#markbooth

[questionsmortalitypositivit-blog]

The Beginning?

I’ve been reading a book by Mark Booth, and it’s called the Secret History of the World. I haven’t finished it yet because it’s a lot if information to take in at once, and one has to have an open mind to it. Furthermore, the explanation and usage of the term “God”  doesn’t reflect on any particular religion, and instead, the term reflects on a being that exists outside of our universe. Any who, the first chapter talks about how we perceive God and his or her or its existence. Booth talks about how humans today perceive creation as material stuff first then came the mind. However, he takes the perspective that the ancients have took, and the argument is for mind before matter. In simpler terms, the old argument of which came first: the chicken or the egg.

 To start off, Boot explains that God is not a physical being; God is whatever we can perceive as a universal conscience. When God created the universe, God reflected upon itself and matter was birthed from its thought. Visually, the creation of the universe can be compared to when we look at ourselves in the mirror, and we can reflect on ourselves. Returning back to God reflecting on himself and birthing matter, everything we perceive in this world can be akin to God’s conscience. Everything in this universe is a manipulation of God’s conscience, which would make the idea seem plausible that God is omniscient and omnipotent. The reasoning for this is because is simple because just like you, the reader, knows everything and can manipulate everything in your mind, which will bring me to my perception on Booth’s take of the universe. I do believe that their exists a God, a being that exists on the outskirts of our universe, a being free from the restrictions of our space/time that can freely manipulate and exists and all points in time from the beginning to the end. I also do believe that the gods exist as well at that each religion shared by man were seeing the same gods and explaining them in the ways that they could. However, the distinction between God and the gods is the fact that God is eternal and the gods are temporal, meaning that God exists outside the restraints of our universe and the gods exist within the confines of out universe. This translates back to the idea of mind before matter argument. God thought physical matter, and it appeared in its thoughts, which translates to our universe. The idea is akin to us thinking of a glass of water in our heads. We can see the image of a glass of water. The water inside the glass; maybe some ice cubes; maybe there is condensation forming around the glass. Either way, the image exist in our head, and we can personally manipulate to see how we see fit. Now this is where I think that we mirror God. Or, in the way most religions put it, how we were built into the image of God. I don’t think we were physically built in the image of God. I believe that our mind, the “soul,” is built into the image of God. In that sense, our minds are able to manipulate matter outside of space/time. Our thoughts exists freely outside of our material plane, and we can freely manipulate matter. Now, I’m not talking about the idea that we can create cars just by thinking about it. But I’m using my thoughts to manipulate the atoms that create up my cells, my tissue, my hands to write this. It’s literally mind over matter. And we can literally create anything within our own mind, and try to shape matter into what we see fit. I will end it here, and I will come back to it in another post with more explanation, questions, or even criticism. Everything is welcomed. 

[davidhalpin-blog]

In The Sacred History author Jonathan Black (AKA Mark Booth) sets out the case for idealism over materialism. Following on from his previous book The Secret History of the World the author this time uses an approach to mysticism that is possibly easier for the layperson to understand. The reason for this is the focus upon myth and the explanation of various religious and spiritual traditions and texts as opposed to the possibly more studious scope of his previous work. When we look back upon the history of sacred writings and wisdom supposedly gained through higher states of consciousness we must place a huge amount of faith in the notion of intuition and the idea that there is a common path applicable to us all. Idealism, as Black sees it, is the belief that thought came before matter and all of existence is somehow the expression of this original mind. In the book we are taken on a journey that begins with our earliest intimations of this higher aspect through creation myths from various cultures and spiritual traditions. Black looks for common links in terms of what lies beneath words and images and asks us to question what aspects within ourselves are provoked by these tales. Indeed, what is emphasized is that we need to look beyond the cultural biases and ongoing interior development of all societies as, according to Black, we are always developing towards something that is bigger than ourselves yet something that connects us all. This development means that the mindset of a culture from 4000 years ago is going to be completely different in what it is able to envision than the generations that come after it. In order to demonstrate this expansion of consciousness the author guides us through the landscape of fable and myth much like Joseph Campbell and even Manly P. Hall at times. As the book progresses we pass through famous and not so famous mythologies and archetypes which represented stages of expression and emanation, from the biblical tradition to contemporary mystics. I sometimes found that I struggled to see connections between belief systems that were continents and traditions apart, but, again, who knows how societies, culture and rules might change an initially shared ideal? Throughout the book the author asks us to see beyond what is written and also look to what may lie behind words in terms of symbol and feeling. The sense that inner trust is vital is a strong theme in all of Black's writing, I find. From the philosophy of Hermeticism to the more modern writings of Jung and Steiner, we are shown how Idealism continues to inspire even in the face of a rapidly progressing scientific advancement. Although it is not the focus of the book, I find the parallels between quantum theory and Idealism very intriguing and although the author mentions scientists like Newton (Whose esoteric views are almost always overlooked by mainstream science) it would be interesting to compare the work of somebody like Itzhak Bentov, for example, to some of the ancient teachings we find in this work. Black uses a nice example of the Hadron Collidor trying to find the secrets of the universe and the human mind being able to find those same secrets through contemplation to close the book. It reminded me of this quote: "In Silence there is eloquence. Stop weaving and see how the pattern improves." Rumi. This is a fascinating and thoroughly researched work that containing a wealth of collected wisdom and ideas. Highly recommended.

[untamedinstincts]

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