As far as I've gotten the religions of the "esoterica" generally hold the "secret knowledge" that the Christian God is a deceiver and a false god.

Two things can be true at the same time View quoted note →

The gnostics believed this but they were early Christians & the knowledge wasn't hidden by them (ie esoteric). It was largely destroyed and then rediscovered 2000 years later. An idea who's time has come? As far as I can tell it was an empowering tradition & not really a religion. The idea was to experientially know the truth behind the words. It's a process of recognition & remembering rather than blind faith & sacrifice. They have vast maps of structure & heirachy but I think that obscures some of the simplicity. It's a lot like 'don't trust, verify'. They believed that the creator god of the old testament was ignorant of the higher realms & so arrogantly proclaimed himself to be the 1 true god. He created the realm that we find ourselves in but it is a distorted, imperfect copy of the Pleroma. There's a part of you that isn't of this realm, a piece of Sophia. A piece of the higher emination that created the creator god himself. It's that part that awakens within you & connects you with the broader Truth. I don't think they made space for Jesus so much as received the light that he brought.

Ignorant is an interesting take. Reading the bible without believing in it he comes across as an active and intentional deceiver. As for an idea whose time has come, I'm not a believer in that either but I'm a curious individual so I read up on it. I do find it interesting that quoting Jesus is the most effective way I know to make modern Christians mad. So the religion seems to have really lost its way to me.

All doctrines are eventually co-opted for control

I like the word ignorant, it feels more like an observation than a judgement. The attachment to identities is a heavy part of the distortion field here. Identities are all just more seperation, more division & more forgetting. I recognise that I don't need to separate myself from the creator God. I don't need you to believe anything because I know you are a seeker of Truth. I recognised that in your words, it's why I responded to you. It's why I'm on nostr, sharing among so many Truth seekers. I believe we each have our own Truth detector within us that is far more effective than our own physical mind. I call it my inner node on the decentralised creation network. That is the idea who's time has come & it's not mine. 💚🫂

This shades real close to eastern ideas about non dualism. Ever study any of that? Ever watch the movie The Man From Earth?

Yes I went heavy down the Buddhist path a couple of decades ago. I believe Jesus was also exposed to eastern traditions & teachings. I've not watched that movie but in watching it now 🤙

There is a school of thought, that Buddha, Jesus and others are a manifestation of the same energy, but uniquely suited to the time of incarnation. The same energy, guiding the collective along a path towards a goal, over millennia.

Reincarnation implies a persistence of identity & also a seperation. One would wonders if Jesus or Buddha considered themselves in such a limited way. Would they not just be eminations of that same energy? The breath of Sophia, a spark of the divine? Perhaps they were special or maybe they were just created differently in the physical. Maybe they were here to give us a nudge, which is why they remembered more of who they are? This implies that the experience of remembering itself amongst such a vast plane of illusion has value. Be present ➕

Thank you Bill - I really enjoyed that movie, I can see why you were reminded of it.

Because of their focus on the here and now I've found stoicism and Zen far more useful than Christianity.

Not popular at all but I have a pretty good success rate spotting people who will like it.