Doubt Dictionary

Zen.

A major school of Mahayana Buddhism, with several branches.

One of its most popular techniques is meditation on koans, which leads to the generation of the Great Doubt. According to this method: The master gives the student a koan to think about, resolve, and then report back on to the master. Concentration intensifies as the student first tries to solve the koan intellectually. This initial effort proves impossible, however, for a koan cannot be solved rationally. Indeed, it is a kind of spoof on the human intellect.

Concentration and irrationality -- these two elements constitute the characteristic psychic situation that engulfs the student wrestling with a koan. As this persistent effort to concentrate intellectually becomes unbearable, anxiety sets in. The entirety of one's consciousness and psychic life is now filled with one thought. The exertion of the search is like wrestling with a deadly enemy or trying to make one's way through a ring of flames. Such assaults on the fortress of human reason inevitably give rise to a distrust of all rational perception.

This gnawing doubt (Great Doubt), combined with a futile search for a way out, creates a state of extreme and intense yearning for deliverance. The state may persist for days, weeks or even years; eventually the tension has to break. (Dumoulin, Zen Buddhism, Vol. I, p.253.)

An interesting koan is the koan of Buddha Recitation. Unlike other koans, it works in two ways. First of all, if a cultivator succeeds in his meditation through this koan, he can achieve awakening as with other koans. However, if he does not succeed, and experience shows that many cultivators do not, then the meditation on the Buddha's narne helps him to achieve rebirth in the Pure Land.

This is so provided he believes (as most practitioners in Asia do) in Amitabha and the expedient Pure Land. Thus, the Buddha Recitation koan provides a safety net, and demonstrates the underlying unity of Zen and Pure Land.

 (See also: Zen , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Alchemy ; in Arabic Ul-Khemi, is, as the name suggests, the chemistry of nature. Ui-Khemi or Al-Kimia, however, is only an Arabianized word, taken from the Greek chemeia, (chemeia) from cumoz -  "juice", sap extracted from a plant.

Says Dr. Wynn Westcott: "The earliest use of the actual term ‘alchemy’ is found in the works of Julius Firmicus Maternus, who lived in the days of Constantine the Great. The Imperial Library in Paris contains the oldest-extant alchemic treatise known in Europe;it was written by Zosimus the Panopolite about 400 A.D. in the Greek language, the next oldest is by Eneas Gazeus, 480 A.D."

It deals with the finer forces of nature and the various conditions in which they are found to operate. Seeking under the veil of language, more or less artificial, to convey to the uninitiated so much of the mysterium magnum as is safe in the hands of a selfish world, the alchemist postulates as his first principle the existence of a certain Universal Solvent by which all composite bodies are resolved into the homogeneous substance from which they are evolved, which substance he calls pure gold, or summa materia. This solvent, also called menstvuum universale, possesses the power of removing all the seeds of disease from the human body, of renewing youth and prolonging life. Such is the lapis philosophorum (philosopher’s stone).

Alchemy first penetrated into Europe through Geber, the great Arabian sage and philosopher, in the eighth century of our era; but it was known and practised long ages ago in China and in Egypt, numerous papyri on alchemy and other proofs of its being the favourite study of kings and priests having been exhumed and preserved under the generic name of Hermetic treatises. (See "Tabula Smaragdina"). Alchemy is studied under three distinct aspects, which admit of many different interpretations, viz.: the Cosmic, Human, and Terrestrial. These three methods were typified under the three alchemical properties - sulphur, mercury, and salt.

Different writers have stated that there are three, seven, ten, and twelve processes respectively; but they are all agreed that there is but one object in alchemy, which is to transmute gross metals into pure gold. What that gold, however, really is, very few people understand correctly. No doubt that there is such a thing in nature as transmutation of the baser metals into the nobler, or gold. But this is only one aspect of alchemy, the terrestrial or purely material, for we sense logically the same process taking place in the bowels of the earth. Yet, besides and beyond this interpretation, there is in alchemy a symbolical meaning, purely psychic and spiritual.

While the Kabbalist-Alchemist seeks for the realization of the former, the Occultist-Alchemist, spurning the gold of the mines, gives all his attention and directs his efforts only towards the transmutation of the baser quaternary into the divine upper trinity of man, which when finally blended are one. The spiritual, mental, psychic, and physical planes of human existence are in alchemy compared to the four elements, fire, air, water and earth, and are each capable of a threefold constitution, i.e., fixed, mutable and volatile.

Little or nothing is known by the word concerning the origin of this archaic branch of philosophy; but it is certain that it antedates the construction of any known Zodiac, and, as dealing with the personified forces of nature, probably also any of the mythologies of the world; nor is there any doubt that the true secret of transmutation (on the physical plane) was known in days of old, and lost before the dawn of the so-called historical period. Modern chemistry owes its best fundamental discoveries to alchemy, but regardless of the undeniable truism of the latter that there is but one element in the universe, chemistry has placed metals in the class of elements and is only now beginning to find out its gross mistake.

Even sonic Encyclopedists are now forced to confess that if most of the accounts of transmutations are fraud or delusion, "yet some of them are accompanied by testimony which renders them probable. . . By means of the galvanic battery even the alkalis have been discovered to have a metallic base.

The possibility of obtaining metal from other substances which contain the ingredients composing it, and of changing one metal into another . . . must therefore be left undecided. Nor are all alchemists to be considered impostors. Many have laboured under the conviction of obtaining their object, with indefatigable patience and purity of heart, which is earnestly recommended by sound alchemists as the principal requisite for the success of their labours."

(Pop. Encyclop.)

(See also: Alchemy , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

Ifing (Icelandic, Scandinavian) (from if, ef doubt)

In Norse mythology, a wide, ever-flowing river which runs between Asgard (court of the gods) and Jotunheim (home of the giants where the worlds of the living are formed). This river never freezes over to form an ice-bridge which might be traversed by the unworthy, but all human souls must eventually cross the river Doubt and also the river Time (Tund) in order to gain the realm of the gods.

(See also: Ifing , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Waste

• To dream of wandering through waste places, foreshadows doubt and failure, where promise of success was bright before you.
• To dream of wasting your fortune, denotes you will be unpleasantly encumbered with domestic cares.

Source: 10 000 Dream Interpretations, by Gustavus Hindman Miller

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Waste , Meaning of Dreams about Waste , Dream Interpretation Waste )

 Samshaya:

doubt

(See also:  Samshaya , Body Mind and Soul)

Lock

• To dream of a lock, denotes bewilderment. If the lock works at your command, or efforts, you will discover that some person is working you injury. If you are in love, you will find means to aid you in overcoming a rival; you will also make a prosperous journey.
• If the lock resists your efforts, you will be derided and scorned in love and perilous voyages will bring to you no benefit.
• To put a lock upon your fiance'e's neck and arm, foretells that you are distrustful of her fidelity, but future episodes will disabuse your mind of doubt.

Source: 10 000 Dream Interpretations, by Gustavus Hindman Miller

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Lock , Meaning of Dreams about Lock , Dream Interpretation Lock )

Sanskrit dictionary. From Advaita to Yoga.

Please note that all words in grey, like "enlightenment" or "kundalini" are hyperlinked to archives further explaining the term. At the corresponding archive you will also find articles related to the term.

upasarga: (Sanskrit) "Trouble, obstacle."

Difficulties, challenges or distractions which retard one's progress on the spiritual path. Numerous lists are given in scripture under the Sanskrit terms upasarga, dosha (defect; blemish), klesha, vighna and antaraya.

The Yogatattva Upanishad lists twenty doshas including hunger, thirst, excitement, grief, anger and greed; as well as five vighnas: sloth, boastfulness, bad company, cultivation of mantras for wrong reasons and longing for women. Patanjali names nine antarayas to success in yoga, including sickness, doubt, sloth, nonattainment and instability. Spiritually, all these obstacles unless overcome lead to a dead end of unhappiness and despair, often affording steps which can only be retraced through reincarnating again.

See: purity-impurity.

(See also: Upasarga , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

A dictionary Of Commonly Used Sanskrit terms. From Pada to Svastikasana.

Please note that all words in grey, like "yoga", "enlightenment" or "kundalini" are hyperlinked to archives further explaining the term. At the corresponding archive you will also find articles related to the term.

A Theosophical definition of Brothers of the Shadow :

Brother(s) of the Shadow

A term given in occultism and especially in modern esotericism to individuals, whether men or women, who follow the path of the shadows, the left-hand path. The term "shadow" is a technical expression and signifies more than appears on the surface: i.e., the expression is not to be understood of individuals who live in actual physical obscurity or actual physical shadows, which literalism would be simply absurd; but applies to those who follow the path of matter, which from time immemorial in the esoteric schools in both Orient and Occident has frequently been called shadow or shadows.

The term originally arose, without doubt, in the philosophical conception of the word maya, for in early Oriental esotericism maya, and more especially maha-maya, was a term applied in one of its many philosophical meanings to that which was contrary to and, indeed, in one sense a reflection of, light. Just as spirit may be considered to be pure energy, and matter, although essentially crystallized spirit, may be looked upon as the shadow world or vehicular world in which the energy or spirit or pure light works, just so is maya, as the garment or expression or sakti of the divine energy, the vehicle or shadow of the divine side of nature, in other words its negative or nether pole, as light is the upper or positive pole.

The Brothers of the Shadow are therefore those who, being essentially of the nature of matter, instinctively choose and follow the path along which they are most strongly drawn, that is, the path of matter or of the shadows. When it is recollected that matter is but a generalizing term, and that what this term comprises actually includes an almost infinite number of degrees of increasing ethereality from the grossest physical substance, or absolute matter, up to the most ethereal or spiritualized substance, we immediately see the subtle logic of this technical term  - shadows or, more fully, the Path of the Shadows, hence the Brothers of the Shadow.

They are the so-called black magicians of the Occident, and stand in sharp and notable contrast with the white magicians or the Sons of Light who follow the pathway of self-renunciation, self-sacrifice, self-conquest, perfect self-control, and an expansion of the heart and mind and consciousness in love and service for all that lives. (See also Right-hand Path)

The existence and aims of the Brothers of the Shadow are essentially selfish. It is commonly, but erroneously, supposed that the Brothers of the Shadow are men and women always of unpleasant or displeasing personal appearance, and no greater error than this could possibly be made. Multitudes of human beings are unconsciously treading the path of the shadows and, in comparison with these multitudes, it is relatively only a few who self-consciously lead and guide with subtle and nefast intelligence this army of unsuspecting victims of maya. The Brothers of the Shadow are often highly intellectual men and women, frequently individuals with apparent great personal charm, and to the ordinary observer, judging from their conversation and daily works, are fully as well able to "quote scripture" as are the Angels of Light!

See also: Brothers of the Shadow , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Tiruvasagam: (Tamil) "Holy Utterances."

The lyrical Tamil scripture by Saint Manikkavasagar (ca 850). Considered one of the most profound and beautiful devotional works in the Tamil language, it discusses every phase of the spiritual path from doubt and anguish to perfect faith in God Siva, from earthly experience to the guru-disciple relationship and freedom from rebirth. The work is partly autobiographical, describing how Manikkavasagar, the prime minister to the Pandyan King, renounced the world after experiencing an extraordinary vision of Siva seated beneath a tree. The 658 hymns of Tiruvasagam together with the 400 hymns of Tirukovaiyar by the same author make up the eighth Tirumurai of Saiva Siddhanta scripture.

See: Manikkavasagar, Tirumurai.

(See also: Tiruvasagam , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

SOUTH, MARY ANNE

Born in England, 1817. By marriage, became Mrs. Mary Anne Atwood. Author of A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery, 1850. This is the book that enlightened Israel Regardie, once he had decided to plough through its opacities until by dint of sheer concentration he should finally fathom the secret of alchemy. No doubt, however, it was Regardie's simultaneous study of Jung's Commentary on the Golden Flower, that provided the key. Mrs. Atwood and her father were dedicated scholars of the occult who got cold feet once A Suggestive Inquiry was published and they tried to prevent its distribution. They felt that its secrets must not be made public.

(See also: SOUTH, MARY ANNE , Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul,)

Geological Eras When H. P. Blavatsky was writing about the age of the earth in The Secret Doctrine she compared the teachings of the scientists of that time and found nothing but confusion and uncertainty as to geological figures. However, Professor Lefevre in his Philosophy adopted an original method of interpreting the data available. Instead of trying to reach exact figures in regard to the length of the entire fossil-bearing period of sedimentation from the Laurentian period to the present day, or of its subdivisions, he worked out the relative durations of the sedimentary deposits.

With this for a background the actual duration of the eras and periods could easily be calculated when reliable evidence was found. Lefevre's studies were based on the erosion of rocks and the deposition of sediments, and his conclusions have stood with little modification till now. H. P. Blavatsky noticed that his estimates of the relative duration of the geological ages agreed fairly well with the 'esoteric' information in her possession, and so by adapting her knowledge of the real figures to Lefevre's proportional scale she constructed a time table which, she says, approximates the truth "in almost every particular." Her total of "320,000,000 years of sedimentation" is much less than that of modern geologists, even though she includes the Laurentian period in her table, which they omit. Her "Esoteric" table (Sd 2:710) is as follows:

ROUGH APPROXIMATIONS.

Primordial lasted 171,200,000 years.

Laurentian

Cambrian

Silurian

Primary lasted 103,040,000 years

Devonian

Coal

Permian

Secondary lasted 36,800,000 years

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

Tertiary lasted 7,360,000 years (probably in excess)

Eocene

Miocene

Pliocene

Quaternary lasted 1,600,000 years (probably in excess).

A glance at the modern table alongside hers will show how greatly modern geologists have extended their time periods. Two reasons are given for this great extension: first, the supposedly known and constant rate of radioactive disintegration in certain minerals found in the rocks; second, the modern belief that biological evolution by natural selection, etc., required far more time than formerly seemed necessary or permissible.

In her Esoteric table Blavatsky, following Lefevre's arrangement, combines the three oldest periods, the Laurentian, Cambrian and Silurian, into her Primordial era. The two latter are now placed in the Paleozoic era, and the Laurentian and older rocks are included within the preceding Precambrian era, an enormously long complex of sedimentary, plutonic and metamorphosed rocks lying in tangled confusion below the Paleozoic strata, and in which forms of life are very scanty or altogether absent. The Precambrian era was longer than all the subsequent eras combined, and probably covers much of the "third round" evolution of life on this globe, for Blavatsky says that her 320,000,000 years of sedimentation, which approximates to the time elapsed since the Precambrian era, refers to this round (the fourth) of the human life-wave, for "it must be noted that even a greater time elapsed during the preparation of this globe for the Fourth Round previous to stratification" (SD 2:715). The tremendous cataclysms and the general transformations of the earth's crust that took place at the end of the third round (greater than any of the "revolutions" that have happened since) destroyed nearly all traces of the third round forms of life. A few living entities, mostly or entirely marine, managed to exist in and survive the great disturbances during the dawning of the opening drama of the fourth round. Their fossils are found in the earliest periods of the Paleozoic era associated with the rather more advanced forms which gradually superseded them (SD 2:712).

The scheme of terrestrial evolution from the standpoint of the ancient wisdom given in The Secret Doctrine is, in a few words: the earth we see is the fourth of a sevenfold "chain" of globes which constitutes a single organism, as we may call it. The other six globes are not visible to our gross senses but the entire group is intimately connected. The vast stream of human monads circulates seven times round the earth planetary chain during the great cycle. We are now in the fourth circulation or round of the great pilgrimage on our globe and so this period is called the fourth round. While on our globe we pass through seven stages called "root-races," each lasting for millions of years. Each in its turn is subdivided into smaller septenary sections. Each succeeding root-race is shorter than its predecessor, and there is some overlapping. Great geological changes separate each root-race from its successor and only a comparatively few survivors remain to provide the seed for the next root-race.

The individualized life cycles in the rounds are associated with diversities in environment. Each round is a component part of a great serial order of evolution which may be summarized as the gradual descent of spirit into matter and the subsequent ascent. The first round, even on this globe, was highly spiritual and ethereal: the succeeding rounds are less so, until the middle of the fourth round is reached. After that axial period the process is reversed and by degrees the original state of ethereality is reassumed. A similar process takes place within each round, but on a minor scale -- smaller cycles within a dominant one. The physical condition of the earth's substance is modified in a corresponding way. The amazing modern discoveries of the nature of the atom, of its transmutations, and of the transformation of 'matter' into energy have removed any prima facie objections to such a process.

The first root-race of the fourth round was by far the longest of its seven root-races, because within it were included advanced monads from the third round or life-wave on this globe, called sishtas (those left behind to serve as "seeds of life" for the returning life-wave in the succeeding round), and other forerunners, who preceded by millions of years the main aggregation of monads that formed the first root-race properly so called. The second root-race was not so long as the first, the third was considerably shorter, and so forth. We are now about halfway through the fifth root-race, and two-and-a-half root-races are still to come before the end of the fourth round on this globe. The fourth round contains the period of greatest materiality for the vehicles of the monad during the entire seven rounds, and during this middle round the ascent of the ladder of spiritual unfoldment begins. Although the "physical" conditions of the entire fourth round were denser than those of its predecessors, the early part of the fourth, which includes the first and second root-races and most of the third, was still quite ethereal and no material traces of man have been left for science to discover. In the fourth root-race, the earth itself became hard and dense.

In regard to the dates and duration of the earlier root-races of the fourth round we are given but little information. We can, however, place the early root-races approximately side by side with the periods and dates given by H. P. Blavatsky in her Esoteric table and reach a fairly close idea of their antiquity. From some casual hints contained in The Secret Doctrine it is clear that the first root-race began before the Mesozoic (Secondary) era, most probably in the Pennsylvanian (Carboniferous) period in the Paleozoic, but possibly earlier. According to the Esoteric table this could even be almost 150,000,000 years ago. The ethereal first root-race, which did not know physical "death," gradually blended with the second root-race in the Permian period.

It is noteworthy that there is some parallelism between the root-races and the periods beginning with great geological, climatic, and biological changes called by geologists "revolutions." This applies even to the earliest or ethereal races. At least four and possibly more have taken place, the most important and earth-shaking being that which ushered in the fourth round (about the end of the Precambrian era as already mentioned). As we are only in the fifth root-race no doubt we shall experience other cataclysmic changes during the closing period of this round on this globe. We read in The Secret Doctrine:

As land needs rest and renovation, new forces, and a change for its soil, so does water. Thence arises a periodical redistribution of land and water, change of climates, etc., all brought on by geological revolution, and ending in a final change in the axis. -- 2:726

The exact duration of the rounds or the root-races has never been given out; and the geologists are not inclined to commit themselves definitely in regard to the length of their eras and periods. But there is no doubt of the actuality of the serial events or cyclic repetitions and of the order in which they occur, irrespective of the number of years that may be assigned to them.

Nothing definite is revealed about the chronology of the four earlier subraces of the third root-race, but approximately exact figures are given for the first time when we reach the fifth subrace, and we learn that about 18,618,000 years have elapsed from that subrace to the present day. This period is called by Blavatsky that of "our humanity" because the characteristics of mankind as we understand it -- physically, emotionally and mentally -- showed their first indications in the fifth subrace.

We have, however, so greatly changed since the monad emerged from the shadowy ethereal vestures or vehicles of "pre-human man" that as Blavatsky says:

that which Science -- recognizing only physical man -- has a right to regard as the prehuman period, may be conceded to have extended from the First Race down to the first half of the Atlantean (Fourth) race, since it is only then that man became the "complete organic being he is now." And this would make Adamic man no older than a few million of years. -- SD 2:315

According to the dating in the Esoteric table, the third root-race was at its peak in the Jurassic period, becoming denser in the Cretaceous period and ending in the early Cenozoic era. It overlapped the fourth root-race, commonly called the Atlantean, which reached its middle period 8-9,000,000 years ago, near the beginning of the earliest division of the Cenozoic era, the Paleocene. The disastrous breaking up of the main Atlantean continental area occurred in the Miocene period, but portions such as the great islands, Ruta and Daitya, lingered until much later, and Plato's small "island of Atlantis" perished only 11-12,000 years ago.

As Vaivasvata's humanity, in which we are particularly interested, began to develop 18-19,000,000 years ago, it is obviously far older than the Cenozoic era which, according to the Esoteric table, began about 8,960,000 years ago, but here we find a striking unconformity between modern geology and the esoteric teaching. In several places Blavatsky envisages the possibility that the geologists might increase their estimate of the length of the Cenozoic era, and says that this would not be disturbing.

It may make our position plainer if we state at once that we use Sir C. Lyell's nomenclature for the ages and periods, and that when we talk of the Secondary and Tertiary age, of the Eocene, Miocene and Pliocene periods -- this is simply to make our facts more comprehensible. Since these ages and periods have not yet been allowed fixed and determined durations, 2½ and 15 million years being assigned at different times to one and the same age (the Tertiary) -- and since no two geologists and naturalists seem to agree on this point -- Esoteric teachings may remain quite indifferent to whether man is shown to appear in the Secondary or the Tertiary age. If the latter age may be allowed even so much as 15 million years' duration -- well and good; for the Occult doctrine, jealously guarding its real and correct figures as far as concerns the First, Second, and two-thirds of the Third Root-Race -- gives clear information upon one point only -- the age of "Vaivasvata Manu's humanity." (SD 2:693)

Though Vaivasvata's humanity -- our humanity -- has existed for 18-19,000,000 years, and for less than half that time we have been complete organic beings, we may look forward to many more millions of years before any radical changes will take place in our physical structure. During the fourth root-race, the Atlantean, the lowest stage of materiality was reached, and we in the fifth root-race are now somewhat less physically dense. By the time we attain the seventh root-race of this fourth round, in the far distant future, our flesh will have become much more refined and almost translucent, and near the close of the manvantara or great life-period of planetary evolution in the seventh round we shall have risen so far above the lower cosmic plane in which our earth now functions that our highly ethereal bodies "will become self-luminous forms of light."

(See also: Geological Eras , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

waver: To vacillate, showing doubt or indecision. Characteristic of not being firm-minded. To be unsure of oneself.

See: conversion to Hinduism.

(See also: Waver , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Karnak (Egypt, Egyptian). The ruins of the ancient temples, and palaces which now stand on the emplacement of ancient Thebes. The most magnificent representatives of the art and skill of the earliest Egyptians. A few lines quoted from Champollion, Denon and an English traveller, show most eloquently what these ruins are.

Of Karnak Champollion writes: -  "The ground covered by the mass of remaining buildings is square; and each side measures 1,800 feet. One is astounded and overcome by the grandeur of the sublime remnants, the prodigality and magnificence of workmanship to be seen everywhere. No people of ancient or modern times has conceived the art of architecture upon a scale so sublime, so grandiose as it existed among the ancient Egyptians; and the imagination, which in Europe soars far above our porticos, arrests itself and falls powerless at the foot of the hundred and forty columns of the hypostyle of Karnak! In one of its halls, the Cathedral of Notre Dame might stand and not touch the ceiling, but be considered as a small ornament in the centre of the hall."

Another writer exclaims: "Courts, halls, gateways, pillars, obelisks, monolithic figures, sculptures, long rows of sphinxes, are found in such profusion at Karnak, that the sight is too much for modern comprehension." Says Denon, the French traveller: "It is hardly possible to believe, after seeing it, in the reality of the existence of so many buildings collected together on a single point, in their dimensions, in the resolute perseverance which their construction required, and in the incalculable expenses of so much magnificence! It is necessary that the reader should fancy what is before him to be a dream, as he who views the objects themselves occasionally yields to the doubt whether he be perfectly awake. . . . There are lakes and mountains within the periphery of the sanctuary. These two edifices are selected as examples from a list next to inexhaustible. The whole valley and delta of the Nile, from the cataracts to the sea, was covered with temples, palaces, tombs, pyramids, obelisks, and pillars. The execution of the sculptures is beyond praise. The mechanical perfection with which artists wrought in granite, serpentine, breccia, and basalt, is wonderful, according to all the experts animals and plants look as good as natural, and artificial objects are beautifully sculptured; battles by sea and land, and scenes of domestic life are to be found in all their bas-reliefs."

(See also: Karnak , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

Lagoon

• To dream of a lagoon, denotes that you will be drawn into a whirlpool of doubt and confusion through misapplication of your intelligence.

Source: 10 000 Dream Interpretations, by Gustavus Hindman Miller

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Lagoon , Meaning of Dreams about Lagoon , Dream Interpretation Lagoon )

manas: (Sanskrit) "Mind; understanding."

The lower or instinctive mind, seat of desire and governor of sensory and motor organs, called indriyas. Manas is termed the undisciplined, empirical mind. Manas is characterized by desire, determination, doubt, faith, lack of faith, steadfastness, lack of steadfastness, shame, intellection and fear. It is a faculty of manomaya kosha, the lower astral or instinctive-intellectual sheath.

See: awareness, indriya, instinctive mind, manomaya kosha, mind (individual).

(See also: Manas , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

APO PANTAS KAKODAIMONES!

False banishing mantram ("Away all evil demons!")

APOCALYPSE

We are aware that the muslims insist that there can be no Universal Eschatonic Implosion until the world has endured "40 years of rain." We would remind them that we have endured *more* than forty years of the "rain" of nuclear radiation and pollution. Aztec prophesies place the end of the world in the 20th Century (who can doubt it?). The Great Pyramid is said to contain, in its mystical measurements, similar predictions in stone of which the last is Sept. 17, 2001 A.D. Two thousand is commonly believed by western civilization to be the year of the Eschaton. The date given by Nostradamus, on the other hand, is slightly pre-millennial: 1999. This is just 13 years prior to the end of the great 160,000-year Mayan Cycle and Terence McKenna's Timescape Zero (based on Ancient Chinese cycles), both at 2012 C.E. And although many others cite 2020, there are interesting reasons for seizing on 1999.

First of all, there is a scientific reason. As meteorologists have noted, the 11-year sunspot cycles which serve to heat the earth, have not only been increasing in severity, they have progressively exacerbated the greenhouse effect. This resulted, during the drought of 1988, in the first of the summer-long record-breaking temperatures that continue to plague us. In '99 the sunspot activity could well have a cataclysmic effect.

Metaphysically, however, there are more compelling reasons. Since the exact interface betweeen the end of the Christian Aeon of Pisces and the beginning of the Humanist Aeon of Aquarius is impossible to pipoint, we are thrown back on sheer numerology. 1+9+9+9 = 28 = 2+8 = 10; numerologically and Pythagoras-wise ten is the number of perfect completion. In other words 1999 is the natural culmination of the Aeon, whereas 2000 is simply a thousandfold manifestation of the Duality: Two - that epitome of evil amongst numbers (from the cosmic point of view, the end of the world isn't necessarily evil). The date, January 16, 1999 adds up to 9. That date is also Julian Day number 2,451,195, which adds up to 9 as well. Ironically enough, most computer projections of disaster, based on current ecological trends, ozone depletion, demographic patterns, etc. predict the peak somewhere between January, 1999 and September, 2013 - by which time the population of the earth will be nine billion and the "end" of the human yardstick on this planet will have come.

And although the Bible stipulates that "no man knoweth the day or the hour" of the last day, I do not hesitate to name the 9th second of the 9th minute of the 9th hour of January 16, 1999 as the eschaton (or the 9th day of the 9th month September).

As one of the Archons of the Ending Aeon, however, I have chosen 999 as my personal sigil, not 1999, because I want to ally myself with the spirit of the ending process, rather than with the End itself. Moreover, from an opitimistic point of view, 999 is qabalistically virginal - it has nothing written on it. Yet I see no reason to dispute '99 as the Climax of the Apocalypse, and I take that most useful point of the Eschaton as the date of my own eschaton-count. My Newtime (13 month) calendar begins approximately on the winter solstice of 2000 (Newtime Year Zero), displacing Gregorian time forever. Hence I count forward from 1999, calling 1997 "Year Minus 3", etc.

It should be noted that "end of the world" predictions are always cropping up. For instance, there was Rev. Whisenant's eschatonic prediction that September 13, 1988 would be the Great Day. Newspapers were gleeful in reporting that the date came and went. What they failed to realize was that 1988, in fact, the beginning of the end - since it was in that year that the greenhouse effect was finally accepted by the planetary powers and acknowledged as the harbinger of the end. If nothing else, 1988 was the year in which the Shroud of Turin was finally pronounced an error by the Vatican. At any rate, the good Rev's numerology may have been naive and the particular fate he chose may have had little synchronistic sparkle, but his prediction wasn't entirely off the wall. Isn't it always the 11th hour? At least sub specie aeternitatis?

But with the 20th Century we leave eternity behind and enter the dimensional worlds. The date Whisenant gave has another meaning. As you know, we stand in the slough of time and at the perimeters of various magico/religious aeons - including the multitudinous segments of the Galilean era - all of which end at different points. The prophecies are fulfilled at different velocities in different ways. The world "ends" perennially because "World" derives from Anglo-Saxon wer-µld ("Man's Era" or "human time.")

Part of our confusion has to do with the fact that we tend to use "the world" and "the earth" as though they were synonyms. The earth is merely one of the stages on which the drama of the world is enacted. From the Olympian point of view, the end of a world isn't a tragedy. Everything has its ?ld. Even the gods have their time. Even the dinosaurs had an "Age" so the toymakers tell us. The word for "world", in every language, is invariably linked to the notion of time. Arabic duniya, "the present (world)", Hebrew olam "eternity", Latin mundus, originally a division into sections (of time), like the Greek kosmos. Religion is always, sooner or later, part of that chronometry.

It amazes me that people, especially gullible Xtians, can be so blind as to expect everything to go on as it has done for millions of years when the end has, in fact, arrived. By now it should be clear even to rotting elephants and establishment flakes that the fulfillment of the prophesies is at hand. Even technocratic corporationism concedes that any time between now and the early 21st Century pollution, population, drought, disease and famine will have hit their strides (the "four horsemen" as the four elements: polluted air, sewage-laden water, barren earth, radiocative fire). Therefore 2000 also marks the beginning of the Age of Aquarius and the official end of the Piscean "Age of Jesus". After that date the Christians (all of whom by then will have been swept up into the arms of their Redeemer) will find themselves, or so asserts self-styled Neo-Xtian, Constance Cumbey, "preserved in their own bubble of spiritual sterility on the dimensional shelf of an alternate reality," where they may eternally contemplate the wonder of their salvation. Meanwhile, mankind's post-holocaustic, enlightened remnant (should such a remnant, by any miracle, remain) will be free to move ahead...to? Incidentally, by the word "holocaust" I do not refer to war but to the destruction of the biosphere by the ravages of unchecked human growth.

For remarks on the return of Christ or "Second Coming" (see PAROUSIA). Meanwhile, the elect, who are still being sacrificed, already inhabit the New Jerusalem. The safe and sound remainder are not saved at all, despite their belief. They call themselves Xtians, but they are Philistines. The zealous guardians of the faith are precisely those about whom Matthew was shouting: "Not everyone who saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!", and of whom Mark said, "But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days." Those who remain are increasingly damned to the hell that earth is henceforth becoming. September 13, 1988 was the last day before it would be too late to begin the task of repairing the biosphere and reversing daily descent to terracide. So the jubilant laughter of Whisenant's scoffers begins to sound increasingly hollow, doesn't it?

 Obviously, there are many of us who, though raised in the Xtian tradition, can view the Apocalyptic experience which the world is undergoing even now, without falling gibbering to our knees in a final paroxysm of millennial conversion. . . No matter what happens henceforth, will retain our Neo-Gnostic and Neo-Pagan allegiances and avoid the horror of "Salvation."

Other cultures are more confrontational. Coinciding with the Xtian Apocalypse is the Hopi ending of the "Fourth World". In their system, evolution produces new strengths but also creates new bad habits which must periodically be burned away. Those who have not been corrupted will become the seed people of the next world. Hindus and Yogis (q.v.) rather than living in the world, tend to think of themselves as living in an "age" - at present, that age is the evil "Kali Yuga" (quite similar, in fact, to our own "apocalyptic era" and not necessarily lengthier). The Chinese also live in an older world. As of this writing (1988), this is the year 4686 for them. And for the Jews it's 5748. But the Mayans (q.v.) dwell in almost inconceivably vast ages, called baktuns and the current one ends in 2012, our time. The "Harmonic Convergence" of July, 1987, marked the entry, for the Mayans, into the final lustrum of the penultimate 20-year period, before the "hotting up" time of 1992, which is the beginning of the final 20 years of a 160,000 year cycle!

The "world" is, in a very real sense, however, the creation of those who inhabit it. Thus, when our forefathers created the United States, they quite deliberately and correctly referred to this as a "new world" and gave the Great Seal the designation NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM ("New Order of the Ages"), which you can still read on every dollar bill. But every maker of a "new" world, whether secular or religious, brings in his own "Age." The makers of the R_publique Fran_aise, after the Revolution of 1789, even came up with a brand new calendar to mark their "new age," complete with new names for the months. Anton LaVey, high priest of the "San Francisco Church of Satan", proclaimed 1966 as the beginning of the "New Satanic Age". Jesus Christ, arriving at the beginning of the Piscean Age, brought with him an automatic 2000-year non-renewable lease on time, which runs out in this century, the beginning of the Aquarian Age. Magicians also fabricate their own elaborate times - Aleister Crowley, for instance, began his "Age of Horus" in 1904. Moreover, although it might be expected to have ended at his death in 1947, his followers, seeing him as an immortal, still maintain Crowley's "Thelemic" calendar in that system, 1996 C.E. would be AN 72.

Crowley's aeon was itself superseded in 1947 (the year of the saucers) when the doorway to the Hell of Universe B was opened by Jack Parsons and L. Ron Hubbard, whence the "Forgotten Ones" are now penetrating this world.

In 1980 Mickey Mouse and Jesus joined forces to end personal liberty in the United States (the end of the Democratic Party forever). In 1983 the Hopis announced the end of the 5th World - henceforth man would be obliged to boost his own stock, somehow. In July of 1987, the world entered the final lustrum of the penultimate katun of the Mayan aeon - another time of tribulation. 1992 was the beginning of yet another 20-year battle of armageddon. On January 6, 1999 Julian Day 2,415,195, the world will end by Nostradamus's calculation. Few will notice, perhaps, sind the "end" refers merely to the official passing of the Galilean Age and the world will be so desperately struggling to survive that there will be little time for outmoded messiahs.

Zoroaster, who died in 1000 B.C., will be reborn and complete the end of futility and Ahriman's rule. His seed at the bottom of a lake, it was prophesied, would thrice conceive maidens at three millennial points. The final chapter in the Zoroastrian cycle and yet another eschaton in our time.

Finally, it should be noted, in 2012, Terence McKenna's Timescape reaches Absolute Zero, the point of infinite novelty (See AUTOPOETIC LAPIS). And, interestingly, Jung also predicted the outer limit as occurring approximately fifty years after his death, which was in 1961.

You will understand that these 'end of the world' dates constitute a map of reality, but are obviously not Reality itself (apart from the fact that there is no "reality", as such). One doesn't necessarily visit every town on the map. We can choose to live out our allotted span to 1999 or 2012, and perhaps save the world, after all, or we can commit mass suicide beforehand in any of a hundred different ways, thus escaping the horror that is building up. The date of the Apocalypse isn't important. What matters is its immediacy. We have to understand that we've reached the outer limit of our dimension - THERE IS NO FUTURE - or at least very little. Like the amoeba in his drop of water it's time to turn away from the edge and move back to the center.

At any rate, by now it should be clear that we're moving quickly, not only metaphysically and synchronistically, but literally into the charged nexus of all the "ending aeons", into a kind of central transformer which is approaching its limit like an overworked fuse. The task of the archons of the ending aeons is to guide the confused through the wreckage of our disintegrating society.

(See also: APO PANTAS KAKODAIMONES! , Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul,)

Baconian Methods The Baconian method corresponds roughly to what is known in logic as the inductive method of reasoning, of which Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was a great advocate, as contrasted with the deductive method.

Considered to be the method of modern science, it consists in inferring general laws from the observation of particular instances; whereas in the deductive method, general laws are assumed because of the natural harmony of the universe, and particular instances or consequences are deduced as flowing forth from them.

In the Baconian method particular phenomena are examined with the view of finding out what is essential and excluding what is nonessential, and thus establishing a general law; but the weakness of this method is that the number of particular phenomena or details to be examined in order to arrive at truth must be virtually coextensive with infinity; for in any instance a body of particular phenomena may be encountered which demands immediate readjustment or radical shiftings in opinions in process of crystallization. Actually the scientific method is a combination of both methods: we cannot interpret phenomena without having at the outset some principle in mind; moreover, no sooner have we established a general law than we begin to apply it for the discovery of other phenomena, thus using the deductive method.

A more important objection to the inductive method as used by modern science is that it limits the basis of reasoning to the relative paucity of data furnished by our physical senses, which data we must first learn to understand beyond doubt; otherwise our reasoning is vicious. Blavatsky states that the secrets of invisible nature cannot be thus inferred, but that we must call in the aid of higher senses in order to obtain the necessary foundation for reasoning and to insure the adequate understanding of discoverable data.

See also INDUCTIVE METHOD

(See also: Baconian Methods , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Superhero/heroine:

1. A male superhero represents a super intellect; thus to dream of seeing Superman, Batman, Spiderman, or whoever indicates that your mind is particularly sharp right now, and if there is a project you're working on that requires a quick, agile, and insightful intellect, this is the time to concentrate primarily on it. Female superheroes such as Wonder Woman or Supergirl indicate a heightened supportive mind - and thus the dreamer's intuition is operating at a very high level. Therefore at this time the dreamer should definitely believe in his or her hunches and go with them - no matter what the intellect tells you.

2. If the dreamer encounters both male and female superheroes, then both faculties of his mind are especially sharp right now. Use your intellect, but when in doubt, follow your heart.

3. If the superhero or heroine is flying, or performing a rescue, then your mental and/or intuitive faculties will save you from an uncomfortable situation.

Strangulation/lack of air/trouble breathing

The dreamer is standing in her own way, either consciously or unconsciously keeping herself from attaining her own dreams due to fear, which can manifest as extreme caution. Look to other symbols in the dream to judge how the dreamer can release herself from that fear.

Astrological parallel: Saturn.

Tarot parallel: The Devil.

Source: Astrocenter, http://astrocenter.astrology.msn.com/msn/DreamDictionary.aspx

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Superhero, heroine , Meaning of Dreams about Superhero, heroine , Dream Interpretation Superhero, heroine )