#chicago gnosis

[chicagognosis]

Spiritual discipline is what awakens us to divine reality, not belief.

Gnosis signifies knowledge from experience. Gnosticism, as a field of study, pertains to all the ancient schools of mysteries from both East and West, whose scriptures encompass the practical science of awakening consciousness. Gnosis is not isolated to the first Christians, but permeates all times, cultures, and spaces, for while consciousness is universal, the means of expressing such experiential wisdom of the divine is temporal and idiosyncratic to the language, mentality, and needs of a particular society.

Gnosis is what we have verified through experience and experimentation, predicated upon practical methods and personal effort. It is never the product of a belief system, of adopting a religious or mystical attitude, demeanor, or behavior. It is never achieved through attendance, adherence to, or acceptance from a group, by believing in doctrine or creed. It is the flowering and natural unfolding of the soul, which is created and developed when the proper causes and conditions have been met.

Just as there are laws that govern the physical universe, so too are there spiritual laws, causes, and methods to originate the soul: the awakening of the consciousness.

Therefore, the Greek term γνῶσις gnosis is synonymous with genuine faith. Faith has nothing to do with belief, with accepting or rejecting a concept in the mind or upholding a sentiment in the heart. Faith is what we know from facts, from witnessing and understanding reality. Belief takes no effort to foster or develop, whereas the awakening of consciousness and divine experience requires tremendous discipline and the application of spiritual works.

Read or listen to the entirety of this article:

#gnosticism #gnosis #gnostic #chicago gnosis #samael aun weor #gnostic academy of chicago #gnostic tradition #gnostics #gnostic teachings #gnostic bible #gnostical #gnostic christianity #gnostic gospels #spirituality #awakening #meditation #how to meditate #meditation podcasts #spiritual podcasts #spiritual podcast #spiritual exercises #spiritual life #spiritual path #spiritual growth #spiritual journey #spiritual development #spiritual awakening #spiritual disciplines #spiritual enlightenment #spiritualgrowth

[thatwhichdoesnotsuffer]

We have a duty to protect ourselves. If we are really working on this spiritual path, it is because we believe that there is a way to really serve God and help humanity in the process. And so when other entities try to seduce us, to manipulate us, to attack us, we have a right to protect ourselves and we have a duty to protect ourselves, because the work that we are doing at this time is very important. Many, many people are suffering, and the work that we are doing to become better human beings, to connect with divinity, to follow the will of God through the guidance that we are receiving internally, is very important, because as we see every day on the news, this planet is going through an intensifying period of suffering. So the more that we are doing to preserve our covenant with God and to work with the three factors to strengthen our consciousness, to live ethically, to follow the guidance of our own inner divinity, the better it will be for us, for everyone around us, and for humanity as a whole. So take spiritual protection seriously, and do what you can, but most importantly, know that by purifying your own mind through daily meditation and following God's guidance and comprehension, that is the best protection that you can have.

Gnostic Instructor, Basics of Spiritual Defense

#chicago gnosis #spirituality #gnostic #spiritual defense #gnosticism #gnostic academy of chicago #spiritual warfare #initiation #white initiate #white magic #gnosis #esotericism #occultism #mysticism #spiritual protection

[chicagobeerpass]

Chicago Beer Pass: Feel That Summer Breeze

Welcome to the Chicago Beer Pass: Your ticket to all the great beer events happening in and around Chicago.

On this episode of Chicago Beer Pass, Brad Chmielewski and Nik White open cans of 4x4 from 93 Octane Brewery. Brad recently picked these up on his trip to St. Charles. As the guys knock back this big beer, they talk about Half Acre's Strong Beer Time, Spiteful Brewing, Gnosis Brewing and a few trips to the ballpark. Be sure to mark your calendars for Illinois Craft Beer Week happening May 19-26, 2023.

Having issues listening to the audio? Try the MP3 (77.4MB) or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes!

#audio #podcast #audio podcast #beer #beer podcast #beer guys #chicago #Chicago Beer Pass #93 Octane Brewery #Half Acre Brewery #Spiteful Brewing #Gnosis Brewing #events #festivals #beer tasting

[zerogate]

Eliade founded a certain intellectual lineage at the University of Chicago, a lineage in which I was trained in the 1980s and early ’90s under his successor, Wendy Doniger, herself more than adept at negotiating mind-boggling metaphysical terrain.

This same lineage, as diverse and as contentious as any healthy intellectual community, has occasionally displayed a quite serious engagement with the paranormal. Nowhere is this more apparent and obvious than in Eliade’s fellow Romanian and Chicago colleague Ioan Couliano. Couliano’s lifelong interest in magical and gnostic matters was reflected in a rich personal occult life.

Together at Chicago in the early ’80s, the two men studied what they were calling “cultural fashions” (their code for what I am calling the paranormal in popular culture), and particularly the mysticism of science literature that turned to quantum physics for a theoretical base for a new modern mysticism. Couliano was inspired by this bold comparative literature and by like-minded elite intellectuals, like the Yale literary critic Harold Bloom, who was a fan of Couliano’s and who has written openly about his own gnostic experiences of a transcendent Self separate from the ego and beyond the reach of the orthodox religions.

Couliano was clearly moving toward a fusion of quantum physics and the history of religions before he was murdered in a toilet stall one sad spring day in 1991. Such an attempted fusion of the sciences and the humanities is particularly apparent in Couliano’s study of gnosticism, that strange and largely ignored book, The Tree of Gnosis.

In the introduction to this text, Couliano asks the following crucial question: If we are now living in an Einsteinian space-time continuum determined by three extended dimensions and a fourth of time, the intimate participation of consciousness in the material world, and the metaphysical identity of energy and matter, themselves likely continuously created by utterly bizarre quantum processes that more or less destroy any stable notions of linear causality, time, locality, and independent existence, why are we still writing history as if we only inhabited a simple three-dimensional cosmos, lived in a neat linear time, and existed as so many disconnected billiard balls in a world of Newtonian causality, collisions, and reactions? If the world is so utterly bizarre, why do we pretend it is so simple?

And if we now know that the universe is most certainly not a three-dimensional box or two-dimensional pool table, why do we keep writing history as if it were? Why, in other words, cannot we reimagine history (and hence ourselves) “outside the box” and “off the page” of what Max Weber so powerfully called the iron cage of modern rationalism, order, and routinization?

-- Jeffrey J. Kripal, Authors of the Impossible: The Paranormal and the Sacred

#quotes

[bubblesandgutz]

Hello again, Brian! New album is dope and on heavy, heavy repeat. So, thanks for that. Was wondering, now that we're a year out from you and the guys getting robbed, how are you liking the changes to your gear? I noticed your rig is predominantly Darkglass, do you still have the Meatsmoke? We're you able to rebuild your board with the same gear? New preferences? Thanks!

Hey y'all... big apologies for not getting through my inbox with any degree of regularity. This message is from last year, so I've obviously been slacking. Sorry! And thanks for the kind words regarding Gnosis.

Russian Circles were robbed in Chowchilla, CA back in October '21. Our box truck was parked at a hotel parking lot and we woke up in the morning to find the majority of our gear, merch, and a bunch of miscellaneous personal items gone. Personally, I lost two speaker cabinets, a synth, a MIDI keyboard, a baritone guitar, a bass, pedalboard, and a bunch of accessories (DI, strings, cables, multitools, etc). Oh... and they took a really nice pair of boots from me. Assholes.

It was an unusual tour for us because it was only a handful of shows and it was on the West Coast, so we flew out and Mike and Dave rented/borrowed a bunch of gear. I had just purchased three speaker cabs from Darkglass, so I had driven my rig down from Seattle. I was fortunate because my amps weren't stolen (they were in a beat-up cardboard box that the thieves must've missed) and I still had my Meatsmoke back in Chicago. But I had JUST bought those cabinets, so that was a very big bummer.

We were unlucky in that our gear insurance had lapsed. This was because the renewal email from the insurance company was sent to a label employee that had gotten a new job during the pandemic. However, because so much of the gear was rented/borrowed, it likely wouldn't have covered much of the loss. But we were very fortunate that fans were generous via GoFundMe and several instrument companies immediately offered to help us out (thank you Darkglass, Electrical Guitar Company, Dunlop, Fuzzrocious, and Keith McMillen). It was also a big turning point for us because Hiwatt loaned Mike a backline for the remaining shows, and Mike has never been happier with his sound now that he's playing Hiwatts.

Ever since the robbery, I've been cycling through a lot of different gear options. I was able to rebuild my pedalboard, but my new bass and baritone have slightly different sonic characteristics from the instruments that were stolen, and as a result my sound changed slightly. Most of my first shows back after the pandemic were nowhere near Chicago, which meant I didn't have access to my 8x10 and Meatsmoke. So I used the Darkglass amp and cabs for the TAAS shows, SUMAC shows, and remaining stateside RC dates in 2021 and early 2022. Russian Circles went back to Europe in Spring '22 and I rented a couple of Ampeg SVT3s for the tour just because they tend to be the amps that I'm most comfortable dialing in. I felt really confident about the sound I got in Europe... felt like it was closer to my pre-robbery sound... so I got back to the States and bought two cheap used SVT3s for our Fall tour. By the end of the tour, both amps were broken beyond repair. I finished the tour using my Meatsmoke on bass and Darkglass for synth stuff. The Meatsmoke is still an excellent amp but I'm nervous taking it on the road now that Verellen isn't making amps anymore.

My Meatsmoke and 8x10 are still in Chicago. Most of my Darkglass stuff is in LA. And since most of my musical activity this year has been in the PNW with Botch and SUMAC, I've had to cobble together a backline from borrowed stuff here in Seattle. Been using a pair of cabs that belong to Cory from Minus the Bear and have been borrowing amps from Science and Hiwatt. Both amps are fantastic. I actually bought the Science amp after recording the new SUMAC album on it, and am currently talking with Hiwatt about getting one of their DR201 amps.

So that's where I've been at with gear. If you've been wondering why every picture of my backline on Instagram is different, that's the reason.

[donveinot]

[jay-stoner-baner]

A l'écoute 241 / now playing 241 - @russian ci - Gnosis, Chicago, Illinois

#myowndoomchart #NowPlaying #instrumental #postrock #Onedayonerecord #unjourunalbum #russiancircles #chicago #illinois #Youtube #Bandcamp

[konmarkimageswords]

Genre: Post-Rock/Metal, Instrumental

Artist: Russian Circles

Album: Gnosis (2022)

Country: Chicago, Illinois, USA

https://russiancirclesband.com/

https://linktr.ee/russiancircles

https://russiancircles.bandcamp.com/album/gnosis

[reportwire]

Album Review: RUSSIAN CIRCLES Gnosis

Album Review: RUSSIAN CIRCLES Gnosis

Post-metal, especially instrumental, has become increasingly vanilla, leaving bands like Russian Circles to keep the style grounded in visceral riff-mongering. The Chicago trio’s intent becomes particularly clear on their last two albums. With unmistakable production from Kurt Ballou (Converge), Guidance (2016) and Blood Year (2019) find Russian Circles in rare form. The power, intensity and…

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[don-lichterman]

Album Review: RUSSIAN CIRCLES Gnosis

Album Review: RUSSIAN CIRCLES Gnosis

Post-metal, especially instrumental, has become increasingly vanilla, leaving bands like Russian Circles to keep the style grounded in visceral riff-mongering. The Chicago trio’s intent becomes particularly clear on their last two albums. With unmistakable production from Kurt Ballou (Converge), Guidance (2016) and Blood Year (2019) find Russian Circles in rare form. The power, intensity and…

View On WordPress

[chicagognosis]

The controversial Gospel of Judas is a powerful scripture depicting the relationship between betrayal and transcendence. While religious groups intensely, fearfully, and dogmatically contest its authenticity, this scripture is clarified through a comparative study of Samael Aun Weor's writings. Just as an actor plays a part in a film and should not be condemned for it, likewise the Apostle Judas should not be denigrated for the role he played in a necessary cosmic drama led by Jesus, the Master Aberamentho. By understanding who Judas is in us, we can better understand the ways we betray our own selves while striving for divine reality.

#gnosticism #gnosis #gnostic #chicago gnosis #samael aun weor #chicago gnosis podcast #gnostic kabbalah #gnostic tradition #gnostics #gnostic bible #gnostic teachings #gnostic christianity #gnostic gospels #gnostical #samaelaunweor #judas iscariot #jesus x judas #esoteric christianity #christian faith #jesus christ #christianity #christian doctrine #christian bible #spiritual #spiritual initiation #spiritual enlightenment #temptation #mysticism #alchemy #kabbalah

[thatwhichdoesnotsuffer]

Study the full lecture here:

"We have a duty to protect ourselves. If we are really working on this spiritual path, it is because we believe that there is a way to really serve God and help humanity in the process. And so when other entities try to seduce us, to manipulate us, to attack us, we have a right to protect ourselves and we have a duty to protect ourselves, because the work that we are doing at this time is very important. Many, many people are suffering, and the work that we are doing to become better human beings, to connect with divinity, to follow the will of God through the guidance that we are receiving internally, is very important, because as we see every day on the news, this planet is going through an intensifying period of suffering. So the more that we are doing to preserve our covenant with God and to work with the three factors to strengthen our consciousness, to live ethically, to follow the guidance of our own inner divinity, the better it will be for us, for everyone around us, and for humanity as a whole. So take spiritual protection seriously, and do what you can, but most importantly, know that by purifying your own mind through daily meditation and following God's guidance in comprehension, that is the best protection that you can have."

#spirituality #gnosis #gnosticism #gnostic #esoteric #esotericism #mysticism #occultism #psychic defense #spiritual warfare #spiritual defense #chicago gnosis #spiritual protection

[bzzrk]

Introducing Thinkbreak Records.

#thinkbreak records #thinkbreak #nevada hardware #royb0t #_the boundless_ #digital gnosis #chicago #cyberpunk #industrial #ebm #acid #techno #electromystical

[onlygnosticmasters]

"Yes, the heights of spiritual development are very costly. No one can transform into someone greater without first sacrificing who he currently is."

- Chicago Gnosis

#spiritual awakening #gnosis #spirituality #revolution

[drsilverfish]

Divinity and Gnosticism in Unity 15x17

Adam sets Jack a riddle: “Which rock contains the spark of the divine?”

Jack picks the amethyst, which is the colour of the crown chakra, in the system of chakras, derived from tantric texts, which has migrated to become most prevalent in the West (there are others, but that’s a whole other story). This chakra is said to connect us with the universe and the divine source of creation:

But then, Jack gives Adam’s hoped for answer, by adding that, in fact, he picks all the rocks besides, because, 

“They’re just rocks, but their existence makes them divine, because God is in everything”

Adam replies, “Right on, at least he should be...” 

A long time ago, a hopeful, but sceptical me, commented on the S11 title-card, and the possibility that the writers’ room was going to draw on Gnosticism (an early mystical Christian and Judaic tradition with possible roots in Zoroastrianism and Neo-Platonism):

https://drsilverfish.tumblr.com/post/130878876784/the-darkness-and-gnosticism 

They were, and they did. 

Remember Noah Ophis, the Queer Gorgon, from 14x14 Ouroboros? Well the Ophites were a Gnostic sect. 

In Gnosticism, the divine spark (which Jack and Adam are talking about in 15x17 Unity) is that portion of the divine which resides in humans. 

Also in Gnosticism, the creator God is a lower God, the Demiurge, who is flawed. Sophia (Wisdom) is a feminine aspect of God (here in SPN, that’s Amara), and in most Gnostic accounts, Sophia’s fall from higher divine union with the ineffable (unknowable) divine actually created the Demiurge, and she is the one who infused creation with soul. 

Jung was very interested in Gnosticism, because he saw the Gnostic idea of achieving, through gnosis (personal revelation) union with one’s higher self, as being analogous to the psychic journey towards self-integration; the conscious self coming to know the unconscious self. 

Chuck, as a wrathful, petulant, petty God who has tired of his creation because it won’t obey him absolutely, is very much the Demiurge, whilst Amara, who began as The DarknessTM, has become the one who appreciates the beauty and soul of creation. Here is the moth-orchid (sacred vulva - sure looks like one) she holds in her hand as she looks up at the beauty of the trees:

Amara, as Wisdom (Sophia) recognises the divine spark in creation, which Chuck (the Demiurge) has lost sight of. 

The feminist artist, Judy Chicago, represented Sophia as a flower in her Dinner Party series:

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/place_settings/sophia#:~:text=It%20represents%20the%20original%20nature,of%20God%2C%20where%20Sophia%20originated.

Chuck may believe he has consumed/ controlled his sister, but I believe she is the one who will transform him. 

#Supernatural #15x17 #Unity #SPN meta #Meta #Gnosticism in SPN #Jung in S15 #Chuck and Amara #Sophia #The Demiurge #Alpha and Omega #The End and the Way

[yikesharringrove]

imagine

if billy and steve

did high school theater 👁👄👁

this is seriously something I think about ALL THE TIME. I’m such a theater kid these two in theater is what I think about at night to go to sleep i’m not kidding

Billy as Roger in Rent also Steve as Mark (my Jewish Steve headcanon returns yeah boi)

Steve as Riff in West Side Story (although Billy would make a good Riff too. And Steve could probably do Tony well too. idk) Okay I want Steve as Riff for Cool and the Jet Song but Billy as Riff for Dear Officer Krupke I can’t tell you why I can just tell you I’m right

Billy as Billy Flynn and Steve as Amos Hart in Chicago (try NOT to get sad thinking abt Steve doing Mr. Cellophane are you serious??? That boy lashed out so hard to NOT feel invisible oh god I’m getting emo)

I lose my shit over the idea of nb Steve discovering Hedwig and the Angry Inch (that show made me Realize Some Things) but also imagine Billy as Hedwig and Steve as Tommy Gnosis and Robin as Yitzhak (Jewish Robin, anyone?)

I started a musical theater club at my university with some friends and I have been pushing really hard to do Heathers bc I would LOVE to have lesbian Veronica and J.D. but also consider: Steve as Veronica, Billy as J.D. (solely for Dead Girl Walking 🤤), Steve as Heather Chandler bc Candy Store is iconic and he would live his best life getting to be a mythic bitch like Heather C., and Billy and Steve as Ram and Kurt bc that idea made me laugh

Steve as Harry, Billy as Bill in Mamma Mia just to be cursed

Billy as Link and Steve as Corny Collins in Hairspray

Steve as Seymor, Billy as Dr. Orin Scrivello DDS in Little Shop of Horrors (Billy would get his life with the Dentist! song but lowkey I think he’d hate playing the role and having to Be Like That to Audrey)

Billy as Emcee and Steve as Cliff in Cabaret

Billy as Sweeney Todd and Steve as Pirelli in Sweeney Todd (although I could see this in reverse too) I could also see Steve as Anthony and now I’m thinking abt Robin as Mrs. Lovett and Dustin as Tobias for the Nothin’s Gonna Harm You song and I’m getting emo over it

Steve as Mike and Billy as Al? Or maybe Zach in A Chorus Line. idk I actually really like this show and want Steve as Mike real bad

Steve as Jamie in Everyone’s Talking About Jamie which I have a really good boot for if anyone wants it that show makes me emo it’s so good That show would be so emotional for Steve with all the dad stuff I’m 🥺

Steve as Danny, Billy as Kenickie (which is the superior men’s role tbh) in Grease

Steve as Jack in Into the Woods OR, galaxy brain, Billy as Cinderella’s prince, Steve as Rapunzel’s prince can u IMAGINE those two doing Agony and then Billy fucking the baker’s wife I’m gonna cry

lmao b Billy as Stacee Jaxx in Rock of Ages i’m gonna cry

and for a Rocky Horror Picture Show shadow cast, I want Steve as Frank, Billy as Rocky, but for a production of The Rocky Horror Show I want the roles reversed (remember that picture of Joe Keery with like, blond hair. I think abt that every goddamn day) Steve would also be cute as Brad and Billy can and would go ham as Riff-Raff

and if you wanna have a good time, picture Billy as Satan in The Devil’s Carnival. You’re welcome. (Also Steve as The Twin)

Steve as Charlie Price in Kinky Boots

And they fuck at EVERY cast party but you didn’t hear it from me

#yikes headcanons #yikes is........a theater kid #steve harrington #billy hargrove #harringrove