Hello Inanna:

The statement by President Bush that Christ was his favourite philosopher certainly smacks of crass opportunism, and his support by the Christian Right definitely swept him to power, and kept him in power.

Despots throughout the ages have known that despotism works best under the guise of mysticism, and the most successful despots, such as Hitler, actually were mystics, and used their mystical fervor to seduce the masses.

Have you heard of Trevor Ravenscroft's "The Spear of Destiny"? In it Ravenscroft says that Hitler had a mystical experience while viewing the Spear of Longinus which was on exhibit together with the Imperial Regalia in the museum of the Hofburg in Vienna.

The former owners of the spear had ruled the Holy Roman Empire, the Second Roman Empire, or "Reich" in German. Through this vison, Hitler felt chosen by whatever deity he believed in to lead the Third Reich, which, like the Second Reich, was to last a-thousand years. With mystical fervor, single-minded devotion, and a firm belief in his mission as the divinely chosen leader of the Third Reich, Hitler achieved what he thought was his calling. The rest is history.

Religion in general and mystical experience in particular have been (ab)used to seduce the masses since the beginning of human civilisation, sometimes for good, sometimes for evil, and sometimes for both. And those leaders who abused mystical experience weren't always charlatans. Often they believed in their calling and mission, and were picked and kept in power by background charlatans.

It seems almost needless to say that genuine mysticsim is cosmic and all-inclusive. It is of utmost importance to go into mysticism with a pure mind, free of pre-conceived concepts, as is common practice in Zen Buddhism, for instance. When one has a mystical experience under pre-conceived beliefs, then these beliefs are thought to be confirmed by whatever deity one believes in. Some Christian fundamentalist denominations gain converts by abusing mystical experince in such a way, and some Islamic terrorist organisations abuse mystical experience to gain eager volunteers for suicide missions.

Mysticism is not always cosmic bliss. Like anything else, it can be used wisely, or abused grossly, or anything in between.

Cosmic blisses and kisses to the Moon Goddess Inanna,

Arminius, Destroyer of Roman Empires.

Thanks for the website reference Inanna. All this makes me feel like a babe in the woods.

Naman wrote: "Thanks for the website reference Inanna. All this makes me feel like a babe in the woods."

Don't worry aboot unnerstanding it all at once; take baby steps, nice, easy bites.

Arm: I had only heard aboot these things in pop culture references. It reminds me of that storylette I wrote aboot Hitler and Goebels together in the bedroom and what happened when Eva came in.

Shocking!