Month: March 2018
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The Mystery of Iniquity: Does Evil Exist or Do Bad Things Just Happen?
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On June 10, 1991, a cover story appeared in Time magazine on the topic of evil. The author, Lance Morrow, did not argue for a particular thesis and did not reach any conclusions. What he did, however, was in a sense more important. He began by stating three propositions: God is all-powerful. God is all-good.…
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Humanity, Environment & Spirit
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During the last few decades, many people have become justifiably alarmed by the continuing growth of technology. In recent years this has been augmented by the concern over global warming, which may be at least in part caused by human activities. We may observe a certain anxiety arising from such concerns that impels many to…
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A Way to Live: The Path of Self-Knowledge
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For all the scarcity in the world, one thing we never seem to be lacking is advice. We’re constantly deluged with exhortations of one sort or another – for diet, exercise, health, wealth, happiness, spiritual illumination. Of course these pieces of advice often conflict. The question then becomes, whose advice do we take? There are…
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The Death & Rebirth of the Self
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Ancient myths exercise such great allure that one cannot help wondering what meanings lie behind them. The great psychologist C.G. Jung suggested these myths were projections of the collective unconscious, a universal level of the mind that expresses itself in symbolic and religious forms. By contrast, the French esotericist René Guénon and his school, who…
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Awakening Our True Potential
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Man is born an unfinished creature. He cannot walk or talk or feed himself. Long years of care are required to bring him to even the most minimal levels of self-sufficiency. And yet even after the typical person has reached the stage of functioning that we call adulthood, something still seems to be missing. In…
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Gnostic Tradition in Australia
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A Gnostic study circle was established in Australia in 1886. Known as ‘The Melbourne Gnostic Society’, the group’s purpose was the study of “Theosophy and kindred matters.” Later becoming ‘The Gnostic Theosophical Society’, it was central to the foundation of the Theosophical Society in Australia. Madame H.P. Blavatsky, the co-founder of the worldwide Theosophical Society…
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Out of Body Experience
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Belief: A state or habit of mind in which trust confidence, or reliance is placed in some person or thing: FAITH. Gnosis: Of, relating to, or characterized by knowledge or cognition. – Webster’s Third New International Dictionary When Robert Monroe began having his first out-of-body adventures in 1958 only two scholarly, scientific books had been written about the…
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Pre-Nicene Christianity
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Dr. Stephan A. Hoeller reminds us that “having known him [Richard, Duc de Palatine] for more than twenty years the present writer can attest that this modern Gnostic leader was also profoundly learned in Gnostic scriptures and wished his church to be truly a Gnostic one.” We are making Bishop Richard, Duc de Palatine’s essay…
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The Gospel of Mary Magdelene
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Of all the earliest followers of Christ, none has sparked the level of interest generated by one particular woman – the biblical figure known as Mary Magdalene. Revered as a saint, maligned as a prostitute, imagined as the literal bride of Christ, Mary of Magdala stands apart as an enigmatic individual about whom little is…
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The Gnostics: An Interview with Tobias Churton
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Tobias Churton is one of today’s most lively and spirited investigators of that underground stream of the Western tradition known as Gnosticism. He first became interested in the Gnostics while reading for a degree in theology at the University of Oxford in the 1970s. Soon after leaving, he became interested in exploring these ideas for…