Taggnosticism

Consciousness time travel: Paul Laffoley, the Invisibles, and the Voudon Gnostic Workbook

“paul laffoley The Time Machine : GEOCHRONMECHANE : From The Earth

Apparently, the way time travel works on Lost is movement of consciousness through time and space to experience “retrocognition of the past and occasions of precognition of the future.” The breathtaking occult art of Paul Laffoley has dealt with this subject for years, most notably in his painting The Time Machine : GEOCHRONMECHANE : From The Earth – the plans to build a working time machine. More info can be found on Paul Laffoley here. He can also be heard explaining his time travel plans in his lecture at Esozone 2007.

I’m also reminded of the occult action comic The Invisibles, which I reviewed here. Characters in the Invisibles use a consciousness projection technique to travel through space and time. The source for the time travel techniques of the Invisibles is the book The Voudon Gnostic Workbook, a collection of materials Michael Bertiaux used to instruct his cult in Chicago.

However, Michael Szul of Key 64 points out that the Invisibles can travel to places in time that they haven’t been and don’t need a “host body.” He suggests that the time travel in this episode is more reminiscent of Slaughterhouse Five. Lostpedia has this to say on the subject:

Desmond, during one of his flashbacks/time travels, speaks to someone else in the military with him. His friend’s name is Billy. Billy Pilgrim is the main character in Slaughterhouse Five. The narration of the story of Billy Pilgrim begins: “Listen. Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck in time.” When Desmond is with Daniel in 1996 and Daniel is about to experiment on Eloise, he says that he is going to unstick her in time. Also, the narrator of Slaughterhouse Five, Vonnegut, says that he likes to call old girlfriends late at night. Desmond calls Penelope at night. When Desmond spoke with Mrs. Hawking, she said that events are structured and that the universe will course correct. In Slaughterhouse Five, Billy Pilgrim explains that , according to the Tralfamadorians, aliens who can see the fourth dimension, time is structured and events cannot be changed (we are like bugs in amber). When asked about the end of the universe, the Tralfamadorians explain that one of their test pilots presses a button that destroys the universe. Billy asks why they cannot stop the pilot from pressing the button, and they reply that the pilot always has and always will press the button. The moment is structured that way. Desmond’s purpose, according to Mrs. Hawking, is to turn the key and he cannot avoid it. The moment is structured that way. Billy Pilgrim sees the future, and even predicts his own death. Desmond predicted Charlie’s death and other events on the island.

Even more of Philip K. Dick, Gnosticism, and Lost

(The whole landscape becomes indistinct. A forest ebbs out and a wall of rough rock ebbs in, through which can be seen a gateway. The two men pass through the gateway. What happened to the forest? The two men did not really move; they did not really go anywhere, and yet they are not now where they originally were. Here time turns into space. Wagner began Parsifal in 1845. He died in 1873, long before Hermann Minkowski postulated four-dimensional space-time (1908). The source-basis for Parsifal consisted of Celtic legends, and Wagner’s research into Buddhism for his never-written opera about the Buddha to be called “The Victors” (Die Sieger). Where did Richard Wagner get the notion that time could turn into space?)

And if time can turn into space, can space turn into time? (40-41)

PKD/HLF came to believe that Thomas was also Elijah, John the Baptist, Dionysos, the Buddha, and many others, all at once. They were, according the HLF, homoplasmates—living human embodiments of the Logos, the Logos being not simply the word of God through Christ, but living information, which was also a secret to transcend time. HLF called the Logos plasmate, and believed this secret was a technology for eternal life that the early Christians understood, as well as the Rosicrucian Order, the Renaissance alchemists, Apollonius of Tyana, Elijah, Dionysos, the Dogon of western Sudan, the Gnostics as recorded in the Nag Hammadi library, and others. The fish symbol, as well as being a representation of the age of Pisces, was a geometrical symbol of two circles with the same radius that each have their centers intersecting with the other circle’s circumference. The center of that intersection is the fish symbol. Take just that central intersection image and twist it, and you get the double helix of DNA.

Full Story: Dark UFO.

More on Lost and Gnosticism, plus: Shambala

Remember when Ben told Michael ”We’re the good guys?” And remember when Juliet told Jack that killing people is a big no-no in Others society? And remember how the Others actually really resent being called ”the Others”? Well, I recently discovered a group of people over at Wikipedia.org (Official Research Tool of Crackpot Lost Theorists everywhere!) that could really relate to Ben and the rest of his misunderstood friends. Meet the Cathars, a Gnostic sect of Christianity considered heretics by The Roman Catholic Church and were horribly persecuted. Like most Gnostics — Christians who really want to be Buddhists — Cathars believe that God is actually bad; that human beings are spirits trapped inside the corrupting matter of flesh; and that Satan is actually Good for wanting to liberate us with enlightenment. Cathars don’t view death as a punishment for sin, but a natural part of an individual’s spiritual progression. Not incidentally, Cathars took a dim view of murder, as it had profound consequences for a soul’s journey. And Cathars didn’t call themselves Cathars. ”Cathars” was a derogatory term, imposed on them by their enemies. Instead, Cathars called themselves by another name: The Good People.

[…]

According to Wikipedia (Official Research Tool For Crackpot Lost Theorists Everywhere!), Shambala is ”a hidden mystical kingdom” in Tibetan Buddhism. Various Eastern-infused esoteric traditions in the West (read: New Age, Occult, ”Mystery Sect” religions) consider Shambala to be ”inhabited by a mystic brotherhood whose members labor for the good of humanity.” Even more provocative is this: ”Some early twentieth-century occultists… view Shambala as a source of negative manipulation by an evil or amoral conspiracy.” Shambala lore is linked to Agartha, a mystical lost city at the center of world, inhabited by enlightened, possibly eternal beings known as The Old Ones who — get this — KIDNAP HUMAN CHILDREN AND RAISE THEM AS THEIR OWN!

Full Story: Entertainment Weekly.

VALIS and Gnosticism

philip k dick

The book John Locke brings Ben at the beginning of tonight is VALIS by Philip K. Dick. It’s difficult to summarize, or to overstate, the importance of Dick, and of VALIS in the modern occulture.

Philip K. Dick was a science fiction author, responsible for the stories that became Blade Runner, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and Total Recall (amongst many others). His work frequently speculated as to the nature of reality, and frequently with the subjects of control, authority, and paranoia. VALIS was one of his final works, a semi-autobiographical book based largely on the mysterical experience/mental breakdown he experienced.

Notably, VALIS deals heavily with gnostic themes. Wikipedia on Gnosticism:

Gnosticism refers to a diverse, syncretistic religious movement consisting of various belief systems generally united in the teaching that humans are divine souls trapped in a material world created by an imperfect spirit, the demiurge, who is frequently identified with the Abrahamic God. The demiurge may be depicted as an embodiment of evil, or in other instances as merely imperfect and as benevolent as its inadequacy permits. This demiurge exists alongside another remote and unknowable supreme being that embodies good. In order to free oneself from the inferior material world, one needs gnosis, or esoteric spiritual knowledge available to all through direct experience or knowledge (gnosis) of God. Jesus of Nazareth is identified by some Gnostic sects as an embodiment of the supreme being who became incarnate to bring gnosis to the Earth. In others he was thought to be a gnosis teacher, and yet others, nothing more than a man.

Gnosticism could bridge the seemingly contradictory Buddhist and Catholic themes of the show.

More:

The Religious Experience of Philip K. Dick, an online comic about Dick’s experience by Robert Crumb.

Wes on new Tori Amos book

I’m not terribly interested in Tori Amos’s music, but her new book, written with Ann Powers, sounds interesting:

Interesting stuff when you’ve decided to find the cracks in the dominant paradigm.. If you’re into gnosticism (which seems to be experiencing a resurgence) then check out Piece By Piece by T. Amos & Ann Powers. It’s a close look at Tori’s career on one level, but her mysticism brings this book up to an entirely different level, one where the goddess as co-creator is discussed in depth. & if our society reclaims christianity as a religion involving both Christ and his lover Mary Magdalene.. well church might get a lot more interesting (and a lot less repressed.)

Full Story: Mutato Nomine: The “Little Mermaid” and the Archetype of the Lost “Bride.”

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