The 18th century Esoteric Doctrine of Big Brother

It is a somewhat unknown fact that the doctrine of Big Brother traces back to the 18th century mystic Jacob Frank and that it is strangely prophetic as recorded in his writings The Collection of the Words of the Lord/Jacob Frank, Big Brother is considered to be King over Kings in this doctrine, and ever behind the screen.

If you had been in wholeness, then I would have sent one of you with a pass from that Maiden to the Big Brother. Having come to that screen, you would have found one guard, who would have asked you, Where are you going? You would have replied, I seek my brothers.

Only then would he have led you with that pass to the Big Brother. But you must know that at his place are rooms without number; and there are many of them in which he has not been since the beginning, for he is made to forget them.

Big Brother resides in that room in which all things are known and determined, according to the doctrine;

Among them is one room in which all the deeds of men are written down nightly and all the words they speak during the day. He himself sees and watches over everything that happens here in this world. And if you had entered that room, you would have found there those words that I would have told you here that day. All would have been written down clearly there before you, and you would have read there that you were to say to the Big Brother that he should enter that room he had never been in. You would already have known of which room I speak, because there it would have been appointed in my words.

Now the question is of course was the rise of Big Brother and the surveillance state inevitable because Big Brother is a genuine phenomena or rather that this represents a religious ideal for some?

In that room the Big Brother himself would there have read all my words, which I would have spoken with him from here. Know that he cannot now get through that screen, but just so I would have revealed to him by what means he could get across the barrier. He himself does not now have the power of crossing

For Big Brother to manifest in this world, to cross to the other side of the screen, he requires Followers within which to become incarnate.

Also the Big Brother and his brothers say that I am not yet the one who has come to unite with them, for they see that you rejected me and did not want to follow me and from that they deduce that that time has not yet come. Know also that the Big Brother always tries to see if he can get past his screen, but some thing draws him back to his place, from which he concludes that there is something higher over them.

There is no evidence that George Orwell was aware of this doctrine when he wrote his novel, but then again there isn't any that he wasn't, only that wikipedia is oblivious to any connection to this doctrine.

..but to the Big Brother himself I would have given advice on how he might get through his screen; and all of that would have been through you. If that Big Brother had come to me, then you would have seen what would have happened in the world.

It seems to be the case that Big Brother wishes to subjugate the World;

That Big Brother is before God and has the power of granting growth, beauty, and riches, but as to this world in which we are, it is not known to him by what means to seize it, so as to subjugate it.

The sign of the Coming of Big Brother shall be the Rainbow;

Therefore it is my desire to unite with him, for both of us could lead the thing out with strength, in the open, and that is what stands with you, Do not hope for the steps of the messiah until you see the rainbow in bright colors, that indicates that Big Brother.

In terms of greater tradition this seems to derive from Hekhalot literature relating to visions of ascents into heavenly palaces, a strange variation of such.

At [the place of] that Brother there are very many rooms, for every power there is in the world there is for every one— individually— a room there. He himself has the key to every room, like to child-bearing, rain, resurrection and so on; everything is there. But there is one room to which he also has the key, but which he may not approach, for his power is weak; and that power which is there in that room will not permit him to take the key in his hand. And therefore I set you up as Brothers and Sisters, just as it is at [the place of] that Big Brother. And if you had come to that closed room, everyone would have seen his fortune there.

This is all highly anomalous.

Sounds more like an Akashic Records religious kind of thing than a police state. Although I do have a sneaking suspicion that "Heaven" is quite totalitarian.

a reply to: schuyler

There are correspondences to that but also a concern with the generation of control, the administrative centre of the Universe as an architectural complex.

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

Breaking...Big Brother has just banned Mister Metokur from Youtube and Twitter, war in Heaven to commence immediatly.

a reply to: Madrusa

It reminds me more of a God metaphor and the extracts are very reminiscent of Biblical extracts. The 'rooms without number' is a rephrasing of John 14:2-3, 'In my Father’s house are many mansions.' I'm not a big Bible thumper, I just happen to be familiar with this part of scripture.

Among them is one room in which all the deeds of men are written down nightly and all the words they speak during the day. He himself sees and watches over everything that happens here in this world.

Again this is pretty standard with the idea that God acts like Santa Claus with a double-entry bookkeeping system. Good column/bad column and see if a person is in credit at the end.

Also the Big Brother and his brothers say that I am not yet the one who has come to unite with them, for they see that you rejected me and did not want to follow me and from that they deduce that that time has not yet come.

Bit of Jesus in there as well as the God thing about requiring followers. There's no middle ground, it's all follow me or reject me.

I notice in the book's preamble that the author spent time around sects who believed in messiahs. Schuyler's 'akashic' reference is probably on key because these types of sects dwelt on 'ascended masters' and a panoply of entities who'd offer salvation. In this particular case, Frank was part of a Polish Jewish sect who believed there had been a Jewish Messiah in their midst.

I'm seeing God metaphors and you're seeing Orwellian dystopic metaphors. We're both wrong and 'Big Brother' would have been the purported Messiah. I think at any one time there are several 'messiahs' going strong somewhere on the planet. Some seem to have at least a semblance of strangeness whereas the rest are a hodgepodge of narcissists and exploitative sociopaths. 'Big Brother' works as it implies love, bonding and loyalty whilst the 'big' ensures the hierarchy is pitched in their favour.

a reply to: Kandinsky

Yes i noted the correspondence to John 14:2-3 but that appears in an otherwise unknown context suggesting there was an obscure tradition it derived from, in the general sense Hekhalot literature but in terms of specifics the tradition could have developed from the ancient Egyptian House of Life, the scribal cult that created and archived Egyptian sacred texts.

There is a basis for considering Big Brother as the Celestial archetype of the Messiah but the distinction between religion and politics is very blurred in terms of the radicalism that Jacob Frank inspired, there would have been those among Neo-Frankist radicals that understood the revolutionary ideal was to usher in the reign of Big Brother and it's not inconceivable that Orwell's involvement with such groups made him aware of the premise.

After the revolution comes Big Brother, who rules the earth.

Sabbatean-Frankism as the Paradigm of the Modern Left

History of Jewish radicalism

a reply to: Madrusa

It seems like humanity has a finite pot of ideas which we repeat through different ages. Characterising heaven/paradise/hereafters as mansions and 'many rooms' seems quite intuitive and I'm not surprised to see the expression across cultures.

There's another parallel that might suit your ideas in the OP too. Orwell's 'Big Brother' has also been used to describe the dystopic concept of a 'Panopticon.' In this concept, the many rooms are like metaphorical cells in full view of our erstwhile 'gods' who promise freedom and security for the price of our privacy. It's the ultimate control system and discussed by people like Foucault, Derrida and then Ed Snowden. Obviously, Snowden's version takes Foucault's theoretical fears and renders them as a growing reality.

There is a basis for considering Big Brother as the Celestial archetype of the Messiah but the distinction between religion and politics is very blurred in terms of the radicalism that Jacob Frank inspired, there would have been those among Neo-Frankist radicals that understood the revolutionary ideal was to usher in the reign of Big Brother and it's not inconceivable that Orwell's involvement with such groups made him aware of the premise.

I get very nervous around these areas of human belief systems. They're religious and political, but then so are all religions. It's where they touch on the messiah side and radicalism that gets me worried. It always seems to be the way that these spiritualist movements overlay and conceal something excessively authoritarian. Usually far-Right, but can include far-Left groups too. It's something we see in the conspiracy and esoterica world too. Blavatsky, Dudley-Pelley and the New Age movements seemed to insist on a 'freedom' that essentially demanded homogeneity under threat of either divine retribution or collective rejection and punishments.

I'm in danger of waffling so will stop...

a reply to: Kandinsky

It can be considered intuitive with regards to how the mind operates in terms of compartmentalization but then again perhaps that is a fallacy as there is no known centralized control within the mind, the idea of the Panopticon though can be considered a product of esoteric thought.

“…the major effect of the Panopticon: to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power”. 15 One can compare this analysis to the role of the telescreen in George Orwell‟s 1984

Kabbalist in the Heart of the Storm

There is obvious authoritarianism in supposing that one can somehow merge with or become the very incarnation of a presumed Divine centralized control but that is what we are currently seeing in terms of self righteous censorship and the shutting down of all dissenting opinions, the emergence of Big Brother as the Messianic utopia, for those who have taken control.