Metaphysical Synthesis

I'm not sure how best to explain this, as the ramifications of the idea are still coming to fruition in my mind. Some of you might know me from these boards, others of you won't. I'm heavily into metaphysical, religious, mystical, anthropological, and historical synthesis. A much deeper blend then simple comparative religions.

I'm also a very spiritually inclined person, believing in an all-encompassing noumenon from which all of our spiritual theories, beliefs, faiths, and experiences originate.

My guide through the majority of my spiritual up-bringing helped me to uncover a basic metaphysical truth: that all religious experiences are mirrors, reflecting a deeper, more archetypal nature encompassed in the noosphere of human consciousness.

For example, the Kaballah in its Tree of Life division has a sphere known as Geburah, representing strength, severity, power, and other attributes there-of which encompass destruction as a form of creation. I was taught, in much the same way as members of Theosophical Orders, that the great religious empires of man could be grafted onto these "universal symbols" if one applied the right mode of thinking.

For instance, Set the personification of the desert in ancient Egyptian sects was seen as the only force powerful enough to destroy Apep, the serpent who would devour the sun, called Ra. In Mesopotamian cultures this role would fall on Ninurta, the warrior-god who slays the Imdugud bird, rescuing the Tablet of Destiny for the other gods. In the Grecco-Roman mythology this sphere would be ruled primarily by Ares, who was called Mars. Ares of course being the god of war, specifically the violent, destructive qualities of war.

All of those deified beings representing, of course, the archetypal nature of power, strength, and destruction inherent in the noosphere throughout human history. The same goes for the rest of the sephiroth on the Tree of Life. Each one represents an archetype of human nature: Hod representing our intellectual, rationalizing mind; Netzach representing the emotional stimuli present in the biological bodily controls; etc.

All of this my guide helped teach me, through lectures, personal discussion, visuals, and written works (from Mathers, and Crowley, and Regardie, the Cicero's, the Aurumn Solis, etc). Before her death though, she began to suggest that there was another, deeper layer behind these types of synthetic religious overlays. It was her belief that the Tree of Life was, itself, just another mirror for the noumenon. That behind the gods a deeper, more primal method of connecting to the "True Essence" (if you'll forgive such a cliché phrase) was available. Mythology. Not all mythology though. Specific myths, which told of the spiritual evolution of human consciousness.

It took me a long time, years to be honest, to start to piece together what she might have been working toward. Not knowing where exactly to go with this, I thought that the best approach might be to funnel it into the public consciousness and see what kind of responses it meets with.

The myth begins with Tammuz and Inanna, two sumerian deities worshiped roughly 5000 years before Christ. In the myth Tammuz is a human, and Inanna is the soon-to-be Queen of the Gods. There are three parts to the myth: a court-ship where Tammuz tries to gain Inanna's hand and eventually does. A dream of death, and the horrible murder of Tammuz by the evil forces in Sumerian mythology. The descent of Inanna to the Underworld to reclaim Tammuz. The end result of this myth is that Tammuz must spend half of the year in the Underworld, while his sister Geshtinanna must spend the other half so he can come to the surface. The myths can be found all over the internet, or in various books if you want to read them.

Historically, this myth has been attributed to the vegetation and seasonal changes that the world goes through. Tammuz dies and descends when winter sets in. He rises and resurrects with the coming of spring. This is all fine and good, if you look at the myth as an individual example, without cross-referencing it with other world myths. I decided not to just stop with the "scholarly" approach. I dug deeper. Here is what I found:

5000 B.C. Tammuz (human) and Inanna (goddess) begin the myth. 4000 B.C Ba'al of the Levant and the goddess Anat perform an almost identical myth. In the myth of Ba'al, he slays first the sea-god Yamm, who scholarly is believed to be Leviathan. He is then attacked by Mot, the god of death, and possibly the later-demon Behemoth and killed. Anat then descends and resurrects Ba'al, who rises and fights Mot for 7 more years. On the 7th year Ba'al slays Mot, gaining immortality. Ba'al then disappears from Levantine mythology. 3500 B.C. Dumuzi and Ishtar, two Babylonian deities replicate the exact myths that Tammuz and Inanna carried out. Roughly 2600 B.C.

In Egypt, the cult of Osiris and Isis gains strength. Their mythology being extremely similar to Ba'al and Anat; with Osiris being slain by Set, his body torn apart and scattered. Isis then recovers (most of) his body parts, and resurrects him to immortality. In roughly 2300 B.C. the Akkadians give rise to Adad, who scholars believe is Ba'al. In 1800 and 1100 B.C. Teshub and Telpinu from the Hittite and Hurrian cultures undergo a mythological death and resurrection scenario giving rise to a "lost god" who is returned scenario.

Roughly 700 B.C. in Iceland the Norse god Baldur has a mythology death and resurrection scenario which heavily influences the afterlife of the Norse culture. Finally, approximately 500 B.C. the cult of Adonis in Greece, along with the myth of Demeter and Persephone arise.

Tammuz and Inanna, Ba'al and Anat, Dumuzi and Ishtar, Osiris and Isis, Adad, Teshub, Telepinu, Baldur, Adonis, Demeter and Persephone. All of these ancient deities, across diverse cultures and continents all sharing a similar mythology. Granted, I didn't cover all of them either, since I have limited characters. My thought was, however: what if these are not just vegetation/seasonal myths. Beyond the vegetation application, there is a subtle, but potent undercurrent of immortality and the Afterlife present in almost all of these myths.

Tammuz begins as a human who dies and must continue to die; this develops into Ba'al (which means Lord) who conquers death, but vanished afterward; Ba'al becomes Dumuzi (an early prototype of Christ) who returns to humanity during holy days. As Adad, Teshub, and Telepinu the archetype becomes a wanderer, invovator, seeker, and nomad—possibly representing an exploration of spiritual values in human history. As Osiris comes to prominence the once-human Tammuz now inherits the Afterlife, becoming king of his own soul. Finally, with Baldur, Adonis, and Persephone comes the prospect of reincarnation, resurrection, or return from the Afterlife into a new, beautiful world (see the myth of Ragnarok).

Could this be humanities attempt at leaving an imprint behind of how our spiritual views of life, death, the Afterlife, and resurrection developed? Mirrors of the noumenon reflected over 10,000 years?

I apologize for not posting all the myths, I have limited space. I wanted to get the ideas out here, to see if anyone who is familiar with the mythologies of these cultures had any input on the possibility of what I have just suggested.

~ Wandering Scribe

The concept of archetypes is something that has interested me deeply, for I have always thought that myths can hold a much deeper meaning than what they may appear at first glance. I have searched ATS for a decent archetype thread and have so far come up empty handed

Are you familiar with the work of french anthropologist Claude Levi-Straus and his seminal book 'The Raw and the Cooked'? It was his attempt to codify myths in order to compare them and find their deeper meaning.

In a metaphysical sense, what do you believe archetypes actually represent?

Interesting. Same story, different ages. Life, Death, Resurrection and Ascension being the common threads. Also corresponding to astrological, procession of the equinoxes, the earth and the sun cycles too. All the same patterns, as above so below. I don't doubt that our evolution as humans will be based on this same pattern. From Homo Sapiens to Homo Divinus.

interesting read and well written.

as i perused the post i became interested not only in the 'agents of death' (set, loki, etc.) but in the 'agents of resurrection' (isis, demeter, etc).

in this archetypical cycle there is usually some deity or being who undergoes a quest to bring back the dearly departed.

in this quest and the characteristics of the seeker, there may lay a glimpse into specifically what these ancients cultures thought were the fundamental keys into immortality (in the form of the death & resurrection cycle, as opposed to the 'transcend to the all eternity cycle').

needless to say i'll be scouring me some Joseph Campbell this afternoon.

nothing like some morning myths for a user named mythos.

cheers.

reply to post by 1littlewolf


I have actually not read the book, however, I have added it to my holiday wish-list now. Thank you for the recommendation. My personal preference on archetypes comes from the work of Caroline Myss, specifically her book "Sacred Contracts," and to a lesser degree "Anatomy of the Spirit." Since I know her niece, and regularly work spiritual exercises with her, I have come to have an appreciation for her aunt's work.

Like you, I found ATS sorely lacking in a comprehensive thread detailing archetypes and their permeation in the human noosphere. Not to imply that I thought my thread could be that thread. Perhaps it will though. I just wanted to grab some interesting overlays I had begun to notice, and see if anyone else had noticed them as well.

As for my personal belief on archetypes... to sum it up short-hand, I believe that the divine manifests in several states:

First, there is the noumenon, which cannot be known through any type of sensory perception. God, or the gods are, at their core, an Unknowable Force.

Second, this Unknowable Force breaks through from the metaphysical structure into our world as archetypal thoughts: destroyers, creator, redeemers, chaos, order, on and on. The human mind then interprets these archetypal forces in conjunction with natural phenomenon: hurricanes, thunder storms, life and death, day and night, etc.

Third, those sensitive in spirit, attuned psychically, the mystics, the priests, the shamans, the witches and occultists and so on are able to grasp the archetypal nature represented symbolically. They can retrace the power of the idols and touch both the archetypal mind, and possibly a bit of the noumenon. This creates mediums, magicians, Theurgists, psychics, etc.

Finally, the "average humans" (I hate using that descriptor) mimic the divine archetypal nature through human idolatry, writing, symbolism, etc. This is how we get the crucifix, the solar cross, statues of gods, amulets, pendants, the Hand of Fatimah, and so on.

I think it's all a process, with archetypes being the method which the divine manifests in our superconscious, and subconscious.

Thanks for the reply!

~ Scribe

reply to post by blazenresearcher


That was my thought on the matter. Life, death, resurrection. It does change bit-by-bit though.

Originally, when Tammuz dies he is trapped in the Underworld until Geshtinanna "dies" to replace him. Then he can return, but only for a short time. This implies that, to early man, death was still final. Temporary reprieves could be granted (ghosts?), but inevitably you must return to the Underworld. Also, in the earliest myths Tammuz is human, a mere shepherd. Implying that the myth is about man trying to avoid death, not god.

Ba'al, when he takes up the gauntlet, tries to fight against this edict. At first he fails, Mot kills him and he is trapped in the Underworld. Anat, however, pulls Ba'al back to the surface, and encourages him to "try, try, try again." Ba'al does; after 7 long years he finally succeeds in overcoming Mot, creating resurrection.

Interestingly, 7 is a potent number according to almost all ancient cultures: 7 who decree fate in Mesopotamia; 7 steps to the Ziggurat (holy mountain); the 7 Heavens and 7 Hells of most monotheistic faiths; 7 "terrestrial" spheres representing Adam Kadmon on the Tree of Life; etc.

It is at this point that Ba'al "disappears" from mythology. His namesake becomes a title, meaning LORD. His deification also comes undone, permeating into no less than 6 Ba'al deities worshiped in various locations. Why this is, I'm not sure of yet.

With Dumuzi and Iŝtar the Babylonians again picked up the threads of the myth they created. They updated it. Tammuz was now a god-man. By being a deified human, he could escape from the Underworld. This brought new life to the world, signaling the end of winter and the start of spring. The concept, according to humans, is changing. No longer do they strive to gain temporary reprieves through human interaction. Now they seek personal divinity, or to be in the graces of a deity, because a deity can grant them temporary full-body resurrection.

With Osiris the template changes yet again. The myth is similar: a quarrel, a death, a journey to the Kingdom of the Dead. A resurrection. Except this time it changes again: Osiris takes command of both realms: the living, and the dead. When a living person dies in Egypt it is said that they become Osiris, and have the potential to inherit new life by passing the tests of the Underworld. No longer does man just temporarily come back, or need to petition the gods: now he can gain redemption, and some form of resurrection by his own actions.

The arc continues to evolve with each new set. I really feel like it reflects man's interpretation of the divine. As we came to understand it in a more cognizant nature, the myth evolved to reflect the possibilities that awaited humans. Our continued interaction with what we considered to be the divine changed our own metaphysical make-up.

Thanks for the reply.

~ Scribe

reply to post by mythos


I do believe that the psychopomp characters do have an important role. Geshtinanna and Inanna who save Tammuz; Anat, who not only battles Mot herself, but also drags Ba'al back from the dead; Isis, who assembles Osiris, and resurrects him to new life; Iŝtar who descends to free Dumuzi; Perseus who attempts to rescue Persephone, etc.

In the myths where rescue is enacted, I think these characters represent what type of force can prevail over death: humans, deities, magic and ritual, etc.

Perhaps funerary practices developed alongside this branch of myth, as it became more and more important to preserve the body, because spiritual resurrection was not impossible anymore.

Glad to have given you an interesting read for the morning!

~ Scribe

Originally posted by Wandering Scribe
reply to post by 1littlewolf

 

I have actually not read the book, however, I have added it to my holiday wish-list now. Thank you for the recommendation. My personal preference on archetypes comes from the work of Caroline Myss, specifically her book "Sacred Contracts," and to a lesser degree "Anatomy of the Spirit." Since I know her niece, and regularly work spiritual exercises with her, I have come to have an appreciation for her aunt's work.

It is not exactly what I'd call a 'holiday read' but it is the only serious attempt I've seen to break myths down into their most basic form, although I'm not widely read in this area so don't quote me on that. Also I'm not familiar with the author you've mentioned above but I will definitely look her up. Here is a brief synopsis of Levi-Strass's work

Like you, I found ATS sorely lacking in a comprehensive thread detailing archetypes and their permeation in the human noosphere. Not to imply that I thought my thread could be that thread. Perhaps it will though. I just wanted to grab some interesting overlays I had begun to notice, and see if anyone else had noticed them as well.

Don't worry, I wasn't expecting this thread to go far as generally serious ideas from someone who knows what they're talking about generally don't go past 2 pages. Simply the nature of the beast I guess. They don't tend to have mass appeal....

As for my personal belief on archetypes... to sum it up short-hand, I believe that the divine manifests in several states:

First, there is the noumenon, which cannot be known through any type of sensory perception. God, or the gods are, at their core, an Unknowable Force.

Second, this Unknowable Force breaks through from the metaphysical structure into our world as archetypal thoughts: destroyers, creator, redeemers, chaos, order, on and on. The human mind then interprets these archetypal forces in conjunction with natural phenomenon: hurricanes, thunder storms, life and death, day and night, etc.

Third, those sensitive in spirit, attuned psychically, the mystics, the priests, the shamans, the witches and occultists and so on are able to grasp the archetypal nature represented symbolically. They can retrace the power of the idols and touch both the archetypal mind, and possibly a bit of the noumenon. This creates mediums, magicians, Theurgists, psychics, etc.

Finally, the "average humans" (I hate using that descriptor) mimic the divine archetypal nature through human idolatry, writing, symbolism, etc. This is how we get the crucifix, the solar cross, statues of gods, amulets, pendants, the Hand of Fatimah, and so on.

I think it's all a process, with archetypes being the method which the divine manifests in our superconscious, and subconscious.

Thanks for the reply!

~ Scribe

Nice breakdown. I'm not sure how deep and meaningful you like to get but I hold a little stock in the concept of the 'Akashic Records' and I like to think of archetypes as almost a cataloging system of those records. I view anything below the level of your noumenon, such as the gods and goddesses of various mythologies or the major arcana of tarot as a personified view of archetypes filtered through different cultures. I also think there's something within the concept of the archetype which is connected to the new age concept of 'vibrations'.

But I'm yet to give this any deep thought or really connect all the dots in my head so to speak.

reply to post by 1littlewolf


A serious attempt at breaking mythology down into core concepts, and archetypes is exactly what I was looking for. I know the myths almost forward and backward. I'm familiar with most of the scholarly research on each individual myth's meaning according to cultural relevance. What I was having trouble finding, was what you've shown me the way to: the synthesis. Someone else who recognized that Tammuz is Ba'al, and that Ba'al is Baldur. The author you suggested might be just what I was looking for.

Before 2009 I was also not familiar with Caroline Myss. Then I met her niece, and started "talking shop" with her. She's an avid follower of her aunt's blend of astrological-archetypal spiritual healing. Through her, I learned of "Sacred Contracts," and her aunt's guided meditations. Over time I've come to respect her aunt's work, and can see how she's one of the few spiritualists who are embracing the archetypes in the current age.



I have noticed the trend that "fluff" and "pomp" tend to have a longer longevity than someone who proposes an actually intellectual avenue. So many multi-hundred page threads on "love is a force, just like gravity, and if we all love we'll become true spirits" and only 3 page threads on the origin of Christ in pre-Christian religions. Sometimes it makes me want to punch my laptop. But I don't. I love my laptop, ha ha.

I already deem this a success from my stand-point, as you've offered me an avenue for continuing my research.



As for the Akashic Records, vibration and rhythmic energy levels, and their relations to archetypes I'm right in line with you. They're all facets, reflections, and factions of the truly unknowable source of human spirituality.

~ Scribe

reply to post by Wandering Scribe

Originally posted by Wandering Scribe
I'm not sure how best to explain this, as the ramifications of the idea are still coming to fruition in my mind. Some of you might know me from these boards, others of you won't. I'm heavily into metaphysical, religious, mystical, anthropological, and historical synthesis. A much deeper blend then simple comparative religions.

I'm also a very spiritually inclined person, believing in an all-encompassing noumenon from which all of our spiritual theories, beliefs, faiths, and experiences originate.

Oooo, Neumanon. Sounds interesting..

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/7377da277720.jpg[/atsimg]

Keep going, don't stop.

The important information never get's hits. some of the most advanced discussion on You Tube have 300 views. The only way people will add their interest to the topic is if it is in their path. A great deal of what interests me never interested me before and that's not only because I wouldn't have understood much. I had to go on a journey, from a-b.

I hope that you will make this post more informative without waiting for too may replies or stars :-)
I will watch and learn.

I'm trying to get my head around some concepts but I have a lot of information buzzing around that I don't understand properly. I'm talking about manifestation of thought. Thought and consciousness, and various types of energies (7). The is no logical deduction to find answers as the reality is like an environment all of it's own.

What I understand is that there is a very clear breakdown of the individual parts that make up our consciousness - level of evolution, and that the things we know about in an advanced sense (and therefore can utilize) appear as ancient archetypes, most obviously in magic and superstition. I'm at a point where I can accept old mythology as being very good descriptions of how things really work.

Metaphysical Synthesis

Isn't there a cocktail drink with that name?

The equivalence of the sacred geometries of religions and the cross correlation between their concepts implied by this isomorphism have been demonstrated by a British theoretical physicist. His website is at:
smphillips.8m.com...
He has discovered the geometrical basis for the gemetria number values of the ten Sephiroth of the Tree of Life in the four Kabbalistic Worlds. He has also discovered that the sacred geometries of various mystical/esoteric traditions embody information about the nature of all levels of reality, including space-time, whose sacred geometrical counterpart is found to encode M-theory and the group theory of superstrings. This represents a synthesis of scientific and metaphysical knowledge.

His work is mathematically rigorous, challenging and needs a lot of study. But his conclusions are profound and amazing.