FRDB Archives

Freethought & Rationalism Archive

The archives are read only.


Go Back   FRDB Archives > Philosophy & Religious Studies > History of Abrahamic Religions & Related Texts
Welcome, Peter Kirby.
You last visited: Today at 01:23 AM

 
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 03-03-2013, 09:06 PM   #11
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: On the path of knowledge
Posts: 8,889
Default

Quote:
"Save for the wild forces of Nature
nothing moves in this world
that is not Greek in its origin."


--- Acton
'Give me a word, any word, and I show you that the root of that word is Greek.'

"Kimono, kimono, kimono. Ha! Of course!
Kimono is come from the Greek word himona, is mean winter.
So, what do you wear in the wintertime to stay warm? A robe.
You see: robe, 'kimono'. There you go!" :facepalm:

Pass the Windex.
Sheshbazzar is offline  
Old 03-03-2013, 09:33 PM   #12
Contributor
 
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Los Angeles area
Posts: 40,549
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by mountainman View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Toto View Post
This is not a subversion so much as an outright rebellion against the Greek gods. Christianity rejected paganism. Why look for another level of meaning?

The rebellion was not just against the Greek gods and paganism but also against the established pagan social order and its structures of power, authority, and hierarchy.

The rebellion was conducted by using subversion.
If you pay the word enough, you can force it to mean whatever you want. Subversion normally would imply pretending to go along with the established order while secretly redefining the term. I don't think the Christians pretended much.

Quote:
The Gospel authors took one of the focal words ["daimon"] of the Greek philosophical conceptual framework which was reserved to describe the notion of "a god, a goddess or an inferior deity, whether good or bad" and then purposely subvert its meaning in their political-religious manifesto to become the notion of "an evil spirit".
I think it would be more accurate to say that the meaning of the term evolved. How would you determine the purpose?

Quote:
Not to be picky but ... the OP is about the change in the (original) meaning of "daimon".

Are you aware of much written about this?
Yes, quite a bit. Do you think you are the first to notice this?

Daimon / Demon / Daemon are just different Latin transliterations of the Greek. The spelling change is not meaningful.

Quote:
Quote:
The question of twins is more complex. The heavenly twins were the Boanerges, the sons of thunder - twins born of Zeus and a mortal woman, one of whom was human, the other divine. There has been a lot written about this theme.
The reason I mentioned it is because there appears to be a parallel between what Mani meant when he described his "heavenly twin" and what the Greeks meant when they described the "daimon" as a kind of "Guardian spirit"
There may be something to this.

http://www.plotinus.com/the_daemon_copy.htm

Quote:
The ancient sages taught that every human being has a mortal lower self, called the eidolon and an immortal Higher Self (Soul) called the DAEMON. The eidolon is the embodied self, the physical body, and ego personality. The Daemon is the Spirit, the true Self, which is each person's spiritual connection to God. The Mysteries were designed to help initiates realize that one’s eidolon is a false self and that one’s true identity is the immortal Daemon.

From the eidolon's point of view the Daemon appears to be an independent Guardian Angel. Disciples and seekers who still identify with the eidolon, therefore, do not experience the Daemon as their own true Self, but as a spirit guide, whose job it is to lead them to their spiritual destination – hence it is a separate entity that entices them to advance and awake to their true essence. Plato teaches: "We should think of the most authoritative part of the Soul as a Guardian given by God which lifts us to our heavenly home."

The Gnostic sages of the past taught exactly the same Mystery doctrine. Valentinus, a gnostic sage who lived in Alexandria explains that a person receives Gnosis from their Guardian Angel, or Daemon but that this angelic being is actually the seeker's own Higher Self or Soul. In ancient Egypt the Daemon had for millennia been pictured as a Heavenly Twin of the eidolon. This image is also found in Gnosticism. The Gnostic sage Mani was said to have been conscious of having a protecting angel from the age of four and, at aged 12, to have realized it was his Heavenly Twin, whom he called the "most beautiful and largest mirror image of my own person. " In the gnostic version of The Acts of John, John observes that Jesus sometimes held conversations with a Heavenly Twin who descended to join him: He says: “When all of us, his disciples, were sleeping in one house at Gennesaret, I alone, having wrapped myself up, watched from under my garment what he did; and first I heard him say, "John, go thou to sleep," and thereupon I pretended to be asleep; and I saw another like unto him come down, whom I also heard saying to my Lord, "Jesus, do the ones that you have chosen still not believe in you?" And my Lord said, " You say well, for they are men."
But I don't know the full history of the evolution of this idea, or when exactly daimons went from being good or evil to only evil, or how much of this is New Age mysticism looking for validation in the gnostic past.

It's been a while since I read the Jesus Mysteries by Freke and Gandy. They are big on connecting ideas like this from classical Greek philosophy with the gnostics. You might check their books.
Toto is offline  
Old 03-03-2013, 11:01 PM   #13
Contributor
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Falls Creek, Oz.
Posts: 11,192
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sheshbazzar View Post
Quote:
"Save for the wild forces of Nature
nothing moves in this world
that is not Greek in its origin."


--- Acton
'Give me a word, any word, and I show you that the root of that word is Greek.'

"Kimono, kimono, kimono. Ha! Of course!
Kimono is come from the Greek word himona, is mean winter.
So, what do you wear in the wintertime to stay warm? A robe.
You see: robe, 'kimono'. There you go!" :facepalm:

Pass the Windex.
Point taken Shesh.

But I think Acton may have been referring to fact that the earliest new testament bibles were authored and published in the Greek language and that the ideas there presented, whether original or simply "borrowed" from the [Greek classical] intellectual milieu of antiquity, are foundational in much of the English language.
mountainman is offline  
Old 03-04-2013, 12:58 AM   #14
Contributor
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Falls Creek, Oz.
Posts: 11,192
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Toto View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by mountainman View Post
The Gospel authors took one of the focal words ["daimon"] of the Greek philosophical conceptual framework which was reserved to describe the notion of "a god, a goddess or an inferior deity, whether good or bad" and then purposely subvert its meaning in their political-religious manifesto to become the notion of "an evil spirit".
I think it would be more accurate to say that the meaning of the term evolved.
Evolution at times can be forced or hastened by extinction events. The birth of the centralised monotheistic Christian state religion coincides (eventually) with the death of many older religions. It may be that the gospel authors were prophetic about the extinction of the "daimon" idea that was central to Greek theology.


Quote:
How would you determine the purpose?
I think the purpose had to do with what you first said - rebellion against the pagans - specifically their systems of theology and/or philosophy and/or metaphysics (Plato for example may be examined in many ways).

The purpose therefore may have been to replace the individual pagan idea of the "daimon" with a franchised mass media version "Holy Spirit" that was popularised in the new testament by the gospel authors and the author of acts.



Quote:
Quote:
Not to be picky but ... the OP is about the change in the (original) meaning of "daimon".

Are you aware of much written about this?
Yes, quite a bit. Do you think you are the first to notice this?

No way.

Quote:
Daimon / Demon / Daemon are just different Latin transliterations of the Greek. The spelling change is not meaningful.

But the meaning of the words at one stage were quite suddenly perceived in a different way as a direct result of the meaning of the word in the NT, and this subverted meaning has been with us until only just recently.



Quote:
Quote:
The reason I mentioned it is because there appears to be a parallel between what Mani meant when he described his "heavenly twin" and what the Greeks meant when they described the "daimon" as a kind of "Guardian spirit"
There may be something to this.

http://www.plotinus.com/the_daemon_copy.htm

An interesting and pertinent article thanks very much.

I'll have a closer look at it later.


Quote:
But I don't know the full history of the evolution of this idea, or when exactly daimons went from being good or evil to only evil, or how much of this is New Age mysticism looking for validation in the gnostic past.

It's been a while since I read the Jesus Mysteries by Freke and Gandy. They are big on connecting ideas like this from classical Greek philosophy with the gnostics. You might check their books.

It's not just the gnostics. The Platonists are also central to the story here. The gnostics are not yet properly defined yet probably include Platonists. Many of the Nag Hammadi texts exhibit late Platonist (i.e. Plotinus) ideas.

The rise of the integration of Platonic and Christian thought in the 4th century was meteoric.

Augustine, finds that "only a few words and phrases" need to be
changed to bring Platonism into complete accord with Christianity."

One of these few words needing change may have been "daimon".
It was one of the central Platonic concepts used to join man to the god(s).
This was demonised by the gospel authors and became heresy.
Or at least it was associated with "bad demons" fit for swine.


Into its place the Christians moved the "Holy Spirit" of Jesus. Viola!
One small step for Jesus; a giant leap for Christendom over the Platonists.

BTW I don't know whether Augustine mentions these "few words and phrases" which needed to be changed to bring Platonism into complete accord with Christianity. Do you, or does anyone else, know

a) whether Augustine cites them
b) what they might be


Thanks for the link.
mountainman is offline  
Old 03-04-2013, 01:25 AM   #15
Contributor
 
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Los Angeles area
Posts: 40,549
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by mountainman View Post
...


The Platonists are also central to the story here. The gnostics are not yet properly defined yet probably include Platonists. Many of the Nag Hammadi texts exhibit late Platonist (i.e. Plotinus) ideas.

The rise of the integration of Platonic and Christian thought in the 4th century was meteoric.
I think it is more the case that everyone in the 4th century thought Platonically to some degree.

Quote:
Augustine, finds that "only a few words and phrases" need to be changed to bring Platonism into complete accord with Christianity."

One of these few words needing change may have been "daimon".
<snip speculation>


...
I doubt if it was daimon.

You quote traces back to Saint Augustine "Against the Academicians:
(Contra academicos)" An English translation is online at http://archive.org/details/ancientchristian027820mbp

I did a quick search, and did not find anything. I think that the quote you have may have been a summary made by a later commentator, and that Augustine did not make a list of words and phrases.
Toto is offline  
Old 03-04-2013, 02:32 PM   #16
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: On the path of knowledge
Posts: 8,889
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by mountainman View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sheshbazzar View Post
Quote:
"Save for the wild forces of Nature
nothing moves in this world
that is not Greek in its origin."


--- Acton
'Give me a word, any word, and I show you that the root of that word is Greek.'

"Kimono, kimono, kimono. Ha! Of course!
Kimono is come from the Greek word himona, is mean winter.
So, what do you wear in the wintertime to stay warm? A robe.
You see: robe, 'kimono'. There you go!" :facepalm:

Pass the Windex.
Point taken Shesh.

But I think Acton may have been referring to fact that the earliest new testament bibles were authored and published in the Greek language and that the ideas there presented, whether original or simply "borrowed" from the [Greek classical] intellectual milieu of antiquity, are foundational in much of the English language.
The Hellenic hubris could never allow that heritage of other nations might be in some matters be superior to, or the equal that of the Greeks.
It was Hellenic pride to look down upon every other human culture as being inferior and barbaric.
Nothing originated in other cultures could possibly be as good as the Greek, and anything that could be learned or accepted from these inferior cultures could only be improved upon by Greeks using the Greek language, philosophy, and wisdom.

Thus it was not only the new testament, but long before that, The TaNaKa in being 'translated' into Greek underwent the 'improvements' of Hellenization.
And because it was adapted to Greek tongue and thought, the LXX was considered to be an improvement upon the ancient barbaric Hebrew language text.
Hebrew names were regarded as barbaric, being difficult to write with the Greek alphabet and hard pronounce, so the first thing was to swap out those barbaric Hebrew names and replace them with 'civilized' and easier to pronounce Greek forms.

Then there were all of those 'foreign' religious terms that were in these Hebrew texts, words like 'El' and 'Elohim', so uncivilized and barbaric sounding, The Greek 'Theos' must be superior, because Greek is superior. (or so they thought)
The Hebrew Sheol 'the grave', got 'improved' upon by becoming the much better known Greek Hades (with all of the Greek connotations of fiery torture) But that didn't bother Greek religious philosophers and leaders a bit because it allowed them to make even further Greek 'improvements' upon that old 'barbarian' Hebrew religion.
And on and on and on in a thousand subtle ways the proud and arrogant Hellas 'Gus Portokalos's' of that age created for themselves a strange new Hellenistic 'christos' mystery religion.
One that despised everything that was Hebrew or 'Jewish'.

And the next step was to demonise anything that favored Jewish words, thought, expression, or practice as being 'Judaizing'. Then came the issuing of draconian 'Official Decrees' and 'Laws' requiring the immediate execution of, and the confiscation of their property by the church, of anyone caught being a 'Judaiser'.

This how the catholic christian religion got to where it is today. Hellenism was the Beast from the Pit that the Great Whore of Babylon rode upon then, and still is today.
Sheshbazzar is offline  
Old 03-04-2013, 07:01 PM   #17
Contributor
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Falls Creek, Oz.
Posts: 11,192
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Toto View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by mountainman View Post
...
Augustine, finds that "only a few words and phrases" need to be changed to bring Platonism into complete accord with Christianity."

One of these few words needing change may have been "daimon".
<snip speculation>


...
I doubt if it was daimon.

Fair enough but I am not so sure for the moment. It appears to be an absolutely indespensible concept in the theological systems of not just the Greeks in all their schools (Platonists, Stoic, Pythagorean etc) but also with other systems of theology such as Manichaenism and perhaps Zorastianism. I have not yet looked at Hinduism or Buddhism or Judaism so I have no idea.


Quote:
You quote traces back to Saint Augustine "Against the Academicians:
(Contra academicos)" An English translation is online at http://archive.org/details/ancientchristian027820mbp

I did a quick search, and did not find anything. I think that the quote you have may have been a summary made by a later commentator, and that Augustine did not make a list of words and phrases.
I would agree with that too.

One possibility I can envisage is that this statement of Augustine concerns the Trinitarian "Father Son Holy Ghost" formulation which was powerfully supported by the Emperor Theodosius c.381 CE.

If we instead go back to the Trinitarian "One Spirit Soul" formulation of Plato and later Plotinus (via the Enneads) then it is not difficult to change the Platonic trinity to the Christian trinity at the top level.

Underpinning the Platonic trinity is a detailed structure of related ideas that are capable of being summarised. This is also true for the Christian Trinity which has borrowed from the great wealth of Platonist philosophy to redefine the entire universe by means of a monotheistic book god Jesus, the son of the Father and the progenitor of the Holy Spirit.

So Augustine may have had the Trinitarian system in mind when he made the statement that "only a few words and phrases" need to be changed to bring Platonism into complete accord with Christianity."

FYI this reference was found in "The Legacy of Greece - Oxford University Press (1921)". Here are my notes FWIW:


Quote:
Originally Posted by W. R. Inge, Dean of St.Pauls

Section: RELIGION

p.26


"Greece for our purposes means not a race, but a culture,
a language and literature, and still more an attitude
towards life, which for us begins with Homer, and persists,
with many changes but no breaks, till the closure of the
Athenian lecture rooms by Justinian.

The civilization of the Roman Empire was not Italian but Greek.

It was lost to the West for nearly a thousand years. It was recovered
at the Renaissance, and from that time to this has been a potent
element in Western civilization. The Dark Ages and the early Middle Ages
are the period in which the West was cut off from Hellenism ... These
were the ages of the Catholic theocracy; and if we choose one man as the
founder of Catholicism as a theocratic system, we should have to name
neither Augustine not St.Paul,still less Jesus Christ, but Plato, who in
the Laws sketches out with such wonderful prescience the conditions for
such a polity, and the form which it would be compelled to take."


Hellenism then is not the mind of a particular ethnic type, not of a
particular period. It was not destroyed, though it was emasculated,
by the loss of political freedom; it was neither killed nor died a
natural death.

Its religion passed into Christian theology without any real break.
The early church spoke in Greek and thought in Greek
.

p.29

It is quite unnecessary to look for Asiatic influences in a school
which clung close to the Attic tradition.

It should not be necessary to remind Hellenists that "Know Thyself"
passed for the supreme word of wisdom in the classical period,
or that Heraclitus revealed his method in the words "I searched myself".

"The teachings of Plato", says Justin, "are not alien to those of Christ;
and the same is true of the Stoics." "Heraclitus and Socrates lived in'
accordance to the divine Logos" and should be recognised as Christians.
Clement says that Plato wrote "by the inspiration of God".

Augustine, much later, finds that "only a few words and phrases" need
to be changed to bring Platonism into complete accord with Christianity.


The ethics of contemporary paganism, as Harnack shows,with special reference
to Porphyry,are almost identical with those of the Christians of his day.

Catholic Christianity is historically continuous with the old civilization,
which indeed continued to live in this region after its other traditions
and customs had been shattered. There are few other examples in history
of so great a difference between appearance and reality. Outwardly, the
continuity with Judaism seems to be unbroken, that with paganism to be
broken. In reality, the opposite is the case.


p.33

Further,too much is made of the conflict between the official cults of
paganism and Christian public worship. It is forgotten how completely,
in Hellenistic times, religion and philosophy were fused. Without under-
estimating the simple piety which, especially in country districts, still
attached itself to the temples and their ritual, we may say confidently
that the vital religion of the empire was associated with mystery-religions
and with the discipline of the "philosophic life".


p.42

Their sacrifices were for the most part of the genial type, a communion
meal with the god. But even in Greece, we must remember the gloomy chthonian
rites, and the degradations of Orphism mentioned by Plato in the "Republic".

"They persuade not only individuals but whole cities
that expiations and atonements for sins may be made
by sacrifice and amusements which fill a vacant hour,
and are equally at the service of the living and the dead;
the latter sort they call mysteries, and they redeem us
from the pains of hell, but if we neglect them no one
knows what awaits us."

This exploitation of sacramentalism was common enough in Greece; but the
characteristic Caesaro-Papism of Byzantium and modern imperium was wholly
foreign to Hellenism. It was introduced by Constantine as part of the
Orientalizing of the empire begun by Diocletian. As Seely says:

"Constantine purchaced an indefensible title by a charter.
He gave certain liberties and received in return passive
obedience. He gained a sanction for the Oriental theory of
government; in return he accepted the law of the Church.
He became irresponsible to his subjects on condition of
becoming responsible to Christ."

The Greeks never had a book religion, in the sense that Judaism became, and
Islam always was, a book religion. But they were in some degree of treating
Homer and Hesiod as inspired scriptures
. To us it is plain that a long
religious history lies behind Homer, and that the treatment of the gods
in Epic poetry proves that they had almost ceased to be the objects of
religious feeling. Some of them are even comic characters, like the devil
in Scottish folklore. To turn these poems into sacred literature was to
court the ridicule of the Christians. But Homer was never supposed to
contain "the faith once delivered to the saints"; no religion of authority
could be built upon him, and Greek speculation remained far more unfettered
that the thought of Christendom has been until our own day
.


p.45

Nothing can be further from the truth than to call the Greeks "intellectualists"
in the disparaging sense in which the word is now often used. The object of
philosophy was to teach a man to live well, and with that object to think
rightly about God, the world and himself. This close union between metaphysics,
morals and religion has remained as a permanent possession of the modern world.


The Hellenistic combination of Patonic metaphysics with Stoic ethics is still
the dominant type of Christain religious philosophy.



Asceticism has a continuous history within Hellenism. Even Homer knows of the
priests of chilly Dodona, the Selli, whose bare feet are unwashed, and who sleeps
on the ground.

The worship of Dionysus Zagreus in Thrace was accompanied by ascetic practices
before Pythagoras. Vergetarianism, which has always played an important part in
the ascetic life, was obligatory on all Pythagoreans.
mountainman is offline  
Old 03-04-2013, 08:02 PM   #18
Contributor
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Falls Creek, Oz.
Posts: 11,192
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sheshbazzar View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by mountainman View Post
Point taken Shesh.

But I think Acton may have been referring to fact that the earliest new testament bibles were authored and published in the Greek language and that the ideas there presented, whether original or simply "borrowed" from the [Greek classical] intellectual milieu of antiquity, are foundational in much of the English language.
The Hellenic hubris could never allow that heritage of other nations might be in some matters be superior to, or the equal that of the Greeks.
It was Hellenic pride to look down upon every other human culture as being inferior and barbaric.
Nothing originated in other cultures could possibly be as good as the Greek, and anything that could be learned or accepted from these inferior cultures could only be improved upon by Greeks using the Greek language, philosophy, and wisdom.

Thus it was not only the new testament, but long before that, The TaNaKa in being 'translated' into Greek underwent the 'improvements' of Hellenization.
And because it was adapted to Greek tongue and thought, the LXX was considered to be an improvement upon the ancient barbaric Hebrew language text.
Hebrew names were regarded as barbaric, being difficult to write with the Greek alphabet and hard pronounce, so the first thing was to swap out those barbaric Hebrew names and replace them with 'civilized' and easier to pronounce Greek forms.

Then there were all of those 'foreign' religious terms that were in these Hebrew texts, words like 'El' and 'Elohim', so uncivilized and barbaric sounding, The Greek 'Theos' must be superior, because Greek is superior. (or so they thought)
The Hebrew Sheol 'the grave', got 'improved' upon by becoming the much better known Greek Hades (with all of the Greek connotations of fiery torture) But that didn't bother Greek religious philosophers and leaders a bit because it allowed them to make even further Greek 'improvements' upon that old 'barbarian' Hebrew religion.
And on and on and on in a thousand subtle ways the proud and arrogant Hellas 'Gus Portokalos's' of that age created for themselves a strange new Hellenistic 'christos' mystery religion.
One that despised everything that was Hebrew or 'Jewish'.

And the next step was to demonise anything that favored Jewish words, thought, expression, or practice as being 'Judaizing'. Then came the issuing of draconian 'Official Decrees' and 'Laws' requiring the immediate execution of, and the confiscation of their property by the church, of anyone caught being a 'Judaiser'.

This how the catholic christian religion got to where it is today. Hellenism was the Beast from the Pit that the Great Whore of Babylon rode upon then, and still is today.
Thanks Shesh. But where do the Romans fit in? The point is that it was not the Greeks who were in control of the empire during the trashing of the Jewish and the Pagan religions (of the Greeks) it was the Romans.

Secondly this tangentiation has resulted from a quote from Acton, who was I believe a well read person. I thibk his reverence for the Greek comes from the best that the Greek civilisation had to offer the world, which was put to the sword by the Roman Christian Emperors and suppressed for a thousand years.

Here is another quote from Acton about doing history.

Perhaps you might comment on this.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Acton

SOURCE



LETTER II.

Advice to persons about to write History: Don’t. Visit the Monte Purgatorio, as Austin called the Magnesian rock that yields Epsom Salts; or: Get rid of Hole and Corner Buffery.

In the Moral Sciences Prejudice is Dishonesty.

A Historian has to fight against temptations special to his mode of life, temptations from Country, Class, Church, College, Party, authority of talents, solicitation of friends.

The most respectable of these influences are the most dangerous.

The historian who neglects to root them out is exactly like a juror who votes according to his personal likes or dislikes.

In judging men and things, Ethics go before Dogma, Politics or Nationality.

The Ethics of History cannot be denominational.

Judge not according to the orthodox standard of a system, religious, philosophical, political, but according as things promote or fail to promote the delicacy, integrity and authority of Conscience.

Put Conscience above both System and Success.

What does the first line mean? What does he mean by Hole and Corner Buffery?
I suspect he means get rid of prejudice but I am only guessing.

Best wishes
mountainman is offline  
Old 03-04-2013, 08:25 PM   #19
Contributor
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Falls Creek, Oz.
Posts: 11,192
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Toto View Post

The following has been extracted from the above link.
As yet I have no idea whether the references are to be found in the sources.


References to the Greek "daimon" [δαίμων] in the Gnostics


the Testimony of Truth, Jesus advises a disciple to become "a disciple of his own higher mind," and continues to say that one’s higher mind is "the father of Truth."


The Gnostic sage Silvanus encourages his disciples in this way:
Knock on yourself as upon a door and walk upon yourself as on a straight road.
For, if you walk on the road, it is impossible for you to go astray.
Open the door for yourself so that you may know what is.”



Plato teaches: "We should think of the most authoritative part of the Soul as a Guardian given by God which lifts us to our heavenly home."


Valentinus, a gnostic sage who lived in Alexandria explains that a person receives Gnosis from their Guardian Angel, or Daemon but that this angelic being is actually the seeker's own Higher Self or Soul.



In ancient Egypt the Daemon had for millennia been pictured as a Heavenly Twin of the eidolon.


gnostic Acts of John, John observes that Jesus sometimes held
conversations with a Heavenly Twin who descended to join him: He says:

“When all of us, his disciples, were sleeping in one house at Gennesaret, I alone,
having wrapped myself up, watched from under my garment what he did; and first I
heard him say, "John, go thou to sleep," and thereupon I pretended to be asleep;
and I saw another like unto him come down, whom I also heard saying to my Lord,
"Jesus, do the ones that you have chosen still not believe in you?" And my Lord
said, " You say well, for they are men."




The Pistis Sophia relates a charming myth of the child Jesus meeting his own Heavenly Twin
for the first time. His mother Mary recalls: “When you were a child, before the Spirit had
descended upon you, when you were in the vineyard with Joseph, the Spirit came down from
the height, and came unto me in the house, like unto thee, and I knew Him not, but thought
that he was you. And he said unto me, "Where is Jesus, my brother, that I may go to meet him?"
Mary relates to Jesus that when his Twin finally found him, "He embraced you and kissed you,
and you also did kiss him and you became one and the same being."


The Gnostic Valentinus writes: When the human self and the divine "I" are interconnected they can achieve perfection and eternity.


Valentinus puts it like this: “Although it appears as if each person has their own Daïmon or Higher Self,
the enlightened initiate discovers that actually on the axial Pole of Being
there is one Daïmon shared by all, a universal Self, which inhabits every being. Each Soul is a part of the one Soul of God. To know oneself therefore is to know God.



The Pagan sage Sextus writes: "If you would know Him by whom you were made, you would know yourself."



References to the Greek "daimon" [δαίμων] in the Church Fathers



Irenaeus relates that the Gnostic "believes himself to be neither in heaven nor on earth, but to have embraced his Guardian Angel."



Clement writes: "It is the greatest of all disciplines to know oneself; for when a man knows himself, he knows God." Clement taught his Christian initiates to "practice being God" and that the true Gnostic had "already met God.
mountainman is offline  
Old 03-04-2013, 08:52 PM   #20
Contributor
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Falls Creek, Oz.
Posts: 11,192
Default

It looks as though the Gnostics simply continued with the original Greek world-view in which the INDIVIDUAL "daimon" or "Guardian Spirit" was treated as a god, a goddess or an inferior deity, whether good or bad. Some even thought the individual "daimon" was universal.

The universal spirit of the Greeks and Gnostics (and others) was about to be replaced with a Christianized version. The Gospel authors used the term "daimon" in a derogatory sense that it was always a bad spirit (demon). The gospel authors narrate that Jesus sent the "daimon" into a herd of swine. After Jesus ascended through the cloudbanks of Jerusalem, a new form of "Holy Spirit" was released into the world to replace the "daimon" which the Gospel writers had sent into the swine.

The difference between "daimon" and "demon" is clear today.

Quote:
Originally Posted by WIKI
A demon is a paranormal, often malevolent being prevalent in religion, occultism, literature, and folklore. The original Greek word daimon does not carry the negative connotation initially understood by implementation of the Koine δαιμόνιον (daimonion),[1] and later ascribed to any cognate words sharing the root.

It would appear that the original meaning of the term "daimon" was cast aside by the Gospel authors, but that those who are termed the Gnostics continued with the old [Classical Greek] meaning.

When the orthodox canonical Christians finally killed off the heretical non canonical gnostics the original knowledge and use of the term "daimon" was lost for a long period of time.
mountainman is offline  
 

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 11:39 AM.

Top

This custom BB emulates vBulletin® Version 3.8.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2015, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.