Eric Cunnigham's exciting new book combines a new translation of the Chinese classic Daodejing with a synthetic interpretation of the Dao. It innovatively employs the interweaving perspectives of Anthroposophy and esoteric world history. Among the inspirations for this work's unique reading of the verses of the *Daodejing*is the speculation of contemporary esoteric scholars that the Yellow Emperor of Chinese mytho-history was actually a human incarnation of the spirit known elsewhere as Lucifer. This argument has been used to explain the manner (...) in which "demigods" introduced themselves to the earthly sphere in order to manipulate human history. This theory resonates with the theological claims of Genesis 6: the notion that fallen angels infiltrated the human world is a contributing element to numerous theories regarding the establishment of ruling classes and elite bloodlines in history. Cunningham considers these claims from the standpoint of esoteric history and evaluates them on the basis of their convergence with kindred concepts (such as Zen illumination, mysticism, and the simulation hypothesis), to show the operations and implications of Gnosticism in history. The book makes a bold case for this common thread in various "all is consciousness" theories of Mind, from Plato, through the ancient skeptics, to Daoism, Zen, and even to the idealism of the 1960s, leading to directly to postmodern theories of "digital consciousness." What philosophers are exploring today through such topics as virtual reality and digital simulation are presented as new ways of discussing the same contours of reality hinted at in the *Daodejing*. Rather than leading us to a more humanistic vision of reality, as the Daoist scholars traditionally maintain, this theory of mind may lie at the bottom of a systematic anti-humanist impulse that has operated throughout world history. (shrink)

Do the various ascriptions of “violence,” e.g., to rape, logical reasoning, racist legislation, unqualified statements, institutions of class and/or gender inequity, etc., mean something identically the same, something analogous, or equivocal and context-bound? This paper argues for both an analogous sense as well as an exemplary essence and finds support in Aristotle’s theory of anger as, as Sokolowski has put it, a form of moral annihilation, culminating in a level of rage that crosses a threshold. Here we adopt Sartre’s analysis (...) of the “threshold of violence” as indicating a basic “existential” possibility wherein persons may and do adopt a posture of anti-god. This has considerable symmetry with the mythic and theological figure in the Abrahamic religions who is called “Lucifer.” This personage, at a unique timeless moment, found himself empowered to assume the right to exercise an infinite will-act which tolerated no superior normative perspective. I argue that this mythic stance is a live option for persons. Further, modern day nation-state military preparedness, where nuclear weaponry is a major tool of foreign policy, is a way of putting on ice and holding in reserve, but button ready, the onto-logical madness of the Luciferian moment. (shrink)

Miracles and the problem of evil are two prominent areas of research within philosophy of religion. On occasion these areas converge, with God’s goodness being brought into question by the claim that either there is a lack of miracles, or there are immoral miracles. In this paper I shall highlight a second manner in which miracles and the problem of evil relate. Namely, I shall give reason as to why what is considered to be miraculous may be dependent upon a (...) particular response to the problem of natural evil. To establish this claim, I shall focus upon Aquinas’s definition of a miracle and a particular free-will defence, the Luciferous defence. (shrink)

The ancient theme of the metaphysical-theological extremes of being-human is revisited by asking about the condition for the readiness to engage in the form of violence which is nuclear war. Sartre’s analysis of the extreme form of anger which crosses a threshold resulting in a self-legitimating righteous indignation which admits of no superior mollifying standpoint is appropriated to account for the complacency with the institution of nuclear weapons. The god-like anti-God characteristics of extreme rage are put on ice but ready (...) to be thawed quickly in the three-quarter of a century old disposition to destroy the world in which all life that we know is lived. The parallels with the myth of Lucifer invite themselves. This raises the question of what there is in being-human which is the condition for the possibility of such Luciferian impulses. Features of being human explicated by Husserlian transcendental phenomenology serve as lures to the unique form of pride that here is called Luciferian. Here it is argued that these features can also be lures to a sense of pride, analogous to the ancient magnanimitas, as developed by Aquinas. (shrink)

Of all the Romanian thinkers, Constantin Noica was almost exclusively attracted to Lucian Blaga. In most of his writings, whenever he felt the imperious need to prove his ideas, he turned to the philosopher of "luciferic knowl- edge". Thus, Noica offered solutions for the understanding of the expression "strengthen the mystery through the ecstatic intellect'. Also, if Lucian Blaga buit a metaphysic of genius, Constantin Noica particularized the idea of genius, taking Eminescu as an example, regarding him as "the complete (...) man of the Romanian culture". (shrink)