"People who try to pray and meditate above their proper level, who are
too eager to reach what they believe to be 'a high degree of prayer,'
get away from the truth and from reality. In observing themselves and
trying to convince themselves of their advance, they become imprisoned
in themselves. Then when they realize that grace has left them they are
caught in their own emptiness and futility and remain helpless. Acedia
follows the enthusiasm of pride and spiritual vanity. A long course in
humility and compunction is the remedy!"
--Thomas Merton
The Monad, Pythagoras, The Tai Chi and Sethian Christianity
by
Tom Saunders
Sethian Christianity has a history which can be partially understood from the written texts like the "Nag Hammadi Library," and several other Egyptian Christian Codeces. (books) One of the mysteries surrounding the contents of these texts has to do with a concept called the Monad. Actually it is a study of an ancient Monadology, which is clearly linked to Pythagorean philosophy. How Pythagoreans and Christian Sethians used this knowledge has remained a mystery.
The Modern term Monadology entered the reference books of science in the 1700's when Gottfried Leibniz, coined the term Monadology for his own conception of the Monad. Monadology became the study of the what Leibniz devised, and people of the time like Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin were known to have studied the theory. Like the Sethian Christians there is a solid link to Pythagorean philosophy.
Until my own discovery that the Sethian Monadology, the Pythagorean study of the Monad, and the Tai Chi are mirror image systems, nobody else has been able to explain the Monadic system to any satisfaction.
I call the Tai Chi, and the Sethian Monadology duplicate or twin systems because what they do is show the sequence and structure of the flow of power or energy from the same source the same way. From Silence or the great void the Monad becomes the dyad, and the dyad becomes the triad, then tetrad, then pentad, etc. The tai chi follows the exact same pattern, and the utilities of the sets are mirror images.
"Wu Chi creates Tai Chi, Tai Chi is the one Chi. One Chi generates Yin and Yang, and Yin and Yang can change in infinite ways." This is also stated allegorically in the "Lau Tzu," ("Tao Te Ching"). " Tao produced oneness. Oneness produced duality, Duality evolved into the ten thousand things. The ten thousand things support the yin, and embrace the yang. It is the blending of the breaths (of yin and yang) that their harmony depends."
(From Fung Yu-Lan's "The History of Chinese Philosophy, Princeton Press.)
My own study of the Tai Chi comes in relation to Martial Arts, specifically Isshinryu Karate, which is based upon the Tai Chi, as are all other classical Oriental art forms, science, medicine, and philosophy. There is an aspect of the study of the Tai Chi philosophy, called Ba Gua science. This comes from the study of the eight trigrams surrounding the yin and yang symbol of the Tai Chi icon. These eight trigrams can represent sets of things in the real world, and the study of how and what can be used is the essence of Ba Gua Science.
Sethian Christians learned to use the Monadology the same way the ancient Chinese and Pythagoreans learned to use it. One thing that has made this understanding so difficult for modern scholars is that these principles by most of the ancients was occult, and kept secret. When the Church started branding heretics, this particular knowledge of how the Monad was used disappeared almost completely. Most scholars avoid the topic, but the scholars who have tried to explain the Pythagorean Numerology, have failed.
I could not realistically make the claim of duplicate systems until I had laid out over 40 Ba Gua, which represents Isshinryu Karate. This let me understand enough about the Tai Chi, to look at Pythagorean, and Sethian Christian material. The Monad like the Tai Chi starts with the concept of the formation of "One'' or a Monad, from the Great Void, or in Sethian Christianity, Silence. ( See: "A Valentinian Exposition.")
This 'one,' splits into two, like a seed or a cell splits. This split is going to grow into three parts, and at this point, the ancient Chinese point out that "Man is the Same as Heaven and Earth,'' which means man's mind is the same as heaven and earth. (This is called the San Ti, or Taoist Trinity) This means exactly that what emanates from the great void, flows into the 'blank slate,' Mu Shin, empty mind, the mental void of no thought. The first thing that fills that space in the trained Mind is the Monad, or the Chinese version of Oneness, 'Tau.'
Orientals use the concepts of Yin and Yang, to explain duality, the Pythagorean Empedocles spent a great deal of time studying duality. Duality like male and female, right and left, yin and yang, create their own kind of energy in a Monadic or Ba Gua set. Just as the Monad generates the primary force in the fields of the voids, duality generates its own causes and effects, in the set. No matter how many units a set has, the initial causes and effects of 'natural' dualities will permeate the whole set.
This concept of the flow of these energies must be realized in your mind as you examine the paradigms of Monadic sets in regard to practicing and applying monadic theory. To lose the perspective of the flow of energy is to lose the insight to its causes and effects. Like in Chinese philosophy, the flow of vital energies, or Chi, is a salient part of the Pythagorean and Sethian Christian philosophy.
One of my own discoveries is the Sethian Christian scriptures are full of key words that are meant to be direct connotations to the Monadic system. If you don't know the system these words and their special meaning are probably lost on most readers as to their very important implications. You cannot understand Chinese philosophy without Chi, and you cannot understand Pythagorean, or Sethian philosophy without the Monadic connection. It would be like writing without verbs.
Tai Chi sets of trigrams are traditionally organized by what is known as the 'Heaven Sequence.'' This model is organized at a 'limit' of eight units. Sets of eight are added to the primary. In the Isshinryu karate model, there are five sets of eight. Pythagoreans, and Sethians used the number ten (decad) as a primary. Then, they would add things to the primary in different ways. In his "History of Chinese Philosophy,'' Fung Yu-Lan explains the correlations between the Tai Chi, and the Pythagorean, 'tetraktys of the decad.' Had Fung Yu-Lan had the Nag Hammadi texts he might have seen the same similarities to the study of the Monadic sets, that I have noted and can demonstrate.
The emanations from the great void, like good and evil, offense and defense, male and female, etc., are always considerations for the trained Mind. Any thought that enters the trained Mind, will be a form which is governed by the natural cause and effects, i.e. polarities which can effect the concrete forms of the real world. These are called aeons, emanations, Autogenes, Monogenes, and first causes in Sethian literature. These forces are panatheistic in nature.
The trained Mind of the Gnostic, seeks to understand the mechanism of the Monad, and the Monadic set in the real world. Beyond the triad is the Tetrad. Wondering how to use this Monad 'thing' in the real world? Think North, South, East, and West, then put yourself in the middle, and you have successfully used a Pentad in the real world. You are now the Monad of your own compass. Be here now.
Your compass still has some 'concretes' to deal with like good and evil, male or female, not to mention up and down, etc. Part of the understanding of the Monadic energy is to know that these factors never go away in the holistic picture in the trained Mind. No matter how big the set gets these factors are always there. One part of the Tai Chi is always part of the cause and effect of the other, the Monad and all the units are going to form the same kind of gestalt or synergy.
The last unit of a Monadic set or a Ba Gua sequence, as I explain it, is the 'gender unit.' This means that the last unit of a set, has the quality or dynamic in the phase, structure, analysis of the set through free will of the Mind to focus on the other concretes of good and evil, male and female, etc. It is through free will that your compass moves. It is through free will that your compass becomes a primary of good or evil, left or right, yin or yang, bada or bing. Sethians constructed their sets so that Word or Jesus was the Monad, and Knowledge, or Gnosis was the 'gender' unit.
For the karate fighter, the gender unit is counters. Offense and defense are natural yin and yang type concretes that seem to be a part of all material forces. Any good fighter will tell you that any move can be countered, perhaps at least by the skilled at doing it. One reason is that all moves in the communicative art of fighting are connected through the concrete duality of boxing moves, and grappling moves. These are natural emanation kind of forces.
The triad is boxing moves, grappling moves and counters. The tetrad or four part sequence to the fighting paradigm is punching, kicking, grappling, counters. These elements according to most experts are present in all fights, and all fighting forms. Observe for yourself a televised Mixed Martial Arts contest and the tetrad can be expanded to its 'limit.'
Limit, is the force the Sethians noted as what separates things in the universe. The Tai Chi uses eight units for its primary 'limit.' This makes the fighter's octagon (ogdoad) punching, kicking, grabbing, throwing, joint locks, chokes/squeezing, groundwork, and counters. These skills are generated by the trained mind and body of the karate or cage fighter. Te, or hand is designated as the Monadic or vital energy. This is from the name 'karate' meaning 'empty hand.' The karate fighter is the center of this compass. And in a real fight, can transition from one Ba Gua type to another with lightning speed. How does he know to do that?
Remember the compass? Now with the knowledge of what you have just read, pick up your compass, which is now an ogdoad, N.S.E.W., and NE. SE., ect., to eight directions. Pick up that compass from your feet and aim it right at an enemy (visualization or real, no matter) you have to fight. If you have any fighting knowledge at all what you must realize, is what I just suggested puts 'sights' on your gun, i.e. you just learned the basic lesson of applying the Tai Chi to the human form. I have ample references to using parts of the Tai Chi, for this purpose. It can get very technical which is not the aim I have in this work.
The act of using the Tai Chi as a matrix against an enemy is reflected in Sun Tzu's, the "Art of War." The Isshinryu model means that a good fighter can virtually aim forty weapons at once at you with this matrix. ''Make my Day." This applied philosophy is often taught in karate by the name of the, "Theory of the Cones.'' ( The teaching of the 'cones' is common in GoJu Ryu dojos on Okinawa, and other classical schools.) I personally love teaching this method to those who don't know it. The cause and effect is that the method virtually puts sights on the fighter's weapons. The effect is prima facie in the student's improved ability.
Fighting is a physical aspect of the same communication system, for non verbal communication, as that connected to verbal communication. It is a form of communication in aspect, so non verbal, and verbal aspects of communications will have similar dynamics. In other words if I can 'tag and bag' a cage match with the Fighter's Octagon, there should be paradigm equivalents for verbal argument. The Orientals have made use of this idea, a lot.
Consider fighting is a mental-physical type of communication a good dialectic is a mental-verbal/written model and does have the same dynamics to the Monadologist. (Ba Gua Scientist) The mental aspects of both communications come from the Mind, and then into the real (material) world. There are so many Oriental models it is beyond the scope of this work to present them. If you contemplate putting human emotions into a Monadic set, you will soon see the possibilities.
The Japanese concept of the word 'Muto' means 'no sword,' but the connotation is anything can be used as a deadly weapon or part of one. Warning! Words are Weapons, as hands are swords, and good and evil are a matter of free will, and part of the expert use of them. There are a lot more constructive uses for this method than using it as a weapon.
So, how did the Sethian Christians use this method, and starting when did they use it?
The Sethian model always uses the concept of Jesus as the Word, for the Monad. This means that whatever comes into the matrix, will be influenced directly by the Word. The gender unit for Sethians is always Gnosis, or Knowledge. This is how the Sethian Gnostic learns to use the power of the Word. The source of the Wisdom of Jesus is found in the Secret Sayings, otherwise known as the ''Gospel of Thomas.'' This gospel is to the Sethian Monadology as the ''Tao Te Ching,'' is to the Tai Chi.
Most Biblical scholars avoid the Monadic connections in determining the history of Christianity. The nature of the Monadic study for Biblical scholars is like the proverbial 800 pound gorilla in the room. Pre-Christians knew the Monad, first century Christians like Dositheos, Simon Magus, and the entire lineage of Gnostics in early Christianity studied the Monad. Did somebody forget to tell Jesus about it? My interpretation of when real Christianity was born is when Jesus became the Monad.
Warning to Orthodox Christians: If you have just read this document, and mentally 'covered yourself' with the image of the 'compass' you are guilty of the gross heretical acts of magic known to be practiced by Simon Magus, Carpocrates, and other dangerous enemies of the historical Orthodoxy. With all due haste if you believe the Orthodoxy has the power to save your soul you should throw yourself at the feet of the nearest Bible Scholar, and Evangelical, and confess these sins. May God have mercy on your heretical 'compass' soul.
