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Experience Description
Voltaire - Treatise on Tolerance
Voltaire - Discourse on Liberty
Voltaire's Interview with an Angel
Spiritual Event recorded by Voltaire
Akashic Records, both in English and Spanish
Voltaire on Dogma
Experience
description:
I looked behind me, and saw my body still asleep in a post-op rest area.
She said not to worry, that I wasn't dead. My heart was still beating. I could see into it. She was concerned about my breathing -- she said the anesthesia was too strong for my central nervous system, and was depressing my respiration. She was there to stabilize my respiration and watch over me.
Not a word was spoken -- all communication was by shared thoughts and feelings.
She told me that my life was too important to take any chances on my survival, and that’s why she was there. I had to be guarded. I was too important to risk.
She led me off to the side, and I realized that we were looking through a wall at my sleeping body, from another room. After calming me, which didn't take long, she showed me some amazing views. There was a curtain of light around her, a veil of energy behind her. I wasn't allowed to pass through that veil. I was in a resting area between worlds. to our sides, there was a multi-colored halo of glittering lights in geometric shapes. They seemed electrically charged, moving, and shimmering, like a ragged boarder between her world and mine. Through a fog-like mist, we peered into the physical world.
I felt wonderful, and not too surprised -- this was not the first time I had met someone like her. Her light was a signature that identified her, and I had seen that light before. To see her was to fall in love with her instantly. I never wanted to leave her. It may be that she felt the circumstances provided an unfair comparison with my wife. She showed me some details about my children, and revealed a view of another woman even more lovely and desirable -- the wife I was married to. She then said it was time to return, that my breathing had stabilized, and that my nervous system was able to work on it's own.
People told me it was a hallucination caused by the drugs. I've had Sodium Pentothal before, and never had such an experience. In fact, it wasn't pleasant the first time I had it. My wife was very frightened by the words I spoke as I re-entered my body. When I woke up in her arms, the light was still pouring through my head, and slowly withdrawing from me. I stammered out some expressions of love and admiration that were almost worshipful to my wife, and she said she was very shocked and frightened by the intensity of expression. "I'll never be able to live up to what you see in me", she said.
Other experiences
I had other experiences like this one, only more intense, and not connected with respiratory arrest. I was awake during these experiences, and I remember the details well. There were no drugs involved, and no lack of oxygen to the brain. I had one at 16, two at 19, one at 21, and a very powerful one at 23. The light was so bright, that the tropical, summer sun appeared faded as a dim light compared to this brilliant light.
Oeuvres
Philosophiques (LaRousse) p. 53-54, on the Trial of Calas
Calas was a Protestant accused by the Catholic Inquisition of having murdered his son for joining the Catholic Church. Evidence later showed that his son had hung himself after his business went bankrupt. The son weighed over 200 pounds, and the elderly father was too Arthritic to subdue him or lift him into the noose. But the Inquisition confiscated all of the family's property and sentenced Calas to die on the 'wheel', an instrument of torture.
Voltaire took up the family's defense and appealed to the authorities in writing. When this proved ineffective, he began a publicity campaign against the trial. He wrote editorials in the newspapers, pamphlets, and letters until people were rioting in the streets. The judges reinstated the Calas family, out of fear of the public.
This was one of the final appeals by Voltaire on the trial of Calas.
On Universal Tolerance
Oh, you sectarians of a clement God! His entire law consisted in these words: Love God and love your neighbor, and you have burdened this pure and simple law with sophisms and incomprehensible disputes. You have created disputes, at times, over a single new word, or even for one single letter of the alphabet. You have attached eternal punishment to the omission of a few words, or sentenced people to Hell for missing a ceremony that they may not even know about.
I would tell you, in spreading my tears over all of humanity: Transport yourselves into the future with me to the day when all mankind will be judged, and where God will reward each one according to his works.
I see all the dead of past centuries appear before him to be judged of him. Are you certain that our Creator and our Father will say to the wise and virtuous Confucius, to the lawgiver Solomon, to Pythagoras, to Zaleucus, Socrates, Plato, to the Antonins, to the good Trajan, to Titus, to the finest of the human kind, Epictitus, and to so many other models of virtuous thought and good example:
"Go from me, you monsters, and suffer the chastisements of infinite and eternal punishment. And may your punishments be as eternal as I am. "
"And to you, my beloved Jean Chatel (tried to assasinate Henry IV), Ravaillac, Damiens, Cartouche, etc., (a list of murderers), who died with last rites and met the prescribed formula, come share with me forever my power, my kingdom, and my eternal happiness."
You will recoil in horror at these words. And having said this, I have nothing more to say.
Prayer to God
I appeal no more to man, but to Thee, God of all beings, of all worlds, and of all times: If it is permitted for weak creatures such as ourselves, lost in the immensity of space, and imperceptible to the rest of the universe, to dare to ask of Thee anything, to Thee who hast given us all we have, to Thee whose decrees are at once unchangeable and eternal,
Please look with pity upon the weakness inherent in our nature; let these weakness not destroy us. Thou hast not given us a heart to hate, and hands to cut one-another's throats. Let us bear one another's burdens in this pitiful life of short duration. Let the small differences in our clothes, which cover our weak bodies, and the differences in our insufficient languages, our ridiculous customs, and our imperfect laws, and the differences in our uneducated opinions, and the differences between our economic conditions, which seem so important to us and mean so little to Thee -- Let not these small differences be a source of hatred and persecution.
Let those who light a candle at mid-day to celebrate Thee tolerate those who rejoice in the light of Thy sunshine; Let those who cover their robe with a white towel to say they love you not detest those who say the same under a mantle of black wool; Let it be acceptable to worship you in an ancient dialect of Latin which no one uses anymore, or in a modern language which men understand. Let those who dominate a small piece of ground on this great mudball, and who have a few round, pieces of metal enjoy without arrogance that which we call "Greatness and Wealth", and let other who don't have this view them without envy: for Thou knowest that there is nothing in these vanities to envy nor to boast arrogance.
May all men remember that they are brothers! Let them have a horror of the tyranny exercised over their spirits as they remove the thievery that deprives by force the fruits of peaceful industry. If wars are inevitable, let us not hate one another. Let us use this short existence to bless Thee equally in a thousand different languages, from Siam to California, for Thy kindness in giving us this momentary life.
Voltaire -
Discours de la Liberté -
François Marie Arouet
Voltaire, “Oeuvres Philosophiques”
Editor: Nouveaux Classiques Larousse
Discours en vers sur l’homme (1738) Second Discours: de la Liberté
Dans le
cours de nos ans, étroit et court passage,
Si le bonheur qu’on cherche est le prix du vrai sage,
Qui pourra me donner ce trésor précieux?
Est-il
comme l’esprit, la beauté la naissance,
Partage indépendent de l’humaine prudence?
Suis-je libre en effect? Ou mon âme et mon corps
Sont-ils d’un autre agent les aveugles ressorts?
Enfin ma volonté, que me meut, que m’entraîne,
Dans le palais de l’âme est-elle esclave ou reine?
Obscurément plongé dans ce doute cruel,
Mes yeux, chargés de pleurs, se tournaient vers le ciel,
Lorsqu’un de ces esprits que le souverain Être
Plaça près de son trône, et fit pour le connaître
Qui respirent dans lui, que brûlent de ses feux,
Descendit jusqu’à moi de la voûte des cieux;
Car on voit quelquefois ces fils de la lumière
Éclairer d’un mondain l’âme simple et grossière,
Et fuir obstinément tout docteur orgueilleux
Qui, dans sa chaire assis, pense être au-dessus d’eux,
Et le cerveau troublé des vapeurs d’un système,
Rend ces brouillards épais pour le jour du ciel même.
<< Écoute,
me dit-il, prompt à me consoler,
Ce que tu peux entendre et qu’on peut révéler.
J’ai pitié de ton trouble; et ton âme sincère,
Puisqu’elle sait douter, mérite qu’on l’éclaire.
Oui, l’homme sur la terre est libre ainsi que moi;
C’est le plus beau présent de notre commun roi.
La liberté, qu’il donne à tout être que pense,
Fait des moindres esprits et la vie et l’essence.
Qui conçoit, veut, agit, est libre en agissant:
C’est l’attribut divin de l’Être tout-puissant;
Il en fait un partage à ses enfants qu’il aime;
Nous sommes ses enfants, des ombres de lui-même.
Il conçut, il voulut, et l’univers naquit:
Ainsi, lorsque tu veux, la matière obéit.
Souverain sur la terre, et roi par la pensée,
Tu veux, et sous tes mains la nature est forcée.
Tu commandes aux mers, au souffle des zéphyrs,
A ta propre pensée, et même à tes désirs.
Ah! Sans la liberté, que seraient donc nos âmes?
Mobiles agités par d’invisibles flammes,
Nos voeux, nos actions, nos plaisirs, no dégoûts,
D’un artisan suprême impuissantes machines,
Automates pensants, mus par des mains divines,
Vils instruments d’un Dieu qui nous aurait trompés,
Comment, sans liberté serions-nous ses images?
Que lui reviendrait-il de ces brutes ouvrages?
One ne peut donc lui plaire, on ne peut l’offenser;
Il n’a rien a punir, rien à récompenser.
Dans les cieux, sur la terre il n’est plus de justice.
Pucelle1 est sans vertu, Desfontaines2 san vice:
Le destin nous entraîne à nos affreux penchants,
Et ce chaos du monde est fait pour les méchants.
L’oppresseur insolent, l’usurpateur avare,
Cartouche 3 Miriwits4 ou tel autre barbare,
Plus coupable enfin qu’eux, le calomniateur
Dira: << je n’ai rien fait, Dieu seul en est l’auteur;
<<Ce n’est pas moi, c’est lui qui manque à ma parole,
<<Que frappe par mes mains, pille, brûle, viole.>>
C’est
ainsi que le Dieu de justice et de paix
Serait l’auteur du trouble et le dieu des forfaits.
Les tristes partisans de ce dogme effroyable
Diraient-ils rien de plus s’ils adoraient le diable?>>
J’étais à
ce discours tel qu’un homme enivré,
Qui s’éveille en sursaut, d’un grand jour éclairé,
Et don’t la clignotante et débile paupière
Lui laisse encore à peine entrevoir la lumière.
J’osais répondre enfin d’une timide voix:
<<Interprète sacré des éternelle lois,
Pourquoi, si l’homme est libre, a-t-il tant de faiblesse?
Que lui sert le flambeau de sa vaine sagesse?
Il le suit, il s’égare; et, toujours combattu,
Il embrasse le crime en aimant la vertu.
Pourquoi ce roi du monde, et si libre, et si sage,
Subit-il si souvent un si dur esclavage?>>
L’esprit
consolateur à ces mots répondit:
<<Quelle douleur injust accable ton esprit?
La liberté, dis-tu, t’est quelquefois ravie:
Dieu te la devait-il immuable, infinie,
Égale en tout état, en tout temps, en tout lieu?
Tes destins sont d’un homme, et tes voeux sont d’un Dieu.
Quoi! Dans cet océan cet atome que nage
Dira: << L’immensité doit être mon partage.>>
Non; tout est faible en toi, chageant et limité,
Ta force, ton esprit, test talents, ta beauté.
La nature en tous sense a des bornes prescrites,
Et le pouvoir humain serait seul sans limites!
Mans, dis-moi, quand ton coeur, formé des passions,
Se rend malgré lui-même à leurs impressions,
Qu’il sent dans ses combats sa liberté vaincue,
Tu l’avais donc en toi, puisque tu l’as perdue.
Une fièvre brûlante, attaquant tes ressorts,
Vient à pas inégaux miner ton faible corps:
Mais quoi! Par ce danger répandu sur ta vie
Ta santé pour jamais n’est point anéantie;1
On te voit revenir des portes de la mort
Plus ferrme, plus content, plus tempérant, plus fort.
Connais mieux l’heureux don que ton chagrin réclame:
La liberté dans l’homme est la santé de l’âme.
On la perd
quelquefois; la soif de la grandeur
La colère, l’orgueil, un amour suborneur,
D’un désir curieux les trompeuses saillies,
Hélas! Combien le coeur a-t-il de maladies!
Mais contre leur assauts tu seras raffermi:
Prends ce livre sensé, consulte cet ami
(Un ami, don du ciel, est le vrai bien du sage);
Voilà l’Helvétius, le Silva, le Vernage5
Que le Dieu des humains, prompt à les secourir,
Daigne leur envoyer sur le point de périr.
Est-il un seul mortel de que l’âme insensée,
Quand il est en péril, ait une autre pensée?
Vois de la
liberté cet ennemi mutin,
Aveugle partisan d’un aveugle destin
Entends comme il consulte, approuve, délibère;
Entends de quel reproche il couvre un adversaire;
Vois comment d’un rival il cherche à se venger,
Comme il punit son fils, et le veut corriger.
Il le croyait donc libre? Oui, sans doute, et lui-même
Dément à chaque pas son funeste système;
Il mentait à son coeur en voulant expliquer
Ce dogme absurde à croire, absurde à pratiquer:
Il reconnaît en lui le sentiment qu’il brave;
Iil agit cmome libre, et parle comme esclave.
Sûr de ta
liberté, rapporte à son auteur
Ce don que sa bonté te fit pour ton bonheur.
Commande à ta raison d’eviter ces querelles,
Des tyrans de l’esprit disputes immortelles;
Ferme en tes sentiments et simple dans ton coeur,
Aime la vérite, mais pardonne à l’erreur;
Fuis les emportements d’un zèle atrabilaire;
Ce mortel qui s’égare est un homme, est ton frère:
Sois sage pour toi seul, compatissant pour lui;
Fais ton bonheur enfin par le bonheur d’autrui.>>
Ainsi parlait la voix de ce sage suprême.
Ses
discours m’élevaient au-dessue de moi-même:
J’allais lui demander, indiscret dans mes voeux,
Des secrets rérservé pour les peuples des cieux;
Ce que c’est que l’esprit, l’espace, la matière,
L’éternité, le temps, le ressort, la lumière:
Étranges questions, que confondent souvent
Le profond
‘S Gravesande6 et le subtil Mairan7,
Et qu’expliquait en vain dans ses doctes chimères
L’auteur des tourbillons8 que l’on ne croit plus guères.
Mais déjà, s’échappant à mon oeil enchanté,
Il volait au séjour où lui la vérité.
Il n’était
pas ver moi descendu pour m’apprendre
Les secrets du Très-Haut que je ne puis comprendre;
Mes yeux d’un plus grand jour auraient été blessés:
Il m’a dit: <<Sois heureux!>> il m’en a dit assez.
Voltaire's
Interview with an Angel
Voltaire’s interview with an angel -- 1733
Voltaire was born Francois Marie Arouet in Paris, 1694. He died in 1778, at the age of 84. Two years prior, the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia.
Benjamin Franklin, ambassador from the United States, and one of Voltaire's admirers went to see him just before he died.
An alliance was made between the United States of America and France was made that year. Nine years later, the American Constitution would be signed.
At the time of Voltaire's birth, his father was a counsellor to the King. Alexandre Dumas, in his book "Les Trois Mousketaires" (The Three Musketeers) pens an authentic literary description of what life in France was like at that time. The movie "The Four Musketeers" conveys the feeling of the times honestly.
As a successful playwrite, Voltaire offended the church and the aristocracy frequently. He was imprisoned in the Bastille more than once for his outspoken ways.
Voltaire was trained by the Jesuits in the arts of logic: he learned the semantic tools to prove that black is white and white is black. He put these skills to good use as a Deputy Attorney for the Crown of France.
The day came when he said couldn't live with himself --"je ne voulait etre une consideration qu'on achete." [I didn't want to be the kind of friend you could buy], so he resigned, and took a job as a librarian for the Duchess.
In those days, if a common woman owned a heretical book, she would be burned along with the book. But a duchess was above the law, and could get away with anything. This one did. Her library included the Koran, the Teachings of Buddha, the Sayings of Confucius, the Gita, and a long list of books that would have gotten anyone else sentenced to the flames by the inquisition. Voltaire read all of these.
One night, the Duchess lost the library as a bet during a card game with the Queen. She asked Voltaire to pack up the books, and he lost control of himself. "Don't you know, you were playing with Fools!" Insulting royalty was a hanging offense, and Voltaire didn't wait to see what the Duchess would do. He ran for his life, and didn't stop until he was in England. Some Quaker gentlemen took care of him. He learned English, and proceeded to read everything the country had, from Shakespeare to Newton. He wrote letters on every aspect of English Culture (see Lettres Philosophiques). He wrote an Encyclopedia on the world's religions.
When Voltaire was 44 years old, he had a vision, or a visit by a celestial being of light. He was transformed. He gradually began to write against religious oppression until he nearly broke the hold that the Catholic Church had on Europe. He lived in Exile.
In this vision, a being of light explained to him that Liberty is a divine, immutable right given by God to all people as a means toward their happiness. Further, he was told that all people are God's children. He was advised that the surest and shortest road to happiness was to share his gifts with others and to work for their happiness. The celestial visitor advised him to avoid arguments with religious tyrants and fanatics, and to regard them with compassion, and to live his faith alone if necessary.
He then offered examples of how liberty allows men to act contrary to the will of God. Liberty was meant to be a gift to allow men and women to find happiness. The most painful thing in the sight of God is to watch religious fanatics kill each other in disagreements about the best way to worship God.
At the close of the vision, Voltaire was about to ask him about Spiritual matter, physical matter, the structure of the universe, and the nature of light, but the being interrupted him with the council "Be Happy.", and returned to the heavens.
Voltaire wrote a series of papers on the subjects of Liberty, God, Virtue, Tolerance, Torture, Tyranny, and so on. For example, He wrote one on the Abbey, where he described a priest as a man who lives on the labors of poor men and governs them by fear and prevails as long as there is ignorance. During the height of his fame, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin by turns lived in France. They were both influenced by Voltaire's writings.
When he was 83, and his health started to fail, he returned to Paris to die. Benjamin Franklin came to his hotel room to meet him. Franklin brought his grandson with him. He asked Voltaire to give his son a philosopher's blessing. Voltaire put his hand on the boy’s head and said “Dedicate your life to God and to Liberty".
Most of the conversation took place by an instantaneous, direct transfer of knowledge, so Voltaire would have had to clothe the feelings, intents, and emotions in his own language and in the popular style of the day.
Spiritual Event recorded by
Voltaire
Spiritual Event recorded by Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire), in 1763
From the Philosophical Dictionary (Ouvres Philosophiques) by Voltaire, an entry written in 1765, titled simply, Dogma:
Translator’s note:
Voltaire was 69 years old when this event happened. Here were the events surrounding the author’s life up to this time:
Voltaire had gone through a period of ill health and disillusionment during his 50’s and 60’s. His lover, Lady Chatelet, had lost interest in him during this period. About age 39, she took a younger lover, an athletic soldier, and died giving birth to his child. (1749). Feeling an acute loss of love and absence of purpose, he left for Prussia (1750) to work as a counselor to Frederick II who declared himself a pacifist. Not long after (1756), Frederick invaded Silesia, on a very thin pretext, and began the Seven Years’ War (1756 - 1763). While Voltaire served as an intermediary between Frederick and the French government to negotiate peace, Frederick was ravaging and burning villages. His soldiers left a trail of atrocities and destruction, while Frederick thanked God for his victories. Voltaire was horrified by this, and his feelings toward Frederick worsened with time. Voltaire finally left Frederick’s service without asking for leave, and went to Ferney in 1758.
Between 1762 to 1764, Voltaire took on the defense of a Protestant merchant named Calas who was falsely accused of murdering his Catholic son. Calas was killed in a torturous execution by the Catholic church in 1762. There was no evidence at all against Calas. Voltaire applied his time, reputation, and his writing skills to defend this family. He incited a public outcry against the judgment that was so severe that the church overturned the conviction. This meant they restored the confiscated lands, bank accounts, and possessions to the widow and surviving children of the executed man.
The Catholic Church was at the height of her wealth and power. Religious authorities had tortured and killed the man he was defending with no evidence or legal grounds. He knew he was challenging the authority of a large and deadly enemy with nothing but his pen and his force of reason. In the middle of this period, Voltaire had the following experience:
During the 18th of February, of the year 1763 of the current era, with the Sun entering the sign of Pisces, I was transported to heaven, as all my friends know.
It was not the Mohammedan oath of Borac which caused my ascent; it was not the flaming chariot of Elijah that served as my vehicle; I was not carried there by the elephant of Somana-Khodom, the Buddha of Siam, nor on the horse of Saint George, the patron saint of England, nor on the couch of Saint Anthony: I avow with plainness and honesty that I don’t know how my passage was made.
Some really believe that I was only dizzy or faint; But what they don’t believe is that I saw the judgment of all the dead.
And who were the judges? They were, if you can accept it, the ones who had done good to their fellow men, such as Confucius, Solomon, Socrates, Titus, The Antonies, Epictitus, Charron [author of the essay on wisdom, friend of Montaign’s, (1541 - 1603), De Thou [friend of Cinq-Mars, decapitated with him in 1642], the chancellor of the Hospital: all the great men who, having taught and practiced the virtues that God requires, were alone in pronouncing his decrees.
I will not dwell on the nature of their thrones on which they were seated, nor on the millions of celestial beings that were prostrated before the eternal architect of all the worlds, nor on the huge crowd of inhabitants of innumerable worlds which presented themselves before the judges. I will not render an account here of the many small particulars and interesting details which struck me.
I noticed that each dead man who pleaded his case and exhibited his good intentions, had at his side all the testimony of his acts committed during his lifetime. For example, when the Cardinal of Lorraine [Charles of Guise, Cardinal of Lorraine, 1524-1574] boasted of having adopted some of the opinions of the Council of Trent [1535-1563] 1 , and that as a reward for his orthodox views, he asked for eternal life. No sooner had he done this than there appeared around him twenty courtesans or ladies of the court, wearing on their foreheads [faces] the number of their romantic rendezvous with the cardinal. One could see those who had assisted the cardinal in laying the foundations of the League2 [conspiracy to overthrow King Henry III, 1576]; all the complications of his perverse designs came to surround him there.
Facing the Cardinal of Lorraine was John Calvin [Jean Chauvin, French theologian, 1509-1564], who boasted, in his thick accent, of having kicked at the rubble of the papal idol, after others had already knocked it over and broken it.
“I wrote against painting, and sculpture, he said. I proved that good works accomplish nothing at all, and I have proven that it is diabolical to dance the minuet: run the Cardinal of Lorraine out of here, and place me along side Saint Paul.
As he spoke, one could see next to him an instrument of torture, a shocking spectacle, attached to the neck by a Spanish Collar [screwed into the flesh of the neck], half burned, and coming out of the flames with frightful screams. “Monster!”, he cried, “Detestable Monster! Behold Michael Servetus 3 [executed in 1553] who you caused to be burned as a heretic, merely because he argued against you on the manner of how three separate beings could compose one single substance.”
Then, the judges ordered that the Cardinal of Lorraine be cast into the abyss, but for Calvin, they saved a more rigorous punishment.
I saw numerous crowds of dead ones who said: “I believed, I believed; but on their foreheads, it was written: “I have done”, and they were condemned.
The Jesuit Le Tellier (Louis XIV’s confessor since 1709, famous for his hatred of Jansenism, which his edict Unigenitus, condemned in 1713), with his edicts in his hand. But suddenly, at his side, there arose a heap of letters of authorizing torture by the Inquisition. A Jansenist4 prepared the fire, and Le Tellier was burned until he was bones; and the Janseniste, who had been no less vigorous than the Jesuit in his persecutions, shared his fate in the fire.
I saw troupes of holy men arrive on my right and left: fakirs, talapoins, buddhas, black monks, gray monks, and white robed monks, all believing that their way was the only way to approach God -- that it was necessary to chant a certain prayer, pass a certain ritual, or march naked. I heard a terrible voice question them:
What good have you done for your fellow man?
At this voice there was a profound silence; none dared answer, and all were led to the prison houses of the Universe; this was the most immense building one could imagine.
One cried: “It is the metamorphoses of Sakya Buddha that one must believe to be saved; another: It is by the miracles of Somana-Khodom. Bacchus stopped the Sun. and the moon, another declared. The gods revived Pelops [Greek Mythology], said another.
“Behold the edict In Coena Domini, [contained the names of Catholics who could never be forgiven or pardoned as long as they lived], said a newcomer:” And as he spoke, the judges cried: To the prison house with him, to the Prison House!
When all of these trials were finished, I heard the decree of God:
Of and by the eternal, the Creator and Savior and Redeemer, the avenger and forgiver, etc. :
Be it known to all the inhabitants of billions of trillions of worlds that it pleased us to form, that we never judge any of the inhabitants of these worlds by their ideas, but only upon on their actions; for such is our justice.
I swear that this as the first time I had heart such an edict: all the ones I had read [as an attorney for the crown] on this little grain of sand where I was born had these words: For such is our pleasure [last line of all royal edicts in France at that time].
1. Council of Trent [1535-1563]
The 19th ecumenical council convened in Trent, Italy as a movement to counter the Protestant reformation and reinforce Catholic standards and traditions. The council sought to reform the uncontrolled sale of indulgences by local priests, and to standardize certain dogmas. Among other things, it held that Tradition was declared equal to scripture as a source of spiritual knowledge. The council produced an Index of Forbidden Books, which were considered heretical. This Index was enforced by the Inquisition and stood until the Second Vatican council, of 1962 - 1965. This council also sustained the sale of indulgences, but put tighter controls on the practice. It was the abuse of the sale of indulgences which motivated Martin Luther to publish his 95 Theses against the Catholic priesthood].
2. The Catholic League
Henri III was the last Valios king of France. When he made peace with the Huguenots (Protestants), a fanatical Catholic faction formed under the leadership of the House of Guise (Francois and Charles). Charles of Guise, the Cardinal of Lorraine, and his brother founded the Catholic League which forced the king to ban the Protestant religion again in 1585. They attempted to obstruct Henri de Navarre (Henry IV) from ascending his throne because of his Protestant beliefs. Then, to remove Henri III, they incited a revolt that drove him from Paris. Henri III retaliated by having the Cardinal and his brother murdered. The League and the Pope later declared Henri III deposed. Henri III formed an alliance with Henri de Navarre, and advanced toward Paris in 1589. He was assassinated in Saint Cloud by a Catholic fanatic named Jacques Clement [Jack the Merciful] .
3. Michael Servetus
Spanish Theologian, Physician, and Lawyer (1509 - 1553), published a thesis called “Christianismi Restitutio” that was condemned by Catholics and Protestants for questioning the doctrine of the Trinity. He was arrested by the Inquisition for his writing, and escaped to Geneva, seeking refuge of John Calvin. Calvin ordered him arrested. He was tried and burned as a heretic.
4. Jansenist
Cornelius Jansen, Flemish Bishop of Ypres, wrote a letter that was post-humously published on his theological ideas. He believed in absolute predestination, and that humans are incapable of doing good without God’s unsolicited grace. Only a few chosen ones are saved. This divided the Catholic church; The Jesuits were fierce enemies of the Jansenists and considered their ideas dangerous to the Catholic faith. The Jansenist faction considered themselves good Catholics. Their doctrine on predestination was the same as John Calvin’s.
Jansenism was supported by several French intellectuals and nobles. Their center of spiritual learning was in Port-Royal-des-Champs. They advocated an austere form of piety and a rigorously puritanical morality. In 1713, under intense pressure from King LOUIS XIV, Pope CLEMENT XI issued the bull Unigenitus condemning 101 propositions in a treatise by another French Jansenist, Pasquier Quesnel (1634-1719).The French king closed Port-Royal-des-Champs in 1709 and had it razed to the ground in 1710
AKASHIC RECORDS, May 2001
I was visiting an Ashram situated between three Indian reservations. We were in a beautiful valley hidden from view. The community around us was old. The Spaniards put their flag there in 1536.
My host and I were discussing Krishna consciousness, and spiritual cultivation. I was trying to feel the spirit of the place, and synchronize my own spirit to the ground under my feet. I drifted off into another world while my host was talking about a more advanced spiritual path that could open up new perceptions, and cultivate a new awareness.
“Are you able to see into the past, and read the spiritual records out of the ground?” I asked. He replied, “There are some great teachers, back in India who were able to do that, but they passed away some years ago. But it took them a many years of study to reach that point.”
“What’s the spiritual history of this piece of ground?”
He felt I wasn’t paying attention to the importance of what he was trying to tell me. Off in the distance, I saw children running, chasing each other and laughing freely. They were barefoot. They wore sun-dresses and tied their long black hair back off their brown shoulders The sun was warm. Their mothers were close by me – just a few feet away, chatting about the day’s tasks, and the meal they were preparing of ground acorn flour, wild buckwheat, and arrow-root. They were also preparing gourds. They were kneeling, bent over, hand-grinding flour and seeds on a stone grind stone.
The children had died 150 years ago – they had moved on. This was not sad, it was the natural order of things. This was not their spirits I was seeing, just a shadow of their lives recorded in the soil, on a happy day.
Again, I asked my host, “Do you find many Indian artifacts on the ground here?”
“Yes, we often do,” he replied.
“Any grindstones or articles used in gathering and preparing food?” I asked.
And he pulled back a low branch on the tree nearest to where we were standing, and there at my feet was the grind-stone that I had seen the women using to prepare flour for the evening meal.
AKASHIC RECORDS, May 2001 Spanish version
Lectura de historia antigua, maio 2001
Visitaba un monastério que se encontraba cerca de tres communidades de gente indigena. Estabamos dentro de un valle bien escondido, a dónde crescía la yerba, decorado de flores sylvestres, robles viejos, palmas, y helechos grandes. Es una region de población esparcido con una historia antigua; era viejo ya cuando los exploradores plantaron la bandera de España en 1536.
El patrón actual era director de la secta Krishna. Él y sus discípulos esperaban una renacimiento espiritual de consciencia espiritual. Al visitarlo, deseaba sentirme en harmonía con el terreno. Mientras platicabamos de los vários senderos espirituales, yo empezaba a mudarme hacia otro mundo.
Yo le pregunté, << ¿Puede usted ver el pasado en el suelo aquí ? ¿ Sabe leer las historias grabadas en la energía perfecta del terreno natural ? >> El me contestó que no pudo, pero conocío maestros que vivía en India que sí podían hacerlo. Estos ancianos diestros ya fallecerón haces muchos años. Ellos se dedicaban muchos años al estudio y a la prática para poder hacerlo.
<<¿Puede usted contarme la historia de éste sítio pacífico?>>
Paracío a él que yo no escuchara su plática, que no daba nada de importáncia a lo que me decía. Pero en la distáncia, vi niños corriendo, saltando, riendo sin preocupación ninguna. Ellas se vestían de ropa sencilla hecha de mano, con su pelo largo y prieto atado, dejando sus hombros morenos descubiertos. El sol calientaba todo la tierra. Las madres de las niñas estaban trabajando cercano a mí lugar. Platicaban de sus tareas diárias mientras molinaba harina de bellota, de trigo selvaje, y de raizes de calabasa selvaje. Trabajaban de rodillas, con una manta debajo de las rodillas para protegerse del piso duro. Ellas estaban inclinadas mientras molinaban semillas y cereales con metate y molina de piedra.
Las muchachas murieron hace 150 años – ya se continuaban la vida mas-allá. No era cosa triste, era el orden natural de la vída. Lo que ví no era los espíritus, pero una ombra de lo que era, un eco de energía grabado en el suelo debajo de mis pies de lo que pasó en un día felíz 150 años atraz.
Otravez, pregunté el patrón, << ¿Se encuentra artefactos indígenas en el suelo aquí? >> Y al contestarme, el agarró un ramo bajo de un árbol, menos que dos metros de dónde estuvimos, a ví la molina de piedra un par de pasos de mi. Al acercar, ví dos piedras muy usadas, los mismos que usaban las madres indígenas hace 150 años para prepara la cena.
Oeuvres
Philosophiques, page 61.
Nouveaux Classiques Larousse
[…] Le 18 février de l’an 1763 de l’ère vulgaire, le soleil entrant dans le
signe des Poissons, je fus transporté au ciel, comme le savent tous mes amis. Ce
ne fut point la jument Borac de Mahmmet qui fut ma monture; ce ne fut point le
char enflammé d’Elie que fut ma voiture; je ne fus porté ni sur l’éléphant
de Sammonocodom le Siamois1, ni sur le cheval de saint George patron
de lAngleterre, ni sur le cochon de saint Antoine: j’avoue avec ingénuité que
mon voyage se fit je ne sais comment.
On croira bien que je fus ébloui; mais ce qu’on ne croira pas, c’est que je vis juger tous le morts. Et qui étaient les juges? C’étaient, ne vous en déplaise, tous ceux que ont fait du bien aux hommes, Confucius, Solon, Socrate, Titus, les Antonins, Épictète, Charron2 de Thou3 , le chancelier de l’Hospital: tous les grands hommes qui, ayant enseigné et pratiqué les vertus que Dieu exige, semblent seuls être en droit de prononcer ses arrêts.
Je ne dirai point sur quels trônes ils étaient assis, ni combien de million d’êtres célestes etaient prosternés devant l’éternel architecte de tous les globes, ni quelle foule d’habitants de ces globes innombrables comparut devant les juges. Je ne rendrai compte ici que de quelques petites particularités tout à fait intéressantes dont je fus frappé.
Je remarquai que chaque mort qui plaidait sa cause, et que étalait ses beaux sentiments, avait à côté de lui tous les témoins de ses actions. Par exemple, quand le cardinal de Lorraine se vantait d’avoir fait adopter quelques-unes de ses opinions par le concile de Trente, et que, pour prix de son orthodoxie, il demandait la vie éternelle, tout aussitôt paraissaient autour de lui vingt courtisanes ou dames de la cour, portant toutes sur le front le nombres de leurs rendezvous avec le cardinal. On voyait ceux qui avaient jeté avec lui les fondements de la Ligue; tous les compilces de ses desseins pervers venaient l’environner.
Vis-à-vis du cardinal de Lorraine était Jean Chauvin4, qui se vantait, dans son patois grossier, d’avoir donné des coups de pied à l’idole papale, après que d’autres l’avaient abattue. J’ai écrit contre la peinture et la sculpture, disaiti-il; j’ai fait voir évidemment que les bonnes oeuvres ne servent à rien du tout, et j’ai prouvé qu’il est diabolique de danser le menuet: chassez vite d’ici le cardinal de Lorraine, et placez-moi à côté de saint Paul.
Comme il parlait, on vit auprès de lui un bûcher enflammé; un spectre épouvantable, portant au cou un fraise espagnole à moitié brûlée, sortait du milieu des flammes avec des cris affreux. Monstre, s’écriait-il, monstre exécrable, tremble! Reconnais ce Servet que tu as fait périr par le plus cruel des supplices, parce qu’il avait disputé contre toi sur la manière dont trois personnes peuvent fair une seule substance. Alors tous les juges ordonnèrent que le cardinal serait précipité dans l’abîme, mais que Calvin serait puni plus rigoureusement.
Je vis une foule prodigieuse de morts que disaient: J’ai cru, j’ai cru; mais, sur leur front, il était écrit: J’ai fait; et ils étaient condamnés.
Le jésuite Le Tellier5 paraissait fièrement, la bulle Unigenitus à la main. Mais à ses côtés s’éleva tout d’un coup un monceau de deux mille lettres de cachet. Un janséniste y mit le feu: Le Tellier fut brûlé jusqu’aux os; et le janséniste, qui n’avait pas moins cabalé que le jésuite, eut sa part de la brûlure.
Je voyais arriver à droite et à gauche des troupes de fakirs, de talapoins, de bonzes6, de moines blancs, noirs et gris, qui s’étaient tous imaginé que, pour fair leur cour à l’Être Suprême, il fallait ou chanter, ou se fouetter, ou marcher tout nus. J’entendis une voix terrible que leur demanda: Quel bien avez-vous fait aux hommes? A cette voix succéda un morne silence; aucun n’osa répondre, et ils furent tous conduits aux Petites-Maisons de l’univers: c’est un des plus grands bâtiments qu’on puisse imaginer.
L’un criait: C’est aux métamorphoses de Xaca7 qu’il faut croire; l’autre: C’est à celles de Sammonocodom. Bacchus arrêta le soleil et la lune, disait celui-ci; les dieux ressuscitèrent Pélops, disait celui-là. Voici la bulle In coenâ Domini8, disait un nouveau venu; et l’huissier des juges criait: aux Petites-Maisons, aux Petites-Maison!
Quand tous ces procès furent vidés, j’entendis alors promulguer cet arrêt: DE PAR L’ÉTERNEL, CRÉATEUR, CONSERVATEUR, RÉMUNÉRATEUR, VENGEUR, PARDONNEUR, etc., etc., soit notoire à tous les habitants des cent mille millions de milliards de mondes qu’il nous a plu de former, que nous ne jugerons jamais aucun desdits habitants sur leur idées creuses, mais uniquement sur leurs actions; car telle est notre justice.
J’avoue que ce fut la première fois que j’entendis un tel édit : tous ceux que j’avais lus sur le petit grain de sable où je suis né finissaient par ces mots: Car tel est notre plaisir9.
Notes:
1. Somana-Khodom, le Bouddha du Siam (V. Dictionaire philosophique, articles <Sammonocodom>>).
2. Charron, auteur de Traité de la sagesse, ami de Montaigne (1541-1603)
3. De Thous, ami de Cinq-Mars, et décapité avec lui en 1642;
4. Il s’agit de Jean Calvin (John Calvin, Calvinist church)
5. Le Tellier: jésuite, confesseur de Louis XIV depuis 1709, célèbre par sa haine du jansénisme, que la bulle Unigenitus condamnait en 1713 (ne pas le confondre avec Michel Le Tellier, ministre de Louis XIV, don’t Boussuet a fait l’oraison funèbre);
6. Fakirs, ascètes de l’Inde. Talapoins: nomme donné par les Européens aux moines bouddhistes du Siam, à cause de la feuille de tallipot qui leur servait d’éventail. Bonzes: Prêtres bouddhistes
7. Xaca: Les adorateurs de Xaca (Sâkya) étaient une secte bouddhique japonaise;
8. In coenâ Domini :Bulle particulièrement intolérante attribuée tantôt à Boniface VIII, tantôt à Jules II, et qui contenait les noms des excommuniés pour lesquels aucune absolution ne pouvait être admise. Jusqu’en 1770, chaque année, le jeudi saint, on afficha cette bulle et on la lut en chaire.
9. Car tel est notre plaisir: Formule que terminait les édits royaux.