Your heroes?

Symbols and allegories.
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Nefastos
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Location: Helsinki

Re: Your heroes?

Post by Nefastos »

Heroes, that's a tough question. But inspired by your discussion about portraits I took a look on the pictures of at least semi-historical people on the walls of my small apartment. I found:

1 Koot Hoomi
1 Tantric adept Gantapa
1 Albrecht Dürer
2 Dantes (accompanying 2 Vergils)
1 Francis of Assisi
2 John the Apostles
4 Severed heads of John the Baptist
2 John the Baptists, whole
13 Jesuses
4 St. Marys
1 St. Anna
1 Mary Magdalene
2 Salomes
3 Sabrinas (do not ask)
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
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Insanus
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Location: Helsinki

Re: Your heroes?

Post by Insanus »

From religious figures I have to say bodhisattva Ksitigarbha. Someone recently called Polyharmonia as the wish-fullfilling jewel if Fosforos is thought to be a treasure. In buddhism two bodhisattvas are said to have cintamani (a wish-fulfilling jewel). Avalokitesvara who embodies the compassion of all buddhas and Ksitigarbha who vowed not to attain until all hells are emptied. These two always come to my mind in discussions that have to do with the downward and upward path. According to wiki, avalokitesvara's name translates to "lord who gazes down at the world" & Kshitigarbha's to "Earth Womb" or "Earth Matrix".
Jumalan synnit ovat kourallinen hiekkaa ihmisen valtameressä
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Nefastos
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Location: Helsinki

Re: Your heroes?

Post by Nefastos »

In the very beginning of her Esoteric Instructions Blavatsky starts the inner group's work by speaking about occult striving "throwing outward of everything latent in the nature of the man" and then goes on to the emphasis on empathy, speaking explicitly about Avalokiteshvara. She writes using his/her (this particular god being of both sexes, called by her female name Guanyin in the stanzas of Dzyan) Tibetan name Padmapani, just about this "harrowing of hell by empathy":
Blavatsky wrote:But who is Padmapani in reality? Each of us must recognize him for himself whenever he is ready. Each of us has within himself the “Jewel in the Lotus,” call it Padmapani, Krish[n]a, Buddha, Christ, or by whatever name we may give to our Divine Self. The exoteric story runs thus: The supreme Buddha, or Amitabha, they say, at the hour of the creation of man, caused a rosy ray of light to issue from his right eye. The ray emitted a sound and became Padmapani Bodhisattva. Then the Deity allowed to stream from his left eye a blue ray of light which, becoming incarnate in the two virgins Dolma, acquired the power to enlighten the minds of living beings. Amitabha then called the combination, which forthwith took up its abode in man, “Om Mani Padme Hum” (“I am the Jewel in the Lotus, and in it I will remain”). Then Padmapani, “the one in the Lotus,” vowed never to cease working until he had made Humanity feel his presence in itself and had thus saved it from the misery of rebirth. He vowed to perform the feat before the end of the Kalpa, adding that in case of failure he wished that his head would split into numberless fragments. The Kalpa closed; but Humanity felt him not within its cold, evil heart. Then Padmapani’s head split and was shattered into a thousand fragments. Moved with compassion, the Deity re-formed the pieces into ten heads, three white and seven of various colors. And since that day man has become a perfect number, or TEN.


Emphasis mine. It is interesting to note that this fragmentation of the god's head comes back to the discussion which we recently had about chaos & separatism.
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
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Insanus
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Location: Helsinki

Re: Your heroes?

Post by Insanus »

Extremely interesting! In contrast to avitchi you have written about, there are also the cold hells in buddhism, the most extreme of which is called mahapadma!
Jumalan synnit ovat kourallinen hiekkaa ihmisen valtameressä
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Heith
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Re: Your heroes?

Post by Heith »

I have added St. George and the dragon on my wall. I hadn't really thought about it, but when I did, it was very meaningful to me. I remember when little, and visiting the big city I was always surprised when walking past a statue of St. George and the dragon -I never could remember how the city streets were, so it was like being in a labyrinth. Suddenly there was the dragon. I always wanted to spend a lot of time watching the statue, much to the frustration of my parents. I felt a deep reverence towards the statue and understood, here is something more.

Lately, St. George has become meaningful to me. His symbol is the red cross, which became as a nice synchronism to other practices and reading I've been doing.

This is not the exact same image, but close in colour and composition:


Image
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