Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

 

“N-nothing important. That is, I heard a good deal about a ring, and a dark lord, 

and something about the end of the world, but please, Mr. Gandalf, sir, don't hurt me. 

Don't turn me into anything... unnatural.” 

- Samwise Gamgee in the Fellowship of the Ring

I had the History Channel on this morning in the background, and Giorgio "Hairdo" Tsoukalos was going on about the 2012-Mayan Calendar-end of the world bit.  The whole thing has been clearly debunked elsewhere (see here, here, and here), so there's no need to go over it here - the only thing that will be different on December 22, 2012 is that all of those 2012 books written by folks profiting from the misappropriation and distortion of Mayan culture will go from the discount section of the bookstore to the trash bin.

I was thinking more about the Apocalypse Craze that keeps sticking its head up.  Just last year there was the Harold Camping prediction that the Rapture would happen on May 21, 2011, later re-scheduled for October 21 of the same year.  Back in 1987, José Argüelles claimed that Armageddon would take place unless 144,000 people gathered in certain places in the world on August 17 for a "Harmonic Convergence."  New Age icon Elizabeth Clare Prophet predicted a nuclear war would start on April 23, 1990, with the world ending 12 years later, leading her followers to begin stockpiling food, water, and weapons.

And it's not just the fringe - remember the hype over Y2K? 

"When people say to me, 'Is the world going to come to an end?' I say, 'I don't know.' I don't know whether this will be a bump in the road -- that's the most optimistic assessment of what we've got, a fairly serious bump in the road -- or whether this will, in fact, trigger a major worldwide recession with absolutely devastating economic consequences in some parts of the world... We must coldly, calculatingly divide up the next 18 months to determine what we can do, what we can't do, do what we can, and then provide for contingency plans for that which we cannot." -- Senator Robert F. Bennett (R-Utah), chair of the Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem, in a speech June 2, 1998, to The Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"I have no proof that the sun is about to rise on the apocalyptic millennium of which chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation speaks. Yet, it is becoming apparent to all of us that a once seemingly innocuous computer glitch relating to how computers recognize dates could wreak worldwide havoc." -- Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York, in "Bennett to lead 'millennium bug' battle: But it may be to late to keep computers sane." Desert News ­p; "Web Extra" by Washington Correspondent, Lee Davidson

"What is really important is that we have to think of what to do if we lose power or water or cars don't work. We need back-up generators, contingency plans and creativity in our communities. We must tell people what they can and should do to meet this crisis, because there is no silver bullet that will solve it all in time." -- John Peterson, former member of the National Security Council, in The Sacramento Bee)

And there are many more examples; Wikipedia has a pretty long, but incomplete, list of predicted dates for apocalyptic events.

 “And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.” - Matthew 24:3-4 

But let's take another look at the Apocalypse, starting with the word itself, because while it is easy to dismiss the end of the world predictions as the ravings of a lunatic fringe, but there's something more to be learned here.
 
Most folks think apocalypse means "the end of the world," but the word apokálypsis (ἀποκάλυψις ), is a Greek word that literally means "removing the veil" or "uncovering."  An Apocalypse is not necessarily a prediction of the end of the world; rather it is a work intended to uncover or reveal.

The most famous Apocalypse, the Book of Revelation in the canonical New Testament, opens with: "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John..."  The revelation, or apokálypsis - unveiling -  of Jesus Christ.  Not the unveiling of the end of the world, but the revelation of the Soter and of the things which will soon take place.

This is followed by the letters to the Seven Churches, which some believe speak to seven steps on the initiatory path, each with its pitfalls, promises, and inner work that needs to be accomplished.

A look at the Nag Hammadi and related writings makes it clear that The Rapture, the end of the world, the resurrection of the dead, and the descent of the New Jerusalem all describe real processes and experiences that are attainable here and now.  As the writer of the Gospel of Philip says: 

"Those who say they will die first and then rise are in error. If they do not first receive the resurrection while they live, when they die they will receive nothing." 

and

"If anyone becomes a son of the bridal chamber, he will receive the light. If anyone does not receive it while he is here, he will not be able to receive it in the other place. He who will receive that light will not be seen, nor can he be detained. And none shall be able to torment a person like this, even while he dwells in the world. And again when he leaves the world, he has already received the truth in the images. The world has become the Aeon (eternal realm), for the Aeon is fullness for him. This is the way it is: it is revealed to him alone, not hidden in the darkness and the night, but hidden in a perfect day and a holy light."

The Resurrection, then, is eschatology realized in this life, the fruit of the struggle for liberation from the Kenoma (the world of deficiency and illusion) and union with the the Pleroma (the fullness). The Wedding Feast of the Lamb, or at least a foreshadowing of it, takes place when the spiritual seed in an individual is united with its angelic counterpart.

There's nothing wrong with speculating about the end of the world, as long as we realize that the main point is the inner work to be done here and now.  In the Liturgy of Divine Wisdom, the Eucharist of the Alexandrian Gnostic Church, we say:

"At the end of all things,
when those who bear the Divine Light come to maturity,
Sophia, the New Jerusalem, will enter the Bridal Chamber
and be joined to Jesus the Divine Logos.

They will ascend to the Pleroma,
taking with them the Spiritual Seed and the Angels,
Who will take their place among the Aeons.

And the Hidden Fire will consume deficiency and ignorance,
and the process of restoration will be complete."

This points both to a eschatalogical image and to the personal experience of resurrection and union.

It's important to note that just because we're talking about something internal, this doesn't mean that we're not talking about something real.  Psychological reductionism is of no help here.  The narrow way that we're looking for is neither literalism nor psychologism.  What we're talking about is a process of liberation and transformation - not just a change of ideas, but a change in Being. 

The AGC's "Gnosticism" page describes this change:  

Salvation involves the apprehension of spiritual truths by the nous.  Often translated as "intellect," the nous is the eye of the heart or soul.  Distinct from the normal center of feeling or thought (the psyche), the nous is equipped to apprehend spiritual realities.  Thus, gnosis isn't just new knowledge, but knowledge apprehended by new faculties, a higher order of knowledge, knowing and being known.

As the Apostle Paul wrote, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17)  And the Gospel of Thomas says:

"When you make the two one, and when you make the inside as the outside, and the outside as the inside, and the upper side as the lower; and when you make the male and the female into a single one, that the male be not male and the female female; when you make eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then shall you enter [the kingdom]."