The Demiurge and the positive possibility: shaping

In this fifth appointment of the "Manvantara" cycle we are going to analyze, after the "negative way of the Demiurge" outlined in the previous article, the specular "positive way": the shaping of man or anthropogenesis.

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di Michael Ruzzai
originally published on Heretics Mind
cover: William Blake, “The Ancient of Days”, 1794

As we said in the previous article (The Demiurge and the Negative Possibility: Fall), the way of the Luciferic rebellion exists for the Angel, but there is also that of action in full conformity with the superior spiritual Principle that governs it. The latter is the perspective in which, in the Christian context, it is emphasized how God in creation seems to avail himself of the help of subordinate entities, also making Meister Eckhart hypothesize that the use of the plural person in the Genesis passage «we make man in our image and likeness» represents a clear indication of the intervention of intermediate powers between the Standard and the hierarchically inferior entities; a theme, that of the auxiliary entities, which was also reiterated by the Counter-Reformation.

But even in an extra-Christian context, references to a are numerous in every tradition Demiurge creator of the Cosmos and of Man. We limit ourselves to remembering, for example, the snake Ophion, also called Boreas, present in both Jewish and Egyptian myths (and elsewhere included in the lineage of the Titans; moreover remembered by the Pelasgians as their "Mythical Ancestor"), whose ophidic nature seems significant to us - in this case it is evidently not maleficent - that's the name Boreas, with very clear Nordic-polar references. On the other side of the world, native Australians also remember theirs Mythical Ancestors which, during the Dreamtime, they did not generate the current reality starting from nothing but, working precisely in a demiurgic way, they transformed a pre-existing, shapeless and undifferentiated material ("semi-embryonic masses of half-developed children") to create man as he is today. Also worthy of particular note is the myth of the Mordvini of central Russia, for whom it was just the same Saitan, here clearly seen in its "benevolent" aspect, to create man.

Contrary to the situation of "rebellion", now, therefore, the demiurgic power looks and recognizes the Androgyne as a direct image of the Principle, and often this happens to the point of identifying itself / overlapping it, if it is true that, for example, in some versions of the articulated Gnostic systems it can be recognized in the first Adam himself, the "pre-physical" one, demiurgic characteristics directly embodied by himself. In another version of these myths, it is the entity called Sofia-Zoe who creates the “psychic” Adam, also called Eve or Aphrodite, hence the relationship with primordial bisexuality. In the elaborate Gnostic anthropogony there is also a "pneumatic" Adam, a spiritual part and image closest to the Principle, and the "terrestrial" Adam, who will manifest himself later still, but here it is precisely the figure of Sofia-Zoe which seems particularly interesting to us as it presents feminine attributes with respect to God (as his "manifestation"), but at the same time androgynous with respect to humanity.

It was probably this situation of equidistance between a physicality not yet completed and an uranicity no longer absolute, as it is now facing the world, that led Plato to place the Androgyne under the protection of the Moon, halfway between Heaven and Earth, and this perhaps also because of her already mentioned “relative” femininity in relation to the Supreme Principle. The same interpretative trace seems to us to be discerned in the Evolian passages dedicated to the enigmatic Nephilim: in some situations these clearly take on the clothes of the gods "Fallen", according to the descending demiurgic line described in the previous article, while elsewhere, for example in the stage in which in ancient times they themselves were the "Glorious men" cited in the sixth chapter of Genesis, they correspond toto  to the "Original, powerful and divine, androgynous race" of the heavenly golden phase.

But the Demiurge is not such if not placed in relation to a raw material to be molded. As we said above, this matter, which corresponds to the "earth" used by God to model Adam in the second chapter of Genesis, is the one that in the meantime has come to be created precisely with the contemporary fall of Lucifer. Also in the extra-biblical context there are significant analogies on the origin of this primary basic element. For example, according to some versions of the Greek myth, men would have been created using the ashes of the Titans struck by Zeus in the final moment of the Titanomachy; strictly speaking, it should be said that this violent episode should take place only at the end of the primordial age (the Satya Yuga, in Hindu terms) and inaugurate the Olympic regency which, following that of Kronos, traditionally marks the transition to a phase characterized by alternation of the seasons.

But, as Ugo Bianchi also noticed, in the Myth the reference to “Zeus” is very often completely generic and therefore can refer to events prior to its actual advent; this, we believe, according to a transposition analogous to that of the "Sons of God", which in Genesis appear only in the sixth chapter, but nevertheless, as we have seen, they could represent (also) well preceding facts. Mircea Eliade also remembers others myths, of Mesopotamian origin, in which the raw material of which man will later be constituted is, here too, of a demonic nature: this is the case of the blood of Kingu, who in ancient times was one of the first celestial gods but then became the leader of the Demons faction, and whose analogy to the figure of the fallen Lucifer therefore seems quite clear to us.

Now, however, the Demiurge expresses the "positive" aspect and fully conforms to the Principle, appearing as his mere instrument for the anthropo-cosmic creation: in this view it corresponds to Ruach, the divine breath (also similar to the Hindu Hamsa, mythical swan-vehicle of Brahma and on which we will return later) which, acting on the primordial matter, builds theAdam Ha-Rishon immortal, "beginning" of what later will be the sensitive man. But the presence of the aforementioned material element now places the demiurgic intervention at the level of manifestation which, to use the Guénonian categories, is the "formal" or "individual" one, although in our opinion, still "subtle" and not gross: taking as a model the bisexual Androgyne, the underlying Adam of the second chapter of Genesis is then shaped, which, not surprisingly, Leopold Ziegler remembers still being "unique of his kind and not paired".

For Titus Burckhardt this "vital breath", itself constituted of subtle matter, belongs to the intermediate world placed between Heaven and Earth, "Wind" which - also associated with Mercury - carries the spiritual "germ" in its belly: with respect to the transcendent Principle, it therefore has a function passive and receptive, exactly as it receives and "assumes" the androgynous image. In this perspective, Evola points out how in the Gnostic context the world of the Demiurge has a female character (we mentioned above the characteristics of Sofia-Zoe) of which the "Mercuriality" it is certainly a distinctive character. But the soul world - "serpentine" - can assume, depending on the point of view from which it is considered, the attributes of the Essence or those of the Substance which, as Guénon recalls, gives it a semblance of "Dual nature"; and, therefore, the demiurgic potency also appears, at the same time, active and educator in relation to the complex of the underlying formal manifestation in all its extensions.

This concept, with regard to the particular case of anthropogenesis, is probably summed up by the idea, always originating from the Gnostic currents, that the Demiurge created both the human body and its subtle form, referred to as Psyche. Therefore, for this intermediate position and for that complex game of refractions and functional superimpositions already mentioned, it is the Demiurge himself who somehow represents the Soul of the ternary composed of the overlying archetypal androgynous image, which symbolizes the "Spirit", and the underlying Adam terrestrial who is the "Body"; as we said, however, this "body" consists of a substantial element which in theAdam Ha-Rishon it is defined as a fine "powder" and which cannot yet correspond to the current and solidified one.

Indeed, biblical exegesis has often dwelled on this "dust" and its use for the formation of Adam in the second chapter of Genesis and it has been significantly observed by many that this shaping cannot be understood (not yet, at least) in the sense of the bodily element of man. In fact, the references touse not of the coarse and "thick" part of the earth ('adamah), but of its lighter state ('afar): to that element, that is, purer and "less material" than matter itself which according to the Talmud was taken from the Center of the world, on Mount Zion. For Jakob Böhme, to constitute the substantial part of Adam, "virginal man" molded in the perfect image of God, was in fact the "paradise earth" (a trait that, surprisingly, appears almost identical even among the Dogon of Mali), a land that in him assumes a "quintessential" value, traditionally associated withEther element.

Also for Schuon it is the ether itself - fifth element - which in fact represents primordial man, Man as such, and this "subtle protomatter" constitutes the starting point of the corporeal world, which extends seamlessly from the most subtle and impalpable states to the most opaque, dense and heavy ones. René Guénon remembers as the ether, element in which the action of To use Sattva expresses itself to the highest degree, represents, in its order, the principial "non-manifestation" and cosmologically the idea of ​​the Center, while, in relation to the corporeal world, it constitutes its most immediate principle through the other four classical elements ( Air, Fire, Water, Earth); in the state of primordial undifferentiation, Guénon also points out how the ether potentially contains all bodies and its very homogeneity makes it capable of receiving all possible forms in their various modifications.

But the French metaphysician also remembers how the ether corresponds, in the Hindu context, to primordial caste Hamsa (whose name is analogous to that of the swan and the divine breath, already met above), or the first unitary "race", which Julius Evola also recognizes as prior to each subsequent differentiation. The clearly golden characteristics of this original super-entity, linked to the first great year of Manvantara - and of which none of the present human populations can be considered direct and exclusive heir - were such that Hamsa, from the point of view of the traditional castes, presented a situation of perfect balance of the three use, summarizing at the same time, at a higher level, the functions of the two most important underlying castes, namely the priestly one (Brahmin) and the warrior one (kshatriya).

These two powers, in the mythological context of the Roman Tradition, are still remembered by Guénon and summarized in the unitary figure of Janus who, as we already noted, reigned in a period prior to that of Saturn; emblematized in symbols of the boar (priests) and the bear (warriors), also according to other authors they were dominated and harmoniously reconciled by the two-faced divinity, before their separation / polarization which took place at a certainly later time (and whose meaning will be deepened later).

In the Hellenic myth, a similar memory of this primordial and unitary phase, in addition to the aforementioned Platonic Androgyne, is represented by first of the five races brought back to us by Hesiod, that is the golden, blessed and immortal one, which at the end of its cycle was changed into a team of epictonic demons (but not in the negative meaning conveyed by Christianity); they were entities that, having become invisible to the men of the following eras - but not forced to an underground stay - are described with certainly benign characteristics and, in some way, "protective" against a more recent "ordinary" humanity. Julius Evola identifies them to those already met Watchers, evidently also considered not in their "inferior" aspect, but in the positive one.

According to various scholars, including Ugo Bianchi, the memory of this first Hesiodic humanity overlaps and approaches the one mentioned in the mythological vein belonging to the titan Prometheus, which according to some versions would also be its shaper, thus assuming those fully demiurgic characteristics described above. It was noted how this Promethean humanity appears effectively shapeless, prototypical and "non-terrestrial", being subjected to conditions of existence clearly different from the current ones; but it will be Prometheus himself, intermediary-separator with the superior Gods, who through his acts, often clumsy and fraudulent, will create a whole series of consequences that will end up leading that still mythical humanity to the current situation. From an indistinct existence and a life in common with the divine entities, we will then arrive at the separation and definition of the respective roles in the meeting of Mecone; after this crucial event, as punishment for the subterfuges of the Titan, the higher deities will send to man Pandora - the first woman - further confirmation of the fact that Promethean humanity lived in a condition probably analogous to the androgynous one already described elsewhere.

Ultimately, on the basis of the elements collected, what conclusions can we draw regarding the first Great Year of ours Manvantara? In our opinion, the most important is that such depictions as the Adam molded of fine dust, the caste Hamsa substantiated by ether, the first immortal race of Hesiod, the shapeless Promethean humanity, etc ... represent different images to define the same underlying reality: that of a humanity - if we can already define it that way - not yet physicalized according to today's canons and therefore practically impossible to find in the form of fossil remains. It remains that in fact, in the period between 65.000 and 52.000 years ago, they either disappeared or are in any case highly controversial.

From the primordial, prototypical and androgynous unity of the first Great Year we will then reach the male-female duality: undoubtedly this will constitute - while always remaining within the Satya Yuga - one of the most discontinuous passages in the archaic history of Man, at the same time as the advent of the second Great Year of our Manvantara. We promise ourselves in the more or less near future to sketch, as far as possible, a more detailed analysis of this important phase of our journey.

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