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WHO
AND WHAT IS THE DAEMON/DAЇMON?
The
most important injunction on the spiritual path of the ancient Mysteries was
ascribed over the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi: Gnothi Seauton— "Know
Thy Self." The initiates
of the ancient Mysteries were after Gnosis, which meant the knowledge of
self knowledge, the knowledge of the “Who Am I?”.
They
used to say: “Whoever has not known himself has known nothing, but he who
has known himself has at the same time already achieved Gnosis about the
depth of all things.
The Daemon and the Eidolon
But
what is the Self? The ancient sages taught that every human being has a
mortal lower self, called the eidolon and an immortal
Higher Self (Soul) called the DAEMON.
The eidolon is the embodied self, the physical body, and ego personality.
The Daemon is the Spirit, the true Self, which is each person's spiritual
connection to God. The Mysteries were designed to help initiates realize
that one’s eidolon is a false self and that one’s true identity is the
immortal Daemon.
From
the eidolon's point of view the Daemon appears to be an independent Guardian
Angel. Disciples and seekers who still identify with the eidolon, therefore,
do not experience the Daemon as their own true Self, but as a spirit guide,
whose job it is to lead them to their spiritual destination – hence it is
a separate entity that entices them to advance and awake to their true
essence. Plato teaches: "We should think of the most authoritative part
of the Soul as a Guardian given by God which lifts us to our heavenly
home."
As
a comment, we could faintly enter into the mystery of the two complementary
aspects of our pure Being, and understand the real meaning of the mystery of
Jesus Christ …in other words what the Acts of John is hinting…which is
the TWIN aspects of the One and unique Essence of Being. Hence the One
Essence projects a part of Itself into the world of duality and seems to
become two - A part incarnating as the consciousness of divinity in human
beings – this means that the initiate becomes a pure reflection and mirror
“Jesus” in which the part of himself that never incarnates
appears…that is the Presence of the
Christ Consciousness… a level of consciousness that goes beyond the world
of creation and duality.
The
Pistis Sophia relates a charming myth of the child Jesus meeting his
own Heavenly Twin for the first time. His mother Mary recalls: “When you
were a child, before the Spirit had descended upon you, when you were in the
vineyard with Joseph, the Spirit came down from the height, and came unto me
in the house, like unto thee, and I knew Him not, but thought that he was
you. And he said unto me, "Where is Jesus, my brother, that I may go to
meet him?"
Mary
relates to Jesus that when his Twin finally found him, "He embraced you
and kissed you, and you also did kiss him and you became one and the same
being."
The
goal of Gnostic initiation was, likewise, to bring the lower self into union
with the Higher Self or Soul, for it is when they are made one that
enlightenment occurs. Irenaeus relates that the Gnostic "believes
himself to be neither in heaven nor on earth, but to have embraced his
Guardian Angel." The great Gnostic master Valentinus writes:
'The
quest for Self-knowledge leads the ancient or Gnostic initiate on a
remarkable journey of discovery. At first initiates experience themselves as
the eidolon, the embodied personality, and see the Daïmon as a Guardian
Angel or Heavenly Twin. The more mature initiate, experiences the Daemon as
a higher manifestation of their own Higher Self or Soul. To those blessed
with the final vision of complete Self-knowledge or Gnosis, the Daïmon is
found to be more awesome still. It truly is the "divine I,” the
Essence that has no appearance and yet takes all kinds of appearances in the
world of creation. Valentinus puts it like this: “Although it appears as
if each person has their own Daïmon
or Higher Self, the enlightened initiate discovers that actually on the
axial Pole of Being there is one Daïmon
shared by all, a universal Self, which inhabits every being. Each Soul is a
part of the one Soul of God. To know oneself therefore is to know God.
These
mystical teachings are found both in the ancient Mysteries of
Egypt, Greece and in the early Gnostic Christianity. In the ancient
Mysteries the initiates used to say: "I am Thou, and Thou art I"
and it can also be found in the Gnostic text of the Pistis Sophia and
in the New Testament in Gospel of John, we read:
" I in Thou, and Thou in me." (I in you and you in me.)
The
Pagan sage Sextus writes: "If you would know Him by whom you were made,
you would know yourself." Similarly, the Christian philosopher Clement
writes: "It is the greatest of all disciplines to know oneself; for
when a man knows himself, he knows God." Clement taught his Christian
initiates to "practice being God" and that the true Gnostic had
"already met God. Gnostic means "Knower," but it is not some piece of spiritual information that Gnostic initiates know. They “know” because it is their Higher Self that Knows… Hence they are conscious that they are not the ones who know, the ones who experience, it is the Soul, the Higher Self within, the divine "I," the Daemon who KNOWS! The Daïmon communes on the Axial Pole of Being – the Pole of pure Consciousness. The true Gnostic, like the enlightened initiate of the ancient Mysteries, discovers that the Daemon is actually the one Soul of the Universe — the pure level of Consciousness that inhabits each one of us. According to the ancient Gnostic sages who have traversed the path of Self-knowledge and reached enlightenment, when, we finally discover who we are, we discover that there is only one Perfect Being, one God.
(some parts of this article are taken from the book of T. Freke & P.Gandy "the Jesus Mysteries" ) However, I have added my own way of experiencing the Daemon... Please read the articles on this website that explores and explains the mystical role of the Daemon and Its relationship to the Permanent and Spiritual Witnesses
Mystery of Man- Part 1
Mystery of Man- Part
2 * There are two ways of writing the word "Daemon or Daïmon"
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