41 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Buyer Beware- don't get suckered by this fundamentalist trap, December 5, 2008
This review is from: Gnostic Kabbalah 1: The World of Klipoth (Perfect Paperback)
Boy did I get a fast one pulled on me this time! Disregard the other review..I have a feeling that they're a shill. This book is nothing more than dogmatic and fear-based christianity. There is no real discussion of the klipoth aside from "here's how you need to act to not go to hell." But don't just take my word for it...here are some quotes from their sphere of "Saturn":
"There are many ways to perform violence against the Holy Spirit, but the worst way is in the way of homosexuality. They violate their sexual organs, using the Tabernacle of the Holy Spirit in the wrong way and hating the cross."
"But the homosexuals and lesbians are enemies of the Holy Spirit, they violate the Sabbath, and follow Lilith,"
"But also there is a violence against nature in those who masturbate, they commit violence against their own body, against life, against the Holy Spirit."
"Vasectomy is violence against nature, violence against the Holy Spirit."
"So anybody that follows Marxism is an enemy of the Holy Spirit, and the result of this will be to find yourself in the Seventh Sphere."
"Abortion is a crime against nature- violence against the Holy Spirit, whether it is with or without permission of the state doesn't matter. Even if the whole world votes and approves abortion , it is still violence against the Holy Spirit. Those doctors that perform abortion find themselves in the Seventh Sphere as demons, because only a Demon could think that abortion is good."
I could go on an on with these. There is NO esoteric or even scholarly worth to this book at all. I tend to keep any books I get, even those of opposing viewpoints, but this one is going right into the trash. I'm not even going to sell it to the used book store and try to recoup some of my losses in buying this as I wouldn't wish anyone else to get taken in like I did. It's even poorly written - just a collection of snippets and commandments. I have a feeling that this was an attempt to draw in and convert some of those "satanic" occultists (for instance the "thelema press," technically, I guess, they're right as thelema does have some use in fundamentalist Christianity, but obviously most people who come across the word "thelema" expect something quite different)...it reminds me of a well-advertised haunted house my friends went to which, upon entering, turned out to be nothing but reenactments of biblical scenes, complete with a conversion attempt at the end. Pretty pathetic, guys, if you have to try to trick people into your religion. I realize you need the money lately, but c'mon....
Amazon really should not list this in the same company that it does for the recommendations (with a Peter Carroll book????). Looks like they got suckered, too.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent lecture series by Gnostic instructors, April 17, 2010
This review is from: Gnostic Kabbalah 1: The World of Klipoth (Perfect Paperback)
The negative reviews of this book seem to have been written by satanists who accidentally stumbled upon it because of Amazon's recommendations (hence their references to being 'suckered,' etc). This is definitely a mistake in Amazon's cross-referencing algorithms (it happens), as the book is obviously not by/for satanists.
In any case, if you are interested in the teachings of Samael Aun Weor (or Gurdjieff, the Dalai Lama, etc), this book offers a comprehensive and systematic elaboration on the details of the various spheres of hell by Gnostic instructors.
The points made in these books are not fun, since we all carry hell within ourselves. To recognize the amount of suffering we create for ourselves and for others through selfishness is not pleasant, but of course it is necessary if we wish to change and begin on a positive and selfless path. Sex is not external to these questions, and by any reasonable inspection, desire and lust are destructive and harmful. Anyone serious about personal spiritual transformation would do well not to avoid confronting these issues within themselves.
Fundamentalists insist that you blindly believe their dogma and remain in ignorance. The teachings of Samael Aun Weor invite you to look within and sincerely examine what you find there ('gnosis' is Greek for 'knowledge,' as in 'know thyself,' the opposite of i-gnorance). The strong languaged used in these lectures turns some people off, but it also helps remind us not to presume that our inherited cultural norms accurately reflect reality.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Many Original Insights, September 5, 2010
This review is from: Gnostic Kabbalah 1: The World of Klipoth (Perfect Paperback)
This book geared for those who want to study Kabbalah, esotericism, gnosis and the afterlife in a positive manner. Though this is more of an introductory work, if you are not familiar with Samael Aun Weor then you may want to familiarize yourself with his teachings before making the purchase.
Expecting this to be a simple summary of Weor's work, I was surprised to find it to be filled with many very valuable and original insights. For example, the meaning of the number 666 isn't directly explained by other esoteric writers, but you will find an explanation here. Weor wrote much about the differences in the densities of dimensions, and this book provides logical formulas to calculate these densities. Also, there is much original material regarding topics ranging from the true intentions of Karl Marx, to why vampires hate crosses.
Though the subject matter is serious, this book is an enjoyable read which is also good to return to for future reference. I highly recommend it.
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