Alistair Crowley, the Mystic, and William S. Burroughs, the writer, both considered Christianity a poison, a disease, the worst set of programs ever inflicted on the human race.
Jesus (the) Christ… the word “christ” means “anointed” in Greek, as does “messiah” in Hebrew, and refers to the Hebrew ritual of anointing kings with oil. Jesus the anointed: Jesus the King.
Jesus operated a School, or “Work group,” in the terminology of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky. The word “School,” not to be confused with the mundane “school” for conditioning children (one modern author uses the term “attention laboratory”), refers to a structure for transmitting certain ideas, exercises, and techniques, usually also carrying out a historic task. School maintains that most humans don’t develop their potential and remain “advanced apes,” robots acting out cultural programs.
The popular Harry Potter series of books postulates a fictional parallel society of magicians unknown to the ordinary people (the “Muggles.”) Such hidden societies with strange powers do exist, though of course not in the way Rowling describes. The Witches-Wizards/Muggles idea intrigues people because ideas from Schools do “trickle down” and insinuate themselves here and there into ordinary culture.
Tradition maintains that School first arose about 40,000 years ago, and initiated the “cultural explosion” revealed by archeology. The original transmission forked to many different streams, and has flowed in unbroken succession to the present day.
For one familiar with the signs, literature indicates Schools at various points in history, including some modern ones. Most operated secretly and in disguise, as many power structures persecuted them since the beginning of war-based states and empires about 6,000 years ago.
The most obvious ones, which spawned large scale religions, besides Jesus include Moses, Buddha, Mohammed, Lao Tse, Confucius. Schools operated by these great teachers lost their living core and degenerated into religions, that is, control systems. However, usually some Schools continued genuine transmission using the religious forms as “cover,” such as some of the Sufi traditions within Islam.
Sometimes verbal transmission over many generations, enhancing and distorting the facts, developed myths about the people who composed the Work groups. The pantheon of Greek mythology may have derived from an ancient School, like the heroes of the School of Chiron: Jason, Heracles, Pollux and Castor, etc. Chiron used horsemanship as part of his teaching method so distorted transmission transformed him into a Centaur (horse-man.)
In India, Krishna mentored Arjuna, among others – his legacy survives as the Baghavad-Gita.
Other Schools: Hermes, in Egypt; Pythagoras; Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle (who tutored Alexander the Great). Leonardo da Vinci in Renaissance Italy. Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon…, in Elizabethan England – perhaps even including Elizabeth herself. Thomas Jefferson and others who helped found the U.S.A. (the U.S. dollar still carries an esoteric symbol used by the Freemasons and dating back to the Egyptian Hermetic School.) Gurdjieff, Ouspensky, and others in early to mid Twentieth Century. Carlos Castaneda describes a School headed by the enigmatic Don Juan, based on the Toltec tradition.
The Life of Milarepa tells of a Tibetan School. Tilopa, receiving his Tantric initiation in the Swat Valley (now in Pakistan), taught Naropa. Milarepa’s teacher Marpa travelled to India to study with him and translated the teaching to Tibetan.
Modern Schools based in America orchestrated the “Summer of Love” in San Francisco in 1967, integrating ideas from India, Native American traditions, Zen, and utilizing the sacramental substance LSD. Many Schools have included entheogenic substances in their repertoire of teaching methods.
Jesus, though a genuine teacher, died before he finished the transmission to his students. The students (disciples) received enough of the direct transmission to wield some extraordinary powers, but not enough to understand fully the use of the powers.
Acts of the Apostles
“5:1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, 5:2 And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
5:3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? 5:4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
5:5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.
5:6 And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.
5:7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.
5:8 And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.
5:9 Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.
5:10 Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.
5:11 And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.”
Looks like Peter could kill people without touching them. Literature cites examples of others with such powers.
G. I. Gurdjieff, Life is Real Only Then, When I Am:
“…the development of the power of my thoughts had been brought to such a level that by only a few hours of self-preparation I could from a distance of tens of miles kill a yak; or, in twenty-four hours, could accumulate life forces of such compactness that I could in five minutes put to sleep an elephant.”
Though he doesn’t say so, if he could kill a yak, why not a human?
Milarepa, the Tibetan yogi, studied black magic and, with the correct preparation and procedures, could kill people at a distance or destroy their crops with hailstorms, according to his biography.
American tribal tradition holds that “brujeros” can sicken or kill people.
Can you imagine Jesus killing people because they did not contribute? Jesus never used fear to control people.
Acts of the Apostles
“13:8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.
13:9 Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him.
13:10 And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? 13:11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.”
So Paul also used his power to blind people. Jesus healed people, never used his power to kill or injure them, by report. Peter and Paul, in their zeal, used psychic force to murder and harm people. Believe or else! Of course, they blamed it on the “Holy Spirit.” “Who, me? You saw I didn’t touch him. The Holy Ghost did it, not me.”
Peter and Paul certainly attained a very high level of power, but they succumbed to the temptation to use this power over people. Their self evolution halted at that point. They perhaps deceived themselves that this served a higher purpose – spreading the teachings of Jesus – but egoism controlled their actions. They reached Initiate level self but not Transcendent or Cosmic Self. A Sage would call them “Failed Initiates.”
Gurdjieff early on took a vow never to use his power on people, except to cure them or for scientific study.
So this Christian tradition, nominally spreading love through the teachings of Jesus, transformed into a means of wielding power over people, leading eventually to the Inquisition, ironically torturing and killing people in the name of brotherly love. We will save your soul by burning you to death…
The main symbol of the Christian religion: a man hanging on a cross, tortured to death. Contrast that with the Buddhist symbol: a man blissfully meditating.
Furthermore, the founders of Christianity – mainly Peter – elevated Jesus to the status of a god, irrevocably separating him from everyone else. You can never become like Jesus, the unique “Son of God.” Never mind that Jesus himself said we are all children of God, God is OUR father. Jesus never claimed to be a God. In fact he didn’t call himself the “Son of God,” rather the “Son of Man.” Only the Gospel of John – probably the least authentic of the four gospels – quotes him as saying he was the Son of God.
Again contrast that with Buddhism: Buddha said that he was a man who had achieved a high level, not a god.
“Gautama, what are you? Are you a god? Are you a saint?”
“I am awake.”
One of the main tenets of Buddhism: any human has the potential to become a Buddha, which literally means “awakened one.” Difficult, rare, but definitely possible. You are enlightened but you have to realize it – to “wake up.”
Christianity only promises that a good boy or girl can go to heaven after you die. This “pie in the sky” serves to seduce naiive people to obey – very clever: they don’t even have to give people real rewards – only imaginary vague sugar plums and cotton candy clouds. Miserable life? Unhappy? Just wait, neverending party after you die. Islam says much the same.
Some Christians even worship pain and suffering. Penitents carrying crosses… “Suffering Enobles…” The power possessors love the slaves to believe that.
Christianity, despite it’s self-proclaimed status as a religion of love, worships the god of power. The Latin name for the Christian god, “Deus,” came directly from the Greek god of power (thunder, lighting), “Zeus.”
What would you expect from a religion with such a main symbol – a man tortured to death? The implicit message: if you disobey the authorities, crucifixion awaits you.
George Orwell wrote 1984, a study of power. “Power is not a means, it is an end… The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.”
Orwell modeled his party and inner party on medieval Christianity. The Inner Party = the higher levels of the church, the Cardinals and such. The outer party: the priests, monks etc. The proles: the laity. “Free-thinking,” a punishable sin in Chritianity, transformed to the “thoughtcrime” of his novel.
Orwell pointed out the collective nature of power. So any Christian can experience the thrill of this power. Christians run around trying to “convert” people because the more converts, the more power. To become a Christian, you need only believe. Belief results from an act of will, so Christians subject their will to the collective Christian will. “Accept Jesus” means subject your will to the will of the Party (Church.) It feels good, of course – surrendering the responsibility for your own life, letting someone else make the decisions – what a relief!
The values of the upper class (inner party) in 1984 mimic those of Christianity, which, first, last, and always, love power. Big Brother replaces Jesus.
Religions do not always call themselves religions. Two great religions – Communism and Consumerism – struggled for supremacy during the “Cold War.” All religions forbid thinking for yourself. Their chief commandments: Thou shalt not think; Thou shalt not question authority.
Modern people lack sufficient imagination for after-death heavens and hells to control them, but control systems require heavens and hells (carrots and sticks). In the “Brave New World” of Consumerism, the “Good Life” replaces heaven: everything you can buy if you have enough money. If you have no money, you get Hell: a Poor Life, homelessness, and prison.
Consumerism eventually won out – probably because you get to actually “eat the carrot;” at least some people do, some of the time. You don’t have to wait ’til you die and go to heaven or reincarnate, or for some future “Workers’ Utopia,” which never arrives.
Orwell’s 1984 power system probably wouldn’t work in real life though – control systems that rely on all stick and no carrot eventually fail, although his Inner Party did enjoy some “carrots.”
Jesus and his Work group managed an historic task: to implant in society the values of the new epoch. They lived during the transition to the Piscean (Fish) epoch, from the earlier epoch of Aries, the Ram, just as we live during the transition to the next epoch: Aquarius, the water carrier.
School teachers tailor their teachings to the needs of the time, place, and people. In addition, they give certain ideas and exercises to the students depending on their type and being level. Some suit the general public, some beginners, some those of intermediate level, some advanced level and so on. Ideas and exercises meant for advanced practitioners can “poison” those at a “lower” level. So the writers of the Gospels probably erred in publishing all the acts and sayings of Jesus, many of which he directed only to the inner circle. Carrying tales out of School… As anyone with objective viewpoint can see, misinterpretation of these ideas creates farce and tragedy. Observe the bizarre rituals and vicious actions of the “fundamentalist” Christian and Islamic fanatics.
Jesus, acting out a historical drama, ended his life early. Some over-enthusiastic students preached his teachings, misinterpreted and garbled as so often happens, aiming to solidify and limit them. They assumed words spoken for specific people in a certain time and place, would work for everyone everywhere and any time. Exhilarated by their power, they threatened and intimidated, even killed and injured to control people, setting a precedent that would expand and endure for two millenia.