Theos-Talk Archives (April 1998 Message tt00416)

Jerry writes:

> I have always wondered if the Stanzas
> of Dyzan came from an ancient text as she claimed, or were channeled
> by her--and I am not at all sure that it matters.

When I first read the Stanzas, I thought --Wow! This is Manichaeism! I'll
try to give some examples below. A much better explanation of Manichaeism
cosmology can be found in Hans Klimkeit's "Gnosis on the Silk Road". The
page reference below are from this book.

Mani was instructed by his heavenly "Twin" to found a universal religion
that united much of the Jewish, Christian, Zorastrian, Taoist, and Buddhist
thought. Speaking of his Twin, Mani writes: "He revealed to me the hidden
mystery that was hidden from the worlds and the generations: the mystery
of the Depth and the Hieght: he revealed to me the mystery of the Light
and the Darkness, the mystery of the conflict and the great war which the
Darkness stirred up. He revealed to me how the Light overcame the Darkness
by their intermingling and how was set up this world...Thus was revealed to
me byh the Paraclete all that has been and that shall be, and all that the
eye sees and the ear hears and the thought thinks. Through him I learned
to know everything, I saw the All through him, and I became one body and
one spirit."(pp2-3).

"The Father of Light is the origin and sum of all divine powers, or
deities, that have issued from him. Together with three other of his
attributes, namely his Light, his Power, and his Wisdom, we have a
quaternity, referred to by the term "the Fourfold Father of Greatness.

Like courtiers surrounding a king, there are myriad, even countless
""Aeons" and "Aeons of Aeons" surrounding the Father in the Realm of Light.
 This the infinite temporal expanse of the Realm is expressed. Of the many
Aeons, there are twelve closest to the Father, three in each
direction...The twelve Aeons are called "the Firstborn of the Father"; they
are thus differentiated from other deities that he calls forth in the
course of time. The Realm of Light is also inhabited by "the Great Spirit",
who holds sway here along with the Father of Light.. (p10)

"In the beginning, The Realm of Darkness was completely separated from the
Realm of Light. Once the Dark had beheld the Light, it wanted to partake
of it. So the lower Realm gather its dark powers to invade the world
above. In order to forestall the attack, the Father of Light decided to go
into battle "himself". However he did so indirectly, by issuing forth from
himself a divine power that assumed charge. He first "called forth" the
Mother of the Living, who then evolved the diety "the First Man".

Equiped with five divine powers that appeat either as his "sons" or his
"arms" --that together constitute "the Living Soul"..the First Man went
into battle. He offered himself up as biat to the powers of Darkness...The
forces of Darkness pounced on these "Elements of Light", tore them apart
and devoured them. Through this ingestion, that fateful "mixture" of Light
and Darkness that characterizes the present condition of the world was
brought about.."(p10)
*****
I have to stop here and go to work. After re-reading the above, I realize
that this probably doesn't offer the direct side-by-side analysis and
comparison with the Stanzas that fellow list members may expect. Sorry. A
mechanical analysis may even fail. No matter. To me, these intuitively
strike the same chord. The Mani emphasis on the
triad-quartile-pentagon-docedecad, the imagery, liberation through gnosis,
and overall universal view of humanity and its condition seems to be the
same vibration of the Stanzas and theosophy.

For more on Mani and Manicheasim (without buying Klimkeit's excellent
book),
run a search on Mani in the Gnostic Archives in

http://www.gnosis.org

Pam
pgiese@snd.softfarm.com

"Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light..."