Tuesday, May 30, 2006
CARRIE'S PARADIGM SHIFT - OR HOW MM GOT TO BE GODDESS
Perhaps I've come to understand the smug smile on the face of Dan Brown that I noticed in one of his interviews. He kept that smile even though the interviewer was asking probing questions about the truth of what he was claiming. That smile said, "Well of course, you idiot, I don't actually believe this thing I've written is true or that the myth behind it is true either. That's the whole point. Don't you get it?"
Myths have become fashionable. Lots of folks in religious circles are tossing around the word "mythos", particularly in Gnostic circles. Brown's and Lovecraft's fame both rest on myths. The Sinclairs of Rosslyn Chapel would appear to be generating a nifty income from myth. I suppose it beats selling the furniture to pay the taxes. Myth doesn't need to bear any resemblance to truth. After all, if it were truth, we wouldn't call it myth, would we?
New Age paradigm shifters get all caught up in creativity, mostly, I suppose, because the arts can transmit any "reality" the artist desires. How can you argue with a picture or a piece of fiction, or even a Mozart sonata? It becomes especially insidious when it is cloaked in bits of familiar truth so that separating fact from fiction becomes the first necessity.
Hey, I'm a sort of creative person, so I've written a myth of my own. Now keep in mind this is fiction and not intended to be taken seriously for longer than it takes to read it. That's the nature of myth. It's my truth for the length of time that it takes me to write it and you to read it. Then it's time to move on to a new myth written by someone else.
Ok, with that as background, shift your paradigm into fifth dimension myth mode and read on...
My myth begins in the year 27 A.D. Jesus and his followers have formed a cohesive band that moves around the countryside of Palestine giving the Good News to whoever is willing to listen. Their band is assisted by several women who handle the domestic chores like cooking and doing the laundry. Among them there is a woman named Mary of Magdala.
Mary had a reputation when she first joined the followers of Jesus. She had been earning her living as a prostitute in a temple belonging to a sect of Judaism that had fallen out of favor with the main body of the faith. Not only did she enable followers of the sect to have a conjugal relationship with God so as to become divinized, but she also practiced her clairvoyant powers by predicting the future of her clients, for a fee of course.
Mary had predicted the future to a certain man named Judas. She saw him joining a new sect of Judaism that followed a teacher named Jesus and was destined to become known the world over. She had slightly misinterpreted what she saw in her vision, though, and believed that this sect would very soon rule the world. That's what she told Judas.
Now Judas was a worldly man who knew on which side his bread was buttered. He immediately set out to find this Jesus and join up. After he had been a member of the roving band for a few months he brought Mary of Magdala to meet Jesus. Jesus, of course, knew all about MM and asked her to repent and change her life, offering to her friendship and holiness among His disciples. In anticipation of future wealth and power she joined.
Jesus was a very appealing man with a lot of magnetism. Mary thought she could use her talents to seduce Him, and become his religious consort as she had been doing in the temple, which would enable her to hold a place of prominence and leadership among the followers. In fact she was so sure that she had seen such a future for herself in her vision that she even wrote her own gospel which consisted of her favored status above even Peter, and told how Jesus demonstrated his favor by kissing her in front of the others. She tucked this gospel away with her clothing, waiting for the day when it would become a reality.
As the band of believers approached Jerusalem, Mary Magdalene and Judas plotted how they could move Jesus to reveal His kingship. They decided that they would force the revelation by betraying Jesus to Pontius Pilot. In order to insure the success of their plan, they performed the Hieros Gamos to seal it. Then they waited for the opportunity that finally materialized after a meal in an upper room. Judas brought Pilot's soldiers to Gethsemene where he betrayed Jesus with a kiss.
While they were waiting for the opportunity to force the revelation, Mary discovered that she was pregnant and concluded the child belonged to Judas and had been conceived during the Hieros Gamos. She told Judas, but didn't tell anyone else, knowing it would cause a scandal among the disciples.
When Jesus didn't reveal His kingdom, but instead went to His death, Judas, knowing the scandal of Mary's pregnancy awaited him and that he and she would become outcasts from the community of disciples because of it and because of his betrayal, he hanged himself, leaving Mary to face the music alone.
Still wondering what she was going to do, and with no coherent plan, Mary accompanied the other women to the tomb to anoint Jesus body. On the way she had a vision of a living Jesus and decided to hurry ahead to see if it were true and to ask Him for advice. When the others caught up with her, she and Jesus were standing together at the entrance to the tomb. He had just forbidden her to touch Him because He knew the evil plan that was forming in her heart--a plan to claim that He was the father of her unborn child.
When the other women arrived at the tomb and saw the scene, Mary fled without saying anything to them. She ran back to the Apostles and told them that Jesus was alive and she had seen Him.
As the weeks passed, her pregnancy became obvious. She said nothing but let them draw their own conclusions. Some of the more recent Jewish disciples from the heretical sect who had been persuaded by Mary and Judas to join Jesus' followers knew she had been alone with Jesus at the tomb and suggested that it could be that the child she carried was conceived by the risen Jesus then and there. They thought they could use this to their advantage, seeking to raise Mary Magdalene to the status of leadership. She didn't confirm or deny this claim about her pregnancy, but just let them think what they thought. They began telling others in the Jewish community about the bloodline of Jesus sired on the morning of the resurrection, and many believed them. They took Mary into their company, taking care of her and protecting her.
The word of this new development among the Jesus followers got back to Rome, and the edict went out to crush the threat. Mary's champions had to get her away from Jerusalem by boat in the dead of night. She and several of her followers spent days on the water, and finally landed in what today is called France. There they continued to care for her and for her child, putting it about that she had been Jesus' wife and that this was His child. Mary taught them her clairvoyant techniques, spreading her own brand of gnostic Christianity which little resembled the teachings of Jesus.
This sect of Christianity developed unhindered for centuries until a Pope decided to wipe it out, sending soldiers to convert Mary's followers. Today that is known as the Albigensian Crusade; and the rest of the story, as they say, is history.
There, you have read Carrie's myth. How do you like it? Do you think it has novel potential? Should I call an editor at Doubleday and work out a deal? How about cinematic potential, Ron Howard?
Now that we've done that, it's time to shift your paradigm back to fourth dimenision truth mode and your belief in the truth of the Gospel as it has been handed down by the Church through the centuries; and forget about Carrie's momentary lapse.
