Talk about being in the dark, today’s people are worshiping shadows projected into a shadowbox. We are still in Plato’s cave.
Instead of thinking for ourselves, we have been trained to follow the headlines, and week to week our opinions change like the wind. We think about, and believe, whatever information is being projected. There is always some distraction to be found as the center of social discourse.
We are all in potential, a storehouse of energy and willpower, literal “creators.” Sadly, this storehouse of energy is being diffused and utilized to create this particular reality. Rather than be the masters of our own domain, we are to be caught up in the “puppet show,” and there’s a puppet show for everybody. No matter what a person’s interests are, there is something “out there” to captivate their attention. With the internet especially, any and all interests can be pursued, whatever you like, just “search it,” all at the push of a button.
We will see this “noise” get louder and louder, the great upheaval must continue. As we are overwhelmed by the constant borage of “news,” everyday more and more incredible, we as a whole are being guided to a very specific state of existence. We are unable to resist because of our participation in the momentum. We are constantly reacting to being knocked off balance. As we try to stand “upright,” the momentum pulls us over. This effects the mind, and our ability to respond with reason.
As with any so-called pyramid scheme, it only works through the investment of it’s members. If we didn’t invest in it, devote our hearts and minds, our life’s work into the “system,” it wouldn’t exist. Our jobs, titles and positions in life, our desire for “status” is the foundation of this pyramid scheme. Galatians 5:25-26, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.” Status is the incentive for our cooperation and participation. Feeding that egocentric character we call “me,” we truly are the cult of personality, and image is king. This is the “image of the beast” written about in the Book of Revelation. It is this (false) “self image” which we worship, above all else. The “beast” is king. This is what the Book of Revelation is telling us. As long as we define ourselves according to contrived social norms, and aspire to elevate ourselves within the system, we worship the beast! Our foolish and misused pride, our self centered, arrogant perspective has led us astray, and has left us vulnerable to being misguided.
The whole capitalist/materialist game is what keeps us participating in this pyramid scheme. It is the perfect and most true model for the system of the beast. Mankind is now presently, fully consumed and enamored with the trappings of this scheme. In all walks of life, men and women are constantly at work, playing the game, though generally unaware of the machinations by which he or she is distracted. We devote our entire lives to this system, somehow convinced that this one way of life is the only acceptable way to live. We are literally imprisoned by artificial and debilitating false memes, all the while ignorantly rejecting the whole entirety of all other possibilities. The fundamental utility of this scheme is to preoccupy mankind with the very task of building and maintaining the system of his own enslavement. This is the system of the beast, and we worship the image of the beast. If we didn’t collectively participate, it couldn’t happen.
All of this is a result of our dualistic mind and knowledge. We don’t know our true selves. We are self centered and in a state of confusion identifying with an ego personality (Cain) which is a compilation of a lifetime’s worth of impressions upon our mind. Basically, we are attached to a sense of self which is a deception, it is a Lie. As a result, all of our energies are misdirected and dissipated. We are naturally powerful beings and with focused intent, we can achieve the greatest of feats. Conversely, in our present state of false identification, pursuing false needs, we are powerless to achieve anything, and instead live our days “chasing rainbows.” We now see, in all of this, what the ancients meant by the slumbering soul, the living dead, and the noise of the world. We have been reading about the fall of man, the long suffering fall. We have been reading about the war waged against the heart, body, and minds of men. All of the combined knowledge into behavioral science, which has been gathered and studied from time immemorial, has been used to bring further slavery in increasingly more complex, yet subtle forms. This is the psychology of slavery.
THE CALL
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” (John 5:25 )
Much of the information covered thus far can be somewhat disturbing, especially for those whom have never considered such ideas. Many of us have been taught a completely different story, be it from church or from society. The story presented in this work is admittedly difficult to accept. This perspective of “our history” is liable to leave one feeling hopeless and powerless. So far in the narrative, mankind has played the role of the victim, unable to resist these “heavenly forces.” We don’t necessarily want to believe that we are in such a precarious situation, but we should certainly consider the possibility that we are. The intention of this work is not to depress, nor to instill pessimism. This is not a message of doom. This work is laid forth specifically as a means to gain understanding – to gain realization. If we truly want to know what “in hell” is going on, we must truly know where we have come from, and how we have gotten to this state of existence.
The serpent that guards the pearl would at first seem to be the Devil. If not the Devil, this creature could represent the Demiurge, but upon closer consideration, the terrible and snorting serpent must be the self centered personality (Cain’) of the individual himself. He is the ruler of the world, and lives within the center of Egypt. He is therefore the ruler of the body. In this way the serpent in this story would be the “mind” of the individual – earthly man. Not the “king of the world,” he is the king of our world. Each and every one of us is the king, king of his, or her own personal, inner world. And here is an obvious dilemma. Not only is the Savior in us, but it is also suggested that the Serpent is in us as well. As said, man is a duality, we are split in two, we are Cain and Abel. In this story, the sleeping Savior would be Abel, and the Serpent would be Cain. These are personifications of us. We are the “snorting creature” whom must be overcome by the Savior, whom is us as well. This apparent contradiction will be resolved as we continue on.
The Pearl as a symbol is most appropriate, for pearls are found within the many layered shell (body) of an oyster.’ Until she is rescued by the hero, she has no active principle of her own. She cannot save herself, she just lays in wait, much like a pearl in its shell. She is the perennial “princes in a tower,” or damsel in distress. She is without doubt, a symbol of the Soul. The hero must save her, or all is for naught. The “union” must take place, and the two must become one. As the Soul, she is the hero’s “other half,” and counterpart, a piece of himself which is trapped in the underworld. This is a key element to consider; in rescuing the Pearl, the Savior saves not only her, but also himself. Without union with his other half, there is no going back home to the Kingdom from where he came. The Prince and the Pearl are not separate and distinct characters, but symbolize two halves of one whole. The Savior is incomplete without her, therefore they are one in the same. The quest for the Pearl then is none other than the quest to save oneself. The quest to save one’s Soul.
These then, are the key elements to the Hymn of the Great Pearl. We have found the theme of “the fall” and the “slumbering Soul” mirrored in this tale. We have gained new appreciation for the “actors” in this drama; the hero, the damsel, and the villain. All key members, it turns out, reside within each and every one of us. They are us. Within this whole scheme, there are two – singularly important details yet to be considered. How does one wake up, if he is not aware that he is sleeping? And, once he has awoken, how does he “enchant” the dragon to “release” the Soul? This is where the real story begins. The rest is just “back-story,” a necessary foundation to shed light on how we’ve gotten here.
The Prince must save the Pearl, and he does. The end of the story is already revealed to us, and it is victory. How one overcomes the serpent will be addressed in the following chapters. The first and foremost concern at this stage is the question of awakening. Though we are still “asleep,” we can proceed with a little optimism. Let us now consider therefore, the essential experience of the “call.” For if we don’t hear the call, we may never awake. If we never awake, we may never save our Soul. What a sad and pitiful loss that would be. What a divine tragedy! “Now, O Light of Lights, I am afflicted in the darkness of the chaos…Deliver me out of the matter of this darkness, so that I shall not be submerged in it…My strength looked up from the midst of chaos and from the midst of the darkness, and I waited for my spouse, that he might come and fight for me, and he came not.” (The Pistis Sophia)
Our next consideration is that of the ”call.” This idea has been hinted at in our study of the slumbering Soul, but only as a side note. We do know that it is a fundamental feature of salvation. That without the call, we are lost in sleep, never to awaken. This then qualifies the call as our immediate concern, the most important element of our redemption. It is our own awakening, it is our own Soul that is at stake. Itis now time to proceed, and to investigate this ”phantom voice.”
In The Hymn of the Great Pearl, the hero receives a message from his parents, as though it were a voice. We find this same concept echoed in the Christian New Testament. John 5:25, ”Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.”
This verse from the Book of John describes the very same ”voice from heaven.” This is the voice of the Son of God, and ”they that hear shall live.” As established, the state of the Soul is likened to death. Those whom hear the voice ”shall live,” which simply means that they shall awaken. Eph 5:14, ”Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”
