11-03-2024, 05:20 PM
It might be a surprise to some that genuine medieval mystics understood human soul as a conscience that has the ability to grow with the expanded knowledge of good and evil. Like contemporary psychologists, they recognized different degrees of human consciousness (soul). A simple conscious is that of a child: loving, sharing, shameless, guilt-free, playful, carefree, trusting people around him, but fearing strangers. These basic instinct are part of human nature, similar to the animal instinct, which means that humans also share basic existential protective instinct, such as anger and violence when threatened. Like animals, humans are created in such a way that they can learn new things and change their instinctual behaviour. They are superior to animals because of their ability for abstract thinking and writing. We are discovering that animals, too, might be able to 'think', but they cannot transmit their wisdom across time and space, like humans do by way of speaking and writing. This is why the Word is considered the greatest gift of God, and God itself.
There are three levels of human soul, similar to Freud's division: it, ego and superego. In the concept of medieval mystics, there was still a higher level attainable only by genuine mystical experience (mystical death). Only mystics who attained such high level can properly apprehend God and speak on His behalf.
The human concept of Good and Evil is not something static - it is growing like a tree and enables humans to adjust to changing reality. The progress in human spirituality was possible because of the individuals that were willing to step outside the collective consciousness and seek God-like perfection, whatever the concept of God(s) was in particular societies.
A human soul is not something that 'drops' from a physical heaven, picks a fertilized embrio and departs from human body at the time of the death of the physical body to return to a heaven, hell or purgatory. The medieval mystics knew that the humans souls live in the collective consciousness (which with the expansion of knowledge can be expanded) and as such had influence on the present and the future. The Christ-like consciousness gives mystics the freedom to accept or reject society's norms and work toward changes that would benefit the entire society. This feels like a heave burden for them, because they are aware that they are 'co-creating' human souls. The biblical writers considered heaven a 'child-like' trust in Life and in Goodness of people, purgatory as a state of fear and anxiety, and hell as mental and physical torture.
The medieval mystics had great appreciation for nature and the universe, for in their harmonious working they saw the reflection of the universal Creator.
They believed in the cultivation of soul (nature and nurture in contemporary psychological terms) and progression of spirituality into a single universal religion, and since the Church was not interested a the time, humanistic writers took on this unifying role. Since their work was pronounced heretical, they developed symbolic language in literature and in visual arts, to assure the survival of their work.
The images of plants (as trees with roots, stems and blooms) in the VM clearly reflect the connection of the past to the present and the future), and the three concentrical circles with a dot in the middle reflect God in the smallest and the largest extremes, while three middle rings representing the degrees of human consciousness.
The genuine mystics did not believe in re-incarnation, but in conditioning of the soul by reading the biblical writing. They were particularly focused on the Book of Revelation which they interpreted symbolically rather than literally. They believed in adult baptism as a ritualistic affirmation of their Christian conscience and their decision to follow Jesus' teaching.
In his book The Guide for the Perplexed, Moses Maimonides explain why God is depicted in anthropomorphical terms and how God-like consciousness is attained. In medieval Europe, Meister Eckhart and his followers had taken similar view. Particularly Carthusians wrote many guides for would-be mystics, but admitted that the gift of genuine prophesy cannot be learned, and that various techniques can only prepare the human souls for a genuine mystical experience, which was considered 'God's special grace'.
The idea that God physically existed in some heaven above the earth was foreign to the genuine medieval mystics who believed that God needs human bodies and human minds to work out his plan for humanity. But most of all, they believed that those who speak on God's behalf have to reflect on their own lives first and 'purify' themselves first so that they can guide people by way of Love and good deeds.
The history has a way of repeating itself. We are now experience similar division and confusion in our individual lives and in society in general. I believe that the Voynich Manuscript reflects the spirituality of the great medieval mystics who were calling for Church reforms that would promote unity, rather than division, for more equality and democracy in society, but their voices were silent, their books mostly destroyed and their ideas suppressed.
A lot of human suffering had been caused because of misinterpretation of the Bible. That was something the medieval mystics were concerned about, and we too should be concerned.
There are three levels of human soul, similar to Freud's division: it, ego and superego. In the concept of medieval mystics, there was still a higher level attainable only by genuine mystical experience (mystical death). Only mystics who attained such high level can properly apprehend God and speak on His behalf.
The human concept of Good and Evil is not something static - it is growing like a tree and enables humans to adjust to changing reality. The progress in human spirituality was possible because of the individuals that were willing to step outside the collective consciousness and seek God-like perfection, whatever the concept of God(s) was in particular societies.
A human soul is not something that 'drops' from a physical heaven, picks a fertilized embrio and departs from human body at the time of the death of the physical body to return to a heaven, hell or purgatory. The medieval mystics knew that the humans souls live in the collective consciousness (which with the expansion of knowledge can be expanded) and as such had influence on the present and the future. The Christ-like consciousness gives mystics the freedom to accept or reject society's norms and work toward changes that would benefit the entire society. This feels like a heave burden for them, because they are aware that they are 'co-creating' human souls. The biblical writers considered heaven a 'child-like' trust in Life and in Goodness of people, purgatory as a state of fear and anxiety, and hell as mental and physical torture.
The medieval mystics had great appreciation for nature and the universe, for in their harmonious working they saw the reflection of the universal Creator.
They believed in the cultivation of soul (nature and nurture in contemporary psychological terms) and progression of spirituality into a single universal religion, and since the Church was not interested a the time, humanistic writers took on this unifying role. Since their work was pronounced heretical, they developed symbolic language in literature and in visual arts, to assure the survival of their work.
The images of plants (as trees with roots, stems and blooms) in the VM clearly reflect the connection of the past to the present and the future), and the three concentrical circles with a dot in the middle reflect God in the smallest and the largest extremes, while three middle rings representing the degrees of human consciousness.
The genuine mystics did not believe in re-incarnation, but in conditioning of the soul by reading the biblical writing. They were particularly focused on the Book of Revelation which they interpreted symbolically rather than literally. They believed in adult baptism as a ritualistic affirmation of their Christian conscience and their decision to follow Jesus' teaching.
In his book The Guide for the Perplexed, Moses Maimonides explain why God is depicted in anthropomorphical terms and how God-like consciousness is attained. In medieval Europe, Meister Eckhart and his followers had taken similar view. Particularly Carthusians wrote many guides for would-be mystics, but admitted that the gift of genuine prophesy cannot be learned, and that various techniques can only prepare the human souls for a genuine mystical experience, which was considered 'God's special grace'.
The idea that God physically existed in some heaven above the earth was foreign to the genuine medieval mystics who believed that God needs human bodies and human minds to work out his plan for humanity. But most of all, they believed that those who speak on God's behalf have to reflect on their own lives first and 'purify' themselves first so that they can guide people by way of Love and good deeds.
The history has a way of repeating itself. We are now experience similar division and confusion in our individual lives and in society in general. I believe that the Voynich Manuscript reflects the spirituality of the great medieval mystics who were calling for Church reforms that would promote unity, rather than division, for more equality and democracy in society, but their voices were silent, their books mostly destroyed and their ideas suppressed.
A lot of human suffering had been caused because of misinterpretation of the Bible. That was something the medieval mystics were concerned about, and we too should be concerned.