Cité Libre: To Create a Viable Future the Gnostic Guidance from Our Past Must be Heeded

To create a viable future for ourselves, as humans, we need to be guided by the comprehensively presented, and eloquently stated messages (from his extensive research on Gnostic lore) which John Lamb Lash provided, in his book entitled, Not In His Image: Gnostic Vision, Sacred Ecology, and the Future of Belief.

In that book, Mr Lash had particularly emphasized how Gnostic deep appreciation of our prevailing natural as well as our existential environment, led them to see that each of us also had a natural as well as an existential linkage to a cosmological reality.

That background, promotes lessons that we need to draw on, in our attempts to prolong our ability to survive on this planet. For example, Gnostic awareness of continuing hostile extra-terrestrial impact and interference in human affairs, (via organized religion; and now also via the new "religion" of capitalism; and via their impact in promoting other hierarchical dominance systems as well as in questionable resource management tactics); should be taken into account when we make plans for our future as a society and also as a species.

However, how we set out to approach executing our path to a future, must go beyond the Gnostic emphasis which Lash had stressed. We must also move closer to the emphases on ambient features, such as compassion, mutuality, and empathy, about which the XIV Dalai Lama communicates.

Meanwhile, the interpretation of the structure of the Gnostic emphasis, which Lash elaborates, contains a pitfall that must be avoided. As a result, in an earlier essay entitled "Gnostic-Inspired Focus on our Survival on Planet Earth Must Avoid the Occult Trap", which was published online in The Canadian, I had addressed the pitfalls of seeing our future evolution, as being a part of a "mechanical" linkage to Sophia-centred and Gnostic-guided planning emphasis. LINK However beginning with the introduction of his book, John Lamb Lash provided some remarkable insights, that must be given particular attention. There, he talked about humanity's self betrayal of its humanness, in the name of our prevailing "spirituality" principles.

Lash stated that, based on the Gnostic focus, it can be incontrovertibly argued that the "spirituality" principles which are being currently promoted by organized religion, have led humanity to subsequently descend into a repugnant representation of itself. Therefore, before we can begin to design a future survival path for ourselves, we need to face up to the implications of how organized religion in general, (and Christianity in particular, through its redemptionist perspective) has led us into that descent, which Lash has described as being inimical to the cultivation of our humanness.

Meanwhile, from where we now sit, in the 21st century, there is an additional focus which we must also bring into how we face planning the evolution of our society. In this focus, the development of humanness, may also be seen as being forthcoming from the composition of the mixes of the time-use opportunities that the members of a society are able to secure, (in association with the commitment and the usages of their effort and their available resources). I had emphasized elsewhere, that a societal emphasis on such a time-use promotion (which enabled individuals to live meaningfully), amounted to the facilitation of Human Development, as an output at which a society should aim.

Human Development, as a targeted outcome in our future, includes results that are supportive to the components of a living-centred "spirituality". It will not rely on indicators of resource management performance, that foster the type of "spirituality" which is associated with (or which accommodates) practices of inter-personal exploitation; and it will also not tolerate any indifference to how our resource usage impacts on our environment.

Meanwhile, John Lash had also pointed out that, in Western society, what passes as the tolerated Human Development norm of today, is largely a creature of the"spiritual" emphasis which is fostered/required by prevailing organized-religion. There the emphasis is on "spirituality" which emphasizes fostering "redemption" or "salvation", as liberation of the human "soul".

In contrast, Lash pointed out that the Gnostics had emphasized the type of Human Development, where the "spiritual" emphasis was on fostering "salvation [away] from self hood" (that capitalist holy grail); which would be executed "through ecstatic immersion in the life force".

However, as far as the Lash presentation of Gnosticism is concerned, the "life-force" in which he sees humans as being called upon to share, is some sort of "spiritual " bonding with its origins in association with a Gaia-Sophia reality, that is our heritage. When we decide to foster Human Development as an outcome, it will therefore make an intrinsic difference whether we will guide our effort management, to focus on a 21st century type of Human Development; on fostering the "life force" bonding about which Lash speaks (in his Gnostic centred focus); or on a judicious combination of these two contexts.

It is the need to pursue a combination of the two contexts, that will be advanced herein.

Within the perspective on the evolution of our humanness that John Lash drew on, he emphasized the Gnostics, as being members of an ancient tradition of scholastic, as well as of intuitive awareness. He stressed that his research based on historical documents, shows that (at various points in our geographic space) members of the Gnostic tradition had formed themselves into "schools", where accumulated knowledge led/guided members, to form an awareness of themselves as being humans, with responsibilities to act as guides, who assisted others to make critical behavioural choices in the environment/universe of their existence.

In the words of John Lamb Lash in his book, (p 14), "The Gnostic message had two components: A sacred vision of earth, and a radical critique of salvationist doctrines centred on the Judeo-Christian messiah, especially the salvationist/redeemer complex..."; and he subsequently elaborated on what that message package consisted of.

Additionally, in terms of a Human Development context (in the presentation of Lash), he imputed that senior initiates in the Gnostic tradition, were exposed to the existence of a process of intuitive imbibing of "full knowledge" of reality. It is therefore not surprising that, these initiates had "full" awareness of the prevailing local and cosmological, physical as well as existential realities.

However, before we set out to be guided by what Lash had presented about Gnosticism, there are a number of caveats which we may not ignore. One is the feature that, the breadth of the knowledge and of the awareness which the members of these schools of Gnosticism had developed, must also be appreciated within the context of the historical epoch which generated the documentation on which Lash had drawn. We will also allude to other caveats later.

Meanwhile, the Gnostic-emphasized existence of a greater union and interdependence, that exists between humans and the natural environment, should not be seen as implying that we should revert to an agrarian culture/society which uses only natural horse power. Nor should a Gnostic focus on a pantheon of gods and goddesses (as impacting on our human existence), mean that we, too, today, should also come to see the respective parts of our reality, as being under the directive control and supervision by these respective gods and goddesses for particular functions or spaces, (such as the harvest, marine reality, wisdom, or memory, forests, pastoral operations, and so on).

Additionally, in our world of today, as we seek to establish a bonding with our environment, and also to plan for our future survival, we will need to place a more modern context on the regional space (in the form of the Pleroma, p.145, 158, to which Gnostics ascribe particularly singular importance). Specifically, as we seek to bring our sentience to bear on our existence, and on the patterns of survival for our future, we need to explicitly recognize that our milky way galaxy, is but one among millions of others, in the functioning universe of which we are a part.

However, the survival advice that Lash provides, as a result of his research into the Gnostic teleos, tells us about the presence of non-corporeal beings of unlimited power (which allowed them to be creator of worlds), that reside at the centre of the cosmos/galaxy (which is essentially the milky way galaxy). I argue, however, that the imputations from that context, must be recognized/construed within a bigger cosmic inference picture with which we in the 21st century must cope. That larger picture, includes the presence of the multiplicity of these other galaxies (which are not also the creation of these referenced powerful non-corporeal entities that are reported to be in the Pleroma at the centre of our galaxy).

As a result of being aware of this bigger picture, the Gaia-Sophian teleos that Lash presents as a potential guidance framework to our participation in the "life force" (as we plan for our future), must therefore be appreciated as his particular advocacy.

Meanwhile, my argument is that, the sentience in which we share, and on which we must draw in our planning exercise, pushes each of us - as humans - to accept our existence, as being also a part of any reality that we are thinking about.

Furthermore, on being aware that we are thinking, we are then led to accept that there is some feature in reality, which promotes, or which guides, the reflection in which we find ourselves indulging; and that action nexus, cannot be ignored.

Historically, humans (as socialized entities) who seek to plan for their future, loosely coined the term "mind", to recognize the presence as well as the operation of this reflection and information-ordering operations in which we respectively privately indulge. Furthermore, in association with the operation of mind, persons come to accept that, their individual existence is real.

Meanwhile, John Lash emphasized that, a definitive requisite of Gnostic initiates (who hoped to move toward the attainment of a higher level of Consciousness about reality), is that they first needed to develop the capability to sublimate their ego.

That ego sublimation which was required of initiates to Gnosticism, is, indeed, the opposite of the unapologetic selfishness-centred survival focus, that capitalist societies seek to condition individuals into.

The suppression of ego, that Gnosticism required of its higher initiates, in contrast, acted as the doorway, to their being possessed of the recognition that, they respectively had extensive and comprehensive responsibility in the operation of the remainder of reality.

However, essentially, Lash articulated a focus on a type of human and of environmental-appreciation reality which pivots on a particular type of spirituality. There, he expects humans to see themselves as being substantively, creatures of the Gaia manifestation of transmogrifications, of the goddess Sophia, that were completed in association with powerful non-corporeal entities that are located at the Pleroma or galactic centre.

Accordingly, the survival message which Lash promotes is that, humans, in general, need to develop their (so far largely dormant) built in Sophian awareness, that we must resuscitate. His imputation is that only then, will we for sure begin to execute the greater sensitivity to our environment; (and thereby gain access to the survival gateway for ourselves as a species, that exists in union with our planet).

In contrast, mindful of our 21st century awareness of the multiple galactic universe in which we live, in the essay entitled "An Invitation to the Fellowship of Mind", which was also published online in The Canadian, I had introduced, and had argued the existence a sentience-linked affinity and survival impetus, that was not centred in that Gaia-Sophia teloes. There, I had argued that we need to be aware of the presence of a corresponding potential existential communion of mind in which we share. Furthermore, in support of that type of planning-augmenting sensitivity, I had argued that, the clarificative items that will lead us into becoming aware of the prevailing existential possibilities, to which we need to accommodate, are as follows:

From a survival planning perspective, the Existential Conwillowsence as one of the embeddings in our existential reality (to which the "Invitation to the Fellowship of Mind" alludes), appears to be an approximate functional analogue of the Gaia-Sophian Consciousness which John Lash imputed that Gnostic lore emphasized, as being the route through which the ecological emphases may be brought into our operations in living.

However, in contradistinction with the goddess-linked invocation of Lash (and his interpretation of Gnostic lore), the Existential Conwillowsence (as a mind-intersecting feature) to which my essay pointed, was imputed as an operating existential embedding, (whatever its source may be).

Therefore, in the essay entitled "Gnostic-Inspired Focus on our Survival on Planet Earth Must Avoid the Occult Trap"; that was also published online in The Canadian, I expressed some associated caveats, regarding our giving obeisance to a Gaia-Sophian-type generator mechanism which will operate as a source pivot, (that justifies either our appreciation of how we are linked to biotic reality, or to the spatial and material realities of our planet).

Meanwhile, it is notable that Lash stressed that, his research showed that Gnostic initiates pursued a holistic focus on the linkages of humans to their reality. Yet, paradoxically, that holistic focus which Gnosticism sought to promote, was also associated with (what mathematicians would regard as) a collection of partial approaches. As a result the presentation of Lash also imputed that the Gnostics had also construed that there was an operating pantheon of respective (context or of system-specific) gods and goddesses, which were associated with reality, as it manifests itself. Thus, there were particular gods or goddesses, each of which was associated with respective features, such as wisdom, harvest, memory, forests, pastoral operations, maritime activities (and so on) that appeared to execute jurisdiction over respective operating parts of our reality.

Notwithstanding the mechanical and essentially linear inference background of the science-structured knowledge base of today's world, we may not overlook the non-linear discovery and inference tradition of Gnosticism. Therefore, we need to respect the Gnostic imputation about the presence of hostile alien extra-terrestrial entities who are malevolently sneaking about in our world.

The members of the Gnostic tradition emphasized a message regarding the potential for the evolution of human consciousness; rather than one of obeisance to an off-planet god. For so doing, they had been viciously and also genocidally attacked by the state-supported political clout of the redeemer/messiah-centred hierarchical structure and focus of early Christianity, (and also what Lash called the Abrahamic religions). These religions, have an emphasis on human "spirituality", as a feature within which humans paid obeisance to entities in the "sky". Heuristically, as well as organizationally, these religions were therefore hostile to the Gnostic focus, on a down-to-earth people/human-centred expression of "spirituality".

At the same time, the evolutionary path on which we (as humans) need to proceed, need not be framed as a Gaia-Sophian one of paying homage (or reverence) to respective partial gods or goddesses, that happen to be also respective aeonic linkages to a residence of powerful non-corporals at the centre of our galaxy. Instead, today, we need to do some down to earth planning, in behalf of our material and our existential future.

The requirement, that we must sublimate our ego, in order to better blend constructively with our reality; and the necessity to appreciate ourselves and our actions, as critical features within the geo-biotic reality in which we survive, represents another Gnostic-emphasized feature that we overlook at our peril.

Clearly, if concern for the environment, as well as for the expression of human mutuality and social empathy are to be a part of that planned future survival, support for those outcomes is unlikely to arise under the guidance of the financially-centred performance-scoring system. That type of system usually operates via interpersonal exploitation under a greed-driven management direction. However, that is the emphasis which is promoted by capitalist perspectives on how we should manage the resources of the planet; or on how we should interact with the environment.

Capitalist-managed systems, in respect of how we interact with our planet, like a context of hideous alien extra-terrestrial consciousness (that operates as artificial intelligence manipulators on our planet), is totally indifferent to quality-of-living of people, and to Human Development targets.

Meanwhile, there is a "fly in the (Lash-presented) ointment" as a basis to guide our future evolution, that we may not be ignore. In his explications of the needed Gnostic-inspired evolutionary path, on which we must embark, Mr Lash, the scientist, appears to have become tangled up in his evokings. He appears to have got himself sucked into construing existential truth, about our future options, as residing in (and as being eventually forthcoming from) our acceptance of the Gaia-Sophia teleos, as the context that points out the source of our origins.

Therefore, notwithstanding the extensive research of John Lash, and the historical Gnostic realities that he has unearthed, it can be argued (against the background of a 21st century multi-galactic awareness), that an emphasis on the Gaia-Sophia teleos, represents primarily a rut in the comprehension road toward the evolutionary future on which a greater appreciation of Gnosticism will place us.

However, like the Gnostics, we also need to recognize the presence, and the potential presence of existentially hostile entities, who aim to operate among us as herders (in behalf of mis-perceptions); as predators (on our existential psyche); and as mis-directors (from the existential evolutionary path) on which we will need to embark within the possibilities of the bio-electrical sentience grid as it links with the Existential Conwillowsence in which we share.

We will be able to cope with, and to frustrate the impact of these malevolent fellow-travellers, about whose presence John Lash tells that the Gnostics warned us, only when we decide to structure our societies away from the predatory and greed-driven capitalist norm; and instead, set out to create behaviours within the context of Human Development, that foster empathy, compassion, and the execution of mutuality.

This latter type of emphasis, contrasts with planning for the evolution of a society where the focus is on the cultivation of behaviours that primarily lead to market profit, and also to ensuing financial-equivalent opportunities. When those capitalist financially-centred emphases are the targeted outcomes, social conditioning is managed so as to create an ambient geographic and inter-personal environment, which is normally structured to also foster financial accumulation (rather than to achieve quality-of-life enhancement and Human Development).

Those capitalist financially-targeted performance indications, may be then secured within condoned practices of formal and informal inter-personal predation; (that pivot on financially-centred inter-personal deceit - in other words, on interactions where everything is a "hustle").

It then becomes necessary to deplore the awareness which the capitalist society (no doubt under the influence of the alien extra-terrestrials who are manipulating humans through the cultivation and emphasis on greed), uses formal and informal education to condition citizens to accept. That conditioning includes the condoning of the despoiling of the environment, (as in the environmental destruction and pollution by the energy inefficient Alberta Tar Sands petroleum extraction project), in the name of (state granted) private property rights, and GDP generation.

Nor should social conditioning be such that any new discovery about reality, will be given due attention, only to the extent that application and usage of the discovery can be corrupted into financial-extraction schemes, (however existentially vulgar these schemes may be).

Meanwhile, it appears to have happened that, by playing on human greed, (which capitalism glorifies), these hostile alien extra-terrestrial entities, which aim at human enslavement and destruction, and about whose presence the Gnostics warned us, have currently put themselves in the driver's seat in respect of where our survival is headed.

For example, they (and their witting or unwitting agents) appear to have been able to do that, by promoting and by operating through structures such as the current corporate-driven neo-fascist "common market" and '"national unity" structures; and one appears to be the pernicious Security and Prosperity Partnership -North American Union (SPP-NAU), that is being covertly put in motion, with the co-operation of an operationally complicit press ownership, - which has "muzzled" the operating press.

Indeed, these hostile extra-terrestrials, may be recognized as operating today to exercise the same level of pernicious manipulative power, as they had accumulated within their earlier control programs via redeemer-centred Christianity. Notably, too, it was largely for doing that reporting about the alien extra-terrestrial intrusion and parasitising among us, that the Gnostics were persecuted and genocidally eliminated in the name of fostering Christian "spirituality".

Nevertheless, in order to ensure that we have an existential future, we need to face up to elementary features such as warring religious fundamentalisms of various sorts; global warming; and mass discomfiture throughout the human population; which these alien extra-terrestrial entities stimulate.

Meanwhile, when our planning for the future aims to cultivate and to put in place programs in behalf of environmental preservation, and a 21st century type of Human Development where the role of money is put in its proper place, we will also be on the road to stymieing the effectiveness of these lurking hostile parasitic extra-terrestrial entities (and the Hideous Consciousness that they represent).

The planning and resource management programs that must necessarily be put in place, must contain (as intrinsic operating parts), features that contribute to the existence/cultivation of empathy, and also to a resource management context that pivots on a mutuality-based human interaction context, rather than primarily on the potential for extractable net financial-equivalent profit.

When our society begins to develop such mutuality-centred resource management programs, we will also become system-wide operators within a bio-electrical sentience grid, rather than struggling individual gropers toward existential fulfilment. As a result, these mutuality-based programs of social and economic development, will contain (as intrinsic operating parts), features that contribute to the existence/cultivation of empathy. The natural environment, will therefore also become recognized as a vital part of our sentience-linked biotic commonality.

Today, we need to recognize that, in the presence of such a societal structuring toward the facilitation of Human Development, we will then be in a better position to execute the ability to fight off the potential power of the environmentally and biologically destructive existential predators which are sneaking among us, in (various disguises); and about whose presence, John Lash reported that the Gnostics had warned us.

Meanwhile, the essay "Fellowship of Mind" (as stated), had suggested that the starting point to the required coping and attendant accommodation to geo-biotic linkages within resource management programs, must aim at promoting the necessary linkages that comprise Human Development. Accordingly, the context which that essay offered, is the vehicle through which we can face up to, and fight back the infiltrations by the entities that belong to, and that serve as agents of any operating hostile alien extra-terrestrial Hideous Consciousness, that lurks among us.

However, we can only approach long-term success, in winning that fight against paracitization and against manipulation by hostile alien extra terrestrial agents, if we now recognize a few basic things. These entities are using as a weapon, our penchant for the exercise of financially-centred greed, in concert with attendant financially-centred resource management performance computations. However, to fight back we must do the following:

We will need to sublimate our ego, - that the evil pivot, which capitalism seeks to promote - and then behaviourally plug our own personal consciousness into the shareable reality of the bio-electric sentience grid, with its linkages to the material environment, (and its mind-linked association with the Existential Conwillowsence).

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