The Secret Teachers of the Western World by Gary Lachman

Author:Gary Lachman [Lachman, Gary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2017-02-07T16:00:00+00:00

PANSOPHIA

The “universal reformation” envisioned by the Rosicrucians was informed by a school of thought known as “Pansophy,” which means “all wisdom” or “universal wisdom.” It aimed at a synthesis of Hermetic and occult philosophy, nondogmatic Christianity, and the rising new natural sciences. As with the attempts to wed Plato and Hermes with Christianity, Pansophy wanted to have the best of both worlds. It was an expression of the same sentiment that lay behind the notion of the prisca theologia or philosophia perennis. We can see it as an early attempt to unite the two approaches to knowledge, the epistemic and the gnostic, that with the deficient mode of the mental-rational structure—and the rise of left-brain dominance—were quickly moving apart. (To coin an ugly word, we can say that Pansophists sought “epignosis.”) For the Rosicrucians and those who followed them, there was no categorical divide or opposition between the sciences of the invisible and the visible worlds. Each complemented the other, and both were needed to have a true, full vision of reality. The same was true in the religious sphere: the dogmatic insistence on the truth of only one belief led to a narrow and limited view.

The proponents of Pansophy, however, had their work cut out for them, for it was precisely such narrow, limited views that increasingly dominated both the church and the nascent science that would soon oppose it. Ferdinand II’s vehement opposition to any compromise with the Protestant upstarts was paralleled by Marin Mersenne’s equally fanatical detestation of everything to do with the Hermetic view of the world. Each had their truths secure in hand and would brook no opposition. The idea of the combined pursuit of natural and supernatural knowledge bringing about a progressive, tolerant, and pluralist new world left both cold.

Others were more enthusiastic. John Dee was a Pansophist, and combined the study of mathematics with that of the angels. Another was Rudolf II, during whose reign there was a considerable degree of religious tolerance, patronage of science, and the pursuit of occult knowledge, particularly alchemy. Another Pansophist was the Bohemian philosopher, educator, and scientist John Amos Comenius (1592–1670), known today as the “father of modern education.”

Comenius is not as well known in the English-speaking world as he should be. In central Europe he is a national hero and his birthday is a holiday. A teacher’s college and an adult education program in Hungary are named after him, and Rembrandt painted his portrait. He was asked to be the first president of Harvard, but declined because he was then leader of the Bohemian Brethren, a mystical strain of Protestantism that began with Jan Hus, who was burned at the stake by the Inquisition in 1415. Comenius led the Brethren across a war-torn Europe, and he himself lost his wife, child, and home in the conflict. UNESCO confers a Comenius medal for outstanding achievements in education.

Comenius embodied the utopian, educative strain of the Rosicrucians and he pursued the ideal of knowledge being open and shared by

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.