Dria El
August 15th, 2001, 09:03 PM
Here's something I got via email that I thought was interesting. Enjoy!
The supporters of pure spiritualism who advocate the primacy of the mind as the creator of matter are as ridiculous as the upholders of the materialist doctrine who desperately seek to prove that the mind emerges from matter. To the Celtic way of thinking this is a moot point because mind is matter and matter is mind. The apparent duality is only the result of the world's relativity. Mind that doesn't butt up against matter doesn't think and so it doesn't exists. This is the same problem as that of the unnamable and absolute God. Mind is only a functional appearance of the totality of being, matter being but another functional appearance that unfolds from bifurcation or bursting of the original self. In the Druid doctrine emphasis is placed upon the action. Action is manifested energy, and all is energy, matter like mind. The two terms play their specific roles irrevocably linked to one another. The body, therefore, is considered as a provisional manifestation of the mind, thereby affirming its existence, and the mind is ready to manifest the body through other means when it deems it expedient. Also one can imagine other lives, and even other forms of life.
But in the real world, matter is equal to Chaos if it is allowed to develop in an anarchic fashion. This movement from matter to Chaos is expressed in the myth of the Formor, or equal myths, such as ones that feature monsters, dragons, or any of those beings called malefic when they are measured on the yardstick of Judeo-Roman-Christian morality. When Lugh kills his grandfather, Balor, he affirms the predominance of developed mind over raw brutal matter. Lugh organizes the chaotic matter of the forces whose grandson he is, and by that affirms he is one in his duality. The main objective here lies in becoming aware of the infinite power of the mind, and in this only heroes are capable of drawing on the best part of that power, which, is what makes them heroes. It is why the first saints of Celtic Christianity are heroes. Since the creation of the Cosmic Egg the universe has not ceased to evolve, and the mind has slowly extricated itself from its own dross, which suffocates it and prevents it from reflecting, from acting. Mind can succeed to the utmost degree and even participate in the transformation of the universe. For the responsibility of the universe falls back onto all of the individuals who exist within that universe. In sociological language this would be translated by the term autogestion. But for any autogestion to be effective it is first necessary to be conscious of the unity of the "all" in its apparent diversity.
Only then can mind direct the universe, and itself, since it forms part of that universe. Each element lacking, each weakness, each error, are all so many brakes on universal evolutionary momentum. Obviously this presupposes a notion that isn't given much heed these days: responsibility. Blinded by scientific determinism--which has reached the point of replacing the religious fatalism of the past-put to sleep by the laws of heredity and the recognition of the role of the unconscious in the life of the psyche, we no longer take into account the fact that all freedom is nonexistent without responsibility. To be free assumes not only full awareness of the causes and effect's of one's actions, but also the total acceptance of them. This is as valid on the plane of morality as it is on that of daily life and on the "metaphysical" plane.
This is what the Celts seem to have understood. Despite the elimination of any notion of sin, they did not eliminate the idea of responsibility. Though they expected neither punishment nor reward in the Otherworld, each individual did assume, however, the responsibility of his action and accepted the consequences. The same was ture on the judicial plane. The law of compensations was not a punishment, but rather a just contribution toward the reestablishment of social, thus universal, equilibrium that had been compromised by the disturbing action. All of this can be found again in the doctrine that Pelagius (a Briton who converted to Christianity and who then became a theologian and moralist) attempted to spread in the Church, thus colliding with the Mediterranean doctrines of human weakness and sin that were bitterly defended by Saint Augustine.
The supporters of pure spiritualism who advocate the primacy of the mind as the creator of matter are as ridiculous as the upholders of the materialist doctrine who desperately seek to prove that the mind emerges from matter. To the Celtic way of thinking this is a moot point because mind is matter and matter is mind. The apparent duality is only the result of the world's relativity. Mind that doesn't butt up against matter doesn't think and so it doesn't exists. This is the same problem as that of the unnamable and absolute God. Mind is only a functional appearance of the totality of being, matter being but another functional appearance that unfolds from bifurcation or bursting of the original self. In the Druid doctrine emphasis is placed upon the action. Action is manifested energy, and all is energy, matter like mind. The two terms play their specific roles irrevocably linked to one another. The body, therefore, is considered as a provisional manifestation of the mind, thereby affirming its existence, and the mind is ready to manifest the body through other means when it deems it expedient. Also one can imagine other lives, and even other forms of life.
But in the real world, matter is equal to Chaos if it is allowed to develop in an anarchic fashion. This movement from matter to Chaos is expressed in the myth of the Formor, or equal myths, such as ones that feature monsters, dragons, or any of those beings called malefic when they are measured on the yardstick of Judeo-Roman-Christian morality. When Lugh kills his grandfather, Balor, he affirms the predominance of developed mind over raw brutal matter. Lugh organizes the chaotic matter of the forces whose grandson he is, and by that affirms he is one in his duality. The main objective here lies in becoming aware of the infinite power of the mind, and in this only heroes are capable of drawing on the best part of that power, which, is what makes them heroes. It is why the first saints of Celtic Christianity are heroes. Since the creation of the Cosmic Egg the universe has not ceased to evolve, and the mind has slowly extricated itself from its own dross, which suffocates it and prevents it from reflecting, from acting. Mind can succeed to the utmost degree and even participate in the transformation of the universe. For the responsibility of the universe falls back onto all of the individuals who exist within that universe. In sociological language this would be translated by the term autogestion. But for any autogestion to be effective it is first necessary to be conscious of the unity of the "all" in its apparent diversity.
Only then can mind direct the universe, and itself, since it forms part of that universe. Each element lacking, each weakness, each error, are all so many brakes on universal evolutionary momentum. Obviously this presupposes a notion that isn't given much heed these days: responsibility. Blinded by scientific determinism--which has reached the point of replacing the religious fatalism of the past-put to sleep by the laws of heredity and the recognition of the role of the unconscious in the life of the psyche, we no longer take into account the fact that all freedom is nonexistent without responsibility. To be free assumes not only full awareness of the causes and effect's of one's actions, but also the total acceptance of them. This is as valid on the plane of morality as it is on that of daily life and on the "metaphysical" plane.
This is what the Celts seem to have understood. Despite the elimination of any notion of sin, they did not eliminate the idea of responsibility. Though they expected neither punishment nor reward in the Otherworld, each individual did assume, however, the responsibility of his action and accepted the consequences. The same was ture on the judicial plane. The law of compensations was not a punishment, but rather a just contribution toward the reestablishment of social, thus universal, equilibrium that had been compromised by the disturbing action. All of this can be found again in the doctrine that Pelagius (a Briton who converted to Christianity and who then became a theologian and moralist) attempted to spread in the Church, thus colliding with the Mediterranean doctrines of human weakness and sin that were bitterly defended by Saint Augustine.