The Divine Flame

There is the myth of Prometheus. He is the one who brought the Divine Flame to Earth, to give to Man. Now let’s look at this idea of the ‘divine flame.’ It seems to have two significations. One is the idea of divinity as a flame, of which each individual is a spark. It is like this fire both produces and consumes everything. Everything comes out of its heat and light, and yet at the same time everything is dissolved into it, burnt away until it is that fire itself. Thus in one sense it is the one unchangeable actuality behind all manifold phenomena, the unity which all differentiation ultimately dissolves into.

Yet there is another sense to this fire as well. It is intense energy, passion, evolutionary expansion. Now in the west, our concept of fire generally centers around hell. I have to believe that this doctrine originally started as a metaphor for some more sublime truths, that somehow over time became perverted into a doctrine of inherent evil and eternal punishment. Fire was always used as a spiritual symbol in antiquity. Similarly the serpent, who satan is identified with, was always a symbol of wisdom.

Think of ‘satan’ and ‘hell’ as a metaphor for fire in the first sense. All that is ‘sinful,’ inconsistent with the divine nature, is burnt away by the divine flame, until all that remains is that flame, the divine essence. Think of the serpent from Eden as a metaphor for fire in the second sense, evolutionary expansion. Prior to the knowledge gained from this act of ‘rebellion,’ man was without spirit, without individual will whatsoever. This made us perfect as a creation, like the angels. Yet without self-consciousness, man is an empty shell, or rather essentially ‘just’ a part of nature. We were in the same inherent state as the rest of the natural world.

But this is the myth of Prometheus bringing down the divine fire, of the temptation from the serpent in the garden of eden. Self-awareness, will, passion, intellect. This is the divine flame, the divine nature. This flame is both our fall and our redemption. It is our fall because with this mental capacity we can stray from our basic goodness, our original divine nature. Yet it is our redemption, because we can truly enter into the Kingdom of God as equals only because of this self-consciousness. Without it, we are divine and perfect, but we are merely as reflections of the divine spirit. Shells unconsciously acting out the divine will. This is fine, this is perfect, but it is contrary to the purpose for which man is. Man falls because of his self-consciousness, the divine flame. But he will be as the Gods in the end, because he will have learned to use his mind as Divinity does, as a conscious individual.

a reply to: TheJourney

This is brilliant. Thanks for posting it; a wonderful essay and makes excellent sense.

I'll look forward to the discussion. I'm much better at reading philosophy and people's contributions than I am at articulating my own philosophies. I consider you and others on this forum mentors, even though I fancy myself a 'philosopher' I have not mastered the 'rules', and am ashamed to say that in college, "Introduction to Logic" was a class that I failed. The ONLY class EVER that I failed. (Maybe I just had a crap instructor - it was a 101 course. LOL!! )

Yet Critical Thinking comes very naturally to me. Weird? Maybe. Divine Spark? I think so. This may seem off-topic, but in my experience, there is 'formal logic' and then there is 'critical thinking'.

I had a supervisor once who told me she had failed 'critical thinking' and was often called out for failures at "logic."
I'm just not sure where I fit in, but these sorts of threads help me immensely.

Do you have any links to peruse about Prometheus? It's not something I'm very familiar with. But I like it, and it makes sense out of the jumbled mess in my mind.

I just try to keep learning! Every day!!!
S/F

a reply to: TheJourney



One of the definitions of Nachash or serpent is : To learn by example

Yes, the flame you speak of is consciousness, it is the divine spark within all living things.

Why does God tell Moses his name is "I AM"? Because he is consciousness and is within all of us. Why is Jesus called the "image" of God? Because consciousness creates the image that we all see, the image that reveals the world around us. The image we see is the "light of the world" and the divine flame (consciousness) within us creates that image of light.

Religions describe us, not some invisible sky daddy that watches everything we do and deals punishment.

S&F

a reply to: TheJourney

And the eagle eats his insides for all eternity because of it.

S & F

Makes me think of root burn (divine flame) and the snake as a symbol of Kundalini that exists in non Abrahamic religions.

But if we go into Genesis the in the bible you have the apple from the tree of knowledge of good and evil that represents for me the falling of humanity into duality separating from the whole and connection to all around them. Knowledge is for me neither positive or negative but duality creates if you use the knowledge to bring harmony or separation.

originally posted by: LittleByLittle
Makes me think of root burn (divine flame) and the snake as a symbol of Kundalini that exists in non Abrahamic religions.

But if we go into Genesis the in the bible you have the apple from the tree of knowledge of good and evil that represents for me the falling of humanity into duality separating from the whole and connection to all around them. Knowledge is for me neither positive or negative but duality creates if you use the knowledge to bring harmony or separation.

Duality is my standard, long-standing interpretation of the 'tree of the knowledge of good and evil.' I think that there are multiple meanings and layers of meaning, though. Here I focus in on self-awareness and the various facets of the 'divine flame,' but I think duality plays a big part in the proper interpretation of this narrative as well.

a reply to: TheJourney

This is very interesting, I think you could maybe even take it further.

For example, what do you make of the Eternal Flame maintained by the goddess?

- In the pre-Greek Eleusinian and Orphic Mysteries the divine fire was handled by Demeter, who used it on the infant Demophon in an attempt to burn away his mortal-spirit and reveal his pure-godhood. In Classical Greek mythology this same Eternal Flame was maintained by Pallas-Athena and her virgin priestesses in Athens; here, an element of youth and purity have been added to its meaning.

- In the Celtic tribes of western Europe the Eternal Flame was the domain of the goddess Brighid, who used it to inspire poetry, craftsmanship, and excellence in physical skills. Very similar to the Greek concept of arestia. Brighid influenced the Celtic mind, inspiring a spiritual methodology that dominates nearly all of the modern Neo Pagan movement.

- When the Roman Catholic missionaries arrived and Brighid became St. Brigid, the Eternal Flame continued, this time maintained by several nuns living at a commune in Kildare. St. Brigid went on to become the Celtic mid-wife of Mary, and deliverer of the Christ child.

While you used Prometheus as the bringer/giver of fire, I feel like it is the feminine, not the masculine, that really harnesses and understands the power and potency of pure spiritual fire. Feminine divinities, more often than masculine, are seen using the sacred fire for spiritual purposes. Where the masculine divinity uses fire is in the lesser, terrestrial version. For example:

- In Mesopotamia the god Nushku was said to be the keeper of the sacred fire. However, this fire, while having a cultic following and spiritual implications, was primarily used for the blessing of sacred crowns, and the construction of "magical" weapons. This same element of terrestrial fire used by a god to bless a non-living thing was continued in Canaan by the smith-god Kothar-wa-Khasis, who used it to craft the twin clubs, Chaser and Driver, that Ba'al used to defend Man against the threats of famine, plague, and drought.

- The Grecco-Roman keeper of the sacred fire was Hephaestus/Vulcan (who has a number of similarities to Kothar-wa-Khasis). Anyone familiar with Hephaestus knows that he used fire to craft weapons for the gods, and stunning furniture, but that the two times he attempted to use it for "creation" (in the life-giving sense) resulted in the birth of Pandora (who doomed Mankind), and then a race of automaton Attendants that were capable of mimicking divine and mortal life, but not actually living.

- Finally, the Celts also recognized the sacred fire, and it was awarded to the Tri Dee Dana (three gods of the art), Goibhniu, Creidhne, and Luchtaine (iron-smith, gold/silver-smith, and carpenter) who used it to, once again, create great weapons and vessels for power, as well as an ale that mimicked immortality, but could not actually grant it.

The nature of spiritual fire seems to be dichotomous. When used by the Immanent Masculine (Nushku, Kothar-wa-Khasis, Hephaestus/Vulcan, Goibhniu, Creidhne, Luchtaine) it creates objects whose deeds are legendary and lasting, but also ephemeral; while in the hands of the Transcendent Feminine (Demeter, Pallas-Athena, Brighid and Brigid) it can remove mortality, and expose the inner spiritual permanence.

On a biological level this would also seem to make sense, since a Father's hope is that his kingdom may be passed down to, and one day eclipsed by, his Son, and his son's son does the same, etc. While a Mother is responsible for begetting this line of ephemeral "immortals". You trace your deeds and actions through your father (the terrestrial fire), but honor and revere your mother (the spiritual fire).

I hope this wasn't too difficult to follow. These are ideas that I've only just recently tried putting into coherent thoughts, and this is my first go at expressing them as such.


~ Wandering Scribe

You gotta love the concepts of Greek mythology sometimes as well as any other cultures mythology. I understand how you took the myth, and made it more...metaphoric would be the better of a lack of word that I can think of.

Plus, fire has been one of the few elements of nature that human being have harnessed. Were it more less an ancient party favor in celebrations or creating tools for building kingdoms. Or be used to ravage villages, nature or kingdoms.
The symbol of fire is a powerful one. It gave human light, warmth and probably hope in the darkest of our ages. While at the same time, it nature should be feared and never underestimated.

Much like Electricity, even though electricity in theory has more of a water element nature.

Play with fire you get burned... Or fight fire(Magic) with fire(Magic). Old saying.

I do find it ironic how Prometheus and The snake in the garden of Eden have somewhat contrasting concepts. Prometheus defies Zeus in order to give his creation(Humans) an advantage over the beasts and nature that him and his fellow titan had made after the Titan War. Which ended up leading to Prometheus`s torment as well as the event of Pandoras Box.

Now you could look at the Snake, and he convinced Eve to bite from the Apple, defying Gods order not to the fruit from a big tree in the middle of a garden. In some sense, it gave the two humans self awareness, and the obvious one being knowledge. Weather or not the Snake did this out of kindness, or to spite God intentionally is never stated.

Only difference is the snake gets a five star realm of his own as well as his own army, while Prometheus gets tortured daily by an Eagle eating his regrowing liver.

God in the bible must be that bored.