a reply to:
LABTECH767
The telestai of the Mysteries were sophisticated shamans, past masters of
"archaic techniques of ecstasy." Traditionall/, shamans were rhe intermediaries
between the human-made realm of culture and the nonhuman
realm of nature. Their special calling demanded a schizoid
capacity to move between two worlds, keep the two worlds distinct, and
effectuate exchanges between them. Schizophrenics naturally have this
mobility, but without a proper spiritual orientation and appropriate
training they are easily undone by it. Successfully managed schizophrenia
can result in great works of mythopoesis, as seen in the writings
of Antonin Artaucl, Philip K. Dick, and Carlos Casraneda, to cite iust
three (male) examples.
Mystery adepts who were responsible for the cultivation of human
potential to its optimal level took grear care nor ro risk schizophrenic
damage with their pupils and neophyres. They realized how easy it is to
induce and exploit schizophrenic states that can arise spontaneously in
the process of initiation. The requisite lowering, or total dissolution, of
the ego-self produces high suggestability in the subject. Neophytes in the
Mysteries were prime subjecrs for "imprinting," the process in which a
predetermined psychic content or program is implanted in the subcon-
SCHOOLS FOR COEVOLUTION
scious mind. Imprinting occurs universally in nature as the means by
which instinctual programs are transferred from one generation to
another. Ethologist Konrad Lorentz (1903-89) famously imprinted newborn
ducks, convicing them that he was their mother. Lorentz coined the
term "inner release mechanism" (IRM), whereby organisms are generically
predisposed to respond to certain stimuli. The ideas expressed in his
popular book Oa Aggression (1966) were known to initiates through their
intimate, firsthand observation of psychomimeric acriviries, formulated
today in the science of neurolinguistic programming.'u'
In short, the psyche can be rrained to imitate behavior modeled for it
ritualistically, or repeat assigned behavior when exposed to a specific
signal (posthypnotic suggestion). Such manipulations of the psyche
depend on the primary condition for intiation: temporary dissolution of
the filter of self-consciousness.
Behavioral manipulation, psychological programming, and mind control
were utterly repugnant to the genuine telestai of the ancienr
Mysteries. Such procedures represented to them a path leading away
from consecration to Sophia and the Great Work of coevolving with
nature, toward social engineering and personal power games. The goal
of the telestai was to foster a sane and balanced society by helping individuals
reach their peak potential, and never to interfere directly in
social management.
Over the course of time some initiates did take the path of social engineering,
however. Dissident members of the Gnostic movement who
came to be known as "Illuminati" chose to use initiatory knowledge to
develop and implement various techniques of behavior modification.
Originally, the Illuminati were members of the Magian order, an ancienr
Persian lineage of shamanism from which the Gnostic movement was
derived.* Historians understand the Magi to have been the priesthood of
Zoroaster, or Zarathustra. According to a scribal note written on the
margin of Alciabides /, a work attributed to Plato, "Zarathustra is said to
have been older than Plato by 6,000 years."'u' In her extraordinary and
little-known book, Plato Prehistorian, Mary Settegasr situates the rise of
the Magian order, the original priesthood of ancient Iranian religion, in
* It is impossible to develop this claim within the limits of this book. See my article "Gnosrics
or Illuminatil" on Metahistory.org.
I't /
148 A STORY TO GUIDE THE SPECIES
the Age of the Twins, around 5500 n.c.u., a date supported by the Greek
sources. The Age of the Twins, or Geminian Age, lasted from 6200 to
4300 s.c.n. The motif of duality associated with the constellation of the
Twins is consistent with the central theme of Iranian religion: absolute
cosmic duality, Good versus Evil.
But this type of duality is not what we find in Gnostic teachings. The
problem faced by the Magian predecessors of the Gnostics was the duality
of human intention, not the dichotomy of cosmic absolutes. Around 4000
n.c.r., with the rise of urban civilization in the Near East, some members
of the Magian order chose to apply certain secrets of initiation to statecraft
and social engineering. They became the advisors to the first
theocrats of the patriarchal nation-states, but in fact the advisors were
running the show. Their subjects were systematically programmed to
believe they were descended from the gods. The Illuminati inaugurated
elaborate rites of empowerment, or kingship rituals. These rituals were
in fact methods of mind control exercised on the general populace
through the collective symbology and mystique of royal authority.
Kingship rituals were distinct from the rites of initiation that led to
instruction by the Light and consecration to the Great Goddess. Their
purpose was not education and enlightenment, but social management.
Gnostics refrained from assuming any role in politics because their intention
was not to change society but to produce skilled, well-balanced,
enlightened individuals who would create a society good enough that it
did not need to be run by external management. The intention of the dissident
Magians to run society by covert controls was based on their
assumption that human beings are not innately good enough, or gifted
enough, to create a humane world. This difference in views of human
potential was the main factor that precipitated the division of the
Magians.
Historians recognize a split in the Magian order, but do not understand
either its origin or its consequences. Within the order, the telestai
were given the title of uaedemna, "seer," "wise one," as distinguished
from the priest, the zoatar, who officiated openly in society and advised
Middle Eastern theocrats on matters of statecraft and social morality, not
to mention agricultural planning-for Zoroaster was by all accounts
responsible for the introduction of planned, large-scale agriculture. It is
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generally agreed that women discovered by gathering plants how to cultivate
them, and men later expanded this discovery into the ancient
equivalent to agribusiness. So arose the first theocratic city-states in the
Fertile Crescent. (Civilization may be defined as rhe way of life that
begins by amassing vegetables ro increase population, and ends with a
population of vegetables.) Urban populations required social conrrol,
and the Illuminati assumed the role of planners and controllers-more
often than not, hidden controllers.
ln Plato Prehistorian, Mary Settegast explains that "at one extreme
Zarathustra has been described as a primitive ecstatic, a kind of
'shaman'; at the other, as a worldly familiar of Chorasmian kings and
court politics."'o'The distinction between the shaman-seer and the sacerdotal
figure engaged in court politics exemplifies the split in the
Magian order. In book 3 of the Republic,Plato disclosed the Illuminati
rationale: "contrive a noble lie that would in itself carry the conviction of
our entire community." The first recorded use of the word gnostios
occurs in Plato's Politicus (258e-267a) where the ideal politician is
defined as "the master of the Gnostic art.