of thorns, no thieves crucifieJ with je.us, no weeping women, nothing abouttheplace or time of execution andno Jud., orI ~ l " e ,ManyChristianscholarshavepondereJoverthe'sc.ntine"of Paul',lesu.t ..dition',whichtheyh.vedescribed '.urpri. ing', 'shocking'and .'m.tt er of .. riousconcern' ,We.grcethatiti, in_ conceivable thatPaulwould not havetalked .bout thelife of Jesusif hehadknownof one,Inour experienceofcults,followersofre cently dead t eacher can't help but enthu.e abouthow wonderfult he m.ster w.s,what he did andwhathe said, But as one schol.. writes, Paul',complete,i lenceont hehistoric.lJesus'remain.aproblem onlyfortho""whoinsistthattherewas.nhistoricalje.u.tobe ..lent about', FromtheLiteralistpe",,,,,ctivethe absenceofanhistoric.lje>u. in Paul's letters i maior problem. But fromthe Gnostic """,,,,,ctive itma ke.perfect sen""Pauli Gnosticandhi. je.u.isthe hero of aniniti.,ionmyth, Thi.idea .eemhocking becau.e tod.yPauli. regardeda b"stion ofLiteralist orthodoxy,But in the firsttwo cen_ T HEMOSTFAMOU' MAN WHONEVU LIVED turie.P.ulw honouredbyGnostic ,their' GreatA"",tle'and revereJ . st he foundi ng father of Chri .. ian Gnosticism. The Gnostic m."er V.lent inu.t ell .us thathi.t eacher hadreceived the te.chings ofgnosi.directlyfromPaul.Indeed,""vendpreviouslyun1rnown Gno"ieworks att ributed to Paulwere foundin the library of Gn05tie texts discovered .. N.g Ha mm.di , Paul'sauthenticlettersarefullofthoroughlyGnost icideasand terminology.He tell .us heexperienced Jesu s. vi.ion ofli,'tand everythingheknow boutJe.uscamethrough'revelation'.When Paultells u,'t he.ecret ' of Christianity, ith.s nothing to do with an historicalJesus, The great..,eret of Christianity,Pau l declares, i .t he " mystic. l revelat ion of 'Christ in you'.ForPaul", for later Gnostics, the Christ "'preoents the one awareness thati. the true identity of all ofu"Paul'sme".goi .theperennia lGnost icmess.ge,We are a llone,He te.ches thatwhenwe are'bapti",d intounionwith [e. us ,, . there i.no .uchthing as JewandGreek,. lave .nd Jre eman, " m.le .nd fern. Ie,for we are all one person in Christ Jesu,' , Theonlyelementsofthe[..usmytht hatP.ulmentionsare Christ's de.. h.ndresurrection, which Paul understands as symbolis_ ingthe process of initiation,By.haring in Je,us' de..handre.urrec_ t ioniniti..es.ymbolic. llydietotheir'old",If'andre.urrect'in " Christ',P.ulremindshi, students'theper>onyouoncewerehas beencrucifieJ with Christ', " TheChri"ian Gnostics repe",edly.. tacked Jewish Literalism, de _ claringt h ..theGodoftheir.piritu. lJesusisnottheGodofthe T.n.kh,whot heyderideda,af. lsegodandc.lledan'ext ermin. _ " to,--',Paul. Isodispl.y.contemptforJewi . hLiterali . m,declaring [ewi.hl.wtobecursethathas.e",edonlytokeel'the!"'OVle down,He oppo,e.the very idea ofLiteralism, declaring.'The letter kilfs but the 'pirit give. life', " GenocidalJoshua BecomesGentle Jesus It '.notlookinggoodfortheLiterali". ,Thestoryoflesu.i,ex_ tremely .i mil.. to .ncient Paganmyth., There is noe,-idencc lor the exi"encc offe. uoa. an historical fi gure,AndPaul,who. eletters are THELAuGHISGlEW. theearliestChri..iandocumentswepo..e ,i.cloarlyGn"'tic who regards the [esus story as amythical .llegory encoding my..ical teachings, The Gno",ic.are clearly right to claim t hat the Jesus .. ory is an allegorical myth. Buthow and why w .. it creat eols0/philosophybeforehe moved to the big city and,de.perate to be accepted a. aphilosopher, he setup hisownChristi.n cult. It i .in hiswritings we hear for the /irsttimethatlesu.wasare.1manwho hadbeenputtodeat hby Pontius Pilate. Justin i.the /i", ofthe Literalist Christi. ns. LiteralistChristianitywas iust anotherminor cultcompet ingfor adherents intheovercrowded. piritualmarketplace.Butitcameup with anew marketing angle that gave it .n edge over the othercults ofthedyingandresurrecti ngGodman.Itclaimesophers,andtheMessiah,""de'peratelyawaited bytheJew"h.d inc.rnotedinoneman,inonepl.ce,atonetime. Thi .w revolutionary new claim. Pagans, of course,cont inued to complainthatthe Jesu ..ory h. d beenplagiari..,dfromPaganmyth"butthisonlydrovetheLiteral_ iststorebutsuchchargesbyfle,hingoutthen.rrative0/theJesu. "Drywi thmoreandmorepscudo_hi.. oricaldetail , _ Ofcour""it helped that there wasno w.y of knowing what had re.lly uken place inJerusalem more than centuryand ahal f ago.!ermalemwas an in_ significant pl.ce alongw.y fromRome. Noonecou1dcheck the Lit_ eral ists'wildclaim.againstthefactsontheground,bec.methe groundhadbeenutterly razed.Ju" afewyea"befoTeJustin arrived inRomethe city oflerusalcmhadbeenre _founded. saRomancity lromwhich 1ew,were forbiddcn on pain 0/ dc'ath. lu.. in not only gives u.thefirst evide nce ofLit erali .. Christianity, he. 1""giv,,"u.thefirstindicatio", of ariftbetweenGnostic.and Lit e .. li .... Gnost ic. were aproblem for Lit e ..li.!> bec.use they kept underminingtheir new cult ', advertising camp.ign by d.i mi ngt hat le.us wasn'treally. man, but t hehero 0/ an allegoricalmyth_lustin pu!>downGnostic. byaccu,ingthemofavarietyofdirtytricks, sucha. gaining. dherents by seducingwomen.Hecven. CCllOe.the Gnost ics of c.nnibalism! Litera li ... do allthey can to portray theGnostic. as fringcheretic. and t hem..,lve,.s the C. tholic, or 'unive".l ',Church, but thi' i.ac_ tu.lly acomplete rever .. l of the truth. For the firstthree cent uries c Lit erali.. Chri .. i.nit ywasthefr ingosectandGnosticChristiani ty wa. farmorepopular,whichiswhyLite .. li ... spent"" muchtime attackingGnostics.AndwhyGnosticscouldrarelybebotheredto fightback. Bythe time Justin w. ,writing inRome,Gn05tic Christiani t yhad spread throughoutthe ancient world.InEgypt,Syri.and AsiaMinor, thefirstChrist iansweknowofareallGnostics.In110ClCor_ poerate,foundedaGnost icsectinAlexandri._In117CEBasilid.. beg.nanot her schoolinAlexandria.Around120CE,Cerinthu.wa. writinginthe city ofEphesus . Valentinu.studiedinAlexandriabe _ foregning toRomein130ctosetuphis schooLIn144Marcion, who.lreadyhadt housandsoffollowe"intheEast,aho cameto T HEMOSTFAMOU' MAN WHONEVU LIVED Rome,followedinISObyMarcus,Bythethin!cent uryManihad foundedaGnosticchurchwho""inlluencewoufdeventuallyreach fromSp.in in the We.. to China in the Eost. Paganwrite ..testifytothepopufarityofGno"icChristianity, The philosopher Cd. ust ell .u.aboutmany different Gnostic Chri . _ tian group. andtheir texu, buthe know. nothing of Literalist Chri . _ tian.andt hebooksoftheNew Teotament , ThePaganphilollOpher I'lotinus tells usthotsome ofhis friend . ..eGnostic Christians and mentionstheirtexu,some of whichhavebeenfoundatNagHam_ madi,but he al.., has no knowloJge of Literali"Chri"ianity or any of t heNew Testoment gospels , The popularit yof GnosticChristi.nity i ttestoJ t obyLiteralist Christiansthemsefve.,AletterattributedtoI'olycarpadmitst hat 'the greatmajorit y' of Chri>tian.don'tbelieve t hatJesu. existed'in " the fle.h'.Tertullian bemoans the factthat Gn05tics fill' t he whole " univer",,' ,Eventhe great her"", of early Literalist Christianity were just going through aphase, Justin'.star pupi l T .. ian gave up onLite, ali.m and went off tojoin the Gnostics. A.didTertullian, who even_ tu.llycondemnedtheLiteralistBomanChurcha norgani"' t ion of' anumber of bi,hop"rather than 'a.piritualchurchfor. piritual " people'. Mathew,Mark,Luke andJohn InRome. generation afterJustin,theLiterali stBi.hop[renaeuswas han!atworkcomposinghism."iveworkAgainstHeresiesto discredithisGnosticriv.ls.Heramblesonforvolumeaftervol_ umederidingtheir.llegoric, linterpretat ionsofthefesusstoryas 'c.. ftify_construct edplausibilitie.' designoJ to 'duw aw.y themind. ofthe ine xperiencoJ and ta ke them captive'. Gnosticism i. acon.pir_ acy to deceive t he faithful by ' drawing them .way unde, apretence of s uperiorgnos;s,. J][nresponseGnosticsaccuseLiteralist.of .. tting up an'imitation church',bec.use t hey h.d replacedthe Gnosticun_ Je"'tanding of theJe.u.mytha.aspiritualparablewithsomething " utterly ban.f, but beguilingly simple, According t oLiteralist 11youneeded t odo wasbelieve theJe. u. THELAuGHISGIESU. storywas true .nd you would be .. ved.The problem w th.t there were dozens of Chri..ian go'pei. in circulat ion,,,",ny 01which have now been lound atN.g Hamm.di,which clearly portrayed Je.u. a. a mythicalfigore, In respon'" [renaeus .uddenly produce. four gohew. stoowell known,soinAc(sthey,et.boutturninghiminto.Liter.li" .nd m.king hi msubordinate t oPeter. They did thi.bymaking useof the f.ctthatPaulsay,himselfthathoh.dnove,metJe.us.Actsnow makesitaconditionof being an apostle t hatyouneedtohavemet " lesus,It was asimple ploy butiteffectivelyputPaul""daUtho,e misguided Gno.tico who followedhi mfirmlyintheir place,So now Peter, the suppos.dfounder of the Litcnli" Church, is at rue apostle, althoughinfacthei .notanhistoric.1figureatall.AndPaul,the T HEMOSTFAMOU' MAN WHONEVU LIVED " hero o!theGn"' t ic.,i.not.true apostle,.!thoughinhcthewas oneo!the founders o! Christianit y_ Actswashbricatedt o,uggestthatPaulandPeterh.dmetin Jerusalem.ndthatP.ulhad.cceptedPeter' uthority,Actually, however, .lmost ever},thing Act:!" ",y,Paul connic," withwhat saysabouthim>eUinhi.lctters,AndPaulnevermention. meeting anyone called Peter. The Literal i,ts' solution w two clever piece. o! editori.l tampering, One with Paul '. Lettel to rhe Galdtians and one with The Go'pel of /ohn, Inhi .Leller to rheGalatians,PaulmentionoChristianhemet in [cru..lem c.lled Cephas,With impleint erpol ..ion one o! these reference. to Cephu wa. changed to 'Peter' , It i.an tothetext inthenextsentenceP.ulimmediatelyrevert. back to talking about Cephas. Nonethele.., it was enough to identify Ceph.s .nd Peter a. the . ame penon. Peter w acentr.l !iction.l character in the [e'u,myth. T here aTe overISOrderences to 'Peter'int heNew Testament , InTheGospel of fohnone o! t he,ebeen changed to read'Cepha.' .nd aneditor_ i.l voice helpfully points out ' thot i. Peter' ,From t hen on Ceph i. never mentioned .goin, T hename Cephppears only once in t hewhole o! the New Te._ t . mentandthenamePeter.ppearsonlyonceinalltheletten 0/ butthesetwosimpleinterpolationswereenoughtoident ify themyt hic.l!iguTePeterwiththehistoric.lpersonCephas.Thi. connectiont hen10rlllcda!ounwtionlorActs,which.how.t he GnosticapostleP.ul .ubordinatetotheLiteralist.postlePeter. Other adiustments were m.de to Paul'.letters that .chieved a gre.tdealwitht heminimum o! .. mpering.[renaeu.and Tertullian both quoteGa/aliansbut omitthe word not inkcy pa..age,Int he originalletter""y.thathedoes'not'.ubiecthim..,Utothe authorityo! the Christi.nohe met in1cru lem, butinthe newver_ .ion heacceptstheir authority,whichhts theLit cralistagendoper_ " ,-leetly,Now they could claImthatPaulmetPeter la. k_a.Cepha.)," Jerusalem and .ccopted the authority o! Peter, It i.astory that i ... ill believed today,but none 0/ iti.true_ In the years following thecreation o! The Acrs of the Apmtics leg_ end.aboutPotermultipliedexponenti.lly.Dram.. icstorieswere " THELAUGHISG lEW. compo,ed relating howPete, foundedthe Literali!! Church inRome and w., ",. rtyredbybeing crucified upsidedown.Butdespitetheir creativityandent ert.inmentvalue,the. el""ta.ie.wereinvented too late to be included in t heNew Te.ument. TheLiteralistPaul Not onlyi, lrenaeu.t helirst perron inhistory to ment ion Matthew. Mark,Luke andfohn,and The Acts of the Apo,lles,he also claim. to bein po"e"ion 01. number of letten hyPaulwhich have not been heardofpreviou.ly.Int he",letters,whichareknow t he' 1"'_ tor.l.',Paul has been tr.nslormed from aGnostic into aLite,alist. Of thethirteonlette,.,attributedtoPaulint heNewTestamt'nt,t he threeletters that arcmostwidely di.mi ..edby scholars a. forgeries arethep ..torah,whichGnost ic.atthetime.150",fusedtoac_ ." knowledge .s . uthentlc, Tbe pastorals receivedt heirn.me because their purposei. topro_ vide'p. storal'rule.lor guidingtheorgonis>tion of t heChurch.But the genuinc Paul ,how. no interest insuch matteT.,because when he waswrit ing t here w .. no church 0/ bishops and de.cons t oorgoni.. ' Whatthep."oral. actu.llyshowu.oret heaims and.mbitions0/ second_centuryLiteral i"s,such., lrenaeu"whoweredes!"'ratcto . etup., an authoritarian church,andpreventtheirmcmbersfrom wandering 011and ioining those dreadful Gnostic. , [re""cm'rna.. ive work .g.inst heretics quot eslrom the pastor.l. wherePaul,the greathew 0/ the Gnostic., is supposed t oh.ve given " awarning against ' the gnosi.f.lselyso-called"Althoughthe genu_ ine P.ul only ever rcie" to. myt hicaljesus,the Paul of the pastor.l. hasavery concrete [omsproudly loying out hi, legal dele neein front "ofl'ontiu. Pilate,The forgerofthop terah also took the o pportu_ nit yto h.ve wipe .. women. Tbe Gno"ic.werefamou., orinfamomifyouwereaLiteralist, forthe equality they allordedwomen.Notonly did Gno"icwomen preach,haptiseandcelebratetheEucharist,manyGno!!icgroup. wereevenruorned.fter women,. swere m.ny Gnostic go.pels . Lite, alist. ,.uch ., lrenaem and TertulJian,were outraged. They foundit T HEMOSTFAMOU' MAN WHONEVU LIVED shocking thatGnost ic women could'engagein discu"ion ' andeven " acta>hi.hops,Theirmi,ogynisticopinion.arenowputintothe mouth ofPaulin theI"'storak Letthewomanlearn in, ilence wit h . ll . ub;ection. I ,uffernotaworn..,tot each,nortousurp.ut horit yoverthem. n, butto beIn . ilence.* T hepastoralseffectivelyRomani", Paul.InRomansociet ytheidea thatwomenwereequ. ltomenw impl,'unthi nkable.Theno_ t ionth... womanmight bet heleader of. religiomIOOctwa. noth ingIe .. than,""cri legious,T herighuojRomanwomenwit hregard toreligionwere. imple.Theyhadnone. Theywereforbiddenfrom offici.. inginreligiousrit e.andRorrumlawdemandedthateven th"""EasterncuI" thatweretr.ditionallyledbyapriestessputa m.ninchorgeinstead.Bycre.. ingt hemisogynistPaulofthepao-tond.,lrenaeu.make.hi .LiteralistChristianityacceptabletoa Rom. naudience, T here stillremained the problemt hat there. lPauldoe.n' tmen_ t ion an bistorical lem"But once . g.in t bc ",lution W3Ssimple. Place Pau!'. letters aftert be gospels.Now when readers come t oP.ult bcy naturallya ..umethotbei. tal kingaboutt behistoric. 1je,uspor tr.yed in the earlier books, Mooern .pin_doctors couldlearn. thing or two fromtbese Lit e,.li.,, 1 You've got to admire their ingenuit y. The 'Holy'Bible? Inthebattlelor authoritytexts wereweapon .Int hethirdcent ury CEthe boly lorgery mill of Literali st Christiani t ycontinued to churn out documents t oaddto theNew Testament. Moreletters were cre at edthatportr. }P.ula>aLiteralist,. ucba>2Thessaloniamand 3Corinthians, "Letterswere.1", forgedinthename. 01Peter.nd fohn,The Second Lertel of fohngive.up allpretence thotiti.trying tocommunicate. nything. boutJe.u .It .",Iepurposei.to.tt.ck the'man,'deceive",'who'do notacknowledgefe.u. Christ a>com_ o ing in the flesh', " THELAuGHISGlEW. During the firstthree centuri", nevery book t hatnow m.ke. up theNewTe.umentwas hailed bysomeonea.ucred scriptureand deridedbysomeoneeI,easaforgery.Neverthde ..,over time,t he New Te..amentc.meto beseen. sthedefinit iveChristiancanon, Literalist Christians .1. 0adopted the Tan.kh,whichhadbe;,n so vo-ciferouslyrejectedbytheoriginalGnosticChristians,.nd madeit theirOldTestament ,.Ibei twithanimportantch.ngeto suittheir own purposes. TheTan.khi . ....ngedinthroesections:thePentateuch,t he Prophets . nd the Writings.Literali .. Christian.reversedthe order 0/ theProphets and the Writing'so t hatthe OldTest.ment.ppearsto be one long preparation for Jesu"who w 'born of David'. line'. The OldTe.tamentend,withtheprophecy ofMalachi ,'Lo,!will.end theprophetElij.htoyou',whichleadsintothe.ppearanceint he New Test.ment of Johnthe B..ptist, who i .claimed t obeElijah come ag.in to prepare the w.y forle.u. , Adopt ing the Tanakh as their Old Testamentserved two pUrpD,e. lor Litera li>!Christian., It made Chri5tianity appear to be the contin_ uationofavenerabletradition,whichwasvitalwhenRom.nlaw would.Ilow thepract ice 0/ .faithonly ifit could beshownto be .n_ cient.And later,when the Church bec.me the offici.1 religion of t he RomanEmpire,itprovided,cripturaljustific. tionfort he brutalre_ pre..ion 0/.11 oppo.ition, just a.it had for t he sectari.n H.smonean. who created it, Theprocess t hat the New Tes .. mentw.ouncannilylike thatwhichproduced t he Old Testament.Bothwere puttogether by Literali". intentoncre.. ingandmainuiningtheirown powerand.uthority,Bothconuint herem.insofGnost icmyth. which have been buried beneath .ccret ions ofpolitic.l prop._ gand.,Bothareriddledwithandanomalie,bec.me the}' h.ve be;,n .!tered and .mended by so many editoria l hands. The Lite .. Ii...' Bibleis not holy script ure. It'nunholy me . Glorious Gore Bythemiddle0/thethirdcenturyt heRomanEmpirewasonthe vergeof collap... ThePersian. lromthe e.st and t hebOl T HEMOSTFAMOU' MAN WHONEVU LIVED b.riano fromthe north, For t heIi"t time in hi.. ory aRoman ernpCrseeutionto whip up religious fanatiei.m,T.king out religious ext remi stsm.y .oemlike an ed.y solution,buteverymOT tvr-'sde.. hinspires ahundredmore withthe de.ireto emulatetheir devotion. As Tertullian h.d written atthe t ime 0/ thoJ>Cr..,cutions a century before Diocletian: The more yoomow mdown, the more we grow. The blcod of the mar_ tv .. is t he seed of t he Church." Literali.. Christi. os,like.0 manyother religiousextremistssince, embraced the opportunity lor martyrdom enthu.iast ically. They ide_ . li . edtheirmarty".sspiritualathletesandholyw.rrio.-.,They believed th.. ' t hrough . ufferingfor onehour-'it w .. poo.ibJe to 'pur. cbase eternal lile' . The Literalist Cyprian vividly describe. the delight 01theLordwith'the sublime,thegreat,the acceptable.pectacle' 0/ 'flowing blOdwhich quenchesthe l1.m.. andthe fir .. ofHellwith " its glorious gore', GnosticChristians saw Literalist, asfanaticsle.ding thegullible THELAuGHISGlEW. to point le ...uffering wit hfal .. promi..,. They viewe . : > J J ( 1 " l O A p u p " ' l 0 ' 1 ' " " " " ' 1 ' H "u o p ( n o ,o s ' P " , ! ' 1 I U ' P " ' I( u u n ! " ' , u d . q u n p ' U l . i l l " ' HU O I " ' I p u p p " . " " H n . , A 0 ' l 0 , . ' ' ' N w O ' J " , w 0 ' l p , u m , l i 0 H - , , , ' u o w " ' . M ' " m ; x ! l l l 'u . i l l o l l , " o w' " ' u " U " , . u o : : ) A " ] . " U l , n i l ' ' I ' ' . ' u oA J U l . " ' : : ) , " o w l Y " , U l . ' , . , O J ; x ! w ," " , o , d' 1 " ' 1 ' " ' u o r j P 1 0 a ' U . " O J ' " p u . " q d . d O l q ' , ' U l I U O , . U 0 : : 3 , u r " , " ' ! ' m q- " " 3 : - u o m ' " . " I N ' P ( p u p' . Mp m ' " a ' l ' A . ' "p ( n < Y . >' ' 1 '' O , P ' A U O W 0 , u o " , . o d d o U l a ' U O l ' J U O ' a ' l ' , 0 p a A U l " , m q " , n 3 : d 0 ' l " 1 1- A ' 1 " " P ( I O " " ' ' 1 ' " " ' 1 , , - , n q ' U l p " e a d " , H ' " ' ' I I ' A ( q l P ' 1 > U l ' l O A ' a , l O ) A qA , m " U ' ' ' ' l : : 3 U O p , . o d W l p U O J O , a d w , U P w o l i , , , o d , , p " ' . M p o o , : : ) u e a " N ' ' 1 L " J o m w " , o 1 l d i l l ai l l O J ) p ' ' 1 " u . q a " " ,P " " j " 0 ' l M , . 0 ' l L - . " , n l I , . , u " U O , . U 0 : : 3 , . l U ' l U U l . " " U ' ' 1 " A O ] ) O' ' 1 , U O W 1 0 ) U O A e " 0 , P ' " A U l " " M 1 " ' , 1 > " " U a ' l ' 0 , d n t d " 0 , , . 0 ' l L ' ' P ' " p U p , r u l . ' ) O " " n' 1 1 1 M , W O " ( q n o l la ' l ' u o p , r o d i l l ' p u p . ' > I N , . p > < O d w o , . " . . . ." I J " " " l Y' "p u . A l l u nP O l u o " " H " U O l l " a d1 1 " , w n q A ( d i l l " a u " u o , . u o : : ) - , u . u , u ' I : : ) . . . . o J- ( ' J l l ' ' l ' , " " , , 0' U O l l , , ; x ! ' I l l ' " J O , a d w a a ' l ' P - ' ' ' ' I t u o q 0 ,m 1 1 " ' 1 A ' ' l ' u 0 ' l ' p ' A m d o ' l " q ' ' 1 'J O U O < > < o u l l l H - A " U . " ' ' ' ' 1 : : 3J O' ' l 1 x ' J O J . " ' N m a , U 0 1 ' ) U O ' u o " " , ' l : : ) , ' A ' ' ' ' ' )0 ,. d o ' l " q u . u ' ' ' ' l : : 3 ' " A U ! 0 , ' " U O l l n ( " " " H - A " u . " " , ' l : : ) ) O- " ' I" u , . " ' l , O U O ' u o ' l 1 1 - " u " " ' l P " ' l , u e l " u ' l : : ) , e ' l 'tamentthatrepudiatedheretic. andtheOldTestamentthatlegi ti_ miseothersimi larstorie. ,Butlookatitwithanopenmind.nd the [e,u. story i. obviou.l}'0myth. Aret he go,pel, really eye _witne.. ac_ counts01thelile 01amiraculousdying ondre.urrecting Godman! No. There i,nomore evidence lor thee1i"ence 01je.us than there i. lor Mose"Joshua,Solomon and . ll the rest . All areJewish lit _ erarycreations_TheJesu.storyi ymbolicallegorybasedonan _ cien'Paganm},ths. It i. just asmuch aI"'rable a, the manyI"'rable. itcon .. in.Looking for'herealJcsu.i, fut ilea.looking forthe realGood &'maritan, Todaythereare",metwentythouS;inddifferentChr isti.n.ects, Nearly.ll 0/ ,hem areLiteralist andregardthe New Test.ment,cre _ at Nbyt heRomanChurch,a. on. uthent icaccountofthelife0/ [e,us,When.. kedwhythey..e however,mostpeople , ayiti ,becau>tory01]slam. how.thatthe,arne process can happen in. few dec.de . TbeGnostic Mubammad Muh.mm.d grew up among Jew. and Christi.n. whose influence on himwasprofound.ButtheJudai.m.ndChristianitythatMuham_ madencounteredintheArabianPeninsulawerenotth05ethatwe arenowf.mili .. with.Many of thestorie.intheOur'.naboutthe Hebrew prophets andJe,us are quite unlike tho,""we know fromthe Bible,Sowhere do those storie. come from!Muh.mm.dwas.aid to havebeen. hockedwhenheleamoothatJud.i.mandChristianity , were .ctu.l1y difJerent faith"How could beconJuse the.e two very differentreligioustradition.! T begreatscholarAdolfvonHarnackprovide.theanswer,Wbat Muhamm.d.ctually encounteredinArabiawa,aformofGnostic ludeo_Christianity.wbicbtheProphettr.nsformedinto t he religion , weknowa.hla m.Judeo_ChristianGnosticgroup.oucha.the Ebionit e, andElch..i.,es flouri,hedinthe regioninwhich Muham_ m.dwas born, and their influence on Islam i. obvious. T he,e Gno"icsects were f.mous for t he prominence they gave to theroleofprophctsandforseekingmysticalvision.outint he wilderne... SowhenMuhamm.d soughtrevelationsinthcwilder_ nesshewasfoJlowingwell_e". blishedlocaltradition,Andwhen hebegin.receiving mess.ge.fromGod,iti. no surpri""to find that theyincludemany Gnost ic motifs . The moststrikingevidenceof Gnost icinfl uenceon Muha mm.d i. the Our'.n's treat mentof Je.u.' de..h.!t .totes: Theydid notkill hIm,and they dIdnot crucify him, but on< wa.made to _1'1"''' tothemlike him' THELAUGHISGl EW. Thi' ide.isentirelyheret ic.1forLiterali"Christian. ,buti.fund. _ ment. 1 to manyGnost ict ex.. in which it i. onlyJesu.' "pre..ance' th.t iscrucified,Thi' . eeminglystrangeide.i .actually .common .Hogory encoding profound te.chings about aw.kening to gnosis. Another exampleof Gnst ic influence on Muhamm.d i.hi. deci_ .ionto m.ke leru,alemthefocus0/wo..hipforMuslims,.!t hough helaterchanged thi st oMecca.Where didtheide. of m.king 0 par_ ticularcitythefoeu.ofworshipcomefrom?Notfromlud.i.m, Therei .noevidencethatJew.ev.. proyedtow..d.Ioru.alem,Nor doesitderivefromLiteralistChri .. i.nity.Chri"iansproyf.cing e ...,toward.therising .un. The pchasiat e. Gnostic., fiowever,did /ace leru.alem when they proyed. Muhammad originall y followedthe Gnostic.' egalitarian example in hi. treat mentof women. There was. striking equ.lity of the sexes inthee.rlyMu. l imcommunity.WomenwereamongstMuham_ mad'.dosest followeTS, they tokp.rtin puhl iclife,and even fought alongsidemen inbattle.Muhammad forbadet he killing of girl chil o dren,orregrettingthattheywerenotboy. ,andgavewomenlt'gal rights of divoree and inheritance centuries before theWest .S. dly,all this eg.litarian Gnmuchso thatone be _ gin. t owonder whether Aliah hasAlzheimer's . TheOur'anm.ke omeimpressivecl . im. aboutitself,It "ate. " categoricaliy,'Tbi .isthe bookwhereinisno doubt '.Yeteventhis " . t ementi" eil i.open t odoubt. It can't be arevelation lrom God to Muhamm.d,becauseinMuhammad'slifetimetherewas no 'book', astheOur'anh. dnotbeencompiled.Infactt heOur'anmakesno senserightfromthestart .Ouitefiteroliy 'It ol"'nowit htheword. , 'AUFLAMMIM',which don' tmeananything,NotevenMuham_ m.d him.. lf understood their meaning. It i .oddfor Godto begin hi. THELAUCHISGl EW. definit iveWordwithambiguity,butthisi.typic.10/thehoeus_ pocus thataccompanies the cre.. ion of so-called ' ..cred'texts. The Our'an claim.that God is absolute,docsnotinclude anyone inhi,government,andthatnoman',opinion.orword.formpart oft heOur'an. YetMu. lim scholars acknowledge that at I.. "fifty0/ thesecondc. hphUrnar' ,ide., wereincOJporatedintotheQur'an. Theseincludeorderingwomentowearveil"whichwasacus-tomcopiedfromtheByzantineChristians,and other doctrines that havehadaprofoundimpactonIslam.Yet ,de.pitetheseanomalies, theQur'andeclare,itsdftobefreefrominconsistencies.!ta.ks rhetoric. lly; Why00theynotpondertheOur'anlIf" h.d beenfromother than " God ,uroly they would h.ve found initmuchincomi"enoy. Anyonewhoactuallyponde.. t heOur'an,however,soondiscovers thatiti. so riddled with inconsi"enci.. th.. allitsm.ior doctrine. are self.contradictory.Proof,.urely,thatitwasnotwrittenbyGod! Th.,e inconsi"enci.,reflectMuhamm.d'.journey fromGnosticto know_alLFor example,theegalitarianMuhammadhasGoddeclare thatMu.lim.mustremember thatno hum.nbeing i .God,so men andwomen should be iustwith one another.Afew lineslat er,how_ ever,wegetacompletelydifferentmegefromtheauthoritarian Muh.mmad: Mon have authority over womon becenplo oft he obeliove",donottreat)"ur I.,he" andbrC>!hors )"ur fnends,if they prefor unbehef to belief.Whosoever 01 you take. t horn lor lriends, they ore eVII .doe .. ,-Mushm. oro the p>ple who 00notlove myone who 0f'!'0'vi,iblelike t hointorror lines of ""..Is and rubie . A i>agirloft ender age,h ..inghrge"'ingbroa",whichare round, andnot inclined t o Everym.nwhoontenparadisewillbegiven.eventy_two ofthe.e hourisand,nomatteratwhat. gehedie.,inpar.di",hewillbea thirt y_year-oldwith the virility of. hundred men.For th""" of. dif_ ferent..,xu.lI"'nua.ionthero3OCrite.thatjesus condemm in thego.pels . The ironyi.t hatthemost extremeFundamentalist. areact ually onlyone,m.ll step.wayfromwakingup.Theyore.lreadycom_ pletely convinced thateveryone el,e'.religion i. utter nonsense. All they needtodo nowi. re.li.ethatIKlistheir own'But,forFund._ mcntalists,this .mall stcp i. agiantleapint otheunknown,requir_ ing agenuine faithin thcmystery of existence,whichthey have yet to find.Fundamentalist. need to be certain they know the Truth,be _ c.use t heonly alternativethey ,ee i. t erri fying. Fundamcnuli... are 'us'atourmostlost_AsthcChristianGnosticTheodotusputit many centuries ago; Thosewhoarerno"..l",p thinkthey.re m03tawake , beingunder thepower of vividand fi xed vi,ions, so thatth"", who aIe most igno-",nt t hinkthoyknowrno>t, ' Yetit i. often becau,e they have had a genuineexperienceof awaken_ ing from the illusion of separat ene .. t hatpeople embrace Fund.men_ uli.m,Makenomist.ke.boutit ,atFundamenulistmeet ings peopleexperienceoomethingspecial.Theyfeelrou""dfromt he everyd.y numbne.swe call'normality' and begin to feel.live .gain, Tbey arehaving transpersonal experience . But, then, IKlwere people attheNaziNuremberg .. nics . They.Iso transcendedtheir >havetaught(orcenturies.Arewe(or George.ndOsam.or againstthem'Howwe make thi .choicewill dehnethe worldwe co-cre..ein t hisnew millennia . The Heretical Heritage T hroughout history, Gnostic. h.ve pre,ent ed thepo"ibi lity o( awak_ ening to gno.i.as an alternative t oreligious Literali.m. Gnost ics are . lwaysoutspokencritic.o(theoutdat ed".t usquo,whichforever getsthemintot rouble.T heyarebrandedhereticsandpe"ecuted horrihly.But through their courage the spiritual heo"01religionhas beenkeptbeatingthroughtheages,Thegrea tscient istand1"", _ thinker Albert Einstein writes: Thereligious geniuses of all.ge.havebeendistingui'hed by thekind 01religious feeling whichknow.nodogmaandno GodoOted Oligoorch. re. umcd power andinit iated.react ionarybacklash .Tragic.lly,buttypically,t he princi!", l victimswere the verypeoplewho had inspired the cultur.l renai ..ance in t he i irst place.The brilliant .ndeccentricphilollOpher Anaxagoras,advisorofthe gre.tleader of Cla.. icalAthens,Pt'rieles, wasindict ed for heresyandsentinto exile . Xenophane. was indicted lor impietyand banishedfromAthens .Hi.crime !Expres. ing bla. _ phemoussentimentssuchas' If cattleandhorseshadh.ndst hey woulddraw the form.of their gods li kehorsendc.tt le',and No oneknow.01will everknow,t hetruth aboutt he gods, for ovnif you did st umble on t he truth,youwouldnotknow you had' Protagoras, thephi losopher who famouslymade man ' t heme.sure of allthings',was indicted forhere.y. Hi. bookw burntint he.treet andhedrowned whilst trying to escape hispersecuto,, _Socr..es, the mostcelebratedphilo.opherofthemall,wascondemnedandexe_ cuted. The..,.re iustsome ofthefamous vict imsoftheintellectu. l purge c.rried outby the Thirty Tyrantswho now ruled Athens.An_ otherfifteenhundredfree_thinkersandpftilosophersahoperi.hed inthe reign oft error.Athen. h.d successfully cutoffherownhead. Itwasahorriblescenario,butonethathistorywouldrepeattime and.gain . Alexandria TheAthen.experi mentwasruthlesslycrushed,butGnostici,m livedtoinspire. nother greatrenai"ance of wi,domandculturein '" THELAUGHI SGl EW. HellenicAlexandriafromthethin!centul)'BC .Herothe.piritual wisdomoftheworldmetandwassynthe.ioedintonewdynamic form. by eclectic Gnostics. They merged Greek and Egyptian philos_ ophyto c","etheHcrmetica,Greek,EgyptianandMesopotamian influence.flowedtogethertocreateTheChaldeanOracles, Greek philosophysyncreti.edwithlewi.hmythologyto creat eChristi.n_ ity.Alchemy, Buddhism and every other .piritual tradition through to ZOlThistriani. mwere openlypracticed anddi.eussed. Thegreatlibrary ofAlexandriaw.s sa idto contain half amillion scroll.,includingwork.bywriterssucha.Euclid,ArchimNesand Ptolemy, who all worked.t the library. It also contained thebooks of Aristarchu. of &imos,whodemonstrat Nthot the Earth i. one of the planetsandorbitsthe.un,AndEratosthene.,whocalculat edthe obliquity of the ecliptic and thediameter of the Earth with an error of Ie .. th.nIpercent . And Hipparchus, who determined the precession oftheequinoxes,the. izeofthe.un, ande.lculatN lunareclipses, AndAppolonius,whoproduceda.rudyofconicsectionsfourteen hundrN yearsbefore Keplerre_discoveredthis vital t ool for ealeulat_ ing the orbits ofthe planets. The. cientistCarlSaganarguedthatifhumanprogre.shadnot been interrupt ed bythe Dark Ages,themedieval period 01cathed.. 1 buildingmightinsteadhavewitnessedthebeginning01t heSpace Age. But this didn't happen. WhenLiterali" Chri"ianity became the religion01theRom.nEmpiretheworldwentm.dagain,Freeen_ quirywas olfiei.llyterminated andt hegreatl ibrarywasputt ot he torchbyrampagingbands01black robedmonk..Augu.. inecon_ structed thefirstever legal ..gumentthat the stat ehad the right and dut yto enforce religious orthodoxy on its .ubiects. Augustine's oppo_ nentsdenounce01Pagani.m' lI'hoelseh.ve setinorder theharbour> andtherivers'Andwho else have taughtthe hiddenwisdom' To whom el "" ha. the Deit ),",,'caled it",]f, gi,'en oracl .., and told.boutt hefuture,if nott hefamorn men amongstt hePagolru'ThePagolfUhavemadeknownall01t hi . They havediscoveredt heart01healingt hebody,t heyh,,'c.00made known t he art 01he.llng t he >oul,theyh.vefillcdt heearthwith set _ tled form. of government and with wisdom which is the highest good. Wit houtPaganismtheworld would be empty andmiserable' Andhewasright.WithoutPagani.mt heWesternworldreallyhad becomeempt yandmi",r.ble,But thelightswentoutinEurope, they begantoburnevenmorebrightlyintheEast.I.l.micculture was still young and anything .eemedpo..ible, The fruit0/ this ope n_ mindedne.., al w.y., washigh culture. Int hisperiodIloghdadsowrenais .. nceinwhichliterarycrit i _ ci.m,phil"""phy,"""try,mathemat ic.,astronomyandmedicine flouri.hed a. tliey once h.d in At hen. and Alex.ndria, B.ghJ..d had a thousandphy.iei.ns,aireeho,pital,regularpostalservice,and o b.nkswit hbranchesasfarafield. sChin..Thefirstuniversity, c.lled the House of Wisdom, was e"ablislied here,where Greek t ex .. onastronomy,navig:rtion,geograpliy,mathematic.andmedicine weretranslatedinto Arabic.Mu,limscliolarsbuiltonthisfound. _ tionandwentontomakemorescientificdi.coveriesduringthis " period t lianin the whole of previou. lyrecorded history. Mystic.]sects,.uchastheI. maili. ,uoedmathematic.andsci _ ence,iu>!like t lieirPyth.gore.nforebe.rs,a. ameans of aw.kening thehumanmindtoasense oftranscendentwonder.They.tt acked Lite.. li.. religion, arguing tliat no revel.tion couldever bedefinitive, " sinceGodwas.lw.y.greaterth.nhumanthought.Another""ct c.lled them.elves the Faylosuh, fromthe Greekphilosoph"which i. also probably t herotof the name 'Sufi'commonly given t oIslamic ,,. THELAUGHISGlEW. mystic .Drawingtheirinspirationfromthehundreds01Greek philosophicaltoxtsnow theFaylasufs tkthuman beings could transcend the apparent,eparatene.. ofthings and expe_ riencethotalli.one.Theya ..ertedthatthisphilosophyw.,the originalreligionof allotherreligion.werein.de_ quote versions of thetrue t eaching . Y.qubibn[sh.q al _KinditaughtthatMusli m hould .""k truth wherever it was t obe lound, even fromloreigne.. with adifferent re _ ligion.Theteaching'int he Our'anwereparables01ab.tractphilo_ sophicaltruth.tomakethem.0/ SpainreintroducedtheWestto Alchemy.ndaho.. ofotherlong_losttr.dit ion.Jewi. hGnosti_ cismre_.urfacedintheformof Kahb..lahandChristi""Gnosti cism re_appearedintheform01c.th..ism,Allofthesehidden"re.m. eventu. lly bubbled up inFlorence. [n[453 the Byzantineochol .. Gemistu. Pletho arrived in Florence andannouncNto hi .astoni . hedlistenersthatthereligiousdecep_ tion of Mo..,.,fcm, and Moh.mmcd w., atan end.I'hilolOOphywas heretot akeitsplace.Oneofthemember>ofPletho's.stoni. hed audience w.s the we.lthy b..nkerCo.imoMedici, who senthi .agents to.eekout.ncientphil osophicalworks,Within afe wye. "heh. d recoveredt heworksofPlat o,Plotinm,Ia mbl ichu.,Porphyry3Ild other Gree kphilo,opher>,playwrights .nd hi..orian., aswell.s eso_ terict extsl ikeTheChaldeanOracles,Hermerica andPica/rix,No Europe.nhad.pokenGree kforcenturies,butnowCo.imo.pon_ oored hisprotegeMarsilio Ficino to learnthelanguage and translate hi.new.cqui.ition._Hecreat eda'NewPlat onicAc.demy'inFlo_ renceb"..,dontheorigin.lAcademythath. dbeendosedbythe Christian emperor Justinian in t he 'ixth century. [nthi' tiny city theWe .. ernworld .uddenly regainedrome ofits THELAuGHISGlEW. memory,Whentheworks 01thePaganphilosophers,thathad been boni. hod lrom Europeforathousand years,cameflooding backinto Florence,theyblewpeople"mind.,Wd.itjustaccidentalt hat100 many geniuseswereworkinginFlorenceinonobrio!periodinthe fifteenthcentury?Ofcoursenot ,Leonardod.Vinci,Botticelfi, Michelangelo,Raphael ,Brunelle.chi,Ficino.nd manyotherswere allp.rtofaGnosticrevolutionwhichunleashedthenaturalere. _ t ivity of .ll it touchcd. pico dell. Mi randol.wasthet alented pupil of Ficino who, at only twenty_fouryea.. of .ge,w proficient in Greek,Lati n,Hebrew and Arabic.In1487fioinvitedscholarsfrom. J!ofEuropetocometo Romeforgreatdcbate,Inninehundredpropo.ition. ,hecl.imed that Christiani ty, Islam, Judaism, Platoni,m, Hennetici . m, Kabbalah and Alchemywereallparts of one phi losophical" adition,Charged with youthful ide.lism, he rode aroundRomcposting hi.invitations, But.J!heactu.J!ysucceededindoing wa. a lerting theChurch.u_ thontie. to what h.d been going on in Florence. The Popeput an end to any idea of a'greatdebate' andPico wa.forcedto fleelorhi.life, Florence had donewell to . u ...inits ren.i.""nce forthirty ye . rs, equalling,butunfortunatelynotexceeding,.theAthenianRenai._ sanceonwhichitmodelledit""l!.Buttheforc .. ofreactionwere gathering inthewi,,&,.In1492theRomanChurch,inleaguewith the King oj France,l.id w.ste to the city,The ' New Learning', the revived'Gnostic'knowledgewa.called,h. dari.enatfortuitous t ime,however,The invention of the printing pre.. enmredthat,try asitmight,Romewu.implyunableto stop thetide ofbookst hat spread thc .. ide.s t hroughout Europe, WithinafewyearsthoPoli,hastronomerCopernicuspublishcd hi.theorythat,contrarytoappe..ances,itw.sact""llytheI.orth th. trevolvedaroundthesun.Heaclrnowledgedhi.debttothe Pyt h.gore.n. , saying that they had given him the courage to con. ider "thisidea seriously,In the last years 0/ the . ixteenth century the Ital _ ian astronomer G.lil,'Oagreedwith Copernicus .nd ini tiat cd the first m.jor Mttle of modern times between religion .nd science. Inasuperbi ll ustrat ionoft hemadne.. of Literali,m,theChurch conde mnedthetheorythattheEarthrevolvedaroundthesunbe _ c.use itcontradict ed two verses of the Bible,Again.. Copernicus and TKIDUAMOFAWAUNtNG wealth 01observation. withthenewlyinvented t elescope, theChurchcitedproofthatGalil""w.,wrongTheBookof " loshua,wh ich claim. that r",hu. cau,ed the .un to ..""d "ill.IIt he Bible stated thotJo.huac.used the . un to stopmoving,t hen dearly theEarth didn't go around the .un! Onthe ha.i. ofthis .Murd argu_ mentGalileow leddownintothedungeon.,.howntheinstru_ ments 01torture by the Inqui.ition .nd advi . edto re q" O W W . I 0 I " l ' ' , n a - . ' i l l " M a u 1 0 J A P I " . " a u . U 1 ' u p U . ' S J a p- u n 0 ,' A e " . , ' " , .1 0 . a u . . . . P ' ! l ' ' ' ' P " P n o A " j J o0 , , [ " . l I m " ' ! ) o u 0 1 " , o o " l ' U I o n l n d . " " . n l L ' P l m " , " 1 ' ) 0 ' U O l l l p- e l l " 1 ' I I " ' ' ' ' ' ' I "p u e l I u u o 1 d x . " A ' i m o , u > d .O A " ' ! ' M ' " ' ' 1 ' ' ' ' ' . l I m " ' ! " e w " , ! ) o ' 1 " ' " O I l ' " " p r e 0 , p , u l / , . , p < 1 ' " ' I 'l I U l U ' ' 1 " ' ' ' . 0 , ' p O J d d e ' A I W A O U U l u e " J J o m I l l e . . . O M ' l U " . . . . . . , . o ja l i e n l l u e 1 " ' . u O l U l " p < > , e ( n w m l ' " p u e U O l l ' p e " " ' I ' p . , u ' ' 1 U l . ( ' ' 1 ' " n l - ' j d w u . J I ' ' 1 ' M o n o l 0 , l I U l O l / " 1 > \ , n \ ! - " o d ' ' I ' U l 1 " ' , . a J d00 PARTII TheBaby 7 HIP-GNOSIS W. (,bo, iudlVisis , They may be uoe_ ful,be.miful,validopinion5,Butwedonee appreciatethe momentinaradic. ll ynew W'y,We can bring to your attentionIIOmethings.boutwhichyouare.bllOlutely cert.inright now, Andbecoming consciousof the.., . imple certaintie, isthe state of gn",i., or knowing. Whatareyouknowingnowi!I youfocu.your. " entionont he mystery of t he momentyouwi llfeelprofoundly.live,bec. usCrsonwhenlifei .tough,whilst alsoembracingoursul/eringwithuncondition.llovingacceptance a warene... A.lesu.teachesinthe Act..o{fohn,wecanlearnto .uller and not t o.uller, W.king up i. an ofbiglove. Alove so bigthatitmiti_ gate,thehorrors 0/life.Fromthcit-J>CrsJ>Cctiveof our .pparentn._ turewithinthelife.dream,.uffering.,illness.nd dcathe;onbetruly terribleeXJ>Crience .ButtheeXJ>C,ienceofbigloveen.ble.u.to embroceboththehappinessandtheheartbreak0/life,Itdoe.not diminisht he angui. hof grief .nd tr.gcdy,butadd.to the""eXJ>Cri-ence.abittersw"",,tpoignancy,TheoxJ>Crienceofbigloveassuage. our .u/lering and enable. u.to bear the unbearable, When we areI"'tintbeillu.ion of sepal.tene" we see our expaseithergoodorbad.Lucidl ivingi doptingaboth/and pCriencei.bothgood and b.d.Eventhemostwonderfulexpand thought. which arisewith thi.love. See how their ioyisyour joy and theirangui. hi .yourangui.h,becauseyouaresodoseyouintui_ tively see through the veil of ,eparatene... Now ask yourself, ' I. this love condit ion.l or unconditional [' Whilst we are identified with the sepa.. teselfourloveinevitablycomeswithstringsattached,be cau.. we .eek to ,erve the interest. of the i. olat ed individualwe pre_ .umeourselvestobe.Weclaimtolovesomeone,yetiftheystop loving uswe ..op loving them.We think we are loyal,but if ""meone i. notloyalto u. we arenot loy.l to them. How would itfeelto Jove without condition.l Loving a Sl ranger Now bring to mind someone towards whomyou feelindifferent and al.oembrace t hem with love.Youwill notfeelthe me bonds of .t ..chmentthatcomewith personallove,but holdtheminunivers.l compa.,ionbyrcc"!;nisingthatthey.re al.oanexpressionofour sharesumc>dthlt .cience propo..,. aMaterialist philosophy, which teaches t hat matter i.all that eKi .... Butnothing could be further fromthe truth.None 0/ the great physici". wlio have .haped our modern lICientific understand_ ing of theworld_.ucha. Newton, Einstein, Heisenberg, Sch.ooingcr, DeBrogl ie,lean. ,Planck,PauhandEddington_wereMateri. li st., Quite the oppo.ite. They were ..,If_profe..ed mystic. or Gnost ic . Scientificre.earchha.foundth.. it.imply doesn'tworkto con_ ceive 01 the universe a. agiantmachine made of matter. On the con trary,sciencehasdiscoveredthatthebe"waytounderstandt he universeis giantthoughtari'ingwithinawarene .. ,Sirlame. lean., who made imporunt contrihution. t othedynamic. lt heory 0/ ga"",themat hemat ic.ltheory0/elect romagneti.m,t heevolution of ga>withhooksInmmydiiierenttongue .Thechildknow.that 5Omeonemusth.vewrittenthesehook .ItdoesnotknowwhoOf how. It doe.notundersundthelangtUge. inwhicbt hey.re written. Buttbecbildnote.1deliniteplaninthe . ...ngement01thehooks. Amysteriousorderwhichitdoe.notcomprehend,butonlydi mly .uspects, T hew.y forward,we wantto suggest,i.to follow tbe exampleof tbe gleatsc ient is". byrejecti ngreligiousandscientificLiter.lism,""d embracing Gnostic spirituality and aut hent iclICience, which comple. ment e ~ c h other perfect ly.Science require. 0 rigorous examin. tion0/ our , harN ohjective experience in t ime,Gnost icismrequ ires arigor_ ou. exam ination of our . ubjective experience 01 t hepresent moment. Science i.the investigation of reality fromt he it_perspective. Gn""t i _ ci.mist heexploration0/realit yfromtheI_perspective.Sciencei. thestudyofthcnat ure01thelife dream.Gnoot ici.mistheart0/ waking up. According to Einstein ocience .houldbemoti v ..ed by the "ate 0/ aw.kening heca ll. ' thecosmic religiou. leoling': Themostimpor.. ntlunction 01",ienee i. to .waken t he cosmic reli_ gious loeling .nd keep it di ve . It i.,-ery diiiicultto explain t his leeling to anyone who i. ent irely withoutit . The individillll fuels t he not hing_ n",. ofhum.ndesire.and.im.,andt he.ublimlty.ndmarvelous orderwhIchre,-ealt hemselvesbothinnat ureandintheworldof thought.Holook.uponindividualeXIStence a110ftofprillOnand wan" to experience t he universe as a .ingle. ignifi cantwhole. I mainumthattheco>micreligiousfeelingi.thestro"&,,,tandno-blest ""'t ivefmscient ific",arch, A contemporaryh . ...id,notun_ justly,thatint hismateri.li stic. geofoursthe""ioilllICientific worke .. arethe only profoundly religiouspeople. T heNobelPrizewinner Wolfgang Pauli, aphysicist whosebrilliance exceeded even that 01 Einstein ..., en.: '" THELAUGHISGlEW. I con.ider the ambition 01 overcoming opposite"includmg at.., a 'yn_ thesis embracing both ration.l unde .... nding and the my"ic. 1 eX!",ri_ ence of unity,to bethemyth"" 'poken or umpoken 01our present d.:iy and .ge. CertaintyDivides Us andDoubtUnites Us To createa,""cular .piritualityforthetwenty_Ii",century weneed to adoptthe hasic premise of authentic science, thatall our theories about lifcareh}')ot hese.,notfacts.T herei.no ab..,lute conceptual knowledge. Therearejuststorie. wetell to make .en,e of our expe rienceandnostoryi,expan.iveenoughtocapturethelimide.. grandeur of exist ence. Thi. doe. not me.n we need toadopt the'relat ivist' theory that all storie.areequ.Llustbecau. eallde.cript ion,ofreality..einade_ quotedoe.n' tmakethemallequallyin.dequate.Somestorie.are clearlybe"eTthanothen.Toyyouarepresent lyreadingabook doe,n'tbegintocapturethewholetruthofthismoment,whichi. infinitelyrichand110ult imatelyindescribable.Yetto. ayyouare readingabookisclearlymoretrueth.nt os.yyouaree. tingan elephant .Noneoft hcstorie. we tellt ohelp u.navigatelifeaTethe Truth, but IIOmecomeclo,er to being true storie. than others. If we recognisethiswe can. 11atleast agrecaboutone thing.Life i. amystery and our understanding ofitisncce... ri lyalways provi_ ,ional and parti.]. Nothingi.cert.in. Everyone i. giving it their best gue... If we acknowlcdge t his,then we c.n play with ide.., not light about thcm. We can . hareour in.ights and intuitions with each ot her to IOCewhich stand up to scrutiny,lookprettiest .ndwork best,from ast .rting point of univCful "8""'ment. T heGnostic story i.just one possible story. But,unlike other sto_ rie., itdoesn't cl.im to be theabsolute Truth,bec.use it teache.that Truthcan'tbecapturedbyconcep".Gn05ticismdoe.claim,how_ ever,to rcvea lllOmethingextremely important.boutrealityignored bytho,e storie.whichleave u. unconsciousin thelifedream. It i.a wayofthinkingwhichpointsbeyondconcept>toanexperiential knowingofourshared..sentialnature.ButGnost icphilosophyi. SP'UTUUITYWITHoUTUUG'oN stiU expre..cJin concepts .nd !OrelTl: J amlover oftheunive ....l andtheuniv....l lo,-er.I.m vou inlove with your>elf. Rd .. ing t oour own personal God.s. friend,parentor lover c.n be a wondcrlulandmoving experience. Twentv_lin t_century.piritu.lity c.n reiect the Litcroli.. God whilst embracing devotion to. per""n.l God-im"ll".Topresumeotherwi. ei.like,,}'ingitwouldn'tkve roomforartandimagination_Andthere'.wornforp .. yertoo.But fromt heGnostic perspective, proyer i .notpetitioning the favour0/ theking0/theco, mo .Itisawayofcommunicating.ndcom_ muning with our own deeper nature. It i. consciouslyfeeding back to thesourceour desires.ndaspirotion.,whichmay.ffectourfut ure experience bee.usethe lile _w-e.misextremelv reactive to conscious int ention.. Relating to. person.l God becomes aprohlem onlyif we make an idol of our God_image.Weneed to make .ure we never cl.im th.tour imageofGodi.theoneandonlyimageofGod.Wen""dtom.ke sure we don't claim to have acee to God'.divine opinion .Weneed tom.kesurethatour imageof God doesn'tobscurethemystery0/ THELAuGHISGlEW. exi"encewhichitrepresents. Becau..,thenwe will becomeLiter.l _ is". And Lite,ali .ts c.n be very dangerous people,Asthe Suli pOdguy. over the bad guy"nomatter how muchHoI lywOdmaywanttoportraVitthat wav, Inreality there areno gOd guy, andbad guys,becausewe are all amixture of gOd. nd bad. A. long we deludeoursel vesthat t'vili, 'out t here' andcan befought 'outthcre',wewillneverfindthesolution.Theonlyan.wer isto recogni. ethot t he 'evil' i. in oUl'Selve . Until we truly .b,orb the im _ pl icationof thet eaching'lethewhoi. without,int hrowthefirst "one' we are forever doomcdto hurl stone,.. eoch ot hcr. From the Gno!ticperspective,the fir.,step to healing thepresent worldcri.iswouldbeforustobebigenoughtounderstandour enemy'spoint ofview. A.Je,m say.inthcGo. pel.,we need t ostop point ingoutthe.peckof d"'ltinour opponent'seveand.cknowl _ edgethegreatplankofwOdinourown,Weneedto""ck outand humblv acknowledge everything we have doneto divide 'them' from 'us'.Wehaveto m.ke amend. forour ownf.ilings,whilstforgiving our adversari.. , Weh.ve to trust cven where tru" h., beenbetrayed, Andloveevenwherelovehasbe enreiect ed,Weneedt ordmeto plavthegame of winners and10100"',andmakeitclear t hatwecan onlywin togcther, Followingtheatrocitvof9/1 1awave0/sympat hyforAmerica sweptt heworld,andwasiustasquickl}'squandered.Itcouldall havebeen",different.ImagineiftheAmeric.npre.identh. dad_ dre ..ed the world in the.uthentic .pirit01theorigin.1 Christians; TheAmencanpeoplearehurt and.hockedbyt heseterribleat uck. on ourcountrv. But.,a culturerooted inthe Christian tradition,iti, in . uchd.uk time. thatwe must draw onour deE""st wi.oom,which te. rne.u.tohavefaith inthe !'Ower01love.nd forgIven ... .Int he New Testament )osm t ..e0/ separateness .nd wake u.up to onen... and love, Inhis IOOng'Mi nd Games' JohnLennonwrote 'Love ist he .mwer and youknowthat for sure'. Whatawonderfullyaudacious assertion, Somewheredeepin.ide,allofus do knowthaifOTsure,Lovei.t he .olutiont o.11ofhum.nity'.problem.,Nothingelsewilldo,No clevertheories .Nopoliticalrevolut ions.Nodiplomaticcompro_ mises. Onlylove. !lecause love ishow it feelst orocogni .. our e.>en tialunity.Howcanwehoalthedivi sionsbet weenu.!Onlyby knowingwe are one and living inlove. TbeBig Idea To croate anew andbetterworld weneed to think in new and better way .A. Einstein puts it: Theproblem.01tod.y cannotbe ..,Iv.,,]withthe..memind_setth .. created them in the firstplace. Therei. muchtalkoflookingfor. bigide.th.. canofferusnew hope in aclimate of increasing hopelessne . Wewant to .uggest t hat the Gn"' t ic. have been proposing .uch. big idea forcenturies. All is one,Lifei. onoawarene.sbecoming conscious of i15ellin infinitely TH.BIG10M voriouslorm.,.nd to consciou,lyrecognisethi' is dnexperience 0/ all_embracing love. This isverybigideaindeed.It take. ourmost common_. enseassumptions aboutlifeand turns them in.ide out. It utt erlychange. howweperceivet heworldandour.elve"Anditis morethan . nidea.It i, somethingwecanknowto bet rueforOUI_ selves in thismoment. Right now t hebig idea t hatwe . re . ll one isunderstood only bya fewmystics andmi,fi ts on thefringe. olsocicty. But iti.only am.t ter of time before it bre.k.. out of the mystic.l ghetto inwhich it has beenkept.livetbroughoutt heages .Lifei .adre.mof aw.kening, '0 soonerorlatert heGnosticbigideawilltakeoffinmainstre. m culture,~ . wehe.itantly,falteringly,sporadie.Hy,butinexorably, wake up. Wetendt oenvisagethefutureasbigger,betterveroion0/t he pre,ent. We h.ve begun to explore out er 'I"'ce, "" we im.gine. future of giant .pace.hips and al ienencounte""Wehave created extraordi _ narynewt echnologie"soweim.gineafutureof,uper_computer:> and artifiei.l intelligence. Thism.y turn out to be true, but just as our ancesto,"couldnothavepredictedthetran.fonll3tiominhuman culture we h.ve experienced,!IO it i, mootlikely the realchange. t hat lie aheadwillbe unexpect ed, We .uggestthatthe greatsUIpri...,thatlie he. dforhum.nityis waking upto onene" andlove.One daythe barriers 0/ ""pOIat ene.. thatdivideu.willcomedown,a. suddenly. ndeffortlesslyasthe BerlinWal l.Thi. maysound ideali .. ic and that's because itis . Gnos_ t ic ...eideal ist.inboththephi losophic.1andtheutopiansen.e 0/ the wonL Weneed to be vi.ionariesto ..ewhere we aretrying to get to,Idea], are .ta.. to chart our cour.e by. We also need to be pragmat ic,of cou",e, becdu.e on its own ideal _ i.mi.ineffectual.Butpragmatismonits owni.n' tbeing'reali .. ic', a>i.100oftenclaimed.Iti. being .mall _minded.nd missingreali ty complet ely.Wemustn' tgetc. ughtint heeither/orlogicth.tde mand.wechoosebetween the two.Wemustbe bothide.listic and pragmat ic.Wemustd"rifyourvi.ion0/abetterworldandwhat practic. lsteps we need to take to get t here. One of thet hing.thatstop. ideali..screat ingre. lch.nge i .t hat they t endto..archforabsolutesolution.toproblem .Butthel ile _ dream ari..sfrompolarity"o every IIOlution c.n onlybe parti.l..,d THELAUGHISG I"U' bring. with itnewoftenproblem .Yetitis onlyby engaging witht hisprocessthotweevolve,01 coursewewill failto real i.e the Gnostic utopian vi. ion. IIwe don' twe aren 'ttakingoD big enough. Butwecan keep on trying. And I.il But I.il better, Thcreisalwaysfurthert ogo.Th.rei. alway.theneedlormore understanding, more unity, more love. Butt his should not blind usto howfarwehavecome.Themodcrnworld,de.pite.11itsterrible f.ul,. ,i .morejust,comp.ssionat ndfulloffuntIYn.ny otber for m0/bumancivilisationbeforeit.Areas0/t beworld,sucbas Europe,whichhaveb beendividedbywar.incethew.wn0/ history,haverecentlyforgedwbatpromise.tobealast ingpeace, Rclative!}'poorbumanbeing.inaffluentcountri.. areenjoyinga ..anw.nl of livingwbicb king.couldnothave dreamed 0/ in the not_ .o_wstantI"' st.Agrowingpercentageoft heworldi.nowrunby someformofdemocraticconsen. us,not.uthoritarianmight.We evenh.ve fleJglingworldpothamentbeginning to developinthe gui.e 01t bcUnited Nation., [n significant..e .. oft hemodernworld racismi. now.bhorrN, althoughnotlong agoitw.,regardeJ. ,virtueto be encouraged, likewise,i .gradu.lly,butinhistoric.lt erm.extremely 'peedily,beinge ..dic.ted.We'vecvcnembarkedoncro....peci.. comp...ionandstartedt o..gueabout.nimalrigh...Wem.ynot bave beenable toprevent the invasion of Iraqin 2003, but thous.nd. of peopleall over theworld protested to preventit,whichh.s never happenedbefore.At anyothertimeinhistorytheide.ofpeoplein Europe,Americ.,A.i ndAfricacaringaboutIraqi .wouldhave beenridiculous. We have been able t omakethese .stonishing advance. by becom_ ingmoreconsciousofourhumanf.i ling.,butthish.sgivenu.a verynegative collective self_image. Today 1Tlose abook of Gnostic teaching. and read mall ""ction which intere... }'ou. Stop andcarefully con.ider the idoa. youencountered, Don' t.ealefor.partialunderstanding.Pu.handpullthe ideasyou are contemplating to seeif they f.llover. Ouestion your '5Sumptions. Think things through thoroughly, HeretenGnosticidea.whichcanformtheba. is of contempl. _ t ion,each ofwhich ispregnant with cndle .. in.ight>, Youhavedu.l nature_You.ppear to beaperson,but e.sen_ ti.lly you areawOleno .. , Lucid living i.adopt ingboth/ and pe..pect ive in which you areconscIousofbothyour apparentnatureand }'omessen_ ti.l ","me, A. awareno .. youarcaspaciousemptine.. whichcontain. theworld.Youare timele.. p",,,,,ncewhichwitnes"". the llow 0/ experiences we call'time' , Lifei. like. dreamin which one awarene i. becoming con_ . ciou. through infinitely various form . Weareuncon>ciouslyoneandconsciou.ly Gno.isi. becoming con. cious that . lli. e.sentiall)' ono, Awakening to onenessi. the experience of big love.Knowing you are onewith allyou find yourselfin lovewith .11, APHaOSOPHICAl WORKOUT T hepurpo"" 0/ lite isto lovebeing this moment.When you drivenso!ely byotherde.ire. youmi the point and 1>1 i.h women',includingthewile01one 01hi,deacon"butcl.im. thatth .. w bec.u""Marcosw., Ji.holic.lly clever ..ducer.However,hulater .dmi..ionth .. tho Morc",ian. wouhippein t he ."",tle'.own name. See liidemann, G . Hewie.".., myth. and "my 01,55-58, 61-61, 66.-li7, W . nd 197,201_2 s".abo laughmg r.,u",_ific lOp" jewi.h funJ..men,. li,m, 15-16,17, 20,W jewi.h C"",'ioj,m,51-5.3,63, 64, '" lewi.h Litor:li i,m,I I, 61,64-65,108, '" Jew. / judaism ana Ar,b.jPal."iniOpruc.1workoot,221, 215,216,219,l.3O,114 and 'pirit""li,y wi,hou' religion, "', 19i,199,201, lru Su 0ro ,pecific top'c (hiri.,29. 55-56, 66,80 P,,&,nGnO!tici.m,175--i6, 203 P'g.>n. ond Christianity,7, 22,68,7&-79. 81.108-9 ootr'Uc,ion of lib,.rie. 01,22 and Ii ", mono,hd""48 .nd here,i",) hcritage, 116,119 and n ..iondi" prti"/Gn,,,,' ici.m r.rfoe. p;;d,>gre,n"47,I>l, 66, 111,-[16, 11 7, 11 ,25 Qur.."IB,l OS,117, 201 ambiguit y of,""-'17 and Chri"un.:tJld J,w.91,94 difference. between Bib!, ond, M and Gn"' tic Muhammad,84 and Heoven .nd Hell,100,101,101 . nd Hebrew prophe", 84 and holy war, 95-%, 98 incomi"encie. in,87 andle.u., S4 mi''''p,.",ntation. in,105-6 andmouJity, 50-51 and M.m.mm.;od,8:;--36,87_11.8,89, 1'0,98, '19,100,102,lill, It", asmyth, 8S .. non..,..."101 ""..Lnion.lromGod,82,I!.l, 85-36,87-88 o. Word 01God, SO, 1( Qu,.,J,tribe,89, 93, 94 Ration.lit y,195_97 Re..,mergtoric.l ligure or myth,55,58,70 162I NDEX . nd lows, 4!J,45,46, 6;3"65 . "'] Li' -24 5-5.1,In, 1I!O, 202,211, 216 ""!"I"ton ... nd.w. hning,3,111,113,1/5, I n, ISO, 181, 182,184 and de.,h, 160,164 . nd Loughmg I.,WI; 160, 161, 162, 164,165,100-II andlovo,180,181,184,201,111, 211,213 . nd loving ;"ing human,155 . nd .piritudity without religion, 199200, 202 Su a/,o One"..""spific topic S