Book in PDF Format
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Controversial New Religions
Controversial New Religions JAMES R. LEWIS JESPER AAGAARD PETERSEN, Editors OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Controversial New Religions This page intentionally left blank Controversial New Religions edited by james r. lewis and jesper aagaard petersen 1 2005 1 Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Sa˜o Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Copyright ᭧ 2005 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Controversial new religions / edited by James R. Lewis and Jesper Aagaard Petersen. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-19-515682-X; 0-19-515683-8 (pbk) 1. Cults. I. Lewis, James R. II. Petersen, Jesper Aagaard. BP603.C66 2004 200'.9'04—dc22 2003024374 987654321 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Contents Contributors, ix Introduction, 3 James R. Lewis and Jesper Aagaard Petersen PART I: GROUPS IN THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION 1. A Family for the Twenty-first Century, 19 James D. Chancellor 2. Spirit Revelation and the Unification Church, 43 James A. Beverley 3. Reconstructing Reality: Conspiracy Theories about Jonestown, 61 Rebecca Moore 4. -
THE SOCIAL CHRIST by VM SAMAEL AUN WEOR CHAPTER
THE SOCIAL CHRIST by VM SAMAEL AUN WEOR CHAPTER ONE - THE INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY The dangerous COMMUNIST threatens LATIN AMERICA and on all sides can be heard the laments of pain. The beautiful Caribbean island of Cuba has been invaded by the barbarous hordes of BRUTAL MARXISTS. The prisons of Cuba are full of miserable people. As we speak our beloved America is threatened to death by the overwhelming and brutal avalanche of the abominable communism. The hour has arrived to seriously reflect on our own destiny, the great powers of the world have their eyes fixed our dear Latin American land. America is an appetizing dish and everyone wants to try it. America has suffered the unspeakable and loves its liberty. America has conquered her independence in the fields of battle. Independence has costed us a lot of blood. We do not deny that there is hunger in Latin America, there is, but it is not with violence that we will overcome the fatal monster of hunger and misery. It is not by surrendering ourselves to the barbarous hordes of LENINIST MARXISM that we will resolve the problem of hunger. Violence does not resolve anything. Violence only brings us failure. We need PEACE, SERENITY, REFLECTION, and COMPREHENSION. The problem of the world is the problem of the INDIVIDUAL. The revolutions of blood and alcohol do not resolve anything. Only by means of intelligence will we resolve the problem of hunger and misery. Only by means of INTELLIGENCE can we save our sacred Earth. Only with intelligence can we overcome the MONSTER OF COMMUNISM. -
The Science of Meditation Samael Aun Weor 1 the SCIENCE OF
The Science Of Meditation Samael Aun Weor THE SCIENCE OF MEDITATION We are going to talk about the Science of Meditation. But first we should prepare ourselves in a positive manner in order to receive this type of superior teaching so as to take advantage of time; this is the moment for us to understand the need of giving more opportunity to our Consciousness. Normally we live on different levels of our interior temple; there are people who always live in the lower levels; those are the ones that are concentrated exclusively in the instinct and on fornication, on the fourth and fifth levels (instinctive and sexual centers), levels that have been used in a negative way. Others live on the third level, (motor center) and never get out of there; they always move following the patterns of predetermined customs, along the line of certain habits. They never change; they are like a train that always runs over the same tracks. This third- level type of person is so accustomed to his train of habits that they are not ready to surrender them. Others live on the first level (the intellectual center); others, on the second level (negative emotions). Those who live in the intellectual center want to turn everything into rationalism, analysis, concepts or arguments and they never leave that place. Others live in the emotional center dedicated to the vices of movies, racetrack, bullfights, etc., in reality, a very limited and narrow world. They live enclosed and enslaved by negative emotions, never thinking of escaping from such places. -
Laws of Reincarnation
Laws of Reincarnation Gnostic Muse Reincarnation and recurrence are cosmic laws describing the journey of a spiritual essence or soul through successive physical bodies. The difference is that recurrence is a mechanical unconscious process, and reincarnation is a conscious process. Recurrence is for those without the fully developed solar vehicles and conscious center of gravity, that is, most of us. Reincarnation is for the masters who incarnate on Earth to fulfill specific purposes, and in accordance with divine will. Reincarnation “Indeed, the word reincarnation is very demanding. Let us remember the ten reincarnations of Vishnu, the Cosmic Christ. Krishna, the great Hindu Avatar, born about one thousand years before Christ, never said that all of the intellectual animals that populate the face of the Earth reincarnate; he only emphatically affirmed that those who reincarnate are the Buddhas, the great Gods, the Devas, the divine Kings, etc. Therefore, let us penetrate into the study of the law of reincarnation in a more detailed manner. We can state with completely dazzling clarity that reincarnation is impossible for those who do not possess sacred individuality.” -Samael Aun Weor, Yes there is a Hell, Devil, and Karma Recurrence “This is the Law of Recurrence: everything occurs the same way it occurred plus the sum of its results.” –Samael Aun Weor While the investigation into past lives is certainly interesting, often we find simply the lessons of repetition, our habits of the past which have created our current circumstances. Every day is a miniature of our whole life. And every lifetime is a miniature of our entire existence. -
Meditation Chamber
THE GNOSTIC SOCIETY Samael Aun Weor PROGRAM MEDITATION CHAMBER First Stage VOLUME Second English Edition - July 2018 MEDITATION CHAMBER Volume I Rights Reserved © 2013 Rafael Vargas Any form of reproduction, distribution, public communication, and transformation of this work is prohibited without the authorization of the owners of intellectual property, except where exempted by law. Gnostic Society Table of Contents 1. Relaxation ___________________________________________ 13 • Relaxation of the body _____________________________ 15 • Relaxation of the mind _____________________________ 16 2. Practice of Meditation through Rhythmic Breathing ________ 21 3. Practice of Meditation through the Exercise of Breathing ___ 27 • Breathing and Pranayama __________________________ 29 • What is Prana? ___________________________________30 • The Six Paths of Breathing __________________________30 • Phases of Meditation ______________________________35 • The Lungs _______________________________________36 • Sushumna _______________________________________40 • Ida and Pingala ___________________________________40 • Excerpt from a book by Lobsang Rampa ______________43 • Complete Breathing _______________________________55 • The Cleansing Breath _____________________________57 • Rhythmic Breathing _______________________________58 5 Meditation Chamber - 1st stage 4. The Science of Meditation ______________________________65 5. The Practice of Interiorization, Concentration, & Meditation 83 • 1.- Importance of an Ethical Foundation _______________87 -
The Mysteries of Life and Death by Samael Aun Weor
The Mysteries Of Life And Death Samael Aun Weor The Mysteries Of Life And Death By Samael Aun Weor 1 The Mysteries Of Life And Death Samael Aun Weor CHAPTER 1 DEATH Beloved disciples: I shall speak to you of the problem of death. Death is our crown. After death, the soul enters the astral light. When the hour of death comes, the Angel of Death approaches the deathbed. There is a choir of Angels of Death. This choir is conducted by the planet Saturn. Each Angel of Death carries a book. In this book are the names of all the souls which must depart from the flesh. Nobody dies the day before. The Angel of Death only removes the soul from the body. The soul is linked to the body by a fine, heavenly cord of a silvery color. The Angel of Death breaks the cord so that the soul cannot re-enter the body. After death, souls see the sun just as they used to, the clouds, the stars as always, everything just as before. For a while, the souls of the dead do not believe that they have died. These souls see all the things of the world just as they did before; therefore they do not believe that they have died. The souls of the dead live in astral light. Astral light is the light of all enchantments and magic spells. Astral light is related to all the air; we eat it, we breathe it, but we can see it only with the eyes of the soul. -
The Christ (Samael Aun Weor)
The Christ Samael Aun Weor THE CHRIST The year 1.978 has arrived, 15th of the Era of Aquarius and the human multitudes still ignore what the Christ is. People adore the "Christ-statue," but do not know anything about the Internal Christ. Many blood has been spilled in the name of Christ; there have been inquisitions, murders, exploitations and rapes through the course of the centuries, all of that in his name, but we repeat, even now many ignore who the Christ really is. Christ if the fire of the fire, the flame of the flame, the astral signature of the fire. On top of the cross of the martyr of Calvary is defined the mystery of Christ with a single word that has four letters: INRI (Ignis Natura Renovatur Integram), the fire renovates nature constantly, that is its exact meaning. The advent of Christ in the heart of the man is a fact that transform us radically. Christ is the Solar Logos, Perfect Multiple Unity; Christ is the life that palpitates in the entire universe; He is what has always been, what will always be. So much has been said about the Cosmic Drama of Christ, and undoubtedly this drama is formed by four gospels. It has been said to us that that Cosmic Drama was delivered to earth by the Elohim; the great Lord of Atlantis represented that drama in flesh and bone. The Great Kabir Jesus had to represent the same drama publicly in the holy land... But even if the Christ born 1.000 times in Bethlehem, it would not be useful if it does not born in our heart. -
The Myths of Mexico and Peru
THE MYTHS OF MEXICO AND PERU by Lewis Spence (1913) This material has been reconstructed from various unverified sources of very poor quality and reproduction by Campbell M Gold CMG Archives http://campbellmgold.com --()-- 1 Contents Contents .................................................................................................................................................. 2 Illustrations .............................................................................................................................................. 3 Map of the Valley of Mexico ................................................................................................................ 3 Ethnographic Map of Mexico ............................................................................................................... 4 Detail of Ethnographic Map of Mexico ................................................................................................. 5 Empire of the Incas .............................................................................................................................. 6 Preface .................................................................................................................................................... 7 Chapter 1 - The Civilisation of Mexico .................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 2 - Mexican Mythology ........................................................................................................... -
Aztec Festivals of the Rain Gods
Michael Graulich Aztec Festivals of the Rain Gods Aunque contiene ritos indiscutiblemente agrícolas, el antiguo calendario festivo de veintenas (o 'meses') de la época azteca resulta totalmente desplazado en cuanto a las temporadas, puesto que carece de intercalados que adaptan el año solar de 365 días a la duración efectiva del año tropical. Creo haber demostrado en diversas pu- blicaciones que las fiestas pueden ser interpretadas en rigor sólo en relación con su posición original, no corrida aún. El presente trabajo muestra cómo los rituales y la re- partición absolutamente regular y lógica de las vein- tenas, dedicadas esencialmente a las deidades de la llu- via - tres en la temporada de lluvias y una en la tempo- rada de sequía - confirman el fenómeno del desplaza- miento. The Central Mexican festivals of the solar year are described with consi- derable detail in XVIth century sources and some of them have even been stu- died by modern investigators (Paso y Troncoso 1898; Seler 1899; Margain Araujo 1945; Acosta Saignes 1950; Nowotny 1968; Broda 1970, 1971; Kirchhoff 1971). New interpretations are nevertheless still possible, especially since the festivals have never been studied as a whole, with reference to the myths they reenacted, and therefore, could not be put in a proper perspective. Until now, the rituals of the 18 veintenas {twenty-day 'months') have always been interpreted according to their position in the solar year at the time they were first described to the Spaniards. Such festivals with agricultural rites have been interpreted, for example, as sowing or harvest festivals on the sole ground that in the 16th century they more or less coincided with those seasonal events. -
Huitzilopochtli
Huitzilopochtli The god of war, sacrifice and the sun. His name means ‘Hummingbird of the South’. He is always shown wearing a headdress made of large feathers and wielding the turquoise snake, Xiuhcoatl, as a weapon. visit twinkl.com Tlaloc The god of rain and water. Aztecs would pray to Tlaloc for rain to help their crops grow although he could also send storms if he was angry. He is often shown with fangs and large eyes. visit twinkl.com Tezcatlipoca The god of the night, magic and the earth. His name means ‘smoking mirror’. His sacred animal is the jaguar and he is usually shown with yellow and black stripes across his face. visit twinkl.com Chicomecoatl The goddess of agriculture, nourishment and corn. Her name means ‘seven snakes’. She is usually shown as a young girl carrying flowers. visit twinkl.com Quetzalcoatl The god of life and wind. His name means ‘feathered serpent’. Aztecs believe that Quetzalcoatl created mankind. He is often shown as a feathered serpent which could fly (similar to a dragon). visit twinkl.com Xochiquetzal The goddess of beauty and art. She is usually shown as a young, beautiful woman wearing fancy clothes. She looked after mothers and people who made beautiful things, such as craftspeople. visit twinkl.com Chalchiuhtlicue The goddess of rivers and lakes. Her name means ‘she of the jade skirt’. She is also sometimes seen as the protector of navigators. She is usually shown wearing a tasselled headdress and a skirt with a stream of water flowing out of it. visit twinkl.com Mixcoatl The god of the hunt and the stars. -
The Devil and the Skirt an Iconographic Inquiry Into the Prehispanic Nature of the Tzitzimime
THE DEVIL AND THE SKIRT AN ICONOGRAPHIC INQUIRY INTO THE PREHISPANIC NATURE OF THE TZITZIMIME CECELIA F. KLEIN U.C.L.A. INTRODUCTION On folio 76r of the colonial Central Mexican painted manuscript Codex Magliabechiano, a large, round-eyed figure with disheveled black hair and skeletal head and limbs stares menacingly at the viewer (Fig. 1a). 1 Turned to face us, the image appears ready to burst from the cramped confines of its pictorial space, as if to reach out and grasp us with its sharp talons. Stunned by its gaping mouth and its protruding tongue in the form of an ancient Aztec sacrificial knife, viewers today may re- coil from the implication that the creature wants to eat them. This im- pression is confirmed by the cognate image on folio 46r of Codex Tudela (Fig. 1b). In the less artful Tudela version, it is blood rather than a stone knife that issues from the frightening figures mouth. The blood pours onto the ground in front of the figures outspread legs, where a snake dangles in the Magliabecchiano image. Whereas the Maglia- bechiano figure wears human hands in its ears, the ears of the Tudela figure have been adorned with bloody cloths. In both manuscripts, long assumed to present us with a window to the prehispanic past, a crest of paper banners embedded in the creatures unruly hair, together with a 1 This paper, which is dedicated to my friend and colleague Doris Heyden, evolved out of a talk presented at the 1993 symposium on Goddesses of the Western Hemisphere: Women and Power which was held at the M.H. -
Legend of the Tepozteco: Mesoamerican and Catholic Mythology
LEGEND OF THE TEPOZTECO: MESOAMERICAN AND CATHOLIC MYTHOLOGY Margarita Vargas-Betancourt Stone Center of Latin American Studies Tulane University Prepared for delivery at the 2004 Meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, Las Vegas, Nevada October 7-9, 2004 Tepoztlan, a town located south of Mexico City, under a ridge of mountains known as the Ridge of Tepoztlan, has become a favorite subject of anthropological research. The reason for this is that its history has exemplified the continuity of certain pre-Hispanic traditions and the transformation that the conquest produced in rural communities, as well as the change and resistance that the process of modernization has brought about in modern Mexico (Corona Caraveo, 1999: 15-16). Doubtless, the most renowned studies are Robert Redfield’s Tepoztlan, a Mexican Village (1930), Oscar Lewis’ Life in a Mexican Village: Tepoztlan Restudied (1951) and Tepoztlan, Village in Mexico (1960), and Claudio Lomnitz-Adler’s Evolución de una sociedad rural (1982). These studies are excellent anthropological records of life in Tepoztlan (Tostado Gutiérrez, 1998: 9). However, more than analyzing the myths, they deal with the changes Tepoztlan underwent as modernization and industrialization took place in the country. Philip K. Bock’s “Tepoztlan Reconsidered” (1980) complements these analyses because it explains why the traditional systems have survived in the town. The legends of Tepozteco and the ritual in which he is commemorated are keynotes in the preservation and revitalization of collective memory. The word Tepozteco designates several entities. It refers to Tepoztecatl, the pulque god whose temple is on top of one of the mountains that make up the ridge, but it also denotes the mountain per se, and sometimes it refers to the wind.