Sunday 9 December 2007

some thoughts on the golden compass

I have just seen the movie and have also - in my recommendations of it to family, friends, and associates - related it to ITLAD? and suggested the book as well ( which incidentally I have bought as holiday gifts for quite a few).


The main idea which comes accross through the lovely visuals seemed to me to be this: That the 2,000 year rule of Christianity and the Church ( the magisterium) has perhaps reached its apex and reversal, having failed to acknowledge gnosticism's concept of the heavenly twin of consciousness (the Daemon), and the ensuing inwardness of ethics and faith (this was Keirkegaard's main thrust in his polemic against the organized Christendom of his day).

Having failed to inherit Gnosticism's key insight, it can therefore not surpass it, and fails to evolve. In this sense it thwarts a higher ethics and understanding which is the 21st century's due. The conflict between Christianity today and the vast technodemocracy of most of the globe is therefore no mere accident; but symptom, consequence and incident of the essential error, and all that has come before.


Where Anthony Peake's work comes in is as a fusion of the sociology of religion with postmodern theories of consciousness and cognitive/neurological sciences' insights. Peter Novak, in his "Division of Consciousness" to my thinking fails where Peake advances, due to the former's obsession with reincarnation and his mania for Christian judgement and rapture. I think Peake creates a lens which lends a view far more subtle and profound, which is why I continue to highly recommend his text.

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