powers and princes

Powers and Princes of Darkness and Light

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“I will take you eagerly, and we’ll soar on wings high over dark powers and recalcitrant princes. I will take you into the primeval calm of new land, the new paradise, and will show you the design of the father’s being. You will know joy and praise, go beyond pain, and in luminous dress you will gird on light. On your head is your diadem of authority. Spirit spoke and built on that structure the vast fortress of the noble emperor. The primeval firstborn merits a palace as his dominion. The first human clothes himself in gladness and binds on the diadem of sovereignty. On his friends he binds the diadem and clothes their bodies in the garment of gladness. And those faithful elect he clothes in praise, binds the diadem on them. They reign happily as once they were in shackles just for their name and were horribly punished by enemies. Their victory was their return from hell. Their enemies are subdued, and before them cliffs! On that day when the father reveals his form, the caring father, lord of the aeons of light, he will show his illuminated shape. It’s a glorious bright form to all the gods who will live there.” ~Parthian Songs

Soar on Wings

It isn’t clear at the beginning of this song who the speaker is. Who is going to help us soar? Who is bringing us high above darkness? I think the answer is an awakened soul. When our soul is awakened it does, in a sense, soar on wings. Not that we literally grow wings. But the soul, being unlimited by time and space, can be anywhere it wants to be instantly. And return so fast you don’t even know it left. When you exist outside of time and space, as the soul does, you don’t really move at all. You simply shift your focus to a new location. The soul is already there. It always was.

Dark Powers and Princes

We do need to soar high above dark powers and princes. But who are the dark forces or powers? Who are the princes? It is difficult to comprehend that in the spiritual worlds, forces and beings may be the same thing. We don’t think of gravity or inertia as beings. Many of us do, however, think of darkness, or evil, as beings. The devil, demons, these are beings of darkness. But they are also powers. These powers and princes are not much different than the force of gravity, but they have been personified as a matter of convenience. Think of demons or devils if you prefer, or think in terms of forces. The result is the same either way. The darkness is not our friend. The dark princes want to keep us trapped in the realm of matter where they have most of their power. They will do almost anything to keep us from awakening and developing our spiritual faculties that allow us to escape from them. Fortunately, there are light powers and princes that are at least as powerful as the dark ones. The princes of light are on our side.

Diadem of Authority

I have not read this particular term in any spiritual books before. But it is reasonable to assume it is symbolic, like most other odd references found in spiritual writings. Diadem is a type of crown. Specifically, it is a band that circles the top of the head. They are often made of gold. Some have diamonds on them, but that isn’t what the name means.

Since this is a spiritual song, specifically Gnostic, we can assume the diadem is not a literal, physical crown. It is a reference to the light that is often seen—or at least imagined in artworks—around the heads of holy or enlightened persons. It is a halo. It is the Dove of Light above the head of Jesus. Ancient traditional diadems are usually made of gold. Like other gold crows, therefore, they also represent a person who is “One with the Sun”. That is to say, they represent one who has been awakened and enlightened by the light of the spiritual sun that is symbolized by gold. This is backed by the previous line of the song, which says the awakened soul will be clothed in light. So the soul, or awakened spirit, is clothed in light and wears a crown of light. Are we getting the picture that light is important yet?

Primeval Firstborn

You might think this is a reference to Adam, the first human, but it isn’t. Not directly, anyway. It is more likely a reference to the hidden true and ancient self that is in each of us. It is spiritual man, before he descended into matter. This is the archetype of humanity. The song says that this firstborn rates a palace as his dominion. This is an allegorical way of saying that the awakened soul of man rates a space in heaven rather than being trapped in matter.

For His Friends

The song tells us that these Firstborn, these powers and princes of light, also gives the clothes of light and the diadem. He gives them to his friends and to the faithful. This is telling us that when we awaken, it is our duty to help others do the same. Of course, we cannot do it for them. But we can encourage others. We can teach them. Helping others is just as important as helping ourselves grow. The powers and princes of darkness can only be stopped by the powers and princes of light. Yes, God helps to. But He doesn’t do it directly. God can’t descend into the realm of matter. He might be contaminated for one thing. For another, his great spiritual energy might transform the matter into spirit instantly if he descended into it. That would be a very bad thing for those of us who are not yet prepared for that. So the powers and princes of light instead help teach others to join their ranks. They also help hold the powers and princes of darkness down so they cannot harm us as much as they would like to.

Even if we can’t truly say that we have reached this level of being a prince of light, we should still help others as much as we help ourselves. That is because Humanity is a single thing with many parts. The individual parts cannot be saved alone. All of humanity must be saved. All must become powers and princes of light.

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darkness

Darkness and Light and Their Eternal War

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“Let us worship the spirit of the comforter, bless lord Jesus who sent us the spirit of truth. He came and split us from the world’s error. He came with a mirror, we looked. In it was the cosmos. When the holy spirit came she disclosed the way of truth. It taught us two natures, light and darkness, distinct from the beginning. The kingdom of light has five greatnesses: father and his twelve aeons, and the aeons of aeons, the living air, the land of light, and the enormous spirit through whom they breath and which nourishes them with light. But the kingdom of darkness has five storehouses: smoke and fire and wind and water and darkness. Their advocate creeps in them, inciting them to make war on each other. When making war they dared attack the land of light. They supposed they could vanquish it and didn’t know that their plans would crash down on their own heads. There was a horde of angels in the land of light, ready to pour out and break the father’s enemy. They were pleased to have the father’s word to rout those rebels who saw themselves exalted. The angels were like a shepherd who sees a lion padding near to destroy the fold, who cunningly takes a lamb and sets it as a snare to catch the lion. With a single lamb he saves his fold, heals the lamb, and wounds the lion. Such is the way of the father who sent forth his strong son” ~The Coptic Manichaean Songbook

Spirit of the Comforter

It seems odd to me to refer to Jesus as a comforter. He came to rock the boat. He came to get people out of their complacency and acceptance of limited, materialistic views of religion. While he offered comfort by telling us the true God of spirit was a loving and tolerant God, unlike the vengeful and Jealous Jehovah, He also came to get us out of our comfort zone and into working for the true awakening of our souls. He promised comfort, but only by working hard to reach that stage of development first. Sadly, many Christians of today have wondered far from what Jesus was actually teaching and now believe that he was the comforter and didn’t want us to do anything, just let him do it all and we could simply worship Him. That, of course, is not at all what Jesus taught. It isn’t what any of the great founders of religions taught. Comfort comes only after each of us does the hard work himself.

World of Error

In the time of Jesus, the world was in error by believing that sacrificing animals or other things to God (or gods) was the way to win favor. The idea that destroying the creatures that were already God’s would please Him is just stupid, yet many believed it. Jesus taught us that what the real God wanted us to sacrifice was our own materialistic and egotistical wants and desires, and instead develop our spiritual faculties.

Today, the religious environment is different, but just as lost as back then. None of the major religions of today engage in human or animal sacrifice. But some of them have become very materialistic. Many think that helping people with material problems is what religion is all about. Wrong! While feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, etc., are all good things to do, they are social goods, not spiritual. So that is why this is a world of error and has been for a long time. But we are now at the dawn of a new Golden Age of Light that will change that if we don’t prevent it from happening.

Two Natures

There are two natures. The one nature of light, and the one of darkness. The quote says they were distinct from the beginning, but that is not exactly true. The darkness did not exist at all until it was created by the Demiurge. Before that, all was light. But it is correct to say that the realm of light is completely separate from the realm of darkness.

There are many who say that we can’t develop only our light side, our light being. They say we must develop both the light and dark equally. That is the wish of the dark demons who rule that realm. We have to acknowledge that the darkness is real. We do not have to embrace it. We have to convert it back into light. We have to bring more and more light into the darkness until there is no darkness left. God will be doing most of it, but only if we decide to help.

War of Light against Darkness

The Manichaean song quoted above has it correct. There is a war between the forces of darkness and the forces of light. It is a foolish war, but then the fans of darkness are fools. If we think of ordinary darkness and light, it will be obvious that light defeats darkness simply by being present. Put a light into a dark room and it is no longer dark. It may still have dark corners, but it isn’t completely dark. Now try putting a piece of darkness into a brightly lit room and what happens? First, how do you do that? You can use a lamp, candle, or flashlight to put light into a room, but how do you add darkness? Second, even if you had some device that could add darkness to the room, it would still be lit. Darkness can’t overcome light. Only by removing the light can the room become dark.

But in the war of light vs darkness, we are speaking of a different kind of light. This is a spiritual light. It is a light of truth and wisdom. It is a light of peace and growth. Whereas the darkness on this level represents the world of lies, greed, death, and disease. In short, the light is spirit and the darkness is matter. But much like the regular light and darkness, spiritual light is never totally eliminated. The darkness of matter is never total. There is always a little spirit hidden within it. This makes it possible for those being trapped in the realm of matter to be saved. They are saved by transformation.

Weapons in the War

Artists often depict the war of Light against Darkness as if it were an ordinary human war with both sides fighting with swords, knives, or even guns. Nothing could be further from the truth. The weapons in this war are quite different. The weapons of the forces of darkness are lies, deception, and control. The weapons of light are truth, wisdom, freedom, and transformation. The angels not only work to transform us, humans, they even work on transforming those fallen angels and their offspring. They have succeeded with some, at least to the extent of getting them to switch sides. But we must all transform before the world we live in can transform as well. That will be the final end of darkness.

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Boundless Light Before the Darkness

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“There is no boundary for light. It was unknown when it began. Nothing was when light was not. Nothing was when radiance was not. Nothing was when life was not. There was never a boundary for light. Nothing was when water was not.

“Water is prior to darkness. Prior to darkness is water. Nothing is without an end. No number is before the uthras were. Light beings are prior to darkness. Prior to darkness are uthras and older than their inhabitants. Goodness is prior to the malice of the place of darkness. Gentleness is prior to the bitterness of the place of darkness. Living fire is prior to the consuming fires of the place of darkness. Praise is prior to the practice of sorcery and witchcraft. Hymns and books are prior to the sorcery of Hewath, the terrible woman.

“Water doesn’t mix with tar, and darkness can’t be measured by light. The house of gloom isn’t lighted. The house of gloom isn’t lighted, and turbid waters have no sparkle. Darkness grew and creatures formed. Darkness formed, and when it formed it tested its force. It harbored malice in its mind. It imprisoned its own kanna, the place of the soul. It imprisoned its own kanna, and everything it did was nothing. The children of darkness are nothing, but the children of life stay. The house of evil is nothing, and its consuming fires die. Its sorcery dies and ends, since it has no place in eternity. It comes to nothing. The generations of life stay forever. The living instruction rises and illuminates a perishable living place.” ~the Ginza

Boundless Light

Light has no bounds, no boundaries. It always was. It always will be. Nothing was created before the boundless light. Even the confused Book of Genesis in the Bible that mixes parts of the creation of the spiritual universe with the creation of the physical has that correct. Light is the true image of God. It may even be that God could be considered conscious light. The ultimate consciousness and the ultimate light. Light existed without any darkness whatsoever.

Light Beings

The quote says that water and light beings existed prior to darkness. Most interpreters agree that “water” here means the cosmos. More specifically, the spiritual universe or spiritual dimensions. They existed totally without darkness.

It also says the Light Beings that inhabit the spiritual realms of light also existed before darkness. The name Uthras, as used in the quote, seems to be a name used for these Light Beings. Some might think these beings are angels. That might be true. But I have read spiritual books that refer to the occupants of the worlds of Light as “Angels and Light Beings,” which indicate they are not the same. Exactly how they differ, I do not know. But we can be sure that angels and Light Beings existed before darkness and before dark beings. They are part of the boundless light. Continue reading “Boundless Light Before the Darkness” →

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Contrary Darkness and Light in the Physical World

Posted on by Harold Boulette

“There is an eternal contrariety between Darkness and Light. Neither of them comprehends the other, and neither of them is the other; and yet there is only one essence, being, or substance, wherein they both subsist. But there is a difference in the quality and will; yet the essence or substance is not divided, but a principle makes the division. So that the one is a nothing in the other, and yet it is there, but not manifest in the property of that thing wherein it is.

“For the Devil continued in his own dominion or principality, not indeed is that wherein God created him, but in the aching painful birth of eternity, in the center of Nature and property of Wrath, in the property which begetteth darkness, anguish, and pain. … He is a prince … in the Kingdom of Darkness.” ~Jacob Boehme

Contrary Darkness and Light

Those who embrace the duality of the physical world as normal and intentional consider light and darkness as being complimentary. They see it as being two sides of the same coin. But Boehme seems to disagree with that interpretation. Most mystics and mystery schools throughout the ages would agree with Boehme.

While it may seem like darkness and light are complimentary, that is true only in the physical realm, and them only as part of the great illusion. On higher, spiritual plains of existence, there is no darkness at all. And, surprise! Light functions just fine without it. In fact, the Light is far more powerful without the resistance of darkness.

Neither Comprehends the Other

It is true that in terms of forces, the contrary darkness and light do not understand each other. The exist separately and without communicating with the other. But when we look at beings of light and darkness, it’s a different story.

The beings of darkness are fully aware of the beings of light. They are jealous of them because they know that light is far more powerful than the dark. They also know that light is permanent while darkness is temporary. Yet few of them are willing to leave the darkness. That will change.

The Light beings are also aware of those of darkness. They are not jealous of them at all. Nor do they fear them, for they know their power is limited. What they feel for their lost brothers and sisters is love and pity, not fear or anger. They want nothing more than to turn the lost ones back to the light. They have started to succeed. Every year some of the lost souls of the dark realm are convinced to go back to the light. Eventually, all will and darkness will end. That, of course, means that the realm of matter will end. It won’t be destroyed, it will be transformed into spirit and light. Continue reading “Contrary Darkness and Light in the Physical World” →

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