sophiaserpentia (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophiaserpentia) wrote2003-03-19 10:13 am
sophiaserpentia) wrote2003-03-19 10:13 am
Kittens on heaven's lawn
Are memories of a Golden Age simply the foggy memories of existing peacefully in the womb?
The Gnostic myth teaches that the pneumatic soul is alien to this world of pain and turmoil, a visitor from a realm of stillness and nothingness ensnared by the futile promises of flesh. Implicit in this is the suggestion that mystic experiences of heaven or of pleromatic fullness are related to memories of stillness in the womb.
Adlerian psychology traces feelings of inferiority in part to the period in childhood when toddlers cease to be treated like royalty. A feeling of being helpless develops -- one is completely at the mercy of adults. This too has an obvious analogue in Gnostic mythology -- human helplessness at the hands of the archons, the agents of fortune.
Erich Neumann fleshed out the archetypes of the "good parents" and "terrible parents." Gods and demons have parallels in many myths, but the Gnostic myth is unique in supposing the archons specifically as pale reflections of the aions, and the world of "error" as a pale shadow of the pleroma. This arrangement as it is makes the Gnostic myth a unique expression of early childhood ambivalence towards the situation we find ourselves in as human beings.
This being the case, the message is also one of hope: that the ambivalence and the negativity can be overcome, and that which is good within our lives can be embraced. Paraphrasing the opening of the Gospel of Truth:
The parallels between mystical attainment and the state of early childhood innocence has been given in plain sight:
The Gnostic myth teaches that the pneumatic soul is alien to this world of pain and turmoil, a visitor from a realm of stillness and nothingness ensnared by the futile promises of flesh. Implicit in this is the suggestion that mystic experiences of heaven or of pleromatic fullness are related to memories of stillness in the womb.
Adlerian psychology traces feelings of inferiority in part to the period in childhood when toddlers cease to be treated like royalty. A feeling of being helpless develops -- one is completely at the mercy of adults. This too has an obvious analogue in Gnostic mythology -- human helplessness at the hands of the archons, the agents of fortune.
Erich Neumann fleshed out the archetypes of the "good parents" and "terrible parents." Gods and demons have parallels in many myths, but the Gnostic myth is unique in supposing the archons specifically as pale reflections of the aions, and the world of "error" as a pale shadow of the pleroma. This arrangement as it is makes the Gnostic myth a unique expression of early childhood ambivalence towards the situation we find ourselves in as human beings.
This being the case, the message is also one of hope: that the ambivalence and the negativity can be overcome, and that which is good within our lives can be embraced. Paraphrasing the opening of the Gospel of Truth:
Ignorance brought about terror and fear. And terror became dense like a fog, so no one could remember. Because of this, error became strong, and created a facsimile of the truth. But this state of forgetfulness is nothing compared to the Truth. Therefore, do not take error too seriously.
The parallels between mystical attainment and the state of early childhood innocence has been given in plain sight:
"In concentrating your breath, can you become as supple
As a babe?" Tao Te Ching, chapter 10
"Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." Mark 10:15
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