Do gnostics not suggest that it is only the first out of the seven levels of self that is an illusion?

See the whole scale at http://www.sufism.org/society/articles/MostafaStations.htm

1. The Commanding Self

2. The Blaming Self 

3. The Inspired Self 

4. The Secure Self 

5. The Content Self 

6. The Gratified Self 

7. The Complete Self 

It's a long road...

The Commanding Self is the title of a book by Idries Shah (1924-1996) to whom Doriss Lessing (Nobel 2007) paid tribute for example in this article: http://ishk.net/sufis/lessing.html

"The commanding self" is a Sufi term for the false personality. Their contention is that we are all products of ideas put into us by our parents, by our culture, by the time we live in, and that what is real in us is very small (and precious). It is this part the Sufis aim to reach and teach. Some people, hearing that nearly everything they seem to be is only a mask made by conditioning, will say, "Well, of course!" -- and want more information, while others may feel threatened.

I'm sorry for this violent intrusion. But as I was shaked, I wanted to share with you this beautiful Horror.

Baltimore, MD and Philadelphia, PA - When Javon Thompson died, he was only about 18 months old.  Sometime between December 2006 and February 2007, the toddler was killed and left in a green suitcase in a shed in Philadelphia.  Little Javon was starved to death by the members of his mother’s cult because he wouldn’t - or couldn’t - say “Amen” at mealtime prayers.  Now Javon’s mother, Ria “Princess Marie” Ramkissoon, and four other cult members are charged with his murder. 

Excerpt from: http://www.dreamindemon.com/2008/08/12/javon-thompson-didnt-say-amen/#more-1207

And also:

From correspondents in Baltimore

August 13, 2008 01:36am

A toddler was starved to death by members of a religious cult, including his mother, because he would not say "amen" after meals.

Ria Ramkissoon, the mother of Javon Thompson, was charged with first-degree murder yesterday after her son's remains were found in a suitcase dumped in a shed.

Philadelphia police said three other members of 1 Mind Ministries, including cult leader Queen Antoinette, have also been charged with murder.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24170010-663,00.html

And salaam,

Ouadoud

Review: “Post-Democracy” by Colin Crouch

Crouch’s main contention is that while modern democracies are keeping up the facade of formal democratic principles, “politics and government are increasingly slipping back into the control of privileged elites in the manner characteristic of pre-democratic times”

What is Post-Democracy?

* * *

Another attempt from Tibetan Buddhism:

Upon meeting: http://www.dharmafellowship.org/biographies/historicalsaints/kyabje-namgyal.htm I asked 'What is?' and received this answer, "There is black and there is white, and there is no black and no white."  

When I asked for clarification, I received a smile.

Nanna

Now they tell us what everyone at TC has been saying since 2003 : http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11950796&fsrc=nwl

MANY studies have asked how terrorist groups are born; relatively few have described how such groups are best put out of business. A recent effort to do the latter, by RAND Corporation, an American think-tank, is therefore welcome. It considers the fate of some 650 groups (defined widely), between 1968 and 2006, asking in particular what put an end to them. In the process it casts some useful light on a hoary old question of counterterrorism: whether military force or smart policing is the more effective method for tackling terrorists and insurgents. ...

According to RAND, some 20% of the insurgencies it considered have been ended through the use of overwhelming military might. But such force seems to tell only in particular situations. Where opponents are large, organised like armies and occupy territory, military methods are likely to be more effective. Insurgencies, however, are a specific set of conflicts, comparable to civil wars where hundreds or more have died on both sides involved.

When it comes to terrorist groups more broadly, military might is less useful. As the RAND study points out, the vast majority of terrorist groups have fewer than 100 members. It considered groups ranging from the tiny, such as the Oklahoma City bombers, to the massive, such as Aum Shinrikyo, the movement responsible for a nerve-gas attack on Tokyo's subway in 1995. For isolated cells and other groups, conventional military weapons are unwieldy and often ineffective. The think-tank says that military action put an end to only 7% of the terrorist groups that it looked at.

RAND concludes that police sleuthing and more intelligence work are often more useful methods when tackling smaller groups and organisations—perhaps including al-Qaeda—that operate in the shadows. Of the 268 terrorist organisations that folded, the most common reason was a change of method in favour of a political process. This happened in 43% of cases and was mainly possible where groups had specific goals that might be accommodated. A similar number of groups—some 40%—were dismantled with the help of police and intelligence work.

The think-tank, which regularly conducts research for the Defence Department, therefore suggests that the current American strategy against terrorism is flawed. The report’s authors urge a “fundamental rethinking” of policies against al-Qaeda, arguing that America's campaign should no longer be waged as a “war on terror” but instead conducted as a “counter-terrorism” mission. The authors say that “there is no battlefield solution to terrorism”, saying intelligence and policing should get more attention.

Jacek (who would be jobless here without pundits and their wisdom)

Nanna, I love this answer, and the clarification makes it sublime.  Thanks for sharing.

Your acknowledgement is appreciated. Thank you!

Nanna