The Esoteric Gospel of Matthew 11:20-24
Mar. 28th, 2022 08:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
readoldthingsThe Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 11, Verses 20-24 reads:
As we've discussed many times before, none of our individual minds is an island to itself. It is, instead, a node in a larger network of minds-- or rather, many networks. Our souls themselves are parts of many larger, collective souls. We are part of the souls of our families, our towns, our states and our nations-- but also of all of the groups in which we participate. In Esoteric thought, these collective souls are called egregores. They form naturally whenever humans come together in a group. Relationships have egregores, and so do sports teams, subcultures, music fandoms, charitable organizations, occult societies and so on. There is nothing wrong with participating in an egregore and in fact you can't help but do so, many, many times over.
The trouble is, an egregore can go toxic.
If you've ever seen a subculture destroy itself through in-fighting, purity spiraling, cultishness or abuse, you know what I'm talking about. Patterns of destructive behavior perpetuate themselves. Think of the viciousness, always internally directed, and the witch hunts that often consume left-wing internet forums. Similarly, in music scenes and youth subcultures that have gone toxic, it's common to hear established participants mourn for newcomers. "Somehow every new face, in every single case, in a year or two will be erased" went a popular punk song from my mis-spent youth. "Something breaks inside of you," another began, "The spectacle of all the shows, fifteen fights and your six bucks has gone up some promoter's nose."
In my view, this is what Jesus is talking about here. The collective souls that animate the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum have gone toxic. We know this, because they've rejected Jesus Himself, the visible image of the One God.
The Day of Judgment
And so Jesus tells us in fairly plane words that these cities will be destroyed. "It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee."
In the colorful language of the Gospels, we're led to picture God getting really mad and smashing these cities with His hand. This is metaphor. It would be more accurate to say that these cities have smashed themselves.
God, always remember, is not one being among many. God is being itself, that by virtue of which anything at all exists. To reject God, therefore, is to reject existence. The more a soul-- any soul, be it of a person or a city-- turns away from God, the more it turns toward non-being, and dissipation until, finally, it ceases to be at all, and dissolves back into the primordial Chaos.
20 Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:
21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
22 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.
23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
24 But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.
Collective Punishment
In this passage, Jesus is directing his anger toward cities. To the modern ear, this is somewhat difficult to bear-- how can you condemn an entire population based on the actions of some of its members? Isn't that prejudicial, perhaps even a form of collective punishment?
To understand Jesus's words here, we need to understand two things. The first is the nature of cities in the ancient world. The second is the nature of the Astral Plane. These two concepts will lead us to understand this passage and ultimately lead us back to the Unity of God.
The Ancient City
Many years ago, a French historian named Fustel de Coulanges explored the nature of cities in the ancient world in a fine volume entitled La Cite Antique (the Ancient City). You can read the entire text online here; it's also available on Audible, if, like me, you like audiobooks. If you want to understand the politics of the ancient world, Coulanges' work is the place to start. Now, this book was writing in 1864, and, as such, it shares prejudices, and odd obsessions of its era-- as contemporary works share the rather more egregious flaws and prejudices of our own era. But learning to read through the layers of bias that color every work of nonfiction without exception is a very useful skill to have, and so I strongly recommend you read-- or listen to-- the entire thing, cover to cover.
In Coulanges' telling, in the ancient world, the modes of life that we, today, classify under the headings "religion," and "politics" were not separate from one another, and neither was separate from "family." The basic unit of society was the household, organized-- and this is critical-- around a hearthfire. The hearthfire was not a mere instrument for heating and cooking, but was a living god, the guardian spirit of its particular household. Around the hearthfire were gathered various spirits of the home, including the spirits of dead ancestors. The father was at once head of the family and its chief priest-- and its representative in the larger extended family, in which the household was nested as the smallest node in a fractal that extended outward from there. Extended families were united into clans, clans into phratries, phratries into tribes, and tribes, finally, into cities. As each family had its sacred fire, its spirits and its ancestors, so the clan had its fires, its heroes and its gods, and so did the phratry, the tribe, and finally, the city as a whole. In the ancient world, the king of a city was at once also father and chief priest to the city as a whole.
Collective Souls
Collective Punishment
In this passage, Jesus is directing his anger toward cities. To the modern ear, this is somewhat difficult to bear-- how can you condemn an entire population based on the actions of some of its members? Isn't that prejudicial, perhaps even a form of collective punishment?
To understand Jesus's words here, we need to understand two things. The first is the nature of cities in the ancient world. The second is the nature of the Astral Plane. These two concepts will lead us to understand this passage and ultimately lead us back to the Unity of God.
The Ancient City
Many years ago, a French historian named Fustel de Coulanges explored the nature of cities in the ancient world in a fine volume entitled La Cite Antique (the Ancient City). You can read the entire text online here; it's also available on Audible, if, like me, you like audiobooks. If you want to understand the politics of the ancient world, Coulanges' work is the place to start. Now, this book was writing in 1864, and, as such, it shares prejudices, and odd obsessions of its era-- as contemporary works share the rather more egregious flaws and prejudices of our own era. But learning to read through the layers of bias that color every work of nonfiction without exception is a very useful skill to have, and so I strongly recommend you read-- or listen to-- the entire thing, cover to cover.
In Coulanges' telling, in the ancient world, the modes of life that we, today, classify under the headings "religion," and "politics" were not separate from one another, and neither was separate from "family." The basic unit of society was the household, organized-- and this is critical-- around a hearthfire. The hearthfire was not a mere instrument for heating and cooking, but was a living god, the guardian spirit of its particular household. Around the hearthfire were gathered various spirits of the home, including the spirits of dead ancestors. The father was at once head of the family and its chief priest-- and its representative in the larger extended family, in which the household was nested as the smallest node in a fractal that extended outward from there. Extended families were united into clans, clans into phratries, phratries into tribes, and tribes, finally, into cities. As each family had its sacred fire, its spirits and its ancestors, so the clan had its fires, its heroes and its gods, and so did the phratry, the tribe, and finally, the city as a whole. In the ancient world, the king of a city was at once also father and chief priest to the city as a whole.
Collective Souls
As we've discussed many times before, none of our individual minds is an island to itself. It is, instead, a node in a larger network of minds-- or rather, many networks. Our souls themselves are parts of many larger, collective souls. We are part of the souls of our families, our towns, our states and our nations-- but also of all of the groups in which we participate. In Esoteric thought, these collective souls are called egregores. They form naturally whenever humans come together in a group. Relationships have egregores, and so do sports teams, subcultures, music fandoms, charitable organizations, occult societies and so on. There is nothing wrong with participating in an egregore and in fact you can't help but do so, many, many times over.
The trouble is, an egregore can go toxic.
If you've ever seen a subculture destroy itself through in-fighting, purity spiraling, cultishness or abuse, you know what I'm talking about. Patterns of destructive behavior perpetuate themselves. Think of the viciousness, always internally directed, and the witch hunts that often consume left-wing internet forums. Similarly, in music scenes and youth subcultures that have gone toxic, it's common to hear established participants mourn for newcomers. "Somehow every new face, in every single case, in a year or two will be erased" went a popular punk song from my mis-spent youth. "Something breaks inside of you," another began, "The spectacle of all the shows, fifteen fights and your six bucks has gone up some promoter's nose."
In my view, this is what Jesus is talking about here. The collective souls that animate the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum have gone toxic. We know this, because they've rejected Jesus Himself, the visible image of the One God.
The Day of Judgment
And so Jesus tells us in fairly plane words that these cities will be destroyed. "It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee."
In the colorful language of the Gospels, we're led to picture God getting really mad and smashing these cities with His hand. This is metaphor. It would be more accurate to say that these cities have smashed themselves.
God, always remember, is not one being among many. God is being itself, that by virtue of which anything at all exists. To reject God, therefore, is to reject existence. The more a soul-- any soul, be it of a person or a city-- turns away from God, the more it turns toward non-being, and dissipation until, finally, it ceases to be at all, and dissolves back into the primordial Chaos.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-29 11:29 am (UTC)In all seriousness-- Yes, that's exactly it. The way to remove yourself from an egregore is simply to separate yourself from it, whether you have literal mountains or no. And the way to test whether an egregore has gone toxic is to separate yourself from it for a suitable period of time such as-- oh I don't know-- 40 days, and see what effect the period of separation has on your soul.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-31 02:59 am (UTC)"Will you destroy the righteous with the wicked?"
"I will not destroy it for the sake of five [righteous people]."
Sounds like the city (literally or metaphorically) has a shot until the egregore is well and truly trashed. "The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full..."
no subject
Date: 2022-04-01 12:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-04-01 12:54 pm (UTC)Yes, that would seem to follow-- look at the way that very toxic communities still perpetuate themselves year after year.
no subject
Date: 2022-04-08 01:44 am (UTC)::tears::