CYCLE SIX
1. European civilized decadence begins and ends with
photographic books; American barbarism begins and ends with film.
2. Asian cultural decadence begins and ends with
mystical yoga; African naturism begins and ends with sex.
3. One should distinguish between the idealistic
meditation of light-based mysticism and the transcendental meditation of
air-centred gnosticism.
4. Mysticism accepts the Universe as the source
of Revelation; gnosticism
rejects the Universe (as evil) in favour of Divine Revelation.
5. Divinity is never found without, e.g.
in the Cosmos, but always within, e.g. in the self that is at one with
the spirit which fuels it.
6. That which is without, e.g. the
Cosmos, is mysterious to the self and the subject, in consequence, of mystical
hypotheses.
7. Unlike the Mystic, the Gnostic does not pay
too much attention to the Cosmos, since he has no desire to reach an
accommodation with it, but desires only to identify, as far as possible, with
his self.
8. In a sense, the Cosmos holds no mystery for
the Gnostic, since he is one who has seen through it (to its absolute evil) and
rejected it in favour of absolute good.
9. The Mystic succumbs,
through moral blindness, to the idealistic meditation of the light. The Gnostic adheres, through moral insight,
to the transcendental meditation of the air.
10. The Mystic is a
scientific Idealist, the Gnostic ... a religious Transcendentalist.
11. The Old Testament,
rooted in the Cosmos, is mystical; the New Testament, centred in Christ, is gnostical.
12. The Gnostic is one
who, having been spiritually reborn through Christ, has elected to turn his
back on mysticism. Hence his adherence
to true religion as opposed to the pseudo-religion of the cosmic-oriented
Mystic.
13. The 'Kingdom Within' can only be developed at
the expense of the 'Kingdom Without'; for where the Holy Spirit of Heaven
prevails, there can be no place for the Clear Light of the Void.
14. The Mystic, being a
devotee of the Clear Light of the Void, can have little notion of what it means
to be One with the Holy Spirit of Heaven.
His idealism debars him from that transcendentalism which is the
Gnostic's true home.
15. The Mystic is the 'religious' (philosophical)
form of the scientist, whereas the Gnostic is the 'scientific' (theosophical)
form of the priest.
