The words that became the title of this lecture appeared in my consciousness as something in themselves. Not so much the idea as the formula: Satan and the problem of antecedent. It seems to me that this should be anything but a simple statement of something long known, is understandable. Many things in the process of preparing this lecture, I myself have been not completely clear. I hope that in the process of narration (from my side, with your – in the process of listening, that is, complicity) but there is a lot I can find out. Some things, so to speak, hanging in the air, and perhaps they will be formulated in the here and now. New The University (unlike the old) suggests spontaneous cognition, spontaneous epistemological grasp certain things, not specified initially. The main thing may (and should!) born at the time of presentation, in the process of focusing on certain aspects of a given topic.

The idea is to read such a lecture occurred to me two months ago, but only last night I decided to lay something on paper. Outlined and set number: 11 November 1998. This is a very “serious” date. Those who listened to the replay of “Finis Mundi”, is devoted to the Jean Parvulesco, remembers probably enigmatically passage associated with November eleventh. There is an opinion that on November 11, 1962 – birth of the Antichrist. Wrote about this famous doctor Bataille, in his book “the Devil in the XXI century”. Dr. Bataille was an employee and colleague of Leo Taxil, the largest conspiracy and hoaxer. The taxil at first (when I was a Freemason) created the concept of a conspiracy of the Jesuits, then (when he went to work at the Vatican) – the concept of a conspiracy of Satanists. He was a brilliant, extremely witty writer, a talented conspiracy, adventurer. Made a lot of money and fame. And then, suddenly, the Taxil States that all written by him and Dr. Bataille (“literary Negro”, famously “unmasked” under the leadership of Taxil masons, Jewish masons, Satanists, the palladists and other dark forces) is not more than a clever hoax. It turned out that several recent papal bull relied on, to put it mildly, not quite proven facts. Clerical Europe just didn’t want to believe it.

Happened huge scandal. What is most interesting case of the Taxil come to grips Rene Guenon himself – no more, no less. He gained access to the material directly concerning the case of the Taxil, through his friend Baarle – Chapter of the hermetic brotherhood of Luxor (which in my books1expressed a few questionable epithets) and through the McLaren de La Riva – known Catholic clerical worker. He published the magazine “Antimasonry France” and oversaw “RISS” (Revue Internationale des Societes Secretes, the famous conspiracy edition, where they denounced all kinds of conspiracies, the most incredible and extravagant. It was a very interesting and artsy, sophisticated conspiracy theory, in comparison with modern American conspiracy theories – pathetic babble.

So, Guenon, through different highly competent people (masons-conspirators, occultists, Gnostics and magicians, on the one hand, and the largest antimasons, antisionistas and anticultists Catholics on the other) have received detailed information about the case of the Taxil. The opinion, which guénon amounted on this issue, he summarized the following enigmatically phrase: “Here everything is much more serious than it may seem”.

For taksidepsame stories for his delusional generalizations were hiding very much true. But the problem was so complex that guénon decided to just give up on her detailed account, got off with such a generic phrase. Guenon winked at us and closed the subject.

Be that as it may, the number 11 in the Tradition is indeed often associated with Satan. While November 11 is the eleventh number of the eleventh month. 11 will follow the number 10, which is considered the number of completeness, and is preceded by the number of harmony 12, which is a symbol of a completed cycle. Thus, 11 is the number of incompleteness, anomalies. On the other hand, two units is the second hint (dark) beginning. Finally, the last strange coincidence: the head of the American “Church of Satan” LaVey (real name: Levi’s), which I always thought was a mystifier who exploited the American complexes Puritan the public, surprised me with only one thing – the date of his death. It happened two years ago, on November 11. I have always believed that LaVey – just Buffon, and his whole “Satanism” is about probative of horrors that awaits him stupid American Everyman. But here, Mr. Lava, which, incidentally, in my youth was left Zionist (he, actually, was quite an interesting career), managed to die in such a difficult day. Of course, everything can be written off to coincidence, I’m not insisting on anything, but we must remember that the devil, at times, likes to joke. Sometimes it comes out funny.

The transcendental unity of language traditions

The classical paradigm of the language of Tradition can be reduced to a single character: the so-called “Celtic cross”.

This is the universal formula, Seznec, the first codification of the sacred space and at the same time sacred time, that is, photocalendar, universal epistemological interpretive cipher that allowed people Tradition sort of phenomena, to codify, to reduce everything to a single. Here we see the four orientations – North, South, East, West and the four seasons. This is a very brief summary of the entire language Traditions (holtskog ensemble), the matrix at the same time and of space and time. From this perforatrice went all religious, conceptual, mythological ideas, dogmas, doctrine, cultural formulas, rituals, ceremonies, stories, myths and legends, right down to our language, written language, letters, sounds, with which we still Express our thoughts, feelings, ideas, etc. we will discuss this later in the lectures of Hermann Wirth. Now I would like to draw your attention to another.

There is the traditionalist thesis (owned by Renee Genou) about the transcendental unity of traditions. From the point of view of work, all traditions date back to the single primordial Tradition derives from it and, ultimately, are nothing but diverse expression of this unified Tradition. This thesis, like all the other ideas work, I took it as irrefutable truth (non-critical). Gradually, however, as the study of the history of religions I came to the conclusion that there is no transcendental unity of traditions, and the transcendental unity of language traditions. All the traditions are not to the same metaphysical truth, but to one and the same language – a kind of symbolic paradigm, certain aspects of which they develop. This does not mean that all traditions agree between themselves, in the main, this means that they derive their doctrines and the basis of a common language.

This language can Express different things (we spoke in the first lecture about the difference between speech and language). Historical traditions are different statements, but they agree that stem from a common language. What’s the fundamental difference between Tradition, its paradigmatic language (holtskog ensemble) from religions or other historical forms?

The fact that halitsky ensemble, the language of Tradition precedes any particularization. Language is the set of all possible statements – statements that claim something; statements that refute this statement; the statements under “ninety degrees” on the two polar statements, etc. in Other words, paradigmatic language Traditions are indifferent to the content of the discourse, is only responsible for its compliance paradigmatic standards. There is no final opposition, no ranking and atsali discourses.

To understand this, you must make a tremendous effort not only in relation to the language of modernity (which is obvious), but also in relation to what are the historical traditions and especially religion.

The gap between religion and tradition

Religion occupy an intermediate position between galitskim ensemble language Tradition and, in fact, a complete rejection of the language of Tradition (in favor of the language of modernity). It may seem that religion is Tradition. Actually it is not. Religion, religio – specifically Latin term. In the Greek language does not exist in Russian it appears relatively recently, when in full swing Zapadnaya, the imposition of Catholicism novoobretennoj Church. There are several assumptions about the origin and literal meaning of the term. The most common: religion is “communication”. It is assumed that there is some profane complex immanent in the world (there’s a definite step in the direction of the modern language), but there are also sacred, the upper world. Now, religion is what ties the sacred with the profane2. We can say that this is some election sacredness, while the language of Tradition (full halitsky ensemble), in principle, does not know what is “profane”, what is “desacralization”. In full galitskoy sacral Traditions all: sound, gesture, object, body, feeling, thought. Moreover, all of these constitute a single complex.

I remind you that in ancient philosophy (for example, Heraclitus) the term “matter” (hyle) and the term “spirit(pneuma)) were used as synonyms. This is the sacral holistische approach. Religion is based on the opposite principle: on the strict separation of reality to profane (external) and sacral (internal). In holistica ensemble, in the language of Tradition (not knowing the division into profane and sacred) there are no absolute contradictions, there is no completely mutually exclusive claims. (So, for example, the doctrine of Zen Buddhism or Christian dogmatics as sverrisson.) This property is true galitskoy tradition, but not the property of religion, because religion, in its most precise and strict definition, is a rationalization of the sacred, and therefore intermediary between the language of Tradition and modern language of3.

All this should be borne in mind when we talk about the figure of Satan. Because the attitude of this character may be very different, ambiguous, and not only depending on in what tradition we are considering. More importantly, the context in which we consider the figure of Satan in traditional or religious? In a sacral context Satan means one thing, religious – other, in the language of present – something third. This is what we talk about.

Place of Satan in holistica ensemble

The full language of Tradition, of course, recognizes the pairs of opposites. We can see them on the Celtic cross: top – bottom, left – right, the annual rise of the sun to the North and descending to the South, the opposition of the opposition orientations. In fact, the presence of these pairs of structures and sacred space, otherwise it would be complete chaos. Hot is not cold, day is night, etc. Halitsky ensemble recognizes this situation. But these couples, these poles never divorce absolute way to the end. Between them Peeps, guess some secret relationship. There is some secret sympathy poles. It gives the nature of the paradox, super-rational synthesis, special intellectual breathing all that is associated with full of sacred Tradition. We’ll never understand the sacred, if you don’t learn a close look at this secret sympathy. Mircea Eliade in his book “Mephistopheles and the Androgyne”, cites a curious passage from the prologue of Faust about a strange sympathy of God and Satan4.

In the book of job, too, have a rather strange, archaic elements, ascending to the fact holistica, prereligious state when Jewish religion coincided with Tradition.

We can say that holistique worldview (the language of Tradition) is based on the idea of all sorts of metamorphoses. “Metamorphosis” (think of Ovid) is a key term for understanding holistische ensemble. Evgeny Vsevolodovich Golovin on the example of the hermetic tradition, shows the spirit, the aroma of what constitutes a metamorphic traditional view of reality. Halitsky ensemble assumes that the top always contains an element of the bottom, and Vice versa. In the light there is an element of darkness, in the darkness is the light element, and none of these realities (neither top nor bottom, neither right nor left, neither North nor South) cannot to exist without a secret sympathy, a secret Alliance with its own opposite. This Alliance of opposites creates specific dynamics of metamorphosis, and every element of this sacred circle can be moved to another location, modify its contents.

Entity holistische ensemble mobile, so the language of Tradition does not know of personification of the gods or clearly marked figures in the myths and legends. Everything flows into everything. The Bible describes the vision of the Patriarch Jacob – ladder stretching from heaven to earth, which move light men. This ontological Jacob’s ladder symbolizes the continuous, dynamic, metamorphic exchange of forces between the top and bottom, the forces of the right and left side, which continuously penetrate each other, creating complex dynamics of metamorphoses and transformations within a single sacred ensemble.

There are capacious Greek word: person. It exactly corresponds to the English word personality. A person is not an individual, not our ego. Person (by the way, is a term from Greek tragedy – the mask. The Russian word personality (“mask”), incidentally, is also originally meant the mask of a buffoon. Personality – a kind of deceptive appearance, behind which lies something completely different. “Personal” relationship to the world most deindividualization. Entity, constantly changing internally, act in different situations, to different worlds in different forms. Nothing is fixed, nothing is in one corner of the room. We can never say that something is exactly the object for which we accept. Maybe after some time he will change his appointment. Similarly, we cannot confidently to say that always deal with the same person. Meyrink’s novel “the Golem”5 describes the difference between people dedicated to (spiritual) and ordinary (profane). He said that common man is, like, a glass tube for the ball. If this bulb is, say, red – man is good, yellow is bad. This is a layman. And devoted man is rolling a lot of different balls – he’s got good, some bad. Such a man lives many entities, and for the same person, the same mask can serve a variety of actors, whole troupes from different theatres.

The theme of the mask (personalities) is essential for understanding holistische ensemble, paradigmatic language Traditions. In the sacred circle is a fixed point that can be considered as a person. This entire complex is continuously rotated. And “the identity of the North” may, in fact, move to the West or to the South. Then there is the complicated dynamics: the North comes to the South, South – North, between them there is an exchange of energies, and this subtle, pulsating “magma” sacred space creates a unique, very life fabric of sacred being.

This metaphysics of the mask (simultaneously sinister and beautiful values “mask”) and feels modern culture6. For example, the series of Fantomas has a direct relation to this. Fantomas in the modern consciousness plays the role of “king of the world”. King of the world, which is outside of human civilization, indifferent to the interests of the people, has new technology, can fly, is constantly changing masks. His real person no one knows. Fantomas for the modern man is sinister figure of the sacred.

If we turn to the figure of Satan, the devil in holistico the ensemble (in the language of Tradition), we find that this is also a mask, not something definite and specific. Satan (“the devil”, “dark beginning”) can be called, for example, the lower left sector of the Celtic cross (see Fig.). Autumn-winter the sector in which we are now – at the time of this lecture is are. The sun moves to the winter solstice, to the low point of the annual cycle. This raises fervent negativity: the lower half plus left side. This is the night, storms, darkness, decay, decomposition, all those elements that are associated with negative natural, psychological and other phenomena. All this, as a rule, belong to the sphere of “Satan,” “dark beginning”. But in holistico the ensemble, which involves the interpenetration of the interchange of elements, the shadow, the fourth sector, will never be to be an exceptional value. This fourth autumn-winter the sector between West and South, three or two and a half (in different calendar systems of the ancient accounts – different figures) month before Ulam – being the most horrible, dark, damp sector of a circle has, however, enormous positive value, since it was at this point somewhere close to the critical point of the winter solstice is being accomplished the great mystery of the birth of the new.

All the old, decaying, decrepit, dying, evening, destroying the previous harmony, in fact, is the element that precedes the new birth. The beginning and end of flow into each other. This is inevitable and predetermined, therefore, no complete denial, full of negativity within holistische circle does not exist. Thus, Satan (evil spirits or angry gods, dark creatures) in holistico the ensemble may not be fully equivalent to pure negation. It is something more subtle.

In order to understand what a figure of Satan in holistico the ensemble (in the language of Tradition), we should focus on the instance which is located between the objective event (e.g., frost, night, damp, decay, death, degeneration, madness, destruction, disease) and some of the subjective beginning, the conductor of these negative phenomena that these models controls, launches. Satan is not an individual, but at the same time and not a set of negative phenomena. He is something in between. This is some authority, some power, and having the subjective and objective sides. In certain point it can act as an object reality, for example: just broke out the cold. But at some point – in the form of a thin, almost personalized, anthropomorphic, angelomorphic or zoomorphic figures who have the most complex philosophical arguments, prompting the artist, the writer, the politician what to do at one point or another. Nevertheless, such halitsky Satan is never strictly natural or highly individualized. Is present and this and that. In holistico the world (based on metamorphoses) all objective can easily go in subjective and on the contrary. For example, nymphs, satyrs, spirits of the mountains, elves, dwarves, our goblins, water, bath… In a sense, every one of them – “small Satan”, some subjectivation objectively present elements, able to speak in zoomorphic or anthropomorphic form.

This is not fiction, say the materialists, the observers of the phenomena, is not able to explain them. The nymphs and satyrs – own ontology, its own existential overtones. They are alive. Maybe even more alive than those same stones, springs, mountains, but their Genesis is in the staging area. And depending on the way our contact with these realities, we can perceive either just a dumb stone, or – if we are attentive to ourselves and to the inner worlds of the surrounding objects – can distinguish strange, “smoky” features of entities that under certain circumstances can be subjektivierung.

Actually, this is a subject which would be of such a nature were not. Evgeny Vsevolodovich Golovin said that, from the point of view of the hermetic tradition, there are dead things, dead metal, purely material objects. All objects endowed with a fine subtle pneuma.

Let’s illustrate holistique relation to the beginning of the demonic, Satan, for example, represent the Hindu tradition about the Asuras. Asura is a demon from the Hindu Pantheon. They are attributed to earthquakes, famine, pestilence and other negative phenomena. They only do that try to annoy the gods (more elevated entities) and people, because they always swirling at their feet. But their main task still is opposition to the world order created by the positive gods. And despite all these seemingly quite satanic essence, is revered in Hinduism as the Devas (bright deities).

“Asura” is called, the lower half of the sacred circle, “devils’ top. The opposition between the Asuras and Devas in holistico the ensemble takes on the character of the harmonious complementarity. But this does not relieve the dynamics of the confrontation between the Devas and Asuras, of darkness and light. The gods and demons really are a never-ending battle. But the content of this struggle is infinitely far away from the modern religious-moralistic models. This struggle – the rhythm of the universe. Between the poles there is a mutual exchange of subtle energies: enrich the Devas Asuras with their war with them, Asuras his confrontation enrich of the Devas. Occurs after circulation of the finest sacred energies, which, piercing our existence, fill it with a spiritual dimension.

Shiva the destroyer

The brightest figure in the Hindu tradition, more reminiscent of “our” Satan Shiva. This is a classic God-destroyer, the God who protects the swamps, cemeteries, the crows, the corpses, orgies, drunkenness, violation of all sorts of bans, eating up some horrible substances, overnight in prohibited areas. Show some character in the context of religion, it certainly would have branded a monstrous shame. Few would have thought. Ultimately, Shiva is much more violent and terrifying creature than our “low-power” of Satan. Shiva is not just harmful. He stands in Hinduism as one of very high principles, one of the faces of the absolute.

In the end, he destroys the universe, and rejoices at this dispassionately. No more, no less. And Shiva is not getting any punishment for it (as it acts in harmony with the Dharma, the sacred destiny). He is patronizing and dark sides of nature: let the rains, the invasion of foreigners, etc. However, the Hindu tradition, Shiva shows us how the perfect being, the patron God of the highest caste of priests (Brahmins), the most sublime, the most pure spiritual principle. Why?

This is due to a very interesting balance between the two types of hierarchy. There is a hierarchy inherent (light, harmony, positive), but there are still outrageous, the highest principle, infinitely surpassing all immanent. He casts a shadow of his greatness, his absolute supremacy in our world and thereby creates a certain contrarary. In this case, all the dark forces, compared with carriers of the immanent harmony, suddenly find themselves in a more advantageous position. Failure becomes higher creation, because the creation is not temporary, but eternal. Death is new birth, ascetic practices, violations of the inherent prohibitions found as the fulfillment of the higher will, the transcendental laws. Thus, we enter into a new transcendent reality, where the position is reversed, where there is an inverse representation of good and evil, on the top and the bottom. And all this very deeply metaphysically justified.

Remember how dead the Hindu God of desire, Kama? When Shiva was in a sacred Union with his consort Parvati, the God of sentimentality, warm (quite immanent love Kama decided to pierce his heart’s desire. “Well,” thought Kama, to Siva carried out this act not just as the ascetic and the Tantrik initiate, focusing on something deeply personal, using their own, not having neither Parvati nor, in General, to this world projects, and humanly”. And here Kama decided to hit the heart of Shiva thin beam immanent taste. All anything, but Shiva opened his third the eye, which it opens (to incinerate the Universe) only once – at the time of the end of the world. And Kama was wiped off the face of the world. From this frivolous of God in Hinduism since then, not a trace remained. No one now no longer prevented chivista to do their specific cool (“phantomanie”) spiritual realizations…

Terrible Shiva, struggling with the immanent order, fighting with Maya – illusion. Not with the reality and its simulation. And it’s not just “extenuating circumstances”. The destructive function of Shiva is not only justified, it acts as a full-fledged spiritual, truly creative principle in the face of immanent reality. Reality, which is immersed in Maya and believes that nothing except her. This is the worst of illusions. In Vaishnavism (positive Hindu tradition, which emphasizes the immanent component) Shiva is regarded almost as Satan. In The Mahabharata Shiva acts as the instigator of all the disastrous, immoral, inferior spirit. Many passages of the mahābhārata shows Shiva, in General, not as a spiritual principle, and almost as carnal soul of the demon responsible for all sorts of ugliness (for example, after the revolt of the Kauravas the Pandavas).

Vishnu himself – pronounced immanent principle. However (and most interesting) of the Hindu civilization and allows vishnuites and shivaist, testing against the gods each other extreme antipathy, to coexist in a single ensemble. No one is being persecuted, not judging. Nobody blames sevastos in “Satanism”. Standing on the opposite metaphysical positions, all peacefully coexist. A true example of holism, exemplary sacredness.

But that’s not all. In order to imagine a full and primordial sacredness, to understand the language of tradition, the need to make another transaction: to imagine a court that precedes the separation of the absolute on Shiva and Vishnu – the immanent and the transcendent. Primordial Tradition does not know of the dual models. All duality (of both the transcendental and immanent, and light, and darkness) at the same time impregnate each other in a single complex. This, of course, very difficult to imagine. This is the pole.

Someone is fighting with someone…

Now back to the Celtic cross. At the moment we are interested in the sector between West and South. In most traditional myths he describes how the solar descent of the hero into hell, the fight with the serpent, the victory and the birth of a new world. Some “vishnitskaya” design, something “good”, the sun, lying on the North slopes down to “bad”, to dark, to the snake. Snakes prevents the hero, the snake should be left alone. There is a Great Yule, the great solstice, the birth of a new hero (variant: hero rescues the sun), it all starts over again. This story is a diagram of a huge number of myths. The myth Dionysus, about resurrecting gods, on the periodic update of the universe. For example, all saints ‘ day – a very Western point, the descent of the sun in hell.

In General, both modern and ancient archaic myths, the most primitive, archaic format operate with these models. And “development” theological terminology of the particular tradition in no way testifies to its elevated position. Aborigine, manipulating sticks or pieces of quartz, expresses the same sacred truths, and the most difficult Sufi or Christian theological dogma. Meaning, paradigm – one. Complication is not a confirmation of depth or truth…

Now, if we look at the myth of the hero and the snake with vishnyatskiy point of view, we will see the following: the light came into the darkness, fought with the dragon, defeated him, and again began to Shine.

Sevastos everything is different: the dragon decided to attack this outgoing light, he apparently imbued Nietzschean: “push, Push, fall”. The sun began to set to the West. “To hell with it, thought a giant living in the darkness of the snakes – I’ll give a new sun, and eat. Is the sun your served, it was time for him to retire, I’ll take him into your dark areas, and from the secret of my nature, of transcendental mystery of the night or the top of the darkness appears a new sun, pure, unadulterated adventure, slide up-down, fresh, present.” Snake calmly swallows his opponent because he is so “hard breathes”. If the sun were not “breathing hard”, it would still Zenith (“eternal noon”, in the terminology of Nietzsche) and would be there always. If it went down, so he decay inside… Golovin once said terrible words: “Who died, he never lived…” Valuable only what cannot die, what has being in itself, and, in this case, alongside the interpretation of this myth may be (paradoxically) much more spiritual and positive.

However, the third (not vishnitskaya and Saiva) interpretation of the autumn-winter myth of the hero and the snake. Yes, there is drama, there is the fact of the descent, the fact of contact between night and day, the universe is cold and the universal fire. But in this drama holistique worldview not makes no moral judgement, it States the following: someone is fighting with someone, active, afraid, tremble all the global strings, but who and with whom is not quite clear, or at least, human Traditions as if frozen in front of the seriousness of this drama and not jump to conclusions and assessments.

In the novel “Cranks” Yury Vitalyevich Mamleeva, our classics, one phrase at the time, struck my fancy: “Fedor is digging a hole to Fomichev”7. It seems that this is a brief summary of the metaphysics. Someone digs a move somewhere, someone is fighting with someone. Dynamics tremendous when full of uncertainty. The move itself somewhere under the ground, unseen. Fedor is a strange question. Fomicheva – even more mysterious family. It turns out surprisingly intense static dynamics, the enormous tension of all forces and no certainty. Life there, being there, the theme is obvious, morality and formal sense of the plot, logic is not in sight.

Reflecting on his initiation, the magician Aleister Crowley wrote the following: “that night, eight hours, God and Satan fought among themselves for possession of my heart. God, of course, won. Only much later in my doubts began to creep: and actually winning was God?”. Quite holistique doubt.

God had to win because He is stronger. But is it?

It is important not approval Crowley, and his doubts. The paradox is always closer to galitskoy the truth to a living relation to being, rather than dried moral scheme.

So, in order to understand the function of Satan in holistico the ensemble, we must try to think of something simultaneously black and white. In a world where all the persona (mask), this approach is logical and natural.

The most common point symbol of the South, the point of the winter solstice, the point of the great midnight, is a combination of black and white, change one to another. This ancient, primordial symbolism can be found on Templar banner, in the costume of harlequin, in the Masonic tiled floor in the Studio, in the chessboard and by the way, on the bark of the ordinary Russian birch, a symbol of the Motherland. Black and white – a sign of the great solstice. ‘t cope with it not just as a duty and not as an exclusion, but at the same time. It is so difficult that it is almost impossible. For this we need to fall into a kind of artificially provoked oligophrenia. Imagine if someone suddenly hit you with a log on the head. Sparks, which will fall out of your eyes, what color they will be: black or white? It’s hard to say.

But the traumatic experience is the only guarantor of the authenticity of the answer… They will be black and white. Indeed, in this hard initiatic act immediately arises all the time: life, death, and recognition, and the horror and the pain. Everything merges into a single undifferentiated certain “sacosta”. It is, generally, characteristic of any initiatic events. And has no moral explanation.

Place of Satan in religious teachings

Religion (as a truncated, selective sacredness) identifies certain elements holistische ensemble, gives them an individualized manner and fixes them. Once and for all. No metamorphosis here now impossible. Between the sacred galitskim round and religions in the proper sense of the word is the essential difference. This difference is not in content, not in the “content”. The content in both cases is quite similar, as stems from a common galitskoy matrix.

But in the case of pure holism we are dealing with a game against the existence, where all is the mask, and the metamorphosis is not only possible, but also, in a sense, mandatory. In the case of religion there is a heaviness, a fixity, see “legal person”, an individual personal responsibility, strict moral assessment of a step, or another character, or another actions. And the figure of Satan is pure negation, individualized negativity.

Some negative, bottom, left, decadent aspects of being present in any cycle associated with evening, in autumn, death, aging, decaying hypostasized in an individual entity, which is now knocked all the sins. By the way, the early Christians did not look at Satan so violently. Christianity was originally a Tradition of initiatic Tradition. Only later, when it began the process of registration of Christianity as a religion, the situation changed dramatically. Very indicative in this respect the example of the great Christian theologian Origen (third century). Among other things (for example, the first outline of Trinitarian dogmatic theology), it belongs to the theory of “apokatastasis”, the meaning of which can be summarized as follows: in the end times the devil will also be forgiven and together with the fallen spirits will return to its original place. Once divine being comprehensive, it can’t prevent yourself out of the existence of additional instances that would have avoided the final reintegration. (Remember: Origen was not masked Neoplatonic, in the most dogmatic questions – including the question of creationism – it is quite an Orthodox author.) For some time the Church is not seen in these views nothing wrong with that. But Christianity (on a number of objective reasons) more and more become the religion. And at one point theological opinions of Origen (fifth Ecumenical Council) were deemed heretical. Origen allowed Satan the opportunity eschatological metamorphosis, that is, treated him in halitsky and not religious.

However holistica line in Christianity (especially Orthodox) never been interrupted. Many relatively late in the Apocrypha (including the Russians) have clearly holistica elements. In “journey of the virgin of sorrows” (XII century), for example, the virgin persuades Christ to forgive the worst of sinners (but not heretics, i.e. not “Papineau”). It is also an element of holism – every creature, even the worst, have to have hope for salvation…

A strict religious doctrine interspecies metamorphoses impossible. Here the devil is individualized and anthropomorphize. If in the early stages of religion the devil has given a generation of storms, epidemics, fires, as further destruction of sacred ties holistische complex the devil is becoming more and more “human” and “chelovekom,” he Humanities. He is not responsible for natural disasters – he entrusted exclusively to people. He sends bad thoughts, seduces ascetics, encourages criminals. The devil becomes almost a social element, the leader of the gang. As information religion to morality colossal humiliation of this ambiguous character is even worse.

Where is the border between what we call religions, and galitskim ensemble? You can try to follow the example of Orthodoxy. Orthodoxy has always differed from, say, Catholicism what is tradition (= the holism). Even the term “religion” for the definition of religion has not been applied by the Orthodox to the last centuries. It is very revealing. The falling away of Catholics in IX-XI centuries was nothing more than the separation of religion and Tradition8. And modern Protestantism (as well as modern Catholicism) is not even a religion. The same Orthodoxy against all odds was desperately trying to keep itself as a tradition. And when the Greeks, during the Florentine Union, took a step toward the West (i.e. religion), their Russian co-religionists remained the only stronghold of the Orthodox tradition, that is, the Christian faith in holistica understanding.

Of course, the degeneration of Western Christianity (as a religion) did not take place immediately. In the middle Ages in Europe kept the elements of genuine holism (contrary to the desire of clerics clean again). Rene Guenon showed that the final desacralization of the West coincided with the cessation of medieval carnivals and Saturnalia, clownish processes and asinine masses (when the fool dressed as the Pope, rode to the Cathedral on the donkey) and other extravagant rituals. Guénon argued that while the Church was controlled by the “dark side” of the European soul, the negative energy was nejtralizovyvali. But as soon as religious the Orthodox got their way and carnivals stopped, everywhere developed magical cults, the germ of the future Autonomous “Satanism”.

Something like that happened in Russia in the XVII century. The creation of a moralistic Bogolubovo mug and persecutions of the buffoons were the first chord of the Grand and tragic of desacralization, in the future, which resulted in the schism. In this revealing exactly the persecution of musicians – media non-religious sacredness. Started with them (with the approval, by the way, this mug St. Avvakum Petrov), cumshot genocide of Russian traditionalists-old. The split in Russian history there is a point of transition from Tradition to religion, from sacred religious tradition to the reduced form. This the reduced form of Orthodoxy, which severed the sacred, the old believers and called derogatory “nikolaustag”.

A similar gap between sacredness and religiosity can be found in Islam. The most religious elements of Islam are an extreme form of Sunni Islam, and the least religious Shia and Sufi schools (their doctrines allow for the possibility of unexpected metamorphosis).

Within Judaism there is a similar division: eat clean, “rabbinical” version of Judaism, and there is a Kabbalistic, Hasidic, and quite extravagant sects, like sabbatismos – all of them on a number of essential features is extremely close to holistica ensemble…

Satan in a religious context is the personification of pure negation, the “absolute enemy”. All that is internal and external enemy against this particular religious scheme, and is Satan, or at least, under his sign. Accordingly, other religions in relation to this are under the protection of Satan, as well as internal irregularities, rational-ethical rules. If you go further, then we will come to clean the Convention – the ontology of Satan gradually just loose the sense. If a consistent Christian calling “Satan” (or “servants of Satan”) all Muslims, all Hindus, all the Jews, the idea of Satan is emasculated and no Satan is gone, he becomes an abstraction. For any reason, you can say: “I wish” or “the devil made me do it”. It is clear that in such a vulgar model of such a serious figure dissolves and becomes just an empty sound.

Now let’s get back to galitskoy model. The only negative, indeed satanic phenomenon, from the point of view holistische ensemble, will be the process of moving from the language of the Tradition to its alternative – the language of modernity. Religion, as we have seen, occupies an intermediate position. Thus, in the strictly religious approach to reality, in the election sacredness we are faced with the true spirit of the devil, with the true Satan.

The problem of precedence

Satan is often called the “first creations”. In Judaism Satan is an angel who was created before all other incorporeal creatures. Therefore, by the way, in Dante’s hell – the oldest creations. I wonder what’s the reason?

Will start from afar. Imagine that between Creator and creature insurmountable abyss, no metamorphosis is impossible, all positions were registered in the world. The creature is unable to turn into the Creator, and the Creator is unable to turn into the creature completely. This is opposite to “manifestaciones” (from the Latin manifestare is a manifestation of) the approach is called “creationism”. This is the basis of a religious worldview. Here, of course, the divine principle is not rejected, as, for example, in modern language, but it is radically and irrevocably transcendentalized, generating a huge amount of severe and irreversible consequences. Once the creature is separated from the Creator, it is free. But it’s a very specific freedom.

In Hindu (galitskoy) the concept of freedom being associated with the freedom of God (which is not separate beings), that is, freedom of being and freedom of God are one and the same. The hard problem of choice does not exist, there is, rather, the problem is deepening. Thats good, close to centre, and not what is better behaved. If behaves “badly”, but it still approaches the center – “left hand path”9.

In religious concepts, the question of freedom is quite tough. All subjected to rigorous moral evaluation. Everyone must answer for their actions. It is believed that Satan was the first to receive the freedom and immediately took it wrong. Maybe he just made a mistake? Made the wrong bet? Like a roulette wheel… (I wrote about this in “the Metaphysics of the Good News”10.) This is a very complex topic, here all not so primitive as it is imagined by the authors of various catechisms.

From the point of view (appropriately understood) of creationism, the creation is fundamental drama. Maybe clearer all the drama inherent in the fact of creation, the catastrophic religious worldview realized some Jewish Kabbalists (in particular, the school of Isaac Luria). They developed the concept of “Tsim TSUM”11. Its meaning is that God does not showering, not expanding, but rather tapering. Creation is not through creation but through samskrita, He shrinks to his secret centre, hides himself. And the space that is freed, as the escaping of God inside himself creates the voltage from which is born Genesis. Thus, the basis of existence is a disaster.

This pervonachalnogo generates a series of other disasters (the concept of “broken vases”). Hence the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and the scattering of the Jewish people and, in General, all the troubles.

We can assume that Satan first (long before Isaac, Lori), guessed the drama, the catastrophe of creation and, apparently, this is somehow reacted inadequately. Probably he was the first to recognize the enormity of the risk and ambiguity in the very act of creation, and therefore he is like a paradigm of all negative elements, from a religious point of view. Later the issue of the dual selection of Eden the serpent confronts Adam and Ewoi. Satan precedes all other pieces of sacred history. In Kabbalah, incidentally, says that Satan was once Gigatribe, “the angel of the Crown”, the highest of 10 Sephiroth.

In Islam also emphasizes the precedence of Satan (Iblees): he was created first, and on this basis refused to worship Adam. He said proudly: “I am from fire and Adam from clay; I am the first, and this created much later”. This previous refusal to reconcile with the subsequent and was the cause of the fall of Iblis.

The same was said and the tradition of the ancient Iranians (Mazdaism): in the beginning was created by Ahriman (God of darkness), then only Ormuzd (God of light). The mage-priests explained that the first eternal darkness would have to appear exactly light Ormuzd, but he was delayed, and Ahriman (which was tricky) contrived and against the rules came first. Anyway, the “garland” belongs to Ahriman. Further, from the confrontation between usurping the birthright dark Ahriman and light Orascom created world drama.

The appeal itself by the time immemorial, to some prehistoric antiquity contains a complex set of psychological reactions and sacred. On the one hand, the idea of the past as an eternal, full, genuine, as a kind of diminishing the fullness – the hallmark holistische Outlook12. Here, the past is seen as a whole.

However, on the other hand, in respect of antiquity have other negative Association. The antiquity of Satan, the antiquity of previous cults, cults that have gone before the dawn of a new sacred shapes – this is a very serious element of religious psychology. In reference to the past, in the things of the past, in situations that we have been familiar from childhood, or which go deep into the times, we are often confronted with a very disturbing feeling – the feeling of the actualization of death.

This theme was curious outplayed in occult literature (theme of revenants, vampires, ghouls, ghouls, “fallow the dead,” etc.). A classic example (familiar from horror movies), when someone is buried, it seems like everything is in order, but no such luck, it is selected from the grave… and again in the battle. Describes it best Lovecraft. He created a whole gallery of strange ancient creatures, the Old Ones that survived the ancient civilization in the depths of the sea, in burrows, in Antarctica, in the mountains, in caves, etc… Despite his repulsive (greenish-silty, red-eyed, pinnipeds, fish-head view) they were able to realize a immortality, to achieve, in parallel with the degeneration, strange compensations on a spiritual level. And most of the characters stories Lovecraft sooner or later realize that, despite the shocking image, they are very “good guys”. It turns out that they somehow are connected with these ancient mutants belong to their family. And in the end another character, acquiring scales and fins, shouting incomprehensible, unintelligible words in the language of the “great Cthulhu”, jumps into the sea to escape “their own”. Lovecraft is a very fine author. No accident many occultists were attributed to him various degrees of initiation13.

On the issue of “prior” is another fine point. The more we are immersed in the prior, peering into the forgotten worlds, the more we begin to get involved in their specific logic. And that what we are frightened that seemed monstrous, nightmarish, suddenly begins to seem reasonable and proper. True to the roots, old, positive attitude to everything, consecrated by time, becomes a kind of revelation, a form of gaining higher knowledge. Maybe the terror of the ancient is some protective mechanism of the soul, which is living in the moment, but, nevertheless, realize, that somewhere out there, in the previous, long-buried still heats very important sparks, stretch and vibrate the nerves, the delicate network of other knowledge, a very serious and deep, able to turn and destroy the fragile peace of our mental psychological and cultural structures? Maybe so negative, with horror, as something demonic, negatively perceives our soul lost halitsky ensemble? After all, the paradigmatic language of Tradition has no claims to the past: the past is sacred, inhabited by the great light beings, keeps fresh touch of eternity. In full galitskoy optics it is certainly positively, peacefully coexists with the present, giving present the possibility of a great return, continuous measurement of the light source…