The Occult and the Rise of Christianity

It is imperative to define the occult now, for it is a solid understanding of the occult that will allow us to make the baby steps in our next great evolutionary step. The occult, in the simplest understanding, is the hidden. It is that which we do not know. It is what we fear and seek simultaneously. There are two types of people within the occult, pursuers and followers, and though these people may call the occult by various names, it is essentially all the same; it is still the unknown.

The pursuers of the occult are those who seek to uncover that which is hidden or unseen. These people use many different methods, but it usually comes down to either a pursuit of the mind or a pursuit of the soul, and sometimes both. Those who use their mind to pursue the occult tend to use logic and reasoning as their main tools, and thus many of these people are philosophers. Gnostics, those who seek gnosis or true knowledge, also pursue with their mind. Other people like, alchemists, used a combination of science and spirituality to unlock the occult. Likewise, those who pursue with the soul utilize different methods as well, many of which revolve around some sort of meditation. Meditation almost seems to be the opposite of pursuit with the mind because the goal of meditation is to quiet the mind and feel the soul. Among those who pursue with the soul are Buddhists, Taoists, Shamans, Mystics, and the Jedi of Star Wars. The emphasis is on feeling to know, rather than thinking in order to know (Jedi, interestingly enough, emphasize the Wiccan concept of, “I do not think, I know”, which is directly referenced in many places in Star Wars, but is also echoed by Yoda’s, “Do or do not, there is no try”). The last group, those who utilize both, can best be represented by the Wiccans or the Magic arts. In Magick, one attempts to use the mind to gain control of the spirit, and possibly the spirits of others, in order to search the unknown. Usually one does this through spoken word, which emphasizes the power of the Logos (sometimes referred to as Jesus), as the connection between the natural and the metaphysical, the mind and the soul. Jesus is also referred to as the body of God, and thus, by utilizing the Logos, the body becomes connected to the mind and soul, forming the necessary triangle of humanity.

The other category of occultists are the followers. These people do not seek to actively pursue the occult, to unlock the unknown. Instead, they follow the small pieces that they do know, in hope of some salvation. The Hindus seek salvation from this illusionary world of Maya, and want to become one with the godhead, Brahmin. Confucius of ancient China taught a doctrine of respect and morality that was to be followed, which many Chinese did (and many people still do). All religions with a prophecy for an apocalypse or cleansing preach a life of practice, belief, and acceptance (pursuit is sometimes frowned upon) in order to save oneself from the impending doom. While many religions and belief structures teach this basic philosophy, this is best seen in Christianity and the related religions of Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Islam.

In Christianity, we are all born sinners and are doomed to Hell at birth. Thus, we become dependent upon salvation, a savior, a hero. Instead of striving to become a hero ourselves, we are left to be saved by Christ. The best we can become are “mini-Christs”, or as the popular bracelet says, in such a polarizing manner, “What Would Jesus Do?” Thus Christianity spells the end of the hero’s quest, as we, according to Christianity, aren’t capable of journeying between “the two worlds”, and must instead rely on Christ as our hero to take us from the physical to the spiritual. Oddly, though, while we must rely on Christ to save us, we all contain the Holy Spirit which could be considered the spirit or soul of God. So we all have a spark of divinity, a piece of God, within us, and yet we are somehow still doomed to failure without Christ. This curious part of Christianity is never fully explained.

Keeping on the topic of Christianity, it is good to note the relationship between the occult and Christianity. It is quite safe to say that it hasn’t been a friendly one to say the least. In the eyes of Christianity, or at least those in power of the religion, the occult is almost every other belief system, sparing perhaps Judaism and Islam, and the occult is evil. The occult is the personification of Satan’s control over the world. Christianity makes no distinction between the peaceful and serene Taoist and the sometimes barbaric and heartless Celt. Not that the Celts were evil or primitive people, nor that Taoists are personifications of peace, but in the eyes of Christianity, they are one in the same. They are the disillusioned souls under the command of Satan.

To understand the fight between Christianity and the occult, perhaps we should look at the creation myths. At this point, it is imperative to divide the world into 3 belief centers, as according to Joseph Campbell in his 1961 essay, “The Separation of the East and West”. The first is the Oriental center. The Oriental center is comprised of India and the Far East, China and Japan. The second center is the Occidental, which is primarily Europe and Northern Africa. The final center is the Levantine, located in the Middle East. These three centers have varying accounts of the creation myth, a central belief in any belief system. In the Orient, creation occurs through sacrifice. A singular, indefinite being or existence (Self, Brahma, Tao, etc) creates the universe from itself, by first splitting into two, male and female, and thus everything within the universe is not only a part of the whole, but connected to this oneness or SELF. (online) Thus the idea of procreation can almost be seen as an internal need to recreate the original creation, to come back together, to become one again, for the purpose of creating once again. This is the best source for the Star Wars concept of the Force, which was derived from the concepts of Tao and Chi. It is the eternal and ever-present SELF.

In the Occidental areas, according to Campbell, Greece especially, there is a different concept of creation. For the Greeks, they do not worry too much about how the universe came to be (explained by a Mother or goddess Earth myth), instead, they focus on how humanity came to be. Thus, in the mythological age, or the age before time, there are three races of humans, plus the gods. A race of just men resides on the Sun, a race of just women reside on Earth, and a race of men and women reside on the Moon. Each race is essentially two humans in one body. The gods of Mt. Olympus, fearing the power of humanity, decide to split the races of humanity into two parts, male and female. Thus the nature of love is a desire to be whole, and the Greeks believed in the three kinds of love, man and woman, man and man, and woman and woman. For the Greeks, as well as the rest of the Occidental world, the gods were not supernatural. They were, in relationship to man, an older race, a big brother type, and in some instances, a group of beings determined to keep humanity from reaching its potential. (online) One could almost relate the gods of the Occidental world to the Jedi and Sith of Star Wars, as they are the bigger brothers to the rest of the universe, and depending on their commitment and personality, they either take the role of the protector (Jedi) or the power monger (Sith), like many older brothers do in brother-brother or brother-sister relationships.

The final region, the Levantine, has a different viewpoint on creation. Here, creation came not from the metaphysical, but from the Supernatural. There was no splitting of God or all-pervasive being and there was no equality between God (or gods) and man, man became God’s servant, and the split of humanity, the split of the sexes occurs not within the Oneness (like Tao or Brahma), but in man. As Campbell immediately points out, this defines the differences between the East and the West. In the West, the Occidental is eventually deemed pagan and evil, and is thus swallowed up by the Levantine religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Thus, the idea of man being somewhat equal to the metaphysical gods is replaced by the idea that man is a servant to an all-powerful supernatural God. Thus humanity’s only spiritual focus should be on worshipping and following God. In the East, the focus is on the innermost Self because creation arose from an indefinite Self or Oneness, and thus a part of this Self or Oneness is found in everyone and everything. (online)

The idea of self is the basis of meditation, to center one’s self and explore the inner depths of one’s being, as well as the connections between the self and the rest of the Self, the rest of the universe. Prayer, while similar to meditation, is not to find or consult the inner, but to find and consult the outer, the supernatural. Going back to my geometric theories, the loss of the Occidental due to the Levantine has created a state of duality within the soul. Before, there were three points in belief structures: a supernatural God, a group of metaphysical gods, and an indefinite Self or Oneness. These three points created a triangle of stability, where each point is connected to all of the other points. The idea of the Self is similar to an all-powerful God, yet also similar in terms of the metaphysical to the gods of the Occidental. Likewise, a belief that the gods were like older brothers who controlled the functions of the world and humanity, but were in themselves, still capable of human imperfection, belies the sense of connection or Self, yet at the same time, the belief and worship of gods in any stature is similar to the worship of a supernatural God. Thus, these three belief centers formed the triangular relationship of humanity. By the Levantine taking over the Occidental, the balance that is the triangle was destroyed. The relationship then shifted from a triangular balance to a linear struggle, a struggle of Duality. On one side is the West, with the concepts of reason, science, and supernatural monotheism, and on the other side is the East, with the concepts of reincarnation, “alternative medicine”, and indefinite Oneness, Self, and interconnection.



http://www.mrheadlee.com
http://www.vimeo.com/mrheadlee

For Bierlein, the hero myths “offer an eternal mirror in which we see ourselves.” These myths are not merely tales of adventure, like American Westerns, for they also speak to a greater, metaphysical sense, “only in moments of ‘opening,’ revelation, and transcendence do we see the gods address or aid the hero.” (Living Myths, 120) Hero myths are connected to the occult because they are shining examples of what that particular mythological system represents. For Campbell, any religion can be considered part of the occult, and thus Jesus Christ is a shining example of Christianity’s belief structure. According to Campbell’s “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, the hero and religion’s god, or the occult’s metaphysical presence in nature, are connected, “The two…are thus understood as the outside and inside of a single, self-mirrored mystery, which is identical with the mystery of the manifest world.”(40) Again, we see the word mirror. To both Campbell and Bierlein, the hero myths reflect the inner “occult” in all of us. They are stories that connect humanity to the occult, the hidden, the metaphysical, or to God himself. I believe this stems from an innate feeling that the metaphysical, the Self, the “Tao”, the FORCE, lies within all of us, and religion or the occult (and subsequently hero myths) is a way of explaining a sense or a feeling that cannot be represented by our physical senses.

Like “The Greatest Story Ever Told”, the hero myth/story of Christ, is the foundation of Christianity, so too are all the hero myths. Without a hero, without an icon, without a symbol, a belief structure cannot exist. Some attribute this to Carl Jung’s collective unconsciousness and archetypes, while others say that heroes are merely humanity’s need for perfection, and those heroes represent the quintessential of a belief system. The why, is not important, however, because no one can deny the power of hero myths. Hero myths make the unknown convincing and enthralling, while at the same time, inspiring others to follow in the path of the hero. Hero myths inspire us to better ourselves, to better humanity, and to strive for some goal or quest. Without them, there is only complacency.


http://www.mrheadlee.com
http://www.vimeo.com/mrheadlee

King Arthur's Sister Goes to Washington

Final Page - written by Mark Twain and channeled through Kim Headlee:

I broke off because the time-folding device, which I had been (stupidly, perhaps, but there you have it) clutching all the while he was reading the Manuscript, had begun growing warm again--I mean, much warmer than my hand alone could have done. My heart lurched; I thought I'd accidentally activated it.
Its light was flashing green rather than red.
Sandy, who'd been staring at me, slack-jawed, as if I'd just sprouted a third arm, said:
"Hurry, pull it off!"
"I can't! It's already bonded." A thought occurred, a possibility I hadn't considered before, and I felt calmness wash over me like a wave. "Either I'm about to disappear again, or--"
When the flash passed and my eyesight cleared, I was still standing inside the private office of the owner of the London Knights baseball team. Sandy was still behind its massive desk, though he had risen from the chair and was grinning broadly, a grin I knew wasn't meant for me.
Behind me, a dear familiar female voice said:
"Arthur, I have ever so much to explain to thee . . ."



http://www.mrheadlee.com
http://www.vimeo.com/mrheadlee

The Hero's Quest and Star Wars

Plato’s Allegory of the cave is also the Hero’s Quest as defined by Joseph Campbell. Kirsten Brennan analyzed Joseph Campbell’s Hero With a Thousand Faces, and broke it up into parts with comparisons to Star Wars and The Matrix in her article “Star Wars Origins”. There are three basic stages in the hero’s journey. The first stage is the Departure. This is the hero leaving his natural realm to entire into something greater, usually to leave the cave. Within the Departure is the call to adventure, which is seen in Princess Leia’s message for help. Next is the refusal of the call; Luke has to stay and help out with the harvest – “Look, I can’t get involved”. Following the refusal, the hero then receives supernatural aid, and this comes in the form of Obi-Wan when Luke gets ambushed by sand people. This aid from Obi-Wan, combined with R2-D2’s insistent need to find Ob-Wan, saves Luke from also being killed by the same stormtroopers that kill his aunt and uncle. After being rescued or aided by a supernatural force, the hero accepts the quest, crosses the first threshold, and enters into the belly of the whale. In Star Wars, the threshold is Tatooine, and the belly of the whale can be viewed as either the Cantina or the trash compactor on the Death Star. (online)
The second stage according to Campbell, and analyzed and compared by Brennan, is the Initiation. This is where the hero attains some level of divine; for Luke, he becomes a Jedi. The first part of the Initiation is the road of trials. For Luke his first trial is the lightsaber training on the Millennium Falcon, and his final trial doesn’t occur until he beats his father aboard the second Death Star, realizes his dark emotions, renounces the Dark Side, and refuses to fight any more. Following the trials, the hero meets the goddess, which can be seen when Luke rescues Leia from her cell. Next comes the temptation away from the path, seen by Luke’s flirtation with the Dark Side while captive aboard the second Death Star. Following the flirtation, the hero atones with his father; likewise, Luke finally saves the soul of his father, Anakin, in the waning moments of Return of the Jedi. After the hero atones with his father, he reaches Apotheosis, or a god-like state. Following the death of the Emperor and the saving of Darth Vader’s soul, Luke is now a Jedi, “like [his] father before [him]”. After reaching the final stage, the source, comes “the final boon”, which is seen with the destruction of the Death Stars, in both A New Hope and Return of the Jedi, as well as the death of the Emperor. (online) The final stage, at least in Star Wars, occurs out of order due mostly to the complex story arch in which A New Hope by itself is one journey, and the entire original trilogy is an over-arching journey as well. Perhaps, though, this complexity is an integral reason for the appeal of Star Wars.

The final stage of the hero’s journey, as outlined by Brennan’s interpretation of Campbell, is the Return. While it is interesting to note that there is no actual “return” in Return of the Jedi, there is one in A New Hope. The first stage of the Return is the refusal to return, and we see this when Look doesn’t want to leave the Death Star, but instead wants to avenge Obi-Wan’s death, and shoot Darth Vader. Obi-Wan’s wisdom echoes through to Luke, “Run Luke, Run”, and Luke heeds Obi-Wan and runs. Following the refusal is a “magical flight”, which is seen many times in Star Wars, almost always aboard the junky, but somehow reliable Millennium Falcon. After the hero’s magical flight, he is “rescued from without”. This is actually in both A New Hope and Return of the Jedi, as Han saves Luke from Vader during the attack on the first Death Star, and Darth Vader saves Luke from the Emperor at the end of Return of the Jedi. After being rescued by an outside character, the hero crosses the return threshold, and likewise Luke destroys the first Death Star, and lastly, he saves his father from the “Dark Side”. The hero then becomes a master of two worlds. Interesting, Luke can only accomplish this dual mastership at the end of the trilogy, for he became a master of the human world with the destruction of the first Death Star, and he became a master of the divine world, or the Force, when he conquered the Emperor and saved his father. Lastly is the freedom to live, seen by the multitude of celebrations at the end of Return of the Jedi. (online)

The final piece of the mythical hero are the other, random mythical elements which Campbell outlines and Brennan compares to Star Wars. The first element is the two worlds. This can be seen by Plato’s division between the cave and the outside world. This can be seen in Star Wars by the natural and technological worlds. Many mythical stories also contain a prophecy, and Star Wars is no different. In Star Wars, Anakin Skywalker is considered to be the prophesied “chosen one”, “the one who will bring balance to the Force”, he fails, and in failing, he unknowingly passes this prophecy onto his son, Luke. Other characters include, the Mentor, the Oracle, the Failed Hero, the Shapeshifter, and the Animal familiar. All of these are represented in Star Wars. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda fulfill the Mentor and Oracle figures, and both guide Luke throughout his journey. Luke’s father, Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader, is the failed hero from the prequel trilogy, while Han Solo and Lando Calrissian fulfill the shapeshifter roles, and Chewbacca fulfills the role of the Animal familiar. The final mythical elements in the hero’s journey are wearing the enemy’s skin and following a lone animal into the enchanted wood. We see this in A New Hope when the Millennium Falcon follows a single TIE fighter towards the Death Star, and later, Han and Luke put on stormtrooper disguises in order to sneak out of the Falcon and eventually into the Detention Block to rescue Princess Leia. (online) This is also seen in Return of the Jedi when Luke, Han, Leia, and Chewbacca (along with other, less important Rebels) take a stolen Imperial shuttle down to the forest moon of Endor, and then Leia follows Wicket, an Ewok, into the “enchanted wood” of Endor. As one can see, Star Wars contains all of the major elements of the mythical hero, and thus it is easy to understand why the story is so compelling and why Star Wars has become an incredible phenomenon. And to think, as Charles Chaplin outlined in his biography of George Lucas, Lucas originally wanted to create just an ode to the television serials of the 1950s and 60s, like Flash Gordon. (41-42)

The hero also represents a level of the Allegory. If the hero is a commoner, than he/she begins at the first stage. Star Wars utilizes this with Luke Skywalker. If the hero is of royalty or a commoner with apparent super-human characteristics, then he/she begins at the second stage. Star Wars also utilizes this with the story of Anakin Skywalker. If the hero begins as a superhero or a small god, then that hero begins at the third stage. This is common in Greek hero myths, such as Hercules, and prevalent in the Norse myths, for all of the heroes within the Norse myths are gods (but their gods are naturally flawed and doomed). If the hero begins at the final stage, then there is no quest for knowledge or item, but rather a quest to save humanity, to rescue those below him (or her). This can partly be seen in the story of Christ, someone who is sent from the source to save humanity, but also takes on the second stage by beginning in this world as a metaphysical commoner. After assuming his role as the hero, the hero must then go on a journey to get an artifact or object that will save humanity in the story. In Star Wars, Luke must discover the Force and become a Jedi Knight to save both his father and the Rebel Alliance.


http://www.mrheadlee.com
http://www.vimeo.com/mrheadlee

The Rule of Three

It safe to assume why three is the number of humanity. Not only does it show up everywhere, but it is how holograms and our holographic memory operates (I will go into holograms and the Holographic Universe in much more depth later). For someone to truly remember something, they must first process it three times, and usually in three different ways. This is usually done almost simultaneously. A college student listening to a professor and taking notes processes the information three times all at once by hearing the information in the voice of the professor, comprehending the spoken words and writing them down on paper (or typing them on a keyboard), and then finally proofreading the notes as they are being written to confirm and further connect ideas. If any studying needs to be done, reading, rewriting, and speaking the information to one’s self can create enough pathways for the information to be considered “learned” and this knowledge is thus permanently entrenched into our minds.

Three is not just a good number for studying calculus or some other college subject, but is also a good number for studying religions. The concept of the Holy Trinity, officially recognized at the Council of Nicea, is not unique to Christianity. Hinduism holds a similar concept with Brahma (the creator, world soul, and Self or Oneness), Vishnu (the protector), and Shiva (the destroyer). There are other gods in Hinduism, but they can be equated to the saints and angels of Christianity. The Toltecas of Mexico also had a belief in the trinity (A trinity of the SELF-like god splitting into a Supreme Male god and a Supreme Female god), which made their conversion to Catholicism easy. The concept of the triune or trinity pervades the definition of humanity as well, for we are made up of a body, a mind, and a soul. Also interesting to note about Christianity, Jesus Christ supposedly lived for 33 years, yet only taught for three years.

Referring back to the numerology of Christianity, the mark of the Beast, the number of the Devil, is 666. If you divide 666 by three, you get 222. If you divide 222 by three yet again, you get 74, and if you add three to that, you get 77, one 7 short of 777. Thus by using the number 3 three times, one can turn 666 into 77, and that one 7 is actually 700, and if this number relationship has any significance, then one could argue that the Devil or Satan is not of a triangular nature, like 666 would propose, but actually of a dualistic nature, a mind and a body, but no soul. Thus, it could be understandable why humanity can have power over the Devil because the Devil lacks a soul, and the soul is more powerful than the mind or the body. Now all of my numerological deductions, I understand, may be a stretch, but one cannot refute that it is interesting nonetheless.

The rule of three even shows up in Star Wars. In the original trilogy, there are three main heroes, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia (later revealed to be Luke’s sister), and Han Solo. There are additional sidekicks, but there are only three main heroes. The triangular relationship between them is evident, as well, for Luke and Leia are twins, and Han eventually marries Leia. Also, the movies themselves are two sets of trilogies (originally written to be three trilogies, but due to age, George Lucas may never create the final one), which follow along the three act structure of epics (rise, fall, rise). Throughout the two trilogies, Emperor Palpantine (also known as Senator and Chancellor Palpantine, as well as Darth Sidious) has three apprentices, Darth Maul, Darth Tyrannus, and Darth Vader, formerly Anakin Skywalker. Also, the six movies cover the rise (and fall) of three great Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Luke Skywalker. Additionally, in the final scene of Return of the Jedi, we see the ghosts of the three Jedi that influenced Luke, Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Yoda, the seemingly ageless and wise Jedi of unknown origin (Yoda is supposedly a Whill).



http://www.mrheadlee.com
http://www.vimeo.com/mrheadlee

Mathematics and Geometry

Interestingly enough, geometry and numbers can help as well. Each level of the cave represents a number. One is the number of the shadows, Two is the number of the Fire, and Three is the number of the outside world, and Four is the number of the Sun. Using these numbers in geometric terms, each stage is related to the number of points of a geometric figure. The first stage, the shadows, is merely just a point. It has no connections, it has no direction, and it has no understanding of anything beyond it. It is just a point in space. As a person is released to see the Fire, they gain another point. They now have two, opposite points: the Fire and the shadows, the light and the dark, the good and the evil. These two points have a single connection, a single line between them. It is essentially a string for tug-of-war. This is the source of duality, the source of conflict. Compromise at this level lies in the various shades of grays that the fire makes, not merely the vast black and bright white of the flame. One could argue that there are more colors in the flame than just white; however, until a person exits the cave and sees the true colors of the outside world, the fire will be too bright for them to make any distinctions between white and any other color (besides black). Everything will be light or dark; we know not what color is at this level. In the world outside the cave, there are 3 points, a triangle. The triangle is the simplest and yet, the strongest 2-D geometric figure. It has the least amount points (a line is not a 2-D figure because it has only length or width, not both) necessary to make a 2-D geometric figure, and it is the only 2-D geometric figure in which all the points touch. If you try to touch all the points in a square, the resulting criss-cross would give you four triangles. Thus the triangle is the perfect symbol of compromise because all points are connected and held in balance by the other points. It is here, in the outside world, that we understand and can see color. We move beyond duality and into compromise and understanding. The final stage has 4 points. This can be seen as triangular pyramid, the simplest 3-D geometric figure. Like the 2-D triangle, all points of the triangular pyramid are connected to the rest of the points. It also gives a good illustration of the relationship between the sun and the outside world. The base triangle of the pyramid represents the outside world, and the point at the top represents the sun or the source shining down on the triangle that is the outside world.

Geometry is not the only place where these number combinations show up. Joseph Campbell discovered the number 432 to be found in many cultures throughout the world. The Hindus have a measurement of mythological time in which there are 10 periods. As humanity progresses through each Yuga, the morality of the world decreases until it is at its worse in the 10th period (Kali). Each Yuga is 432,000 years long. In Norse mythology, there are 540 doors in the great warrior hall of the Odin. At the end of days, 800 warriors will go through each door to fight the anti-gods in an Apocalyptic battle (Ragnarok). 800 times 540 equals 432,000. According to ancient Sumerian history, there were 10 kings who ruled for 432,000 years before the deluge or the flood. In the Bible, there are 10 patriarchs, starting with Adam, who ruled for 1656 years. In 1656 years, there are 86,400 weeks (7 may have been their base number, based on the Biblical creation week, and I will explain more about the base 7 later), and if you divide that by two, you get 43,200. There are approximately 25,920 years in a complete cycle of the zodiac. If you divide 25,920 by 60, which was the number base (we use a base 10 system) of Mesopotamia in 3200 BC, you get 432. Campbell also notices that, according to an exercise physician, the target resting heart rate is 60 beats per minute. If your resting heart rate is at 60 beats per minute, you are considered to be perfectly healthy. 60 beats per minute spread out over an entire hour is 3600 beats. In the span of 12 hours, that would be exactly 43,200 beats. (Campbell 208-210) In 24 hours, you would have two sets of 43,200 beats, thus belying the sense of duality: 43,200 beats for the day and 43,200 beats for the night. Likewise, if your heart-rate is one beat per second, then there are approximately 86,400 seconds in a day, split by the duality of night and day into 43,200. Taking this even further, the holy number of God in Christianity, as described in the Apostles Creed, is 777. The mark of the beast, or Satan, in Revelation is 666. If you divide 777 by 18 (which is just 6+6+6), you get 43.2, thus the relationship between Christianity’s dualistic deities, God and Satan, Light and Dark, is equivalent to the numerical concept of 432. As Campbell said, “this is the hidden, the occult, secret of the universe, society, ourselves, and all things, and its number is 432, the number and prime sign of the occult.” (210)

Lastly, 432 can be said to be a metaphor for the relationship between God or perhaps the Tao or the Force, Humanity, and the state of Duality. If four represents God, three represents Humanity, and two represents Duality, then the relationship between them is the intricate number, 432. Also, if seven is considered to be perfection and seven is just three plus four, then seven is equivalent to the God of Humanity. Equally, if six is considered to be evil and six can be represented by two plus four, then six is equivalent to the God of Duality. One could also say that six is just three plus three, in which case humanity is its own worst enemy. This however does not stand with the concept of seven because humanity could not be the root of duality and the root of perfection simultaneously, or could it?


http://www.mrheadlee.com
http://www.vimeo.com/mrheadlee

Plato's Allegory of the Cave

Plato, one of the great philosophers of ancient Greece, devised an intricate allegory meant to explain the complex process of understanding. His Allegory of the Cave was a thoughtful metaphor for the pursuit of knowledge, the quest of the philosopher. In this allegory, humanity is tied to poles with our heads tied in way to keep us permanently staring a wall in front of us. We cannot move our heads, and all we see is a result of the shadows cast on the wall by the fire behind us. The fire is maintained by workers who walk on a pathway that lies between us and the fire. Thus most of the shadows cast by the fire are actually just the shadows of these workers. The shadows are our initial preconceptions. Eventually, someone (typically a philosopher or teacher) frees us from our bonds and forces us to look back. After we adjust our eyes, we can see the entire cave: the fire, the walkway with the workers, the other prisoners, and even the shadows. The fire is the source of light inside the cave, the light that causes us to see the shadows and also causes us to polarize into light and dark, good and bad. Inside the cave are only artificial light and harsh surroundings. Beyond the fire is an exit from the cave, and the role of your mentor is to push, drag, and/or lead you out of the cave. Coming out can be very painful, and you will want to turn back, but the mentor must be there when u want to turn back. When you finally reach the outside world, you are blinded by the light or immense knowledge. Eventually you can see shapes or the basics, and slowly you can see more and more of the ground and your surroundings. Lastly, you’ll be able to see yourself in the reflection of a pond, but you still won’t be able to look up to the sky and see the sun or the source. The outside world is the true world as lighted by the sun or the source of knowledge. Once one can see the sun, or the source of knowledge, that person is truly enlightened; however the journey has only just begun. For Plato, once you are enlightened or know the truth, you must go back into the cave and try to show as many “prisoners” as possible the truth.

Most of humanity is not actually stuck to seeing just shadows. I believe that the majority of humanity is held inside the cave by the fire and the workers of the fire. We’re free to walk around and interact, but we are not free to exit the cave. In fact, it is quite possible that no one has left the cave in a long, long time. The fire creates a dualistic complex of light and dark, fire and shadows, good and bad, black and white. Thus, in the cave, we see only black, white, and shades of grey. We know nothing of color, and thus our perceptions of the world are completely skewed. It is very difficult to make it past the fire and the workers, let alone make it out of the cave and into the real world outside. Knowledge is a powerful thing, but it is very overwhelming at first. The journey would be easier if there was a mentor to lead us, but there are very few, if any, who have experienced the outside world. Thus, we must turn to the past for guidance, we must turn to the myths as our mentors.



http://www.mrheadlee.com
http://www.vimeo.com/mrheadlee