There is a lot of controversy whenever someone speaks against a major religion, in particular with Christianity. The dissident is usually viewed with suspicion, the intentions of such an individual are called into question.

The search for Truth seems to never be among the charges. Yet here, in the voice of Acharya S (or D.M. Murdock as is her real name) there seems to be a lot of controversy concerning her writings. Then again, if someone wrote books entitled “Who was Jesus? Fingerprints of the Christ” and “The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold” wouldn’t controversy be expected?

The controversy doesn’t seem to bother her as she seems willing to take on such weighty issues as whether or not Jesus actually existed. Nor should it bother her – what should bother most is the fact that this question is not honestly asked and studied in the first place. Religion, or religious belief can exist parallel to academic and intellectual questioning. After all, religion is based on faith – on blind acceptance of a truth without having to see it or have it proven. It is for the empirically-minded individual that science replaces religion. Acharya S seems to admit this without stating specifically what her religious beliefs are. She strives to answer the question through an academic study – which is not wholly original as this has been done and successfully carried out by scholars before her.

Which begs the question – why hasn’t any positive study disproving the historical existence of Jesus shattered the very foundations of Christianity? Why hasn’t such a body of evidence been heavily cited by other religions, such as Judaism or Islam, to disprove Christianity and assert their own beliefs?

This seems to be the bigger question. And one could say it is a conspiracy of the grandest sorts; that a paradigm of control is predicated on this belief system and that the infrastructure in place is dependent upon a Christian world view. Yet, this wasn’t always the case as the very foundations of Western culture were created – and enhanced – during the “pagan” periods of antiquity. In fact, it is arguable that Christianity did much to reverse the developments of Western culture as it bloomed forth during the early centuries A.D. (ironically, the term used in association with Christian beliefs: anno domini, in the year of the lord).

Still, the controversy shouldn’t be about the woman or man writing works and doing research to disprove or prove the existence of something, or question the roots of a major religion. The controversy should be about the controversy itself – why hasn’t this very body of evidence been used to assert the authority of other religious systems?

As for the woman herself, you can gain a better understanding of her work and her ideas by watching this 53 minute interview. Or visit Acharya’s website, Truthbeknown.com.

This is a very subtle, but important exercise – marking the distinction between two similar ideas, mysticism and esotericism. At least, similar at first appearance.

Yeah, I know that intellectuallizing everything is dangerous and, in a sense, redundant, but for me to start my journey I need to mark a starting point. This is it.

To here is “reality” as we understand it: mocha cappucinos, sports cars, three piece suits, showers, sunsets, the whole bit. Yet we know that there is more. It irritates us in the way a rock in our shoe does. With every step, we feel its presence, yet we know not what exactly we are being irritated by.

And when we decide to investigate, we begin our journey towards transcending.

How exactly one transcends “reality” to come to understand the Truth of reality is what this little exercise is about. Briefly I will examine what is mysticism and what is esotericism in order to make sense of things – mostly for myself to learn.
Most may not realize a difference, as mysticism and esotericism are routinely interchanged, but there is.

Mysticism

For starters, mysticism comes from the Greek adjective mystikos (μυστικός, -ή, -όv) which is simply used to denote anything connected with the mysteries. The word for initiation or mysterion (μυστήριov), a mystery or secret initiation, was the noun form normally used. For those individuals who have passed through the rituals in order to understand this “ultimate reality”, either through identification of it or by conscious awareness of it, the word mystes (μυστής) was used – the word we get mystic from.

Here is the heart of the matter. Was a mystic someone who passed through a set of initiations in order to learn about ultimate reality? Or was it an individual who, through his intuition, was pursuing this understanding of ultimate reality?

And what exactly was “understanding” of ultimate reality? Was it direct experience or was it indirect? Could you simply be told what ultimate reality is and agree upon it? Or did you have to experience it for itself?

As its purpose, a mystic is to utilize one’s tools, skills or practices in order to achieve union with this ultimate reality, this oneness of existence. There are many names for it – Nirvana, Gnosis, Samadhi, Illumination, etc. This alone would denote that a mystic was not someone who was simply intellectually engaged with the ultimate reality and what it consisted of, but rather that a mystic was someone who had direct experience of its existence.

Mysticism is not an intellectual practice, but a real, practical experience. The tools, skills or practices utilized by a mystic would have to be field tested and proved to be effective. They would have to work and yield results. Which leads us to the notion that some major religions have a mystical component, such as Kabbalah with Judaism, Sufism with Islam, Gnosticism with Christianity. Or we could talk about the ancient mystery cults, such as Orphism or the Eleusinian Mysteries.

Each body of knowledge would have developed effective methods for attaining unification with the ultimate reality, the Godhead, the divine or God, however one wishes to define it.

So, the mystic is an individual who is believes there is a deeper state of existence beyond the daily routine of existence and seeks the truth about the relationship of oneself and this ultimate reality. How the mystic chooses to do so depends on his various cultural influences, but the mystic uses these tools/skills in order to meet his goal of union with ulitmate reality. The mystic, therefore, relies on direct experience, and not on indirect knowledge or theory.

Esotericism

From the Greek adjective esoterikos (ἐσωτερικός, -ή, -όv) we get the word “esoteric”. This ancient Greek adjective actually is a comparitive form of eso or eiso (ἔσω or ἔισω), which means “within”. So, something that is esoteric is something that comes from or is characterized as something within or internal.

This characteristic, of something internal or found within, could refer to a group whose practices are only known to those who are a member of that group. For example, the principles and beliefs of the Gnostics as opposed to those of Christianity. In other words, the smaller group (Gnostics) within the larger group (Christians) may have more specialized beliefs built upon the larger framework of beliefs of the larger group. And only the members within that group would understand the teachings.

Or possibly it could refer to the body of knowledge – as meaning those ideas or concepts that are focused on internal issues, or issues of the soul such as self-transformation and transcendance. This inner work, found within an inner group, would have definetly been construed as secretive to the outside world, or the larger group from which these teachings would have been built upon.

Initiation would be an important feature in outlining how exactly the body of knowledge of an esoteric system would have been learned and transmitted. In order to understand the concepts, one would have to be exposed to them first. As a by-product of this process, esoteric knowledge would also have built-in a filtering process by which the initiate would have been identified as a possible candidate. If proven worthy, the candidate would pass through the initiations and arrive as a medium of the esoteric knowledge, functioning as a fully endorsed member of this select group.

The term esoteric has come to be associated with knowledge or teachings that are hard or difficult to assimilate or understand. Naturally, this would lead to the association of esoteric knowledge as “secretive” or even “occult”.

Mysticism vs. Esotericism

At first glance, it seems extremely hard to differentiate the two. Both fields seem to deal with very specific and difficult material – yet this is not true. Mysticism deals specifically with attainment of Truth, of understanding the ultimate reality for what it is and knowing one’s relationship to it. This is obtained through experience, through direct perception of the divine state, of God, of true “reality”.

Esoteric knowledge could contain more insight and more concepts, tools, skills or practices that may help guide a mystic, but it could also contain information that would build upon an already existing body of work. In other words, many mystical paths do not introduce supplemental spiritual knowledge, but instead insist on gaining the experience of union through practical means.

Thus a mystic is not necessary an esotericist, but esoteric knowledge could contain mystical teachings.

I don’t want to read too much into this, but then again it just may be part of my nature to do so. We are always trying to assign meanings to things and this case is no exception.

A few nights ago, on this past Friday, Sheri’s dad came on over to the house for a visit – he was divulging his latest plans to us, so being hospitable hosts we were attentive and fed him as well.

We talked, ate, and then said our goodbyes and off he went. We then closed the evening by turning in and going to bed.

The problem is, it was too early for me and I couldn’t go to sleep – even though I was tired. I had gotten up that morning with Sheri, who gets up at the crack of down to go to work and teach the bright young minds of tomorrow (um, right). Frankly, I don’t see how the teachers can do it, let alone being in high school and getting up that early – I remember those days and cursing every single one under my sleep-deprived breath. I had yet to discover the miracle of coffee – come to think of it, I still have yet to discover the miracle of coffee. Seems like another chore to me.

Anyhow – I couldn’t sleep. Unusual for me since I tend to go down quick, but am a light-sleeper, like most ninjas. So, I decided to go lay on the couch and work out what was on my mind. Laying there, in the dark, thinking, I heard a sound – something fell down on the back porch, right behind me.

Something fell, it was a slight crack that seemed a familiar sound – I decided to investigate as we have had a local kid come onto our property and steal Sheri’s computer out of her car before (another story…). I leaped up, snatched open the door and prepared myself to catch someone by the neck. I was ready to unleash an ass whoopin.

As I suspected, the fallen item was a broom – it had the familiar crack of plastic on cement. The broom was hanging on top of our outdoor closet – it had been hanging there without interruption for several weeks now. Why it suddenly fell was a mystery, there was no wind that was stirring. I suspected that the local thief had snuck onto the back porch and dislodged it – but I never heard the creak and drag of the patio door opening. I would have heard that as my head was right by the back door.

Still, something hung over me: the weight of suspicion. If I concluded that it wasn’t our suspect, then what happened?

It seems it was an unusual suspect.

I thought I saw smoke coming off the patio out of the corner of my eye. I looked again. On top of a coffee table on the back porch was this ceramic pot and out of it was smoke – rising like a phantom. This shocked me for a second as I thought I actually was seeing a ghost. I called to Sheri and asked her if she was seeing what I was seeing – she confirmed there was smoke coming out of this ceramic pot on the table.

We wondered how smoke was suddenly coming out of the pot – and it seemed that a cigarette is what initiated the smoke. It seemed to burn and cinder the peat moss in the pot that was there from when the plant was potted. Embers continued to glow as I churned through the soil with a stick – the pot itself was very hot.

Could our suspect have gotten on to the porch, smoking, knocked over the broom and had the courtesy to put his cigarette out in the pot on the table? That would take some balls, to say the least, but that is not what happened.

As it turns out, it was Sheri’s dad, who went out onto the back porch to have a smoke. He then put out his cigarette in the pot.

What is of interest to me though is the correlation between me not being able to sleep and being drawn to the smoke itself. It could have been a dangerous situation – the pot was smoking and with embers hot enough, it may have caught the wooden table it was resting on on fire. Who knows what may have transpired then.

It may just be coincidental. Or maybe there is a spirit protector watching over us. Who knows. It was strange that a broom would suddenly fall when there was nothing to push it off the closet door. Stranger still was the fact that single, simple event led me to discover the smoking pot, which I almost missed as it was dark out.

I’ll leave it at that – for now.

Part I

Well, some fellas on another site were discussing 2012 and it got me thinking (re-thinking) this situation. It has been developing for eons, and the theories have been hatched for some time – mostly over the last 10 years.

Everyone has a theory.

And I want to try and piece them together. So, this is step I. 2012 is the year the world is supposed to end, or change. This belief is based on the Mayan Calendar, its long count and short counts corresponding to celestial phenomena, has marked Dec. 21st, 2012 as a particularly significant moment. To find out more, read this excellent introductory piece by John Major Jenkins.

As for an introduction to some theories, here is something to watch to get your mind thinking a bit about the importance of 2012 and the issues surrounding it. This could put things in proper perspective.

In the future, I will be writing more on the subject of 2012 and bringing the theories and data here as I find the time. I have been inspired by the discussion on the board to round up this topic.

I am a big Miami Heat fan, and a big Dwyane Wade fan as a result (see MiamiHeatwave.com). Wade recently suffered a very bad shoulder injury which is throwing off the Heat’s chances of grabbing another championship trophy and repeat.

He injured the shoulder on Feb. 13th where he fell on top of a Trailblazer player, and then against Houston the other night (2/21) he reached to gamble on a steal and ended up dislocating his shoulder.

Word has not surfaced yet as to the extent of the injury, but he has two basic options: surgery, which will put him out for the season; or rehab which is a period of immobilization followed by strengthening the muscles. The latter option could see him miss up to 6 weeks.

Although the injury is serious, I can’t help but want to try and see if there is a way to speed up the healing process. And the mass consciousness experiments conducted by others seemed to work.

For example, Art Bell on Coast to Coast had his listeners focus on bringing rain to a region hit hard with drought. The farmers were watching their crops die off too to the lack of water, but then after the mass consciousness experiment (let’s call it a MCE), the water came – so much so that it flooded and caused other damage.

George Noory, also on Coast to Coast, has decided to carry on the MCE’s with the listening audience, and has done so on other occasions with very compelling success. He is doing so in opposition to Art Bell, who has decided it may be too dangerous a thing to mess around with.

Now, it seems there are karmic offsets to such an experiment, and it must be based on the individuals involved. Also, there are consequences due to the energy generated by the collective thought – in the Art Bell example above, it seems that lots of people focusing on rain resulted in too much and a flood.

It must be controlled in some way, then.

So, over at MiamiHeatwave.com we are going to try our own little MCE and see if it can’t help Dwyane Wade heal a little faster. Sure, in part it is because we would like to see him return to play A.S.A.P., but also we have to be very careful and try to be focused on the intent of healing Dwyane Wade’s shoulder and alleviating his pain and helping aid the repair. If this works, it will only confirm in a very real way the power of collective thought.

Stay tuned.

“Hado” is a Japanese term for a force that is vital to living, indeed it is a life-force energy. In Japanese, it simply means “vibration” or “wave motion”. It surrounds all things, inanimate and animate, moving and stationary, natural and artificial. It seems everything gives off vibrational energy, and hado is the term used to articulate this energy.

An excellent introduction on what hado is can be found in this article entitled, The Universal Power of Hado. Of course, I knew nothing about it until I found this article myself!

And here is an example of someone possibly using Hado – it’s in Japanese, but you can understand what is going on.

There are certain geometric shapes which have sacred properties. Most of these are due to the fact that things in nature occur within a particular geometric shape themselves, such as hexagons, the spiral of a seashell, the circle is the only shape that will not fall within itself. But there are certain shapes which have been found to have an impact on life, and vice versa.

Some findings in the old Soviet regime claim that certain geometric shapes have an influence on blood flow, heartrate (calming), can reduce schizophrenic tendencies as well as have a general benevolent influence when used in the physical construction of certain buildings. (see Psychic Discoveries: Behind the Iron Curtain)

What I would like to investigate is whether or not these geometric shapes, which were known and understood by the ancient architects in their designs, were utilized in the Asklepion in order to aid the process of healing the body and the mind and the soul. Such a discovery could be reused with experimentation done in order to validate the claims as well as granting a better understanding of the ancient world in general.

Stay tuned…

We have established that the cult of Apollo, found at Cumae – where, incidentally, the oracle of the Dead is located as well as the Sibyl – was based on healing and prophecy; two features attributed to the god Apollo. A list of his sons only attests to this.

Asklepios/Asclepius is a prime example. Some myths say he was a man that became a god, but he was noted for being a ’son of Apollo’ and was associated, like his ‘father’, iconographically with the serpent. The hissing of a serpent is what is important to note – it is the hissing sound of silence and stillness (hesychia) that is obtained through the focus on the sound of silence that opens the door to another state. Asklepios had a cult of healing evolve around him and his teachings, which would be found typically in a sanctuary or Asklepion whereby the participants would come to lie down and incubate with the god and the divine in order to learn (prophecy) what to do to alleviate their situations.

Aristaios is another son of Apollo who was especially blessed with hunting and taming of wild animals, for example – much like his father. But he was also a priest of Apollo, like Asklepios, and was seen as a seer and a healer. There is the incident, found in Argonautika (2.500-527) that discusses how he was brought to Keos to heal the inhabitants of the Dog-Star Sirius, which was scorching the earth. He also recieved his education, as an infant, under the wise centaur Chiron in a cave.

And to go into a cave, and enter a state of altered reality to communicate with Apollo is the typical motif we see regarding the iatromantis figure that is identified with Parmenides, in southern Italy, and with even Epimenides on Crete (who incubated in the cave of Zeus on Mount Ida).

It is known as ‘la destra’ in Italian. That is the word for ‘right’ and is even used in political terms. However, the left is known as ‘la sinistra’, and yes, that is very similar to ’sinister’, the English word.

And yes, it too is used to denote political terms in Italy, notably for communism.

So, what is behind a word? Meaning. Everything.

I learned why the left is sinister after all. The Orphics and other ancient mystery cults designated this term for when one ventured into Hades, into Tartarus, into the underworld. When you were faced with the goddess, you were either accepted – taken by the right hand – or rejected which was to be taken by the left hand. This meant annihalation.

What is behind a word is meaning, and in this is everything. Your soul’s fate is at stake.