Today’s rant topic has been on my “list of things to write about” for a while, but I recently came across something that pissed me off enough to bump it to the front of the line. I stumbled upon an article written from an evangelical Christian viewpoint — and call it masochism (and you’d probably be right) but I couldn’t stop reading. An excerpt:

A selfish person will desire control over others to use them for personal benefit; an altruistic person will desire such to improve them out of love.

The really ironic thing is that the article is subtitled “The Dark Side of the Soul,” since this false dichotomy illustrates two beliefs that are equally based in the dark side of the ego and its need for control.

The idea of equating love with control is as prevalent as it is toxic. The concept is ultimately rooted in a coercive view of divine power (a fallacy I also addressed here). In philosophical circles this is known as the “Divine Command Theory” of ethics — you do what God says, not because what God says has merit in itself, but because he is bigger than you and may light you on fire if you don’t (rough paraphrase there :P). Since we typically become like the Gods in which we put our faith, this leads to a glorification of coercive control in the way we relate to other people.

Even people who don’t hold this (or any) particular view of God can nonetheless fall into the trap of seeking to control and manipulate others “for their own good,” and equating this with love. In reality this approach is rooted solely in fear. Fear of loss; fear of change; insecurity in one’s beliefs about how the world is or should be. On the other side of the equation are those who enter a relationship with the attitude that love is based on how much of themselves they give up for the other person’s benefit. Both are equally misguided and soul-destroying.

When you plant a seed, do you tell it how to grow? Micromanage its growth? Force it to grow how you want? No; that approach would probably kill it. Rather, you give it what it needs to flourish, and it does the rest. The truth as I have come to see it is that each soul is in this life for its own reasons. I may be able to help you remember what your reasons are, but if I try and force you to accept some version of what I think they should be, then I am nothing more than an obstacle on your path. Upon encountering situations like this, my advice would be to run. Quickly.

Love, and any attempt to control another person against their will for any reason, are mutually exclusive. In reality control is a subtle form of theft. Your free will is in a sense your own posession — the free will of others is not. If any one of your relationships is based on anything real and genuine, then exerting control over it is both unnecessary and detrimental. Conversely, if you have to control or manipulate someone into aligning with your will, you’re actually stealing something that isn’t yours to begin with from that person as well as the universe. You’re conning them out of their time, energy, resources, whatever, and also depriving someone who could accept those resources in an honest, voluntary and mutually beneficial way.

For those who habitually engage in control and manipulation of the people in their lives, the price is often quite high. They depend on the ignorance and relinquishing of personal power of their subjects in order to perpetuate these relationships. The need for control is never secure or satisfied however, and the inevitable result is that they push a little too far, inadvertently awaken their hostage’s need for spiritual and emotional independence, and thus the house of cards they have built up around themselves falls apart very quickly, leaving them with nothing.

The exceptions to this are situations where one voluntarily consents to give up control to another person on a temporary basis with the goal of regaining one’s own foundation. I would place kids in this category as I believe in pre-incarnative agreements, but in any case obviously young children need someone to establish healthy boundaries, ideally as a way of teaching them how to establish their own. Another example that comes to mind is a friend of mine whose life at one point years ago, was on a downward spiral of addiction, lying and stealing. His parents and older sister agreed to have him move in with her, on the condition that his choice was to have her run his life like a military dictatorship while he was there, or he would be turned out on the street. Today his take on all this is “y’know, I’m still not sure I like [my sister] very much, but what can I say, she did get me turned around.” In cases like this, the individual has already relinquished control over their free will, so there are times when “tough love” from someone willing to hang onto it for them until (and only until) they are capable of reclaiming it for themselves, is appropriate. The challenge there for both parties though, is to not enter into a cycle of dependency where the enforced control lasts longer than it needs to. Fortunately today my friend is living on his own and doing very well for himself. All of this serves to illustrate that for those who are in a position of authority over others, ideally the goal should always be for the subjects of control to to find their own sense of personal power and authority.

The distinctions I’ve laid out here can be applied to one’s spiritual evolution, and all the way up to the divine level. As we evolve spiritually, the need for control, whether over other people or circumstances, decreases, in favor of control over the self. Control of the self, our thoughts, words and actions, is the one form of control that is possible and well worth cultivating. It is here that the only real forms of security and personal freedom are found, as is the desire to help others find their own truth and freedom.

The highest form of love seeks to encourage, preserve and protect free will, not to subvert or destroy it.

–Palehorse

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Well, our network has been down for a while (which would be a fitting basis for this post in itself), but hark, for I hath returnethed!

In my last post I mentioned one of the hallmarks of the Gnostic path: running up against the Archons (insert dramatic “dun-dun-DUN!” music here). The Archons, for those who aren’t familiar with the terminology, are the spiritual “rulers” of this world whose function it is to keep us ignorant, distracted, asleep; unaware of our true divine nature and origin. Don’t get hung up on terminology though; whether you believe the Archons are literal beings, psychological constructs or a symbol of something else entirely, the concept is valid.

There have been times in my life where I’ve literally felt like every step forward I try to take is met with resistance… if I’m lucky! If I’m not, it’s more like hitting brick walls, doors slamming shut at every turn, and even being pushed backward from where I started.

One thing I’ve gotten out of all this though, is that everything can be a tool for learning. Put resistance and obstacles in front of me and I’ll take the opportunity to learn something about what resistance IS, how it works and whether there’s anything I’m personally doing to perpetuate it.

One of the major methods the Archons use to trap us is to trick us into giving out lots more of our energy and personal power than is warranted by a situation we find ourselves in. I’ll illustrate my point.

Say my goal is to make a sandwich. I’m merrily going about my business and looking forward to devouring the product of my efforts… when a jar of mayo slips out of my hand and explodes all over the floor.

Now I’ve got an obstacle between myself and my sandwich, as the mayo that’s supposed to be covering the sandwich is covering the kitchen.

Let’s say for the sake of discussion that it takes five units of my energy to clean up the floor. I spend those five units and the universal balance is regained; then I eat my sandwich and regain the energy I spent mopping up the offending goo, and probably more.

But then what might happen in many cases?

I’m pissed. Out comes the string of expletives. Subtract another five units of energy. What if I start dwelling on how “this always happens,” or “I never do anything right”, grumbling to myself and growing increasingly agitated the entire time I’m cleaning up? Subtract another ten units. “The universe is against me!” Another five, and I’ve painted the entire universe as being against me personally. Maybe I then snap at my girlfriend, and if she reacts (wasting some of her own energy) and we get into an argument: you can subtract another twenty.

So what’s happened is I’ve just spent fifty units of my energy on a situation that only required five, and wasted ten times the energy I needed to!

Guess what? All that extra energy doesn’t just evaporate into the ether; it has to go somewhere. What you’ve really done is provided the Archons with all the raw material they need to create your next obstacle, except that instead of being a 5-unit obstacle, it’ll be one that requires 45 units to overcome! In this way, we become the unwitting batteries powering the machine that seeks to keep us enslaved.

Let’s say I responded to the situation differently. The jar drops, but I attach no emotional significance to this event. I realize my hands were wet, and gravity took over as gravity is wont to do, so I say “meh, it happens” and go on about my business. As I reach under the fridge to get some splatter, I find a pendant that had broken off my necklace and rolled away, which perks up my mood. Add five units of energy. I enjoy the sandwich; add five more. Now I get through the situation and end up with more energy than I started with.

What of the Archons? Unlike us, they can’t take in or produce their own energy — all their resources are stolen, or unknowingly handed over by us. Therefore when they use energy to create an obstacle, they’re taking a gamble that you’ll give back more than they just had to spend on you. If you don’t, they lose energy, and their power over you, the power to create resistance in your life, decreases.

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No big collection of links today; just a plug for an awesome gnosis-related blog I found, and some commentary.

What happens when a Gnostic “wakes up”? Things can get a little difficult. You see, when you start fighting the chloroform of creation, the universe starts fighting back. The Archons are loosed. Every attempt to break free is met with a brick wall and an Agent in front of it. You simply can’t break free using brute force. Why? Brute force is a physical thing. Try subtlety. Try assimilation. Try persuasion. Because if you keep fighting the physical world you’re going to end up living a miserable life here, and waking up to the truth, however frightening, is not meant to make you miserable. It’s supposed to set you free. Suffering is another prison.

Source: Henosis Decanus: Musings from a Monadic Mind

This is an issue I’ve been wrestling with a lot lately. As usually seems to happen for me, after the revelation comes I end up seeing confirmation of it everywhere I look. This is probably the best summary of this concept that I’ve come across; I read it and went “YES!”

Throughout my life, when faced with an obstacle, my usual approach has been to assess the opposition, gather my willpower and steamroll over it. For an awakening seeker, this approach only ends in frustration (if not injury or trauma)… as I’ve had to learn. The hard way. Repeatedly. Ow.

Every action has a reaction; all acts of force are met with equal opposing force. Like a chinese finger trap, all effort to pull away are just met with increasing resistance. Who’da thought the universe has a lot more force and resources at its disposal than I do. Oops.

I’m still in the process of learning how to move and act without force, but it seems a lot of it has to do with the emotional charge underlying our actions. Resolve the internal conflict, which stems from the illusion of need, and there is no external conflict.

The prisoner is held in bondage (no, not the fun kind) by his identity as a “prisoner,” his conflict with his captors, and his idea that he “needs” any change in his available resources or circumstances to be free.

The free and sovereign individual has no conflict and no need of anything — he simply rests securely in his knowledge of who and what he is.

–Palehorse

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As anyone who has been paying attention has probably caught onto by now, one thing Gehenna and I share is that neither of us have any use for the concept of reverence. We had a great discussion about this and decided to put our thoughts into a two-part rant article (Gehenna’s post can be found here).

Reverence is regarded as a requirement in most forms of spirituality. People revere their deities, their holy books, their clergy, their buildings of worship, their iconography and symbols.

With all this reverence going on, you would think it serves a valuable and necessary purpose in our lives! Right? Riiiiight?!

It doesn’t. In fact, when it comes to genuine spirituality and development, reverence does more harm than good. It moves us away from genuine spirituality more than anything else.

The reason for this is that reverence is a form of ritualized social distance.

That which we revere, we acknowledge our separation from, we put it in a special category somewhere “above” ourselves. In doing so we give away our own personal power.

So remind me, what was our goal again? Was it to put as much distance as possible between ourselves and others; between ourselves and the divine?

Hell no! The truth is that the divine is closer to us than our own skin! If there’s any separation, it’s because we have put it there; it’s just another illusion that has been created to rob us of our personal power, and we uphold it ourselves in order to maintain our own comfort zones. Reverence is an artificial human construct, it is just another form of ego-worship. It’s fear-based, and it’s idolatry. When we have the courage to smash our false idols, we get closer to truth, closer to the divine, and closer to our true selves. And then we realize how redundant that last sentence is.

On that note one of the more ridiculous ideas I’ve come across was mentioned by Gehenna already — in many of the tutorials for connecting with one’s Higher Self they recommend doing so “with the utmost reverence.” Why?! All your wacky theatrics might provide your Higher Self with some amusement, and sure, if you feel you need that, s/he will play along in the interest of “speaking your language” to strengthen the connection between you. This probably sheds some light on why Christians receive Christian-themed visions, Buddhists see the Buddha and so forth. But the fact remains that this is an aspect of YOU, and at some point the time will come when, in order to keep evolving in his direction, you’re going to need to give the subservience a rest. I mean, I’m sure I have aspects of myself that are less evolved than I am at my current frame of reference, but if they were to start bowing down and licking my boots, I’d be a bit creeped out. I’d probably have to give them a swift whack on the head and tell ‘em to knock that crap off!

Apparently I haven’t changed much at the Higher Self level in that regard. Since Gehenna is sensitive enough to get visuals and more specific info and I’m still workin’ on it, she sometimes connects to my HS and we compare notes. One of our favorite HS stories is the first time she did this — my HS was posing as the stereotypical guru, sitting in the lotus position and trying to look pious… but not quite pulling it off. The exchange went something like: “Whoooo is it that speaks to meeee?” “…You know who I am! *indignant*” “Oh. Err… yeah. Hiiii Gehenna. *snicker*”

There have been many similarly amusing encounters since with our HS’s and others, but the point is that these beings don’t consider themselves to be high and mighty. They don’t put themselves on a pedestal, and they don’t expect us to either. They’re just as diverse as we are; maybe even moreso, since they’re under no pressure of social conformity and enjoy the freedom to just BE. They have their own personalities, likes and dislikes, their own personal “style”… it’s all just on a scale that, to us, seems very expansive. They’re completely secure in who and what they are; how presumptuous to think they need any validation of their position from us! If anything, what has helped me most in being able to connect more fully with divinity is not my ability to be subservient (which is a bit lacking if you haven’t guessed)… it’s a healthy appreciation for the absurd.

Don’t even get me started on reverence toward other humans like ourselves. That’s just another wall between you and the divine. All the spiffy titles and special treatment might give your priest an ego-wank to help make up for the action he’s not getting, but I can promise it isn’t going to get you, or him for that matter, any closer to God.

–His Most Holy Pontifex Maximus Palehorse Redivivus XIII

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I get angry reading much of what I find online regarding interactions with the Higher Self (HS) and other Divine beings: God, Gaia, Jesus, various Archangels or your Ascended Hamster. Most everything I read reminds me of that idealised Heaven that is presented in church; drugged serene-looking Angels sitting around on fluffy white clouds, playing harps and radiating boredom love.

Tutorials I’ve seen for contacting these entities speak of “approach(ing) them with the utmost reverence”. Then of course there’s an imperial fuckton of “channeled” material to wade through which makes all these entities sound like the typical spiritual cliche. (Insert rainbow, unicorn, fairies and glitter here.)

In my experience, the HS is just You ..albeit You unbound by Earthly dimensions. The HS: evolved You, who has mastered internal issues. Does it seem reasonable that this You would demand your obsequiousness? That they would be snobby and look down on you as a lesser being? That sure doesnt show mastery of anything! That’s the same old rigid social structure that is deeply artificial, that so many put value to down here on Earth! Imagine a healthy relationship, where you approach your HS as you would a friend, for love, guidance and to share a joke. Much like an afterlife of joy, experience, fun, and freedom appeals to me a lot more than eternally static, fluffy-white-harp-Heaven, so an approachable HS mentor and friend appeals a lot more than a stuck up prig with a God-complex. In the same vein, a loving, listening and approachable deity resonates..an implacable, silent, worship-sucking one does not.

Think of Gaia.. Mother Earth. How do you talk to your own mother? Maybe you sit down together and share a coffee and a chat. She offers her experience and love; the bond you share enables you to feel comfortable asking questions and sharing a joke. How very different from the “audience with Gaia” scenario of a sacred space, hushed tones and perfectly phrased, “approved” questions. Uncondition love? Yes. But, just as Mom gets angry if you piss her off, hey, so does Gaia! How would Mom take you throwing trash all over the yard? I doubt she’d sit there all sweetness, light and “bounteous love.”

To further illustrate my point I’ve included an excerpt from some “channeled” material I found online, followed by my blogged response at the time.

I JUST FOUND THIS ON THE INTERNET>> supposedly a letter from “Gaia”

A letter from our Planet Gaea

Gaia, the Consciousness of Earth

Gaaaah what a load of toss.. fucking “Gaia channelers”..seriously, you are so far off the mark its untrue! “Mummy Earth” DOES not think that .. “Mummy Earth” is thinking more like this:

Being a good person doesnt mean denying your humanity. Remember kids, saints have one thing in common: they’re all DEAD.

It seems that the wider meta-community is suckered into the “goal” of serenity and perfect, bland, indistinguishabe order.

I put forth the idea that on a dizzingly high level we are all part of a whole, yet within that whole we are unique ..the goal here isn’t oblivious union, people! It is simply to BE, enjoy who we are, and realise that social, and higher-up hierarchies are unnecessary in the giving and receiving of respect, wisdom,help and love. In the same way our many feelings, thoughts and experiences combine to make us who we are, we make God/the Source what It is ..an infinitely complex Being, composed of all possible facets ..separate yet harmonious. The Ego isn’t evil..but that’s another blog

Im annoyed that every Seeker is bombarded with the tunnel-visioned mindset to higher interaction that I’ve spoken of ..and I give thanks that I have my own approach, which works for me far BETTER than being told by some prissy lightworker how to tread my spiritual path. Spirituality should be accessible for all, and that demands flexibility. So, if the “popular” method isn’t working for you, try mine ..or come up with your own.

Taking the Divine to encompass the higher self and other entities, my closing thoughts are that the Divine is not intimidating, a doormat, or on a pedestal. The Divine is the best parent, friend, teacher and company you could want ..and fun to hang out with too!

–Gehenna

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