{"id":10706,"date":"2026-07-27T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10706"},"modified":"2025-12-15T10:46:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T10:46:37","slug":"looking-at-peter-burfeinds-book-2014-gnostic-america-part-4-of-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10706","title":{"rendered":"Looking at Peter Burfeind’s Book (2014) “Gnostic America” (Part 4 of 26)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

0054 Next, allow me to compare the virtual nested forms in the realm of actuality. Suarez\u2019s model of mind-dependent being is on the left.  The Gnostic origin myth is on the right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0055 Even though these two virtual nested forms look very similar, there is one key difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0056 In Suarez\u2019s discussion of mind-dependent being, the end point is alignment among all the elements in actuality.  The formal intellect reflectively judges the reckoning of the efficient intellect<\/em>.  The accounting being projected by the efficient intellect<\/em> ought to explain the encountered being.  Plus, the explanation should conform to a reality principle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0056 The Gnostic formula is different.  The virtual nested form in the realm of actuality<\/em> never aligns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0057 Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yaltabaoth and the Establishment are monsters.  The ego<\/em> is only concerned about the person\u2019s material conditions.  The ego is slave to natural laws and social norms.  The ego is at the service of a corrupt material body that encases the pure immaterial spark of the Self.  There is no possibility of alignment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0058 What is the Self to do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Self can admit defeat and just get used to it.  The Stoic says, \u201cLive a life of quiet desperation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Self can rebel and become the target of the wrath of Yaltabaoth and the Establishment.  That is the way of Icarus, who rebelled against his father Daedalus\u2019 instructions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Self can submit to the ego\u2019s demands and bow before the laws over and over again, finding joy in its own humiliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or, the Self can escape and return to the Source.  Through secret knowledge, practices, rituals and incantations, the Self can experience Sophia.  It can find a way past ego and Establishment.  It can slip by Yaltabaoth.  It can get around the efficient intellect with its accounting being.  It can return to the Source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0059 Here is a story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A friend of mine lied to me in order to gain advantage.  Because I need to get along in my social circle, I cannot retaliate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a later occasion, my so-called friend<\/em> shows me a photograph from before the lie<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho is that?\u201d he asks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat is me.\u201d I reply, trying to hide my disgust.  I would like to be the carefree and trusting person that I once was.  I am no longer that person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My so-called friend<\/em> smiles.  He confirms that I am the same person, as far as he is concerned.  He did not apologize.  He re-iterated the lie.  He re-enacted his advantage over me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think to myself, \u201cSo, this is what I get<\/em> instead of an apology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0060 What happened in this story?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0061 In Suarez\u2019s model, my efficient intellect projects an accounting being (my ego-response) into the second slot of the content-level actuality.  My ego-response accounts for the real encountered being (of my so-called friend\u2019s actions)<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My ego-response also reflects the situation, which emerges from \u2018what is happening\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am too vulnerable to fight what he did.  I am too slow to respond.  Plus, he would gain even further by turning the group against me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My ego-accounting being<\/em> takes care of material me<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0062 If there was a possibility of us coming together, of honestly becoming friends again, he would have apologized.  Hey, I just thought of it. I should demand an apology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His act with the photograph<\/em> shows that \u2018he wants his cake and to eat it too\u2019.  He wants me to be a friend as before<\/em> as well as a chump that he lies to<\/em>.  There is nothing I can do to stop that from happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0063 Here is Suarez\u2019s model of the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0063 A momentary flash of reflective reason2c<\/sub> opens a possibility1a<\/sub>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could demand an apology.  But, that would start a fight.  What would I say?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0064 Maybe, I would say, \u201cWhat type of friend are you, lying to me for advantage?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, then, he would say, \u201cWell, what type of friend are you, for even mentioning this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ah, the cruelty.  He obeys the rules, even as he defies their spirit.  I cannot.  He can bend the rules.  I cannot.  He can break the rules.  I cannot.  What am I to do?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

0054 Next, allow me to compare the virtual nested forms in the realm of actuality. 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