It is clear that the golem revolution will cause a huge shock to society.
Every now and then, I return to the theme of the ‘golem‘. This time, my thoughts on this ancient topic were triggered by seeing an image of the number of satellites orbiting the earth. There are currently more than eleven thousand, at least, those are the active ones. Add to that all the man-made space debris, and it becomes clear that we have created our own firmament.
A truly ominous image, but what does it have to do with the golem?
A golem is a creature molded from dead material such as clay or mud, in the shape of a human body. According to some Jewish legends, a golem could be brought to life through the magical use of a ‘shem’. A shem is one of the names of God, written in letters from the Hebrew alphabet. While breathing life into the golem, the shem was written on a piece of paper and placed in its mouth or forehead. There are also stories in which golems were brought to life by writing the word ‘truth’ on their foreheads. The breath of life could be taken away from the golem by removing the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the aleph (א), from the inscription on its forehead, changing it from ‘truth’ (אמת) to ‘death’ (מת).
Creation process
The theme of the golem is completely intertwined with the creation and the creation process. Why do we create something? Why do we express something of our soul in matter? It is a well-known fact that the universe works like a mirror. We see what we are. We also create what we are. I believe that the purpose of this is to gain more clarity about ourselves: to achieve self-knowledge and deepened development. Many writers, for example, will be familiar with the experience of gaining a deeper understanding of their subject after writing something about it. They had recreated a piece of themselves in matter.
But the question is, what is this self that we call ‘ourselves’? Who are we? Or, what have we become?
The image of satellites orbiting the Earth points back to ourselves. Our respiration field, our aura, is filled with artificial objects, the astral results of our creative urge. This auric pollution disrupts, both for us and for the earth, the normal functioning and balance of nature.
Yes, but isn’t this inevitable? Don’t we have to develop through our creations? Isn’t this article reaching us via the internet and satellites?
Jan van Rijckenborgh writes:
“The electromagnetic transformations brought about by humanity thus bring our dialectical field of life into disharmony. This disharmony demonstrates itself unceasingly as you know, and this means dialectical life is made more difficult.”[1]
Are things really so inevitable? Do we always go from bad to worse?
Our progress comes at a price, which we pay, for example, with our health. The I-person, the person with an I-centered consciousness, is always heading for the abyss. He does not realize this himself. He does not know that he, just like the golem, has the word ‘death’ written on his forehead. He is not alive in the spiritual sense of the word. I-consciousness is robot consciousness, however strange that may sound to our ears. The I-centered person lives under the illusion that he possesses a truly living spiritual consciousness.
How do we wake up from this dream? Through our creative drive and the results it produces. The universe holds up a mirror to us. In our days, golems have become very topical. They are no longer made of clay, are technically very advanced, and will soon be indistinguishable from humans.
They can now perform many of our tasks, in general better and faster. What does that say about our consciousness? When, at some point, the golems can do everything we can, has it then not been proven that I-consciousness is robot consciousness?
Revolution
There are people who manufacture robots and (for now) control them. Some people think this is great and have high expectations. The capabilities of robots are indeed impressive. But as always, every development has two outcomes. On the negative side, we see people who are anxious and uneasy about this development. These feelings of anxiety raise questions: What is my place? Will I become redundant and be cast aside? How can I manage and survive? It is clear that the golem revolution will cause a huge shock to society.
Are we taking another step toward the abyss?
The advantage of this is that the abyss, which has always been so hidden, is beginning to become visible. The knife we have put to our own throats is beginning to be felt.
It is a fitting moment for a spiritual revolution! Now we will have to prove that we are more than golems. Certainly, humans have a robotic personality, but there is more, much more!
Spiritual origin
The problem is that the I-person has no awareness of the spiritual house he inhabits, of the microcosm that surrounds him. By far the largest part of our life system is dark and unknown to us. The part we know is the golem-like part, molded from clay and not truly alive. This robotic part can be transformed and incorporated into the whole, but only if it conforms to its microcosmic system.
To initiate the transformation process, we must answer three questions. Where do I come from? Who am I? Where am I going?
The mystical and veiled stories about golems have a deeper meaning and can help us with the first two questions. When a golem has the word ‘death’ written on its forehead, it is lifeless, deactivated. To breathe life into the robot, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the aleph, is added to the word ‘death’, transforming it into ‘truth’. The aleph points to the unity between the uncreated and the created. It is the unity of God. It is the One that underlies the creation of our microcosm, our spiritual origin. Anyone who has forgotten his origins is dead in a spiritual sense. However, the threatening abyss awakens hidden forces within us. The sharp edge of the knife pierces our throat. Who am I? Where do I come from? Our despair focuses us on the essential things. What is truth?
Name of God
We start searching. We dig into books, we dig into ourselves. The veils that suffocate our inner knowledge slowly dissolve; light shines on our true nature. Our spiritual center, our true Self, awakens from its death sleep. We remember our spiritual origins. We add the first letter, the aleph, to the seal on our forehead, it says: truth!
Now we continue with the question, ‘Who am I?’ To answer this question, we must also write down the other letters of creation within ourselves. Now we must incorporate the letters of God’s name into ourselves. This has little to do with literally writing down letters or reciting mantras. The true meaning goes much deeper; it is about the re-creation, the transformation of our being.
Jan van Rijckenborgh comes to our aid:
“We can mystically define the electromagnetic radiation, the fundamental force, as the divine Breath, as the divine Word, for the breath of God moves over us in a certain rhythm, in a certain vibration. Consequently, there is a hidden meaning in it: a holy word is literally being spoken to us. This word is called in the universal doctrine the mysterious name of God, consisting of six or seven letters. It is a definition of the holy Seven-power, the seven gnostic powers, by which the sanctification of the one who is returning to God can become a reality; the name of God is the Gnosis itself, it is God Himself.”[2]
Now we can understand why ancient legends say that a golem could be brought to life by an ecstatic experience, during which the name of God was inserted into its being. After the truth, the remaining letters of God’s name, the other rays of the Sevenfold Spirit, are engraved on our foreheads. Then the mark of the beast from the abyss disappears and we bear the seal of the sons and daughters of God.
I AM
Now we can answer the question, ‘Who am I?’ When the seven rays of the Spirit revive and nourish the sevenfold microcosm, the true human being comes to life: it is the ‘I AM’. At that moment, we regain our true name. It is the name that God once gave us, but which we had forgotten.
“To the one who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows except the one who receives it.”[3]
The relationship between the golem or robot-man, the Spirit-man, and God can be expressed as follows: ‘I am’ (the robot-man), ‘I AM’ (the Spirit-man), and ‘I AM WHO I AM’ (God).
When God commanded Moses to lead the Jewish people out of slavery in Egypt, Moses asked God for his name. He wanted to know by what name he could justify such a formidable task.
God replied: “I AM WHO I AM”.[4]
We can understand this in the following way. God says: “I am the Eternal One, the Existing One, the ever-Present One (I AM), and outside of Me there is nothing (WHO I AM). I am the uncreated and the created, the three and the seven who are One.
As a being of nature, man is a temporary phenomenon. He is molded from ‘clay’, that is to say, a creation of time and space. Yet we, as ‘I am’, as transient beings, are connected to the ‘I AM’ within us, the sleeping Spirit-man. God says that He will give a new name to those who overcome. That victory means setting aside our ‘I’, the mortal, separated, and fragmented I-consciousness, and making space for the ‘I AM’ within us.
If we succeed in this and the ‘I AM’ rises from its death sleep, then we are once again consciously connected to the ONE, which calls itself ‘I AM WHO I AM’.
Then the last of the three questions is also answered: Where are we going? We are going home. We have come home.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
[1] The Gnostic Mysteries of the Pistis Sophia, chapter ‘The creation of the Thirteenth Aeon’
[2] The Gnosis in Present-Day Manifestation, chapter “The Descent of the Holy Spirit”
[3] Revelation 2:17
[4] Exodus 3:14
