Quote:Your comment about Judaeo-christian mythology and a teaching that is more "agreeable" than that of the Roman Catholic church suggests to me a need for caution - I find it highly dubious that any person who is not a canon of the church would be qualified to state that they actually know the magisterium.
By "agreeable" I meant from a purely personal point of view, i.e. that I find the Gnostic stories of the Fall, Ialdabaoth, creation of Man, etc. to be a lot more sensible, interesting and fitting than the default Christian teachings. Of course, this is entirely within and of itself - there is no sensible way of advocating the Bible's "historical" accounts to be 100% fact.
Quote:I would also be curious as to how you understand the word "mythology"
As I say above, I am refering to the Gnostic stories of gods and Man, in which case I guess I use it in the "sophomoric" sense :P. I call it myth because it is not fact - I could refer to them as "religious teachings" I suppose, but "myth" seems suitable enough.
Quote:It is gratifying to see a high level of interest in CAS' philosophy - My memoir deals slightly with a discussion he and I had on dualism on one occasion (found in "Sword) - Clark appreciated the concept of "vicarious sacrifice" profoundly and, through the lives of his parents had experienced it personally.
I've seen that book ("Sword of Zagan") mentioned a lot (understandably :P) in the year or so I've been lurking around this site and it certainly sounds like something I need to read. Probably over this summer, when I plan to do a Lovecraft-and-related-authors binge because I'm ashamed at myself for the lack of knowledge I have about my favourite author :D.
Quote:One must also remember that Gnosticism itself, whilst holding certain basic concepts, was a diversified religious movement. So there is some overlap in CAS' world-view and temperament, but this, I feel, is more accidental than not, and therefore of no real importance when assigning causation.
The main reason I ask is that CAS refers to Lucifer in the poem as both "the brother" and "the mind's ideal", whilst simultaneously saying "the darkness that is God". I interpreted this as depicting Lucifer as a paragon of knowledge, intelligence and wisdom which humanity could assail or strive to match; this is an idea which is fundamental to both Traditional Satanism and various factions of Gnosticism (especially Ophitic Gnosticism). The "darkness that is God" compounds this idea with the Gnostic and Satanic perception of God (i.w. YHWH, aka Ialdabaoth) as an arrogant, vain demiurge that is tyrannous over humanity.
If CAS did not at least take interest in this point of view I wouldn't see why he would write a poem about it? Unless it was like a Metaphysical poet writing about subject matter purely for the sakes of investigating it though they may never agree with it. With C G Jung bringing about a slight resurgence in interest toward Gnosticism around this time (i.e. the first half of the 20th century), I guess my assumption was that CAS at least took interest in it also. Of course, my knowledge of CAS is limited (as I originally took interest purely as a result of his association with Lovecraft) so I might be completely wrong - hence the topic! :P