Blue_Sargasso
9th June 2008, 05:05 AM
OK, this is a dastardly conspiracy I read about in a completely preposterous but highly entertaining thriller called the Armageddon Conspiracy by mike hockney. Hockney goes right back to the Garden of Eden and rewrites the whole of human history from the perspective of Cain, the Serpent, and anyone who ever opposed the Creator of the world (God/Jehovah/Allah). The Gnostics believed that the creator of the world is evil and that the earth is really hell and that we are all condemned to keep reincarnating in hell until we acquire the secret wisdom (Gnosis) that allows us to see the 'truth' and escape from this hell to the paradise where the True God lives (a spiritual domain unlike this material world we live in). I'm not religious in the slightest, but I actually quite like the Gnostic take on things. It seems to explain quite a lot. Did the 9/11 hijackers believe in God or in Satan? One would think the latter seems more likely. What kind of God advocates violence, blood sacrifice, slaughtering people? Isn't that what you'd expect from Satan? And of course the Christians and Jews are no better than the Muslims.
Anyway, Hockney argues that the Cathars, the Knights Templar, the Alchemists, the Freemasons, the Nazis and the Illuminati were all Gnostics and that they passed on incredible Gnostic secrets from generation to generation. The current inheritors of the conspiracy - a group of elite Americans - have an astounding plan: to use the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail and the Spear of Destiny to assassinate God (or Satan as they view him), thus freeing the whole of humankind from hell. Apparently the Gnostics know precisely where all these sacred objects are located.
Now, Hockney uses the Dan Brown trick of claiming that some of his theory is actually true. When one thinks of the Freemasons - their strange ceremonies, their secrecy, their claims to be descended from King Solomon, the Knights Templar and so forth, it's possible to see how Hockney may have a case to argue. I'm not claiming that any of this crazy stuff is actually true, but if powerful people believe it's true - many of the founders of America were known to be high-ranking Freemasons - then it can still have a huge impact on us. Look at groups like Bohemian Grove and Skull and Bones. Myths and legends still hold huge power in our culture.
I think Hockney's ideas are fascinating but ludicrous. If you read books like his or Dan Brown's what becomes clear is that it's possible to link up the most crazy things and present quite a convincing case. Isn't that what all conspiracy theories really amount to - ingenious nonsense?
Anyway, Hockney argues that the Cathars, the Knights Templar, the Alchemists, the Freemasons, the Nazis and the Illuminati were all Gnostics and that they passed on incredible Gnostic secrets from generation to generation. The current inheritors of the conspiracy - a group of elite Americans - have an astounding plan: to use the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail and the Spear of Destiny to assassinate God (or Satan as they view him), thus freeing the whole of humankind from hell. Apparently the Gnostics know precisely where all these sacred objects are located.
Now, Hockney uses the Dan Brown trick of claiming that some of his theory is actually true. When one thinks of the Freemasons - their strange ceremonies, their secrecy, their claims to be descended from King Solomon, the Knights Templar and so forth, it's possible to see how Hockney may have a case to argue. I'm not claiming that any of this crazy stuff is actually true, but if powerful people believe it's true - many of the founders of America were known to be high-ranking Freemasons - then it can still have a huge impact on us. Look at groups like Bohemian Grove and Skull and Bones. Myths and legends still hold huge power in our culture.
I think Hockney's ideas are fascinating but ludicrous. If you read books like his or Dan Brown's what becomes clear is that it's possible to link up the most crazy things and present quite a convincing case. Isn't that what all conspiracy theories really amount to - ingenious nonsense?