Kenosis to Gnosis
Hear the silence
The Shoreless Sea.
The sea as a symbol represents the world and it has appeared in various pieces of literature from the Bible to the Tao Te Ching as something that Man should not allow himself to sink into. The sea is dark, mysterious and full of potential dangers if people don't know what they are doing. The sea can quickly go from being calm to being a raging tempest without warning and Mankind is certainly like that. The sea is much thicker compared to the emptiness of the air above and makes movement much slower. The deeper someone sinks into the sea, the darker it gets and the denser it gets until people are crushed in darkness.
Mankind is born in water. Evolutionists believe that all life on Earth ultimately came from the sea. The religions of this world believe that the world is a sea as well.
The term Shoreless Sea is from the book called Qutub by Andrew Chumbley, "the Expanse of Endless Night, Where Stars, like bloodied footprints, mark The Angel's Path by the Shoreless Sea."
The very first passage of the Bible says that there was just darkness and water which is actually scientifically accurate, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." The Universe started off having a 200 million year dark age before the first stars started igniting, but the waters part? There was water in such an early time in the Universe? Well it turns out that the first matter in the Universe was actually a liquid. This statement is from the Labroots website, "In two separate studies, researchers led by those at the University of Copenhagen and Queen Mary University of London found that the first-ever matter created in the Universe, known as Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP), flowed like tap water. QGP is a kind of matter that existed during the first microsecond of the Big Bang." So yes, the Universe started off as darkness and liquid.
Another creation story, involving darkness and water, is from the Corpus Hermeticum and this is what it says, "I saw an endless vision in which everything became light - clear and joyful - and in seeing the vision I came to love it. After a little while, darkness arose separately and descended - fearful and gloomy - coiling sinuously so that it looked to me like a <snake>. Then the darkness changed into something of a watery nature, indescribably agitated and smoking like a fire; it produced an unspeakable wailing roar. Then an inarticulate cry like the voice of fire came forth from it. [5] But from the light...a holy word mounted upon the <watery> nature, and untempered fire lept up from the watery nature to the height above. The fire was nimble and piercing and active as well, and because the air was light it followed after spirit and rose up to the fire away from earth and water so that it seemed suspended from the fire. Earth and water stayed behind, mixed with one another, so that <earth> could not be distinguished from water, but they were stirred to hear by the spiritual word that moved upon them.
[6] Poimandres said to me, "Have you understood what this vision means?"
"I shall come to know," said I.
"I am the light you saw, mind, your god," he said, "who existed before the watery nature that appeared out of darkness. The light giving word who comes from mind is the son of god.""
The Corpus Hermeticum doesn't call it water like the Book of Genesis does, but a type of liquid it cannot describe. It's also very interesting that the Corpus Hermeticum describes this liquid as being hot, just like the first type of matter to come after the Big Bang. This watery nature is separate from Earth and water, just like the Book of Genesis describes as well.
It's also very interesting that the watery nature appears after the "darkness arose separately and descended - fearful and gloomy - coiling sinuously so that it looked to me like a <snake>." What does this coiling like a snake mean? Well there is evidence that the Universe started out not as a bang, but as something that was spinning or a spiral like a snake. This article that mentions that when Astrophysicists studied the rotations of over 15 000 galaxies, they had a preference for spinning in one direction over another. This strongly points to the Universe spinning right from its very early days and still continues to do so. This is from the article, "I picture the Big Bang as being born with spin, just like a proton or electron has spin. As the universe expanded, the initial angular momentum would be spread among the bits of matter that we call galaxies, so that the galaxies now tend to spin in a preferred direction." Most people envision the Big Bang as being a chaotic explosion going everywhere in mindless randomness, but it is much more likely that the Big Bang was really more of a big spiral that produced lots of small spirals as it expanded in a spiral.
So The Hermetica states that reality started off coiling like a snake and then turned into a liquid. Those are two bulls eyes an ancient book made with modern scientific understanding that's only now coming to light. This is advanced knowledge.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the Quark Gluon Plasma.
There's quite a few places in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, that describes God as being the breath of life who breaths into people to bring them alive. The sea is a place where people drown because there is no breathing in it. Therefore it is a place of death or the Underworld where the dead live. Getting out of the sea of the world is the only way to experience God's breath of life and this is why so many religions emphasize the importance of rising above this world. To rise above the sea of this world, a person has to make himself empty of it, just like a boat as the Tao Te Ching puts it, "The Tao is (like) the emptiness of a vessel; and in our employment of it we must be on our guard against all fulness." In the ancient Egyptian religion Man was judged in the afterlife by having his heart weighed against a feather, further emphasizing the need to be light like the air that is above the sea.
The story of Jesus Christ walking on water is one of the most familiar stories of the Bible, but most people don't realize that there is a higher meaning to it. It is effectively saying that Jesus Christ is above this world. This is the story which is mentioned on Reinterpreting the Bible, "Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. 25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid." 28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water." 29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!" 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?" 32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God."
It's interesting that the Jesus walking on water story occurs right after the Jesus feeding the 5000 people story. These two stories are connected to each other. It's commonly acknowledged by Christians that the Jesus walking on water story has metaphors in it and it represents the state of the world and spirituality. Jesus going to the mountain represents that he is leaving the disciples behind in the world to defend for themselves. The water represents the material world and the boat represents those who haven't fallen into a state of ignorance. The Christians say that the boat represents the physical church, but it's bigger than that. The mountain represents Heaven because it's a raised area of land that connects Heaven and Earth. In the Tarot cards, the mountain always represents a connection between Heaven and Earth. That is why he is praying there. He prays to connect himself to Heaven. The wind and the waves represent the problems of the world that challenge the people in the boat. In the occult everything in the physical world is in a state of movement and everything in the spiritual world is in a state of rest. Peter sinking into the sea represents him sinking into the world and the wind represents movement. Jesus stopped the wind, which is the movement of the physical world and saved Peter. See the page called the Concept of Rest for more information about this subject. Alister Crowley made an interesting comment about water and rest in his book Tao Teh King, "Who can clear muddy water? Stillness will accomplish this. Who can obtain rest? Let motion continue equably, and it will itself be peace." The purpose of meditation is to create stillness of the water and make it clearer so that the higher world can be seen and discerned. The wind or movement of the physical world makes the water muddy so that most people will never be able to comprehend the higher world. Jesus walking on water represents him walking on the world and not sinking into it. Walking on water means that he is above the world and not in it. Peter sinks into it because he doesn't have the spirituality that Jesus has and he is sinking into ignorance. Only by faith, or knowledge of himself, can he stay above the world and not sink into it. Jesus walking on water is connected to the end of the astrological ages that Jesus feeding the 5000 represents.
Psalm 107:23 has a similar passage to Matthew 14:22, "Some went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters. 24They saw the works of the Lord, his wonderful deeds in the deep. 25For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves. 26They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths; in their peril their courage melted away. 27They reeled and staggered like drunkards; they were at their wits’ end. 28Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. 29He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. 30They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven."
Very few people will understand what these passages mean. Being in the physical world is like being at sea with a storm and God's domain is one of stillness. When the storm was stilled, the people on the boat could find their way to the higher world, which is hidden by the movement of the physical world.
There are other parts of the New Testament that compare Humanity to being fish in the sea. This is from 13:47 “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. 49This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
The fish in the lake represents the people in this world. Pulling the fish out of the lake represents taking the people out of the lower world and into the higher world. A fisherman doesn't convert the fish in water, but pulls the fish out of the water altogether. This passage is similar to this passage in Luke 5:10, "Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people." These passages are about something much bigger than making people go to church. They want to pull people out of this reality altogether. Just like a fish doesn't know it is in water, so people don't know they are in water separated from the higher realm. The passage in Matthew 8:30 is pretty strange because demons beg Jesus Christ to go into the pigs and then the pigs run into the water and die, "Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” 32He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water." Does the water represent the world? Do the demon possessed pigs represent something unclean in the higher world of the humans? Why would the pigs immediately go and kill themselves in the water after Jesus Christ told them to go into the pigs? Unless the death actually means these unclean spirits entering this world. Pigs were very unclean animals to the ancient Jews and it's surprising that they had them in ancient Israel.
The story of Noah's Ark in Genesis can also be seen as being a metaphor for the living being above this world, represented as the sea. They were chosen to be protected from death by being in the emptiness of the Ark, when compared to the fullness of the water as the Tao Te Ching stated. This is what was mentioned on the page The Lord of the Flies, "This Freemason webpage points out an important symbol of what the beehive represents, which is rebirth, "There seems, however, to be a more recondite meaning connected with this symbol. The ark has already been shown to have been an emblem common to Freemasonry and the Ancient Mysteries, as a symbol of regeneration—of the second birth from death to life. Now, in the Mysteries, a hive was a type of ark. “Hence,” says Faber (Origin of Pagan Idolatry, volume ii, page 133), “both the diluvian priestesses and the regenerated souls were called bees; hence, bees were feigned to be produced from the carcass of a cow, which also symbolized the ark; and hence, as the great father was esteemed an infernal god, honey was much used both in funeral rites and in the Mysteries."
The number 40 days that it rained for is a transformative number and this number is repeated in the Hebrews wandering the desert for 40 years until the generation that escaped from slavery had died and the number of days that Jesus Christ wandered out in the desert. The part where the dove doesn't return to the Ark after 7 days means that the Ark, the place of life that is in a state of emptiness above this world, is in a state of rest. It hearkens back to God resting on the seventh day.
There's a very strange passage in Genesis 1:6 that seems to be suggesting that there is a sea in the sky that is above heaven, "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."
People who interpret the Bible literally will believe that there was once a sea in the sky, but they fail to understand what this book is saying. It says that the firmament is in the midst of the waters, as in the center of it, like a whirlpool. The center of the whirlpool is empty, just like the firmament in heaven. God's kingdom isn't above anything, but rather it is in the center of everything. The firmament is surrounded by the polar opposites of above and below and the waters swirl around it, like in a whirlpool. The firmament is in a state of balance, rest and zero gravity.
Psalm 77:16 makes this statement about how the world reacts in the presence of God, "The waters saw you, God, the waters saw you and writhed; the very depths were convulsed."
There's a very interesting passage in Psalm 77:19 that says the God treads a path through the waters, but is invisible, "Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen." As explained on The Axis of the Universe, the higher world is invisible as far as the lower world is concerned and God's effects are invisible to the world. The way of God is the invisible way that no one knows how to tread unless they have insight.
The sea representing the world turns up numerous places in the Gnostic gospels and it has the exact same meaning as it does in the Bible and in other books. The Gnostics saw the creators of Mankind were inferior to the higher powers and the creators were trapped in the sea themselves, along with the inferior Man. The book called The Hypostasis of the Archons gives Gnostic version of the creation of Mankind, "As incorruptibility looked down into the region of the waters, her image appeared in the waters; and the authorities of the darkness became enamored of her. But they could not lay hold of that image, which had appeared to them in the waters, because of their weakness – since beings that merely possess a soul cannot lay hold of those that possess a spirit – for they were from below, while it was from above. This is the reason why "incorruptibility looked down into the region (etc.)": so that, by the father's will, she might bring the entirety into union with the light.
The rulers laid plans and said, "Come, let us create a man that will be soil from the earth." They modeled their creature as one wholly of the earth. Now the rulers [...] body [...] they have [...] female [...] is [...] with the face of a beast. They had taken some soil from the earth and modeled their man after their body and after the image of God that had appeared to them in the waters. They said, "Come, let us lay hold of it by means of the form that we have modeled, so that it may see its male counterpart [...], and we may seize it with the form that we have modeled" – not understanding the force of God, because of their powerlessness. And he breathed into his face; and the man came to have a soul (and remained) upon the ground many days. But they could not make him arise because of their powerlessness. Like storm winds they persisted (in blowing), that they might try to capture that image, which had appeared to them in the waters. And they did not know the identity of its power."
The Apocalypse of Adam has this quote summing up a soul falling into the sea of this world and then being delivered, "And the fifth kingdom says of him that he came from a drop from heaven. He was thrown into the sea. The abyss received him, gave birth to him, and brought him to heaven. He received glory and power. And thus he came to the water."
On The Origin of the World. This is a good quote from it, "Pistis came and appeared over the matter of chaos, which was cast off like an aborted fetus, since there was no spirit in it. For all of that is a boundless darkness and water of unfathomable depth. And when Pistis saw what came into being from her deficiency, she was disturbed." In this book matter is connected to chaos a lot as well and in Quantum Mechanics chance is a major feature of it.
In the Gnostic book called The Paraphrase of Shem the water is extremely emphasized as an evil thing where spirits dwell in ignorance. There are too many quotes to list but this website points them all out. This is one good quote about the water in this Gnostic book, "For if they mix with the evil ones, they become empty in the dark water. Where the water has been mentioned, there is nature, and the oath, and the lie, and the loss. For only in the unconceived spirit, where the exalted light rested, has the water not been mentioned, nor can it be mentioned."
This is another good quote from the same book, "Blessed are they who guard themselves against the heritage of death, which is the burdensome water of darkness. For it will not be possible to conquer them in a few moments, since they hasten to come forth from the error of the world. And if they are conquered, they will be kept back from them and be tormented in the darkness until the time of the consummation."
The Book of Thomas the Contender has this to say about the water, "Who is it that will cause the sun to shine upon you to disperse the darkness in you and hide the darkness and polluted water?".
In modern times there's a popular story about Cthulhu which is an alien creature that lives in the sea. It continues the ancient tradition of the sea being a dark place which represents this world. This is Wikipedia's description of it, "The short story that first mentions Cthulhu, "The Call of Cthulhu", was published in Weird Tales in 1928 and established the character as a malevolent entity, hibernating within R'lyeh, an underwater city in the South Pacific. The imprisoned Cthulhu is apparently the source of constant anxiety for mankind at a subconscious level, and also the subject of worship by a number of human religions (located several places worldwide, including New Zealand, Greenland, Louisiana, and the Chinese mountains) and other Lovecraftian monsters (called Deep Ones and Mi-Go). The short story asserts the premise that, while currently trapped, Cthulhu will eventually return. His worshippers chant "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" ("In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.")."
The subconscious mind and the sea go well together as being deep, dark and mysterious. Cthulhu can be seen as being the Demiurge of the Gnostic religion who lives as a god in the sea as the Hypostasis of the Archons put it. He is responsible for the bad feelings that Mankind because he inhabits their subconscious minds in a deep level that is out of sight, but which people suspect is there.
Evolutionists believe that Man is ultimately from the sea and so in a way Mankind is that sea creature that the Call of Cthulhu talks about.
On the Decoding Metallica page it is pointed out that Enter Sandman is a metaphor for the soul falling into this world and there is one scene that shows the boy in the nightmare world drowning and trying to get out of the water.
The story of Atlantis has symbolism that no one notices without it being explained. The Allegory of the Cave shows that Plato wasn't purely a materialist and his stories have deeper spiritual teachings. This city was above the sea which represents the material world. Atlantis was of a higher realm, as the dot in the circle symbolism suggests. The sinking of Atlantis into the sea is the sinking of the higher world into the material world and everything about its greatness being lost. Atlantis is of the higher realm and can only be brought back by being in the higher realm. It does not exist in the sea of blindness and forgetfulness.
Plato's description of Atlantis says that the center of this city, containing the Temple of Poseiden, its Holy of Holies, was surrounded by two circles separated by water. This temple was placed in the center representing the most appropriate place for a god to be placed.
The bridges and canal connecting them make it look like a giant wheel with the temple acting like its axis that made the whole of that society turn. The god in that temple was invisible, like anyone in the axis is. Nobody really sees the symbolism of the shape of Atlantis and asks why did it look like this? It is obviously a stratified system with the highest members of that society in the center of it, but it is also a dot in the circle, or even a Solar System, with the temple acting like the Sun and the bridges acting like its rays. Everything in that society followed the invisible force in the temple, like the planets follow the Sun.
There are no bridges connecting to the central island because the axis is separate and invisible to the rest of the wheel, like God's resting place would be, but there is a canal that connects directly to it to the outside. The outer city of Atlantis was surrounded by a great wall and the only way out of it appeared to be this canal that connects the center to the outside world. There is no going outside the confines of the sphere, otherwise it would no longer exist, but to exit it is to go into its center and move without moving out of it. Plato's Allegory of the Cave shows his mysticism and he wasn't purely of a material way of thinking. Most people assume Atlantis was purely a material civilisation but the symbolism clearly suggests something on a higher level.
This statement is from page 298 of the book called Diabolical on the subject of going into the center as a gateway to another reality which matches this symbolism of Atlantis, "The circle represents totality. The universe of the circle is everything contained within its boundary, and everything beyond its boundary is the unknown, the other. The circumference of a circle cannot be broken, symbolically speaking - it is perfect, seamless. Were it possible to break it, the circle would cease to exist. There is only one way into or out of a circle, and that is through the point of its center. But a point is infinitely small. Before it can act as a portal, it must be opened. This is done by means of the spiral. The turning spiral opens the center point of the circle, and passage is then possible through the opened point by means of the path of the ray, with proceeds like an arrow in a linear direction, from inside of the circle to the outside, but never through the boundary line of the circle which cannot be pierced without destroying the circle."
The part from that statement from Diabolical that says, "But a point is infinitely small", is that narrow gate that Jesus Christ mentioned in Matthew 7:13.
Revelation 21:1 makes a strange statement about the sea no longer existing in the future, or better still the center, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea." Was there something wrong with the sea that it needs to be removed from the new heaven and earth? Yes.
All particles in the Universe are excitations in the quantum field of space and time. As this video demonstrates at 5 minutes, 40 seconds, the quantum field really is like a sea and the waves of that sea are particles. The sea and the waves are really the same thing, except the waves are in a vibration instead of being calm and flat like the quantum field.
Interestingly enough it has been shown that photons and electrons behave like a flow of water in environments that are free from interference. In an environment free from distractions, particles will start behaving like an actual fluid. This is a quote from this article about photons acting like fluid, "In recent years, however, research has indicated that light can also behave like a liquid — flowing around objects and reconstituting on the other side. Previously, this phenomenon has only been observed under certain extreme conditions, such as laboratory chambers chilled to near absolute zero." As explained on this article electrons can also behave like a fluid, "Take water, for example. Water molecules are individual particles, but they travel as one according to the principles of fluid dynamics, carrying each other across a surface, making streams and whirlpools as they go. An electric current should essentially be able to do the same, but any collective behavior of electrons is usually overridden by impurities and vibrations in normal metals and even semiconductors. These 'distractions' knock electrons around as it travels and stops them from exhibiting fluid-like behavior." Perhaps other particles that make up the Universe can have the same behavior as well.