11-04-2006, 12:00 AM
I have not completely formulated this in my mind as yet, but I have been getting some interesting ideas lately.
As usual, being a believing Christian, a student of the Qabala and having been "weened" on the books of Carlos C., I look for "parallels" in these three systems of knowledge, for "In the multitude of councilors there is Wisdom."
In the teachings of Don Juan there is the mention of the "Assemblage Point" which moves inward as a person becomes aware of alternate or other worlds. Don Juan likens it to moving closer to a persons center as if a person was similar to an onion having skins or layers within layers.
This reminds me of Genesis when Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden or Paradise and God gave them "Coats of Skins". In other words, we Adam or Mankind were created
without those skins. In that Paradise, the Garden, Adam walked and talked with God in the "cool of the day". That magical "time between times" in the evening and the morning when the veils of the unseen are thinnest. After "Falling" from the Garden mankind had these layers or skins which kept him/her from experiencing both god and the "depths" of himself.
In the Qabala, the study of the "Tree of Life" or Jewish Mysticism, the "Tree of life" is a Glyph or composite symbol that represents both the "Macrocosm" the universe and God's manifestation within it. And the "Microcosm" or man's total being, body, soul and spirit.
This "Tree of Life" as it is called is usually represented as a series of circles, "Sephirahs" and lines or "energy Paths" between those Sephirahs.
I don't want to get too far into that but to point out that this glyph which represents both mankind And the Universe is also sometimes represented as cicles within circles,... Like an onion. The closer the circle to the center, the closer to the Source. Whether that Source be looked at as God the Creator or our own Spirit.
There are two "Parallels" to show that the Kabbalah and Castaneda have similar ideas.
Now, the Bible.
Later in the Bible is the story of Abraham, the "Father of Faith". He is also called "Stranger in a Strange Land". He is a believer in the invisible in that he believed God's promises to him even though they seemed unbelievable.
He is told to leave his family and his country and all that he knew to go to a land that he "knew not".
He was to leave a place called "UR of the Chaldees" or "Light of the Magicians". In other words he was bewitched by the description of the world shared by ordinary men. He believed God and it was "Counted to him as Righteousness".
He went. God made a covenant with him that He would bring him into this new land.
God told him "...you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins throughout your Generations"
In the New Testament Paul tells us that these things are ALEGORY.
To be "circumcised in the flesh" means that this will happen in this lifetime.
That it happens "Throughout his Generations" means that each new awareness leads to another awareness and on and on. As he/we open our awarenesses by pealing away the layers of flesh (this world's description of reality).
Like the layers of an Onion!!!! To reveal Reality!
The new land is the "Promised Land" or "Kingdom of Heaven".
The promise is to those that believe the promise (Children of Abraham.)
The Kingdom of Heaven is Inside of you and Outside of you.
And available,...now.
So, we see the Onion in the Kabbalah, Castaneda and the Bible.
"In the multitude of councilors there is wisdom."
As usual, being a believing Christian, a student of the Qabala and having been "weened" on the books of Carlos C., I look for "parallels" in these three systems of knowledge, for "In the multitude of councilors there is Wisdom."
In the teachings of Don Juan there is the mention of the "Assemblage Point" which moves inward as a person becomes aware of alternate or other worlds. Don Juan likens it to moving closer to a persons center as if a person was similar to an onion having skins or layers within layers.
This reminds me of Genesis when Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden or Paradise and God gave them "Coats of Skins". In other words, we Adam or Mankind were created
without those skins. In that Paradise, the Garden, Adam walked and talked with God in the "cool of the day". That magical "time between times" in the evening and the morning when the veils of the unseen are thinnest. After "Falling" from the Garden mankind had these layers or skins which kept him/her from experiencing both god and the "depths" of himself.
In the Qabala, the study of the "Tree of Life" or Jewish Mysticism, the "Tree of life" is a Glyph or composite symbol that represents both the "Macrocosm" the universe and God's manifestation within it. And the "Microcosm" or man's total being, body, soul and spirit.
This "Tree of Life" as it is called is usually represented as a series of circles, "Sephirahs" and lines or "energy Paths" between those Sephirahs.
I don't want to get too far into that but to point out that this glyph which represents both mankind And the Universe is also sometimes represented as cicles within circles,... Like an onion. The closer the circle to the center, the closer to the Source. Whether that Source be looked at as God the Creator or our own Spirit.
There are two "Parallels" to show that the Kabbalah and Castaneda have similar ideas.
Now, the Bible.
Later in the Bible is the story of Abraham, the "Father of Faith". He is also called "Stranger in a Strange Land". He is a believer in the invisible in that he believed God's promises to him even though they seemed unbelievable.
He is told to leave his family and his country and all that he knew to go to a land that he "knew not".
He was to leave a place called "UR of the Chaldees" or "Light of the Magicians". In other words he was bewitched by the description of the world shared by ordinary men. He believed God and it was "Counted to him as Righteousness".
He went. God made a covenant with him that He would bring him into this new land.
God told him "...you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins throughout your Generations"
In the New Testament Paul tells us that these things are ALEGORY.
To be "circumcised in the flesh" means that this will happen in this lifetime.
That it happens "Throughout his Generations" means that each new awareness leads to another awareness and on and on. As he/we open our awarenesses by pealing away the layers of flesh (this world's description of reality).
Like the layers of an Onion!!!! To reveal Reality!
The new land is the "Promised Land" or "Kingdom of Heaven".
The promise is to those that believe the promise (Children of Abraham.)
The Kingdom of Heaven is Inside of you and Outside of you.
And available,...now.
So, we see the Onion in the Kabbalah, Castaneda and the Bible.
"In the multitude of councilors there is wisdom."