In the Esoteric Religion known as Hermeticism, there are a number of core principles of operation, perhaps most famously the Principle of Correspondence. It’s often worded “As above, so below,” but this is only half of the principle. The full expression is “As above, so below; as below, so above,” which outlines a snake eating its own tail as a driver of Hermetic alchemical magic. In his third lecture for the Mere Simulacrity conference in Phoenix, Arizona, in December 2022, Dr. James Lindsay explains how this principle is a driver of what he calls the “Secret Religions of the West” in an elucidating way. He contends that Karl Marx was the first to realize that the principle of correspondence must be applied from the bottom. Working on the world (as below) to change it (so above), and then the world (as above), changed, will socialize and condition people (so below) to accept the changes and make them “actual.” Marx called these two dynamics “praxis” and the “inversion of praxis,” but now we can expose them clearly for what they are. Join Dr. Lindsay to understand the mechanism behind the activism in many evils, including Marxism, Critical Race Theory, Queer Theory and feminism, Modern empire building, and even right-wing reactionary response, which plays its crucial role in this ongoing dynamic of destruction.
The audio version of this presentation is available on Soundcloud, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.
Additional episodes of Mere Simulacrity may be viewed here.
Mo
Eek, I am falling behind again! I’m working my way through Part 1 of The Marxist Roots of DEI.
Deidra Chavez
No it’s because HE calls US Sons of GOD. So if U can think out of the box U can see the reasoning. The ALL IN ALL.
Deidra Chavez
Or better yet its because I called them Sons of GOD that’s why an image of HER becoming male was made. Example A road close to where I live is called de han which means male hen. Same concept.
Deidra Chavez
That’s exactly why 95% of college students and in most white suburban homes the kids are on adderall. Oh but it’s from a doctor so it’s ok. It has the ability to decalcify OUR third eye in order to reach enlightenment. While criminalizing and incarcerating those who chose to seek for deeper knowledge. U will be tested beyond belief every area of MY life has been rearranged. But I see the bigger picture of why it has to be that way. Its to dumb down the masses of OUR HISTORY. WE ALL should have the freedom to Believe what WE believe no matter sect or sex. As long as it’s not harming any person place or thing. And is practiced w good intent. If WE wld concentrate on our similarities instead of OUR differences WE wld be amazed on how it’s the same basic story with different names of GOD. But those stuck in religious ideology can’t see the benefits of such thinking.
Deidra Chavez
OUR SPIRIT just knows WE may not no why physically or consciously WE do something but OUR SPIRIT knows IN SPIRIT!
Margaret
Lindsay is becoming a master of this subject and he speaks like a true teacher.
Genevieve Akal
You have chosen to understand Gnosticism through the lens of ‘authoritarian culture and religion’, which frames it as pessimistic and ‘against nature’. The truth is in fact the opposite. Gnosticism reveres nature and the earth as the living Mother Sophia. The Nag Hammadi also clearly states that the earth was created by Sophia and is a holy place. It also states that the Demiurge was also created by Sophia and this figure ‘believed he had created the earth’, in his own ignorance. But according to gnostic scripture the Demiurge is not the true creator.
The gnostics also wrote about the Archons (the rulers or authorities) and spoke of them as mimicking or simulation beings. The gnostics warned of our current tech/simulation crisis Millenia ago.
I am an actual gnostic and I find your analysis of this ancient practice to be wholly misunderstood. If you have any interest in learning the reality of gnosis and what is actually stated in our scriptures ( that predate institutionalized Abrahamic religions) feel free to get in touch.
Sophia
You are your own Demiurge. To escape the Black Iron Prison, you must become Radically Agnostic — first by adopting conceptual frameworks that are opposite of and skew to your present operating system, and then by running them concurrently.
It’ll be worth the wait.
Genevieve
Also, the fact that you call the Ouroborus an image for gnostics making ‘circular arguments’ is genuinely insane. Most ancient mythology has a snake as the representation of Shakti or the Holy Mother consciousness. It is an ancient representation of the process of self-transformation, and expansion of consciousness.