To both posters on this (sorry haven't mastered the
complexities of this list to quote you both yet)
I'm not sugesting that mediated spirituality (the
positive aspects of religion) are impossible, nor am I
suggesting that unmediated spirituality ('gnosis') is
easy. Just that I've never encountered any examples of
the former as instantiating any form of liberation or
empowerment (surely the mark of genuine spirituality
and aesthetics). The only possible example I can think
of being William Blake, but I would hesitate to call
him religious, in the any accepted sence, even though
he did mediate his gnosis through standard religious
imagery. But even if he could be counted as such he
was just one man with no organised following, so
hardly a religious position (especially given his
characterisation of the Church as that 'direful web').
For me the very act of worship gets in the way of
human spiritual liberation though. But I guess its
possible, Meister Eckhart and the Free Spirit Mystics
might have got close, but I never met any!
As to whether we can really get rid of mediation, I
agree its difficult and usually a matter of degree,
but I think it is possible. Its still trendy to argue
against this in post modern circles, but these are a
bit dated now. I'd actually claim however that the
conditions of mediation actually require an unmediated
grounding to make them possible. It is a necessary
condition for mediation. This can be philosophically
argued but I won't bore you with the complete paper.
It is certainly not easy to do though, and I'd say
only a small percentage at any one time can probably
achieve it consciously. Though all are potentially
able to (and we probably all do unconsciously
everyday!). I know people who have come close but none
who have come close enough to achieve what might be
termed 'pure gnosis'. The trick seems to be in a
praxis of pure nihilistic liberation. But if I say
more I may get in deep shit with various occult orders
:)
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