“When the fated day of deluge comes, after what fashion will the earth for the most part be over whelmed by the waves? Will it be by the strength of Ocean and the rise of the outer sea against us? Or will the rain descend uninterruptedly, and will summer be cut out of the year while persistent winter bursts its clouds and pours down endless masses of water? Or will earth herself open new reservoirs and shed forth rivers more abundantly? Or will a single cause be insufficient to produce such a catastrophe, and all the methods conspire together, the rains descending and the river floods rising, and the seas hurrying in hot haste from their place all agencies in concert bent upon the one aim, the destruction of the human race? The last is the truth.” – Seneca (65 AD)
“Let me begin by observing first of all, that nine thousand was the sum of years which had elapsed since the war which was said to have taken place between those who dwelt outside the pillars of Heracles and all who dwelt within them; this war I am going to describe. Of the combatants on the one side, the city of Athens was reported to have been the leader and to have fought out the war; the combatants on the other side were commanded by the kings of Atlantis.” – Plato (360 BCE)
“Despite modern assertions to the contrary, the ancient astronomers were not so simple as to believe that time moves in circles with identical situations repeating themselves like a non-stop variety show. The movement was considered rather as a spiral. Neither was it thought that men were inescapably at the mercy of the gods, for although divine power was not denied, it was possible by recognising the nature of each deity to become aware of the consequences which might be anticipated during his season of sovereignty, and to adjust accordingly. Trivial omens give warning of trivial events, but the momentous historical events that attend the birth of a greater cycle in time are preceded by phenomena of a portentous nature, through which the least observant can scarcely fail to become aware of impending change.” – John Michell (1972)
“As the most powerful or the most miserable considered their might or misery as a kind of right to the possessions of others, equivalent, in their opinion, to that of property, the destruction of equality was attended by the most terrible disorders. Such was, or may well have been, the origin of society and law, which bound new fetters on the poor, and gave new powers to the rich; which irretrievably destroyed natural liberty, eternally fixed the law of property and inequality, converted clever usurpation into unalterable right, and, for the advantage of a few ambitious individuals, subjected all mankind to perpetual labour, slavery and wretchedness.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1755)
“The idols and false notions which are now in possession of the human understanding, and have taken deep root therein, not only so beset men’s minds that truth can hardly find entrance, but even after entrance obtained, they will again in the very instauration of the sciences meet and trouble us, unless men being forewarned of the danger fortify themselves as far as may be against their assaults.” – Francis Bacon (1620)
“This personage, as is the way among mankind, was more valued after his death than while he lived. His enemies were courtiers residing at London, while his admirers consisted wholly of foreigners. When Marquis d’Effiat brought Princess Mary, daughter of Henry the Great, over to be married to King Charles, this minister paid Bacon a visit, who being then confined to a sick bed, received him with close curtains. “You are like the angels,” said d’Effiat to him; “we hear much talk of them, and while everybody thinks them superior to men, we are never favored with a sight of them.” – Voltaire (1733)
“In the 21st century, information has become a powerful weapon that can influence the minds and hearts of millions of people around the world. With the advent of artificial intelligence, the manipulation and fabrication of information has reached new levels of sophistication and effectiveness. In this article, we will explore how AI-driven propaganda is used by various actors to shape the narratives and realities of their adversaries and audiences, and the potential consequences and challenges of this emerging form of warfare.”
“‘Every state is founded on force,’ said Trotsky. That is indeed right. If no social institutions existed which knew the use of violence, then the concept of state would be eliminated, and a condition would emerge that could be designated as anarchy, in the specific sense of this word. Of course, force is certainly not the normal or the only means of the state, but force is a means specific to the state. We have to say that today a state is a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory.” – Max Weber (1918)
“The sad fact is that although sex, drugs, dancing, and drumbeating are believed to release a lot of gnosis, Satanists believe that sacrifices release more of it than anything else. Such are the dark and sordid machinations of the deluded souls who think their gnosis accumulations and illumination will give them some form of deity or immortality.”
Alexander Bogdanov was a Russian physician and philosopher. He was a polymath who pioneered blood transfusion and general systems theory and made important contributions to cybernetics. He invented an original philosophy called “tectology”, now regarded as a forerunner of systems theory. He was also an economist, culture theorist, science fiction writer, and political activist.
“Immortality Day” was first published in 1912 under the title “Immortal Fride: A. Bogdanov’s Fantastic Narrative”.
To get an accurate understanding of the development of spiritual ideas, we need to view Gnosticism as an identifiable spiritual tradition which transcends the accepted divisions into regional religions. Those who embrace Gnosticism and have been born into a Jewish culture tend to remain within their national tradition and become Jewish Gnostics, while those born elsewhere tend to become Muslim Gnostics, and so on. But all Gnostics need to be understood as essentially parts of one evolving tradition, whatever their race or culture.
‘If the word government literally means “to control the mind”, wouldn’t learning how to control your own mind negate the opportunity for external government? You see, it is the simple act of asking questions, which illustrates the Achilles’ heel of the control system; you can condition animals, but if humans ask questions, they can learn their way to freedom. If you want to free your mind, you first have to come to understand the process by which words were used to program and control your mind in the first place; thereby you will have the ability to re-write the programming in your own image.’
“The institution of religion exists only to keep mankind in order, and to make men merit the goodness of God by their virtue. Everything in a religion which does not tend toward this goal must be considered alien or dangerous.” – More than any of the other philosophes, Voltaire has been identified as the archenemy of supernatural religion. These selections are principally from his Philosophical Dictionary (1764)
“It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime. He takes up the trade of a priest for the sake of gain, and, in order to qualify himself for that trade, he begins with a perjury. Can we conceive anything more destructive to morality than this?” – Thomas Paine (1794)
“Enlightenment is man’s release from his self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage is man’s inability to make use of his understanding without direction from another. Self-incurred is this tutelage when its cause lies not in lack of reason but in lack of resolution and courage to use it without direction from another. Laziness and cowardice are the reasons why so great a portion of mankind, after nature has long since discharged them from external direction, nevertheless remains under lifelong tutelage, and why it is so easy for others to set themselves up as their guardians. I need not think, if I can only pay – others will easily undertake the irksome work for me.” – Immanuel Kant (1784)
Hermetic initiates assert that karma is not the primary law of consequences and destiny. It is not an active principle, always at work, re-adjusting Nature’s ridiculous mistakes. Nature never yet made a mistake. On the contrary, karma is shown to be a result; the subjective outcome of innumerable laws and forces, and in this life it is utterly powerless to effect either good or evil, so far as our destiny is concerned upon the external plane. But, upon the interior plane, that is, upon or within the astral sphere of the disembodied soul world, this karma becomes the Book of Life from which all our actions in this world are judged.
“I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.” – Leo Tolstoy