Howdy folks, here's the final synopsis of our reading of
From Paul to Mark by Laura.
It begins in the middle of chapter 8's subtitle: Savior of the World: Jesus' True Identity? on page 498 where it says "To those who were in authority...".
Chapter 8: Christ Under Caesar
Savior of the World: Jesus' True Identity
With the secret plotting of Caesar's conspirators in force through means of isolating him from his bodyguards, ritual, and cloaked steel, they put their plans into motion.
The day before Caesar's passing, he had supper at Marcus Lepidus' house and on the topic of death, he explains that he favored a death that is sudden and unexpected. This perhaps is what's alluded to in the Gospel of Mark as the Last Supper. In addition, the timing is indeed remarkable being that he brought this up on the previous day, which points to a sort of sensing of what's near and in the air (garden of Gethsemane).
Caesar was warned by his wife Calpurnia and his close friends of strange omens and dangers of going to the senate session. With all these signs, he still proceeds forth after some convincing of Brutus.
Despite the goodwill and mercy that Caesar has shown his conspirators, many would not let go of their past grievances against him and have done their dirty deed.
On his funeral, a tropaeum consisting of a wax effigy draped in Caesar's bloody toga was placed as a symbol of Caesar. He was loved by many Jews, and for several nights, paid their homage to him. Four months later, a comet appears lighting up the sky for seven days, with many seeing it as the ascended soul of Caesar. Perhaps this is what Paul has seen in his visions, how he came to know the true Christ.
The Reception of Mark
Chronologically speaking, Mark was definitely the first Gospel. As a coded allegory, it contained many truths on the nature of Paul's teaching, the history of Rome, and the identity of the real Jesus on Earth and beyond. It was certainly spread around, but it didn't last long.
Along came Matthew, Luke, and John which were created to overshadow mark, obfuscating and twisting the truths hiding in mark and writing them in a prose that made these texts seem "more complete" than Mark. This most likely had an effect on Gentiles and Jews alike as it captured the minds of many as they grew more popular, leading them further astray.
The effect was to win back the Gentiles and Jews that Caesar, Paul, and Mark won over. We discussed that the three Gospels following Mark perhaps aimed to instill in the minds a more materialistic viewpoint, altering spiritual truths found in Mark. We note that it connects back to the earlier chapters of FPtM where Timothy Ashworth/Paul brings up the law of spirit vs the law of man.
It was not all dark, as small groups kept Mark and Paulline teachings afloat over the course of history.
Marcion Redux
There was a time where Paul's trail in history was missing, until Marcion arrives on the scene. In his luggage, he carried a collection of Paul's letters along with a prototype Gospel—the
First New Testament, and with it, a Paulline renaissance! The beacons are lit once more for PaleoChristianity as the controlling forces sought to make
Matthew as the founding myth of Christianity.
Chapter 9: PaleoChristianity
PaleoChristianity means the "original, early, or first Christianity"—as practiced by the earliest of Christians. In Paul's travels, he addressed groups of individuals who had a "gift of the spirit" with potential to network and do great work with others to the benefit of their groups and humanity as a whole.
For Paul, he knew an end was coming and worked tirelessly towards achieving his goals. We spoke about the idea of
memento mori—to know that death can come at any time, and that one can use it to make the most out of our precious lives here on Earth.
There is a distinct difference between the Zealot Christians and the Pauline Christians
—the former believed that a physical messiah would come to rule the world that would benefit them materialistically and the latter focused less on the material, to have the space to "see the unseen". For "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God"
—alluding to the Zoroastrian idea of a restoration of the "Edenic order of things" at the end times.
The Holy City
Caesar, although a military man, had great mercy for those he conquered
—offering clemency and a restoration of their rights as a people. This caused a strong reaction with psychopathic people and rulers at the time.
It's noted that Caesar's legacy continues with his followers and military men settling in various places such as Sinope, North Africa, Corinth, Narbonne area, and perhaps even Spain as Laura says.
Ironically, through Caesar's passing, the current psychopathic rulers of Rome were completely overthrown, and it may have not been as complete if Caesar were to have lived. As Laura notes the wise words of Obi-wan Kenobi: "If you strike me down I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine".
Caesar's seen resurrection as a comet further cements Caesar's legendary status as a deity
—born as a humble human just like everyone else yet was able to achieve so much in the minds of many and was known as a remarkable man full of mercy (his "famous mercy -
clementia").
Caesar was a true populist sheltering the people from psychopathic tendencies and showing them a new mode of living, and how to treat one another. To restore the Fall, mercy with one another is a key element. He embodied the ideas of heaven for all on Earth, teaching politicians and slaves, and with that light, sanctified Rome leading to the creation of its heavenly name,
de Civitas Dei, "The City of God".
Post Write-up
This was an incredible read and am looking forward to reading Laura's next book on this topic with y'all!
We will continue next week with Harrison Koehli's translation of Lobaczewski’s
Logocracy: A Concept of the State System (Introduction and Chapter 1) If we'd like to prepare another chapter or two for next week, feel free to share.
Here's the link to the translated chapters:
Full archive of all the posts from Logocracy of Political Ponerology.
ponerology.substack.com
See y'all next week!
www.theguardian.com
The poem Look At Us that placematt shared with us by John Trudell:
www.poetryfoundation.org
