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HPB-SD(ed.1) v.2 p.1 st.12 sl.47-49 ch.Curse: Difference between revisions
HPB-SD(ed.1) v.2 p.1 st.12 sl.47-49 ch.Curse (view source)
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But “ Argos ” is ''Arghya Varsha'', the land of libation of the old Hierophants, whence the deliverer of Humanity will appear, a name which became ages later that of its neighbour, India — the Arya-varta of old. | But “ Argos ” is ''Arghya Varsha'', the land of libation of the old Hierophants, whence the deliverer of Humanity will appear, a name which became ages later that of its neighbour, India — the Arya-varta of old. | ||
That the subject formed part of the Sabasian mysteries is made known by several ancient writers : by Cicero (''in Tuscul. Quæst. ''1, ''ii. No. ''20) and by Clemens Alexandrinus (''Strom''. 1, ''ii.'', ''oper. tom''. 1, ''p''. 467 — ''Ed. Potter''’''s )''. The latter writers are the only ones who attribute the fact that Æschylus was charged by the Athenians with sacrilege and condemned to be stoned to death, to its true cause. They say that having been himself uninitiated, Æschylus had profaned the Mysteries by exposing them in his trilogies on a public stage. * But he would have incurred the same condemnation had he been initiated — which must have been the case, as otherwise he must, like Socrates, have had a ''daimon ''to reveal to him the secret and sacred allegorical drama of initiation. At all events, it is not the “ father of the Greek tragedy ” who invented the prophecy of Prometheus ; for he only repeated in dramatic form that which was revealed by the priests during the mysteria of the Sabasia. † The latter, however, is one of the oldest sacred festivals, whose origin is to this day unknown to history. Mythologists connect it through Mithras (the Sun, called Sabasius on some old monuments) with Jupiter and Bacchus. But it was never the property of the Greeks, but dates from days immemorial. | That the subject formed part of the Sabasian mysteries is made known by several ancient writers : by Cicero (''in Tuscul. Quæst. ''1, ''ii. No. ''20) and by Clemens Alexandrinus (''Strom''. 1, ''ii.'', ''oper. tom''. 1, ''p''. 467 — ''Ed. Potter''’''s )''. The latter writers are the only ones who attribute the fact that Æschylus was charged by the Athenians with sacrilege and condemned to be stoned to death, to its true cause. They say that having been himself uninitiated, Æschylus had profaned the Mysteries by exposing them in his trilogies on a public stage. * But he would have incurred the same condemnation had he been initiated — which must have been the case, as otherwise he must, like Socrates, have had a ''daimon ''to reveal to him the secret and sacred allegorical drama of initiation. At all events, it is not the “ father of the Greek tragedy ” who invented the prophecy of Prometheus ; for he only repeated in dramatic form that which was revealed by the priests during the {{Style S-Small capitals|mysteria}} of the Sabasia. † The latter, however, is one of the oldest sacred festivals, whose origin is to this day unknown to history. Mythologists connect it through Mithras (the Sun, called Sabasius on some old monuments) with Jupiter and Bacchus. But it was never the property of the Greeks, but dates from days immemorial. | ||
The translators of the drama wonder how Æschylus could become guilty of such “ discrepancy between the character of Zeus as portrayed in the ‘ Prometheus Bound ’ and that depicted in the remaining dramas.” (''Mrs. A. Swanwick.'') This is just because Æschylus, like Shakespeare, was and will ever remain the intellectual “ Sphinx ” of the ages. Between Zeus, the abstract deity of Grecian thought, and the Olympic Zeus, there was an abyss. The latter represented during the mysteries no higher a principle than the lower aspect of human physical intelligence — ''Manas ''wedded to ''Kama ; ''Prometheus — its divine aspect merging into and aspiring to Buddhi — the divine Soul. Zeus was the human soul and nothing more, whenever shown yielding to his lower passions, — the ''jealous ''God, revengeful and cruel in its egotism or {{Style S-Small capitals|I-am-ness}}. Hence, Zeus is represented as a serpent — the intellectual tempter of man — which, nevertheless, begets in the course of | The translators of the drama wonder how Æschylus could become guilty of such “ discrepancy between the character of Zeus as portrayed in the ‘ Prometheus Bound ’ and that depicted in the remaining dramas.” (''Mrs. A. Swanwick.'') This is just because Æschylus, like Shakespeare, was and will ever remain the intellectual “ Sphinx ” of the ages. Between Zeus, the abstract deity of Grecian thought, and the Olympic Zeus, there was an abyss. The latter represented during the mysteries no higher a principle than the lower aspect of human physical intelligence — ''Manas ''wedded to ''Kama ; ''Prometheus — its divine aspect merging into and aspiring to Buddhi — the divine Soul. Zeus was the human soul and nothing more, whenever shown yielding to his lower passions, — the ''jealous ''God, revengeful and cruel in its egotism or {{Style S-Small capitals|I-am-ness}}. Hence, Zeus is represented as a serpent — the intellectual tempter of man — which, nevertheless, begets in the course of | ||
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There is one eternal Law in nature, one that always tends to adjust contraries and to produce final harmony. It is owing to this law of spiritual development superseding the physical and purely intellectual, that mankind will become freed from its false gods, and find itself finally — ''SELF-REDEEMED''. | There is one eternal Law in nature, one that always tends to adjust contraries and to produce final harmony. It is owing to this law of spiritual development superseding the physical and purely intellectual, that mankind will become freed from its false gods, and find itself finally — ''SELF-REDEEMED''. | ||
In its final revelation, the old myth of Prometheus — his ''proto- ''and ''anti''-types being found in every ancient theogony — stands in each of them at the very origin of physical evil, because at the threshold of human physical life. Kronos is “ Time,” whose first law is that the order of the successive and harmonious phases in the process of evolution during cyclic development should be strictly preserved — under the severe penalty of abnormal growth with all its ensuing results. It was not in the programme of natural development that man — higher animal though he may be — should become at once — intellectually, spiritually, and psychically — the demi-god he is on earth, while his physical frame remains weaker and more helpless and ephemeral than that of almost any huge mammal. The contrast is too grotesque and violent ; the tabernacle much too unworthy of its indwelling god. The gift of Prometheus thus became a curse — though ''foreknown ''and ''foreseen ''by the host personified in that personage, as his name well shows. * It is in this that rests, at one and the same time, | In its final revelation, the old myth of Prometheus — his ''proto- ''and ''anti''-types being found in every ancient theogony — stands in each of them at the very origin of physical evil, because at the threshold of human physical life. {{Style S-Small capitals|Kronos}} is “ Time,” whose first law is that the order of the successive and harmonious phases in the process of evolution during cyclic development should be strictly preserved — under the severe penalty of abnormal growth with all its ensuing results. It was not in the programme of natural development that man — higher animal though he may be — should become at once — intellectually, spiritually, and psychically — the demi-god he is on earth, while his physical frame remains weaker and more helpless and ephemeral than that of almost any huge mammal. The contrast is too grotesque and violent ; the tabernacle much too unworthy of its indwelling god. The gift of Prometheus thus became a curse — though ''foreknown ''and ''foreseen ''by the host personified in that personage, as his name well shows. * It is in this that rests, at one and the same time, | ||
{{Footnotes start}} | {{Footnotes start}} | ||
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{{Style P-No indent|its sin and its redemption. For the Host that incarnated in a portion of humanity, though led to it by Karma or ''Nemesis'', preferred free-will to passive slavery, intellectual self-conscious pain and even torture — “ while myriad time shall flow ” — to inane, imbecile, instinctual beatitude. Knowing such an incarnation was premature and not in the programme of nature, the heavenly host, “ Prometheus,” still sacrificed itself to benefit thereby, at least, one portion of mankind. * But while saving man from mental darkness, they inflicted upon him the tortures of the self-consciousness of his responsibility — the result of his free will — besides every ill to which mortal man and flesh are heir to. This torture Prometheus accepted for himself, since the Host became hence-forward blended with the tabernacle prepared for them, which was still unachieved at that period of formation.}} | {{Style P-No indent|its sin and its redemption. For the Host that incarnated in a portion of humanity, though led to it by Karma or ''Nemesis'', preferred free-will to passive slavery, intellectual self-conscious pain and even torture — “ while myriad time shall flow ” — to inane, imbecile, instinctual beatitude. Knowing such an incarnation was premature and not in the programme of nature, the heavenly host, “ Prometheus,” still sacrificed itself to benefit thereby, at least, one portion of mankind. * But while saving man from mental darkness, they inflicted upon him the tortures of the self-consciousness of his responsibility — the result of his free will — besides every ill to which mortal man and flesh are heir to. This torture Prometheus accepted for himself, since the Host became hence-forward blended with the tabernacle prepared for them, which was still unachieved at that period of formation.}} | ||
Spiritual evolution being incapable of keeping pace with the physical, once its homogeneity was broken by the admixture, the gift thus became the chief cause, if not the sole origin of ''Evil.'' † The allegory which shows Kronos cursing Zeus for dethroning him (in the primitive “ golden ” age of Saturn, when all men were demi-gods), and for creating a physical race of men weak and helpless in comparison ; and then as delivering to his (Zeus’) revenge the culprit, who despoiled the gods of their prerogative of creation and who thereby raised man to their level, intellectually and spiritually — is highly philosophical. In the case of Prometheus, Zeus represents the Host of the primeval progenitors, of the pitar, the “ Fathers ” who created man senseless | Spiritual evolution being incapable of keeping pace with the physical, once its homogeneity was broken by the admixture, the gift thus became the chief cause, if not the sole origin of ''Evil.'' † The allegory which shows {{Style S-Small capitals|Kronos}} cursing Zeus for dethroning him (in the primitive “ golden ” age of Saturn, when all men were demi-gods), and for creating a physical race of men weak and helpless in comparison ; and then as delivering to his (Zeus’) revenge the culprit, who despoiled the gods of their prerogative of creation and who thereby raised man to their level, intellectually and spiritually — is highly philosophical. In the case of Prometheus, Zeus represents the Host of the primeval progenitors, of the pitar, the “ Fathers ” who created man senseless | ||
{{Footnotes start}} | {{Footnotes start}} | ||