Khem Nefermed
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- Jun 26, 2024
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The following are the results of my study and analysis of various literature as well as my own thoughts, resulting from performing the Izfet banishments and the guidance of my Guardian. Literary sources will be listed in parentheses ("per", or a quote) as well as in the Bibliography at the end.
As many already know, I like having solid understandings of things, as well as solid justifications of what I believe.
Disclaimer: These are simply my thoughts and analyses, not doctrine. Nothing written here is set in stone or truth until @High Priest Zevios Metathronos adds his point of view or verifies it.
Our clarification of the Enemy got me thinking about the Problem of Evil again, why evil exists in the world. From the Zevist perspective, this can be answered simply, evil exists for life to defeat it and grow beyond it. But metaphysical or ontological explanations are trickier. This post is not meant to provide one. But it is meant to provide an explanation on the ontology of the Enemy, what exactly Yehubor and the beings of Izfet are in the real sense.
The main conundrum that I ran into that prompted me to study and write this is also the thesis of this post:
If all life and reason comes from the Gods, which are Wholly Good (per Iamblichus), how can "living" entities and "rational" ideologies exist that are fully of Izfet?
Firstly, we must understand how the Gods operate, and how their nature allows their energies to manifest and generate our reality.
Proclus and Iamblichus paint a picture of this very clearly. According to Iamblichus, the Gods are wholly good, unchanging and the fountains of the Transcendental qualities (Moral goodness, truth, beauty and upward growth). Proclus describes the manifestation of reality as an unfolding procession from the One, "remaining within it while unfolding into multiplicity through successive emanations." (Elements of Theology)
To tie this model into Plato's model of reality, the Gods stand atop the World of Forms and are the Forms of Forms, out of which Forms emanate, and through which Forms manifest.
As Clergy has stated before, this doctrine of the One does not contradict polytheism and multiple Eternal Gods, simply because procession from the One describes ontological unfolding, while the Eternal Gods as Henads remain self-perfect, causally sovereign sources within a unified divine reality without contradiction. The realm of the Gods is supra-real (per Iamblichus) and does not limit itself through causality. Manifestation of the One relates to Energies, not Nature, and thus the Natures of the Gods remain causally untouched.
Plotinus describes how from the One flows Intellect (the manifested Zeus), and from Intellect flows Soul and self-identity. These are naturally diminished, but ontologically still grounded in and unified to the One. (Plotinus, Enneads)
Zeus, at His core, is Satya, or the Eternal Truth, and an essential aspect of the Eternal Truth is change and growth. Satya is SaTaNaMa, the cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth. The unavoidable unfolding (into growth or decay) in the material world is a participation in the One. (Plato, Timaeus) ("There is always another way to do a thing (...), this is the essence of Who I Am", Message from Zeus to HPS Maxine)
This already allows, metaphysically, for Izfet to exist, as unfolding can either mean Theurgy, unification (Zev) or further separation and distancing from the Divine.
But this still leaves a gap in our metaphysical model, the fact that unfolding into decay can not stem from the energetical procession of manifestation of the Gods, as the Gods only represent the Transcendental existences, most importantly truth and goodness.
To complete our metaphysical model, the important word here is existences. Evil does not "exist". Existence is of the Gods, the Gods are the fountain of truth and thus the fountain of Existence.
The Enemy is, as has been stated before by Clergy, anti-life. This does not only mean that the entities of Izfet and those plagued on a deep level by the currents of Yehubor are against life, but that they are the opposite of a living entity.
The metaphysical model of the Enemy's "manifestation" (all words used to describe the Enemy's nature should include "anti-", but I am not writing that every time) mirrors the World of Forms, but is actually below it, and below material existence entirely. If the Gods are supra-real, the source of reality, then the Enemy is "less than false", BELOW illusion.
Plato, in his writings, on a surface level reading, only describes evil as "approaching non-existence". In his Sophist dialogue, Plato describes evil ontologically, not via procession. He states that "that which is evil" can not "appear", as appearance itself requires a participation in truth and being, aspects of the Gods.
However, the world is Maya, the physical is a scaffolding that does not fully reflect the metaphysical realities. Things can appear "existent" despite not having a grounded existence. In a reductive way, we can consider it "bastardized existence". The essence of the "existence" of Yehubor, both of "entities" and of those in full alignment with manifesting Izfet, is an existence below falsehood, beneath even illusion.
This sounds like I am contradicting Plato, but Proclus states these exact things in his Commentaries on the Timaeus (“Evil is not even a distorted image, but the absence of form and order, incapable of true manifestation.”).
Illusion, as we understand it, Maya, "types and shadows", still represents form. It is the realm of Poseidon. The Enemy is more than simple distortion, its existence is treason against form.
Izfet is not "being", it is the collapse of being, the erosion of the structure that sustains life which is Ma'at.
With all this in mind, we can construct a metaphysical schema of how the pillar of good, being and truth can coexist in the material world with the pillar of evil, anti-being and falsehood.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
De Mysteriis by Iamblichus
Elements of Theology by Proclus
Enneads by Plotinus
Commentary on the Timaeus by Plotinus
Timaeus by Plato
Republic by Plato
Heraclitus writings preserved, compiled by Diels–Kranz in Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker
On Nature and Purifications by Empedocles (fragmented)
On Nature by Parmenides (fragmented poem)
Spiritual Message from Zeus to High Priestess Maxine, Temple of Zeus
Liturgical Terms of Temple of Zeus
Sermons by High Priest Zevios Metathronos, Temple of Zeus
As many already know, I like having solid understandings of things, as well as solid justifications of what I believe.
Disclaimer: These are simply my thoughts and analyses, not doctrine. Nothing written here is set in stone or truth until @High Priest Zevios Metathronos adds his point of view or verifies it.
Our clarification of the Enemy got me thinking about the Problem of Evil again, why evil exists in the world. From the Zevist perspective, this can be answered simply, evil exists for life to defeat it and grow beyond it. But metaphysical or ontological explanations are trickier. This post is not meant to provide one. But it is meant to provide an explanation on the ontology of the Enemy, what exactly Yehubor and the beings of Izfet are in the real sense.
The main conundrum that I ran into that prompted me to study and write this is also the thesis of this post:
If all life and reason comes from the Gods, which are Wholly Good (per Iamblichus), how can "living" entities and "rational" ideologies exist that are fully of Izfet?
Firstly, we must understand how the Gods operate, and how their nature allows their energies to manifest and generate our reality.
Proclus and Iamblichus paint a picture of this very clearly. According to Iamblichus, the Gods are wholly good, unchanging and the fountains of the Transcendental qualities (Moral goodness, truth, beauty and upward growth). Proclus describes the manifestation of reality as an unfolding procession from the One, "remaining within it while unfolding into multiplicity through successive emanations." (Elements of Theology)
To tie this model into Plato's model of reality, the Gods stand atop the World of Forms and are the Forms of Forms, out of which Forms emanate, and through which Forms manifest.
As Clergy has stated before, this doctrine of the One does not contradict polytheism and multiple Eternal Gods, simply because procession from the One describes ontological unfolding, while the Eternal Gods as Henads remain self-perfect, causally sovereign sources within a unified divine reality without contradiction. The realm of the Gods is supra-real (per Iamblichus) and does not limit itself through causality. Manifestation of the One relates to Energies, not Nature, and thus the Natures of the Gods remain causally untouched.
Plotinus describes how from the One flows Intellect (the manifested Zeus), and from Intellect flows Soul and self-identity. These are naturally diminished, but ontologically still grounded in and unified to the One. (Plotinus, Enneads)
Zeus, at His core, is Satya, or the Eternal Truth, and an essential aspect of the Eternal Truth is change and growth. Satya is SaTaNaMa, the cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth. The unavoidable unfolding (into growth or decay) in the material world is a participation in the One. (Plato, Timaeus) ("There is always another way to do a thing (...), this is the essence of Who I Am", Message from Zeus to HPS Maxine)
This already allows, metaphysically, for Izfet to exist, as unfolding can either mean Theurgy, unification (Zev) or further separation and distancing from the Divine.
But this still leaves a gap in our metaphysical model, the fact that unfolding into decay can not stem from the energetical procession of manifestation of the Gods, as the Gods only represent the Transcendental existences, most importantly truth and goodness.
To complete our metaphysical model, the important word here is existences. Evil does not "exist". Existence is of the Gods, the Gods are the fountain of truth and thus the fountain of Existence.
The Enemy is, as has been stated before by Clergy, anti-life. This does not only mean that the entities of Izfet and those plagued on a deep level by the currents of Yehubor are against life, but that they are the opposite of a living entity.
The metaphysical model of the Enemy's "manifestation" (all words used to describe the Enemy's nature should include "anti-", but I am not writing that every time) mirrors the World of Forms, but is actually below it, and below material existence entirely. If the Gods are supra-real, the source of reality, then the Enemy is "less than false", BELOW illusion.
Plato, in his writings, on a surface level reading, only describes evil as "approaching non-existence". In his Sophist dialogue, Plato describes evil ontologically, not via procession. He states that "that which is evil" can not "appear", as appearance itself requires a participation in truth and being, aspects of the Gods.
However, the world is Maya, the physical is a scaffolding that does not fully reflect the metaphysical realities. Things can appear "existent" despite not having a grounded existence. In a reductive way, we can consider it "bastardized existence". The essence of the "existence" of Yehubor, both of "entities" and of those in full alignment with manifesting Izfet, is an existence below falsehood, beneath even illusion.
This sounds like I am contradicting Plato, but Proclus states these exact things in his Commentaries on the Timaeus (“Evil is not even a distorted image, but the absence of form and order, incapable of true manifestation.”).
Illusion, as we understand it, Maya, "types and shadows", still represents form. It is the realm of Poseidon. The Enemy is more than simple distortion, its existence is treason against form.
Izfet is not "being", it is the collapse of being, the erosion of the structure that sustains life which is Ma'at.
With all this in mind, we can construct a metaphysical schema of how the pillar of good, being and truth can coexist in the material world with the pillar of evil, anti-being and falsehood.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
De Mysteriis by Iamblichus
Elements of Theology by Proclus
Enneads by Plotinus
Commentary on the Timaeus by Plotinus
Timaeus by Plato
Republic by Plato
Heraclitus writings preserved, compiled by Diels–Kranz in Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker
On Nature and Purifications by Empedocles (fragmented)
On Nature by Parmenides (fragmented poem)
Spiritual Message from Zeus to High Priestess Maxine, Temple of Zeus
Liturgical Terms of Temple of Zeus
Sermons by High Priest Zevios Metathronos, Temple of Zeus
