A friend among the Alexandrian Catechists

A nice feature of summer reading is that it seems to veer off the usual paths and scope out some new directions. I found some enjoyable novels but also in the later part of the season have returned a bit to some more esoteric writings. I have unanswered questions in that domain as to how it may be a part of my future. It is a deep well in my spirituality that cannot be shut off without doing violence to my spiritual path. Looking at it from an anglican three legged stool perspective, I have far too much contact with the scripture, tradition and reason/experience of Hermeticism for it to vaporize. It is part of who I am and it is part of my path to God. The best I or any of us can do is to give that path to God to do with it what he wills. We can trust that whatever that it is, it will be its Summum Bonum, its Highest Good.

So before the Academy begins in the Fall (actually the first gathering is next week!), I wanted to look at some old material & and see what new material may be about. As with other areas of spirituality and life in general, there are some very emergent happenings in these communities. In addition to a renewal within the Rosicrucian Order, the Institute of Noetic Science is becoming more and more active. I also found a system called New Hermetics meant to combine the best of magical practice with advances we have had in psychology and the workings of the mind, while letting go of some of the complicated metaphors from earlier paradigms. It seems to be watering some dry Hermetic patches in my brain. It is helping to complete some links and flesh out some of my Kabbalistic knowledge in a way that feels like it will stay with me.

And yet none of this deters me from the fact that my true will (to invoke Thelema which is another whole kettle of fish indeed) is to study, pray, work, and rest within a Christian Context. These past three years have brought possibilities to the fore, like nothing that happened in the decade prior. And yet, as I keep saying in different ways, I know that God will use it all.

Along those lines I found a comrade spirit among the early theologians of the Church. His family's Christianity and his education in secular philosophy (Greek & Egyptian the blend of which would later be foundational to Hermeticism) combined to shape his contribution to the church.

In the article on Origen in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, I found:

He became interested in Greek philosophy quite early in his life, studying for a while under Ammonius Saccas (the teacher of Plotinus) and amassing a large collection of philosophical texts. It is probably around this time that he began composing On First Principles. However, as he became ever more devoted to the Christian faith, he sold his library, abandoning, for a time, any contact with pagan Greek wisdom, though he would eventually return to secular studies (Greek philosophy), from which he derived no small measure of inspiration, as Porphyry (recorded in Eusebius) makes quite clear, as he continued with his ever more sophisticated elucidation of biblical texts.

Origen struggled with where his focus should be, but followed his inspriations and God used it all. I will continue to pray that he does the same for all of us.