Medium Eva Carrière photographed in 1912, with an apparent light appearing
between her hands.
The history of truth, by recovering ancient wisdom, is
expected not only to discuss the various opinions of
earlier thinkers, but also to demonstrate the sources of
true knowledge and wisdom, trace the paths they had
followed through time, and make clear how those
trajectories harmonized or coincided with certain
unquestionable truths, for instance, humans need food
and water to survive; there is a g-d, or g-ds; what
happens after this life, etc.
Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have
rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And
since you have forgotten the law of your G-d, I also will forget your
children.
Isaiah 5:13
Therefore, my people go into exile for their lack of knowledge;
And their honorable men are famished, And their multitude is
parched with thirst.
Ancient wisdom as a genuine source of revelation. The
importance of original source materials, ancient writings,
symbols, images, etc. Mining to the depths of our civilizations
and histories to discover meaning buried in neglect and
misunderstanding. “Divine subjects and secret mysteries
when committed to writing must be covered with enigmatic
veils.” (Pico della Mirandola, 15th century, Commento)
“G-d has implanted in the souls of all men the truths which he taught
through the Prophets and the Savior”
Origen Adamantius (184-253)
Love of knowledge (zhī 知/zhì 智) as our initial inspiration, of
perseverance, of investigating and being curious about nature and
things in their evolution, degeneration, and continuity, to try and
reach a “higher learning” (dà xué 大學). Esoteric vs. exoteric; what is
“inner” vs. what is “outer”. Used together as a hermeneutic
method.
The “inner” (esoteric) dimension (myth, symbolism,
imagination; superior knowledge of divine mysteries) was
seen as the true secret of “outward” (exoteric) religion. But
we need the spirit in order to get started. We just can’t be
made up of machine parts. Or are we? If so, if there is no G-
d(s), no spirit, no natural mystic, then what is everyone who
practices religion and anything mystical doing?
“Zoroaster took magic to be the cult of G-d and study of divinity. He
studied every virtue and power of nature in order to know those sacred
and sublime secrets of the divine intellect; which subject many people
called theurgy, others Kabbalah or magic.”
Pico della Mirandola, Ancient Theology
Good magic is “the perfect and highest wisdom” being the
“knowledge of divine things.”
Pico della Mirandola
The English words magic, mage and magician come from the
Latin term magus, through the Greek μάγος, which is from
the Old Persian maguš. (𐎶𐎦𐎢𐏁|𐎶𐎦𐎢𐏁, magician). The Old
Persian magu- is derived from the Proto-Indo-European
megʰ-*magh ‘be able’. The Persian term may have led to
the Old Sinitic *Mγag ‘mage or shaman’ wū 巫:
(ca. 13th century BCE) (5th century BCE)
《》 ，古文巫。
Wū is to pray (< invoke the spirits). A female that is able to
serve the formless, and to cause the spirits to descend
through dance. (The shape of the graph) resembles the two
sleeves of a person when dancing; it has the same meaning
as the word gōng 工. In antiquity, Magician Xián was the first
to serve as a magician.
《》“《》𤫊或从巫。’古代巫師以玉為靈物，故以交錯的玉形代表巫祝的巫。
In oracle bone and bronze script, the shape of the graph resembles
two crisscrossing pieces of jade. The Shuōwén jiězì (dictionary ca
AD 120): ‘líng ‘numinous’ > líng wū ‘magician’ uses jades to serve
the spirits. The graph 靈 derives from ‘jade’ with 霝 as the sound…
Magicians in antiquity recognized jades as numinous objects, and
thus for this reason the shape of crisscrossing jades served to
represent the word wū writing the word wū zhù ‘prayer-maker’/
‘invocator’.
shì 筮： ‘use milfoil stalks to divine’ 用蓍草占卜
wū 誣 ‘deceive’ (說話虛妄不實)
‘soul’/ ‘spirit’ : líng 靈
“My soul cannot be the object of my judgment and
knowledge --- rather, my judgment and knowledge are
objects of my soul.”
我的灵魂不能成为我判断和知识的对象——相反，我的判断和知识是我灵魂的对象.
Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), The Red Book
Usually equated to the paranormal. The paranormal is what lies outside of
normal experience or scientific explanation. It goes against the rational.
It produces skepticism.
Science is essentially a cumulative, a progressive activity, characterized
by rationality and skepticism. (George Sarton 1924)
People who study esotericism are just as interested as the weeds
are they are the flowers; just as interested in the sand as with the
gold that is found in it; just as interested in the chaff as the grain
culled from it.” They study the “other”, the part that is usually
ripped off and tossed away; it’s deemed the unusable.
Record of Observed Images
The importance of observation
Describing phenomena > phenomenology (現象學)
Phenomenology is essentially a method of describing
phenomena, which means the things that appear to us,
whether physical objects in the outer world, or my thoughts,
images, feelings and so on that seem to reside in my inner
world, my mind.
Phenomenon 現象
Origin
Late 16th century: via late Latin from Greek
phainomenon thing appearing to view, based on
phainein to show.
Defining “knowledge”
What is knowledge?
facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education; the theoretical or
practical understanding of a subject.
zhī 知 ‘know’ zhì 智‘knowledge;
wisdom’
understand 知道, perception 知覺, recognize 認識, know
about or make sense of 了解, wisdom 智慧
說文解字 (dictionary of 121 AD): 《》从口从矢。(In the section of
words written with ‘arrow’ shǐ 矢: zhī ‘to know’ means
‘words’. The graph 知 derives from ‘mouth’ and ‘arrow’.
This makes no sense.
墨子·經上：知，聞、說、親。名、實、合、為。
To know. By hearsay, by explanation, by personal
experience.
The name, the object, how to relate, how to act.
子+大+册 子+册 于+矢/大+册
dà 大 'big' > 'adult man' + zǐ 子 'child' + cè 冊 'document'
dà 大 evolved into shǐ 矢 'arrow; promise', which is the sound of the word; zǐ 子 evolved into
yú 于 'preposition'; cè 冊 evolved into 口 'mouth'
‘wisdom’ in ancient Egypt
sŝ (sesh) 'scribe' (noun).; 'write' (verb), 'paint', 'inscribe'
sŝ3 (sesha) 'prayer'
Ŝs3 (shesa) 'be wise'; 'wisdom'; 'be skilled'
ŝs3w (shesaw) 'medical prescription'
Seshat, 'godess of wisdom’