Fragment: 8

It is time to understand the connection of consciousness, and religion, or more accurately with the gods. C.G. Jung noted that the "Old gods hild the consciousness of primitive men in thrall". My paraphrase. To understand the nature of the gods, we must also understand the nature of the gods, we must also understand the nature of consciousness. Consciousness is based on a duality. That a fragment of the mind can self-reflect on the contents of the mind. This is why the Neoplatonists hid that the One cannot be conscious, because it would make the One a duality. This is of course, not an issue that present day monotheists bother with, such it the arrogance of the present day. To understand consciousness it is useful to borrow a term from alchemy: The homunculus. The homunculus is the little man in the head.The director of conscious activity. Sometimes the homunculus goes under the name of conscience. The homunculus is a nexus of emotions and information that becomes identified with the "I" or the "self". The homunculus is the I, or the ego of the conscious subject. The duality that allows humans to both self-reflect, and direct psychic resources to a long term project. Therefore it enjoys the apex position in consciousness. The homunculus approves some some emotions and responses, while disapproving other emotions and activities that hinder or get in the way of the goal. Thus acting as a self-restraining mechanism, as well as a director. It seems this activity of being a homunculus was the original meaning and function of a god. In classical Egypt the definition of a god was originally wide enough to include deceased ancestors, as well as the classical gods. In other words ancestor worship is a form of imitation. It was only through this predictable and standardized activity that civilization could be built. Maybe, this is why all the ancient cultures believed their culture a gift of the gods. It should be obvious that no society can come about if the members do not check their emotions and emotional responses. We notice in ancient societies every profession had a patron god. This is how ancient societies could bind knowledge without writhing. The god of the activity is invoked. The rituals contain the information and emotions needed to carry out the desired activity. A simple example would be a god of the hunt. A ceremonial dance being the ritual. The dance is imitative of a real hunt, the physical activity of the dance would bring forth the memory of hunting in those that had been on previous hunts, and would prepare those that had previous hunts of the activity required for a successful hunt. Thus the god of the hunt is invoked by the hunting party. And so with all the gods, if one wanted to be a scribe there was Thoth, and embalmer Anubis, etc. The god becomes the homunculus of the person, thus directing the mental and emotional responses needed to carry out the desired activity. The gods exist both in the minds of men , and in the cultural artifacts societies produce. Examples of artifacts would be temples, art, writings, etc. The gods are also memes that can travel from person to person, or culture to culture. War-gods usually travel well. Everyone wants to be successful in war. This is why the chaos Magos Peter J. Carroll said: "Gods and men make each other, in each others image." To sum up a god is a nexus of information and emotion, that becomes the director of conscious activity in humans. Approving the activities and emotions that lead to the desired goal, and disapproving those that do not. As we know all to well from history and personal experience the director (homunculus) is often overwhelmed by contrary emotions, this is when a person is said "lose control." It was Akhenaten that first got eh idea (probably in a dream) that all humans could be unified under the dominion of one god: Aten. Akhenaten's experiment failed, but that has not stopped people throughout history of trying the same experiment. Even though it always fails. The activity that Aten is the patron of is the law of non-contradiction, the universalizing of thought and activity. The problem is Aten like all machines has to be set up. To be able to tell the difference between non-being and being. And the definition of Being is always a presupposition base on the geographic, intellectual, and emotional environment of a people. As I have said: Aten is like a giant threshing machine, always cutting away what is set a Being from what is set as non-Being or illusion. As I have noted in previous "Fragments" there is always a book or writings that tells how to set Aten. Examples would be the Bible, the Quran, Or Marxist writings. These writings the cutting blades of Aten, to what is acceptable, and what is unacceptable. And tose persons or doctrines that are not acceptable are cut away. This is why all monotheism result in dualism. Islam is usually regarded as the most uncompromising monotheism, and so is the most violent in what is cut away as false. The punishment of apostasy is death in Islam. Condemning Islam to perpetual violence. This is why Progressives always think they are in sole possession of Truth. Even though their Utopia always fails. And it is the reason that monotheism always turns in of itself. The many sects of Christianity, an Islam are good examples. The reason being that Aten's promise of a One is whether in theory (philosophic systems), or practice (political Utopia) is a lie. The is no perfect One in society or metaphysics. The trouble is all the failures have not resulted in people giving up on a perfect One. Instead each failure leads to a search for someone to blame. This can result in a reformation, but usually results in more cults, or persecution of a blamed group. Progressives blame everyone but themselves and their ideology for their failures, Islam blames unbelievers and those they think are not carrying out the orthodox faith, etc. All the sects believe they are in possession of absolute truth. This is the reason for all the violence in Islam, and why Progressives more and more oppressive as they gain power. Instead of realizing that their goal is a lie, they seek someone to blame. The solution is to give up monotheism, and not to try to fix it. Next "Fragment" I shall discuss how Aten can be bound and used only for his original purpose. By a Necromancer