And a paper tiger? A lot of strawmen in this one. Maybe this is a relevant criticism (barely) of certain "official" Communist regimes circa 1960, but it´s hardly a serious criticism of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. Note also the hypocritical "pie in the sky" message. Endure yer suffering, proles! Nupe, won´t happen, comrade. Or should I call you "citizen"?
An original take on American evangelicalism, arguing that it´s actually a form of populist mysticism. Note the idea that evangelicalism may channel both Christ and the Demiurge ("Satan"). So can most other religions, I think! Not sure who the content-creator is. Some kind of folkish mystic?
So I came across a Gnostic channel on YouTube. A Gnostic channel I strongly suspect is AI-generated, including its human presenter. Which is very ironic, considering that the message of Gnosticism is to break free from the Archons, the Demiurge and their physical-mechanical reality...
Make of this observation whatsoever ye wish.
No news here, really, but when I continued discussing my religious speculations with the LLMs, this was their verdict.
ChatGPT: If I had to give your worldview a label, I might call it something like: A universalist emanationist panentheism with Neoplatonic metaphysics and devotional soteriology. Or, less technically: A Neoplatonic-Hindu-Buddhist synthesis.
Gemini: Your description is essentially Valentinian Gnosticism fused with Neoplatonic Cosmology and Eastern Karma/Reincarnation theory.
Both LLMs also pointed out the family likeness with Theosophy...
OK, this was fascinating. When notorious 17h century Irish archbishop James Ussher procured Waldensian documents for a work on this medieval "heresy", two Cathar scriptures were found among them. One of them claims that *Jesus himself* sinned once - when he prayed to the Father to spare him from the crucifixion at the Garden of Gethsemane. This is somehow connected to Cathar theology concerning the physical body. As a divine being of Light, Jesus simply couldn´t stand being incarnated into one! Note also the doctrine that John the Baptist was Satanic...
The YouTube channel "ESOTERICA" seems to be an attempt to create a scholarly channel on esotericism which is still somehow esoteric. Make of that what you wish.
A weird spin on the Roswell mythos. In this version, the crashed alien is female. Her message sounds like a syncretic blend of New Age, Scientology, David Icke, John Keel and some kind of Neo-Gnosticism. It´s surprisingly elaborate and "consistent". Evidence? None. But then, the entire point of the exercise is that we´re the victims of a grand cosmic conspiracy only known to a select few. Think Gnostic prison planet, false memory implants, that kind of thing.
Fascinating after a fashion. But probably not, you know, true. Indeed, skeptics suspect that this new space opera *is* a front for the "Church" of Scientology...
Two somewhat rambling videos from Gnostic Informant, the first about Biblical minimalism (the Copenhagen school), the second about Pythagorean number mysticism in the Book of Genesis. Could still be of some interest on a gloomy Thursday afternoon.
It´s intelligent design, captain, but not as we know it.
Oh, and I didn´t know there was an animated cartoon featuring Donald Duck learning about Pythagoras!
Imagine being in paid partnership with the Demiurge and thinking you´re still free...
Not the best video on the topic, tbh. Watch it as entertainment.
For some reason, the atheist content-creator doesn´t mention the Jewish conspiracy theory that the disciples stole the body, which at least according to the Gospel of Matthew was the original skeptical explanation for the alleged resurrection of Jesus. Strangely, he thinks the "twin theory" (that Jesus had a brother who was his identical twin) is the most plausible, when it´s clearly a Gnostic allegory. The impostor theory is also highly unlikely. Did the impostor fool every single one of Jesus´ disciples, including his brother James? Or were they all in on it?
People in the commentary section also point out that Holy Koolaid missed the ancient aliens angle. "It´s low-tier but fun to argue". Yeah, maybe, but there *are* some New Religious Movements which un-ironically do believe that the Christ was cosmic. He actually was an alien from outer space! So be careful what you argue for in jest...
Unless the resurrection actually happened in the "traditional" fashion, there are three likely explanations IMHO. The first is that everything is a teaching story or myth. The second is that the disciples had really potent hallucinations. We could charitably call them "visions". The third is that the resurrection was a genuine paranormal phenomenon. Maybe the astral body of Jesus appeared to the apostles? In the two latter cases, the theology surrounding the resurrection may have been different from later accounts. Perhaps there wasn´t any contradiction between belief in a bodily resurrection of some sort and physical remains left behind in a tomb? (The Jehovah´s Witnesses seem to have a roughly similar belief today.)
Or it´s aliens. All the way up.
A provocative take on the classical science fiction film "The Matrix". The content-creator argues that Neo (the hero) is really a false Messiah, while the real savior is Agent Smith! After all, it´s Smith who really threatens to destroy the machine-universe, while Neo ends up saving it. Smith is therefore Christ or God. This may sound absurd, but the content-creator argues that the tale is told from the perspective of the machines, who are really the evil Archons of Gnosticism. From *their* POV, Smith is "evil" while Neo is "good". Presumably, it´s really the other way around.
Not sure if I buy this, but it´s an interesting new perspective, to be sure. It´s true, of course, that the Architect told Neo that he is simply another control program used by the Matrix to perpetuate itself. It´s also true that Neo sacrifices himself so the moderate machines can enter a truce with humanity...
Pondering.
Thomas Sheridan argues against David Icke´s "Gnostic" perspective on archons and the reincarnation trap. I admit that I disagree with Sheridan´s "this-worldly" pagan-karmic perspective. The world is at best a shadow of the Divine, and I certainly don´t want to get stuck down here in the shadows. Certainly not for the next 10,000 years or so. And definitely not forever. But Icke comes across as frankly paranoid with the "don´t-enter-the-Light" stuff. Somehow, I´m not surprised that he came up with *that*.
Still, an interesting video.
Jay Dyer´s *surprisingly* moderate criticism of David Icke. I might have linked to it before, but then as part of a three-hour extravaganza.
This is a 44-minute excerpt in which Jay Dyer spends most of his time criticizing Gnosticism from an Orthodox theological angle. The point being that Icke is a modern Gnostic. Which I suppose could even be true. The reptilians are the archonts, et cetera. But sure, he also throws some David Icke impersonations...
Good luck with this material if you have 44 minutes to spare on a very chilly December morning.
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| - Brother swan, we seem to be stuck in a William Blake painting! |
Overheard somewhere in cyberspace: "Don’t curse the darkness. And do NOT light a candle. Because in true darkness, what you find isn’t blindness — It’s everything."
Actually quite interesting.
For instance, black holes seem to destroy "information", despite the laws of nature supposedly making this impossible. A pretty good argument for Gnosticism or even Satanism, if you ask me! Yepp, that´s the kind of "free association" I indulge in when watching science influencer videos on YouTube, LOL.
Note also that Sabine considers complexity and emergence to be paradoxes. I agree: emergence sounds like "something out of nothing", which is (allegedly) not possible.
Maybe Reality is broad enough to include...you know...God or something.
The ancient Gnostics would have been impressed. These bizarre sounds produced by the planets are truly scary. Or is it the demonic archons screaming at the Demiurge? It´s difficult not to believe that the cosmos is *cursed* after listening to these files, probably leaked from some FEMA torture camp in Alaska!
OK, seriously.
Since space is a vacuum, there really is no sound there. What our satellites picked up were radio waves, electromagnetism, and so on. This data is then "translated" into sound through a process known as sonification. However, these are not the sounds we would actually hear had these phenomena somehow reached our atmosphere. Rather, they are a kind of artistic renderings. In real life, we probably wouldn´t hear anything at all, since the soundwaves triggered would mostly produce infrasound or ultrasound. Or random noise.
Not sure if converting non-audible things into the screeching of damned souls is the best form of science communication. But then, I´m old enough to remember the "Siberian drillhole" hoax...
I haven´t double-checked this truly "esoteric" information, indeed, I´m not even sure how to double-check it. But...it seems that I called it! Make of this content whatever ye wish.
Gurdjieff says that humans lack an immortal soul and if they die without reaching enlightenment, they will simply dissolve and disappear (sounds almost materialist). However, a human can "create" an immortal soul through various spiritual practices. Where did Gurdjieff get this idea? Is it a unique teaching, or could it be influenced by, say, alchemy, perhaps even Taoist alchemy?
You're spot on in identifying the strangeness and depth of Gurdjieff’s teaching on the soul — and you’re also asking exactly the right question: Where did this idea come from? The notion that humans do not have an immortal soul by default, but must "create" one through conscious effort, is one of Gurdjieff's most provocative and original-seeming claims. But while his expression is unique, the underlying idea is not entirely original — it draws on multiple esoteric traditions, including:
Gurdjieff’s idea is deeply aligned with both Western and Eastern alchemical traditions:
Philosophers like Paracelsus, Jacob Boehme, and Rosicrucians described the creation of a "spiritual body" or "astral body" through inner transformation.
This is the "philosopher's stone" as internal process: the transmutation of the base human being (lead) into the immortal self (gold).
In some strands, the “true” soul is latent, like prima materia — needing to be refined through discipline, ritual, and gnosis.
Practitioners aim to form an immortal spiritual body (often called the “immortal embryo”, or "golden elixir").
This is done through energetic practices, meditation, and bodily transformation (e.g., refining jing to qi to shen).
Like Gurdjieff, Taoist alchemists claim that ordinary people lack a complete immortal essence, and that only through cultivation can one avoid spiritual death.
🧭 So yes — Gurdjieff's model resonates strongly with Taoist alchemy, especially in its processual and developmental view of the soul.
Gurdjieff was heavily influenced by Eastern Christian mysticism (especially from Armenia and Central Asia), and Gnostic dualism.
In Valentinian Gnosticism, humans are categorized as:
Hylic (material) — no spiritual potential, perish at death
Psychic — possess a soul, but need instruction
Pneumatic — divine spark, destined for salvation
Gurdjieff may have reinterpreted this: only those who awaken and do “The Work” can stabilize the essence that survives death.
Also:
The "resurrection body" in Paul’s epistles (1 Cor 15) and some mystical Christian writings point to the idea that a higher body must be "formed" through spiritual striving — not automatically granted.
Gurdjieff studied in Central Asia and claimed contact with esoteric Sufi groups. Sufism teaches:
The nafs (ego/soul) must be purified through rigorous practice.
Higher spiritual bodies or states (e.g., the sirr, khafi, and haqqi) emerge only through inner transformation.
Some Sufi orders (especially Ishraqi/Illuminist schools) described spiritual “organs” that must be grown through practice — much like Gurdjieff’s “higher being-bodies.”
Gurdjieff uses striking formulations:
“A man is born without a soul. He may acquire a soul through conscious labor and intentional suffering.”
He speaks of the need to crystallize higher being-bodies (astral, mental, causal).
Without this, at death, the "personality" disintegrates, and only the "essence" (if anything) might persist briefly.
This model is developmental, hierarchical, and esoteric — you’re not born “ensouled” in the religious sense; rather, you must earn the right to continue existing.
| Source | Parallel Idea |
|---|---|
| Taoist alchemy | “Immortal embryo” must be built through internal practice |
| Hermeticism / Western alchemy | Transmutation of base self into spiritual gold (immortality) |
| Gnosticism | Only certain people have the potential for divine awakening |
| Sufism | The soul/self must be constructed through disciplined work |
| Christian mysticism | Resurrection body or "inner man" is a result of spiritual effort |
Gurdjieff’s teaching on the soul is not entirely unique, but rather a creative synthesis of alchemical, Gnostic, Christian, Sufi, and Eastern influences, shaped into a rigorous psycho-spiritual path. His brilliance lay in systematizing these esoteric ideas into a structured program — "The Work" — focused on self-remembering and the construction of the immortal self.
If you're interested, I can show how Gurdjieff’s “three bodies” map onto Taoist or Hermetic alchemical stages — or how this concept evolved in his students' writings (e.g., Ouspensky or Jeanne de Salzmann).
Great question — Gurdjieff’s doctrine of the three bodies maps intriguingly onto both Taoist internal alchemy and Hermetic/Western alchemy. Though these traditions are culturally and terminologically distinct, all three describe a process of inner transformation, with stages of energetic refinement and spiritual embodiment that result in immortality or enlightenment.
Below is a comparative mapping of Gurdjieff's model with Taoist Neidan and Western Hermetic alchemy:
Gurdjieff teaches that humans are not born with fully developed being-bodies, but can construct them through conscious labor and intentional suffering:
Astral Body (also called the "body Kesdjan")
Created through emotional refinement and discipline
Allows for conscious existence after physical death
Mental Body
Formed through development of higher thought, will, and awareness
Capable of objective understanding and cosmic consciousness
Causal Body (or "Real I")
Permanent, immortal body
Linked to true individuality, able to reincarnate or escape time
These are not metaphorical, but actual energetic “vehicles” a person must construct.
Taoist Neidan (內丹) describes the process of cultivating the "Three Treasures" and forming an immortal spiritual body:
Jing (Essence) → refined into Qi
Related to physical vitality and sexual energy
Corresponds to early alchemical work on the body
Parallel: Gurdjieff's astral body, formed by refining instinctive/emotional forces
Qi (Energy) → refined into Shen
Breath, life-force, movement of subtle energy
Internal breathing, energy circulation
Parallel: Gurdjieff's mental body, developed through control of attention and presence
Shen (Spirit) → refined into Xu (emptiness / true self)
Pure consciousness, the immortal spirit
Birth of the “immortal embryo” (spirit body)
Parallel: Gurdjieff’s causal body, the immortal “I” beyond ego
Taoists say that only when Shen returns to the Dao, one becomes a Zhenren — a "true person" — akin to Gurdjieff’s Real Man or Man No. 7.
Western alchemy is metaphorically about turning lead into gold, but esoterically it’s about spiritual rebirth:
Nigredo (Blackening) – death of the base self
Descent into unconsciousness, chaos
Beginning of inner work
Parallel: Early stage of forming astral body, confronting sleep and mechanicality
Albedo (Whitening) – purification
Cleansing of emotions, emergence of inner clarity
Parallel: Refinement of consciousness → mental body
Rubedo (Reddening) – union and rebirth
The fusion of opposites (soul and spirit), realization of immortal self
Philosopher’s Stone formed
Parallel: Full realization of causal body, the "permanent I"
Some alchemists speak explicitly of forming a "subtle body" or "glorified body", capable of transcending the material world.
| Gurdjieff | Taoist Neidan | Hermetic Alchemy | Theme |
|---|---|---|---|
| Physical Body | Jing | Prima Materia / Lead | Raw material, unrefined being |
| Astral Body | Refined Jing → Qi | Nigredo | Emotional transmutation, energetic base |
| Mental Body | Refined Qi → Shen | Albedo | Mental clarity, subtle will, awareness |
| Causal Body | Shen → Immortal Embryo | Rubedo | Immortal soul, true self, resurrection |
| “Man No. 7” | Zhenren (True Person) | Philosopher’s Stone | Completed being, Real I, divine union |
Despite vastly different symbols, all three systems share these assumptions:
Ordinary humans are incomplete.
A spiritual body or essence must be constructed through effort.
The process involves refining energy, unifying mind/emotion/body, and achieving non-egoic being.
Without this transformation, the person perishes or dissolves.
Gurdjieff’s model is not isolated, but harmonizes with both Taoist and Hermetic traditions. He translates alchemical transformation into a psychological and existential framework suited to modern seekers, replacing older symbolic language with terms like "self-remembering," "essence," and "the Work."
Would you like diagrams, visual mappings, or deeper dives into one of these traditions (e.g., Neidan practices or Gurdjieff’s "food diagram")?
Gurdjieff’s cryptic and unsettling statement that “the Moon eats people” is one of the most provocative in his teachings — and like much of his work, it operates on multiple symbolic, cosmological, and psychological levels.
Let’s unpack it carefully.
In Gurdjieff’s cosmology (especially as presented in In Search of the Miraculous), everything exists to serve something else, and cosmic bodies feed on the energies of smaller ones in a hierarchical structure.
The Moon, in his view, is not fully formed, a kind of embryonic body in the solar system.
It requires energy to grow, and Earth life provides that energy — particularly the energies released at death.
💬 Gurdjieff: "Everything living on Earth exists to feed the Moon."
When human beings die without having developed a soul, the energies of their essence are drawn off by the Moon.
Thus, mechanical, unconscious people live and die in vain — their life-energy nourishes the Moon, not their own being.
On the psychological level, the Moon represents mechanicalness — unconscious behavior, habit, and sleep.
It’s cold, repetitive, and predictable — like the way people live when they're not awake.
Gurdjieff says “man is a machine”, and unless a person begins conscious inner work, he functions entirely according to lunar influences.
💬 “All of man’s actions, words, thoughts, feelings, opinions, convictions, and habits are mechanical. All that he says, does, thinks, and feels happens. Man cannot move, think, or speak of his own accord. He is a marionette pulled by strings.”
So:
➡ The Moon “eats” people = people live entirely under its mechanical influence, die without waking up, and are reabsorbed into the planetary machine.
Gurdjieff outlines a metaphysical hierarchy he calls the Ray of Creation:
The Moon is the lowest, densest level of matter and consciousness.
Its position at the bottom means it receives the least light or will — it's almost pure inertia.
Life on Earth acts as a kind of bridge, transferring energies down the Ray to the Moon.
Thus, humans who remain mechanical are absorbed downward, becoming part of the Moon’s energetic field.
🛑 If one does not work to awaken, their being is "food for the Moon."
According to Gurdjieff:
Only those who create a higher body (astral, mental, causal) can retain their individuality after death.
Those who do not are dispersed — their psychic energies are recycled, part of which goes to the Moon.
The Moon thus becomes a symbol of annihilation through unconsciousness.
The idea that a celestial being “eats” souls or energy has mythic parallels:
Taoism & Chinese astrology: the Moon influences "hun" and "po" souls — without proper cultivation, the soul dissolves.
Egyptian mythology: Ammit, the “soul eater,” devours those unworthy of immortality.
Alchemy: the Moon often represents the unredeemed soul, or the passivity that must be transmuted into solar (conscious) essence.
Gurdjieff modernized this: the Moon is what devours you if you don’t wake up.
| Level | Interpretation |
|---|---|
| Cosmic | The Moon literally feeds on life-force from Earth; unconscious people’s energy goes to nourish it. |
| Psychological | The Moon = mechanical behavior. If you stay asleep, you live and die as a machine. |
| Spiritual | Without inner development, the self is not preserved; you are absorbed into lunar recycling. |
| Symbolic | The Moon is the pull of inertia, habit, fate, unconscious death. |
When Gurdjieff says “The Moon eats people”, he is warning:
If you do not awaken and crystallize a soul, your life will be lost to mechanical nature — you will serve as energy for the cosmos, not as a conscious being.
It’s a chilling metaphor for the consequences of spiritual sleep.
Would you like to go further into Gurdjieff’s lunar theory (like how movements, shocks, or sex relate to Moon-energy), or how his system overlaps with astrology or ancient lunar cults?