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Gnostrat is a portmanteau name, signifying three facts about myself: I know a thing or two about the Nostratic hypothesis in linguistics; I hold Gnostic religious views; and I edit articles about small mammals.
I live mostly in Derby, England, and have been a Gnostic Christian by conviction ever since I read the debates between Simon Peter and Simon Magus in the Clementine literature and realised that Simon Magus got it right. No, I'm not a member of any secret societies. I'm a loner like many of my predecessors.
I'm also a sometime student of the biblical scholar Margaret Barker whose 'radically conservative' reinterpretation of Christian origins I broadly support. I have an abiding passion for comparative mythology and comparative religion, and my own spiritual odyssey through Hinduism, Goddess feminism, Wicca, Odinism, the Elim Pentecostal Church, Christian Identity and post-evangelicalism (in roughly that order of succession) has led me to develop a generally positive interfaith outlook along with a particular fascination for unconventional religious movements and heterodox theologies.
Other interests include radical and fringe politics (particularly concepts with some imaginative power, like anarchism and third positionism, that refuse to fit the hackneyed old 'left' versus 'right' clichés); and anything connected in any way to Modern Human Origins research, including archaeology, paleoanthropology, archaeogenetics and comparative linguistics (especially the long-range hypotheses which connect language families that aren't generally supposed to be related).
I also keep a keen eye on developments in zoological, botanical, fungal and microbial taxonomy, though it's more of a hobby than a calling.
My editing policy
I tend to be a conservative influence in articles, favouring orderly accretion and maintaining a stable consensus text. Wherever possible, respect the contributions of previous editors by writing 'around' them and not 'over' them.
What I've done for Wikipedia
Pages I've worked on
editSome more or less substantial edits to the following articles (both logged-in and anonymous). Actually, a few of them somewhat less than substantial. It's a start.
Ethnology & linguistics
Australoid race • Borean languages • Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages • Chukotko-Kamchatkan–Amuric languages • Dene • Eastern Hunter-Gatherer • Eskimo-Aleut languages • Indigenous languages of the Americas • Indo-European languages • Itelmens • Light skin • Northwest Caucasian languages • Nostratic languages • Proto-Pontic language • Thailand • Uralo-Siberian languages
Literature & performing arts
Doctor Who (2008–2010 specials) • D. H. Lawrence • Billie Piper • Stanley Road • Rose Tyler
Natural history & taxonomy
Afroinsectiphilia • Afrosoricida • Animal • Archaea • Ausktribosphenidae • Australosphenida • Biological classification • Choanoflagellate • Choanozoa • Chytridiomycota • Conodont • Cryptic species complex • Deuterostome • Dicyemida • Dinosaur • Division (biology) • Domain (biology) • Eocyathispongia • Family (biology) • Ferungulata • Filasterea • Filozoa† • Fish • Holozoa • Insectivora • Kingdom (biology) • Lancelet • Legion (biology)† • Leptocardii • Linnaean taxonomy • List of chordate orders • Mammal • Mammal classification • Mesomycetozoea • Metatheria • Monotreme • Morganucodon • Nomenclature Codes • Nucleariid • Opisthokont • Order (biology) • Ornithorhynchidae • Orthonectida • Paenungulata • Pederpes • Phoronid • Phylogenetic nomenclature • Phylum • Prototheria • Rhizodont • Species • Synapsid • Systematics • Taxonomic rank • Taxonomy • Tetrapod • Therapsida • Tribe (biology) • Triconodonta • Tunicate
Occult, religion & politics (Well, do you know the difference?)
Anarchism and nationalism • Ariosophy • Armanen-Orden • Armanen runes • Mikhail Bakunin • Bashan • Anton Drexler • Esoteric Nazism • Esotericism in Germany and Austria • Library of Alexandria • Ludwig Fahrenkrog • German mysticism • Germanenorden • Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft • Rudolf John Gorsleben • André Gorz • Rudolf Hess • Richard Hunt (editor) • Indra • Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels • Guido von List • Mandaeism • Merry England • National-Anarchism • National Socialism and Occultism • Nazism • Neopaganism in German-speaking Europe • Neo-völkisch movements • John Papworth • Schutzstaffel • Gregor Schwartz-Bostunitsch • Rudolf von Sebottendorf • Miguel Serrano • Peryt Shou • Troy Southgate • Philipp Stauff • Sudeten German Party • Thule Society • Völkisch movement • Vril • Friedrich Wannieck • White Order of Thule
Redirects (mostly articles I've turned into redirects)
Werner von Bülow • Cercle de la rose noire • Guido von List Society • High Armanen Order • National anarchism • National Revolutionary Faction • Order of the New Templars • Rank (botany) • Rank (zoology) • Adolf Schleipfer • Template:Taxanomic ranks • Theozoology • Others (too many)
Anything else
Calendar • Legion (disambiguation) • Nomenclature • Occultism and the far right • Template:Anarchism sidebar • Template:Chordata • Template:Eukaryota classification • Template:Mammals • Template:Nazism sidebar • Template:Neopaganism • Template:Taxonomic ranks† • Template:UK far right • User:UBX/Religion metaphysical
† indicates pages I've created
Debates I've participated in
editOpposed deletions of political and religious user categories: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Supported renaming theological user categories: 8
Successfully opposed deletion of article: 9
Mediation Cabal: National-Anarchism, National-Anarchism (archive)
Talk page discussions: Anarchism and nationalism, Ariosophy, Armanen runes, Australosphenida, Mikhail Bakunin, Choanozoa, Domain (biology), Esoteric Nazism, Esotericism in Germany and Austria, Fish, Germanenorden, Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft, Rudolf Hess, Insectivora, Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels, Light skin, Linnaean taxonomy, List of chordate orders, Mammaliaformes, Mammal-like reptiles, Monotreme, National-Anarchism, National anarchism, National Socialism and Occultism, Nazi occultism, Nazism, Neo-völkisch movements, New Right (UK), Nihali language, Nostratic languages, Billie Piper, Prototheria, Scientific classification, Miguel Serrano, Shin of Hindukush, Troy Southgate, Synapsid, Taxonomic rank, Template:Anarchism sidebar, Template:Infobox actor, Template:Mammals, Template:Nazism sidebar, Template:Neopaganism, Template:Taxobox, Template:UK far right, Thule Society, Triconodonta, Tunicate, Rose Tyler, Uralo-Siberian languages, Völkisch movement, Vril, White Order of Thule
Black Ram Group
edit
Black Ram was an anarchist affinity group which was active in my home town in the early 80s and briefly published a zine of the same name. From 1978 to 1980 it could hold its meetings in a telephone box but in 1981-82 it put on a growth spurt, partly in response to the Falklands War, which it resolutely opposed. At the same time it began to advocate an anarcho-nationalist position, predicated on the distinction between state and nation, and between authentic folk-nationalism and the false patriotism whipped up by governing cliques. As far as I know, this was the first — and almost casual — introduction of the term 'anarcho-nationalist'. Also (interchangeably with it), the first use of the term 'national anarchist' since the 1920s. It isn't notable enough to warrant its own article, but I have been pleased to get some information about this group on to Wikipedia. I also created and uploaded an image of their anarcho-swastika emblem (the intention of which was to reclaim from the Nazis an ancient symbol that is sacred to many peoples).
A few of you have been curious to get a peek at this zine, and at least one of you seems to think it never existed. Well, of course scans are not independent evidence. (The independent evidence is a short review that appeared in the British neo-pagan journal Pipes of Pan, Imbolc 1983: issue 10, page 3.) But no doubt the eagle-eyed historians among you will analyse the pages in minute detail, and I believe they will authenticate themselves...
Black Ram Gallery
edit-
Front cover ("one & only" turned out to be prophetic). Black Ram cunningly hooks your attention with the Nazi angle... -
...but once inside, your anti-fascist activist meets a shocking "reclaim-the-swastika-for-anarchism" message on page 2. Plus one dopey ram. -
The panel reveals that some heavy ideology was upcoming in the second issue, but I can't show you that, on account of how there wasn't one.
Black Ram operated an anti-copyright policy, although this only applies with certainty to original material. The cartoons should be ok though, because they promiscuously went the rounds of other libertarian-left publications with similar policies. I have blanked out certain private addresses and other possibly sensitive information.
Stuff that I have opinions about
editJudeo-Christianity and Pagan Christianity contrasted
editThese rival traditions - each a broad current composed of numerous sects - descended in parallel from at least the 1st to the 5th centuries of our era and influenced many later 'heresies'. (Catholics are a 2nd-century offshoot of Judeo-Christianity, watered down to accomodate Paul. Protestants are 'purist' Catholics.) The following table is not an exhaustive list of the differences by any means, but if you look down the right-hand column you should get a pretty good idea of where my sympathies lie over a whole range of beliefs.
| Judeo-Christianity (=Ebionism sensu lato) | Pagan Christianity (=Gnosticism sensu stricto) |
|---|---|
| One singular God (=Yahweh) | One godhead encompasses many gods (Yahweh inferior to the Supreme God) |
| Old Testament favourable to Yahweh but extensively interpolated with error and falsehood | Old Testament generally inspired and inerrant but not wholly favourable to Yahweh |
| One gospel (=Matthew, in several Aramaic versions) | Many gospels (4+) |
| Christ is the highest angel (Jesus a perfect man, 'possessed' by the Spirit of Christ - but not divine) | Christ is divine (Jesus an imperfect man, made divine by union with the indwelling Christ) |
| Jesus' mission prophetic only | Jesus' mission revelatory and redemptive |
| Jewish Law (purified by Jesus) remains effectual | Jewish Law superseded by law of the heart |
| Simon Magus and Paul the apostle are heretics and apostates from the Law | Simon Magus and Paul are divine teachers of the higher law |
| Work ethic | Anti-work ethic |
| Idolatry = worship of material images | Idolatry = submission to false mental images and values |
| Paganism a deception by demons | Paganism a preparation for Christ |
| Hierarchic priesthood | Mature Christians transcend hierarchic relationships |
| Tradition supersedes revelation: visions and prophecy no longer necessary | Tradition evolves through revelation: visions and prophecy continue |
| Extreme patriarchy (segregation of sexes; women excluded from ecclesiastical office) | Moderate patriarchy (free association of sexes; women priests, prophets and teachers under male headship) |
| Chastity (legal marriage licenses sex) | Free love (legal marriage a mere convention) |
| Physical resurrection awaited | Spiritual resurrection begins here and now |
Political implications of the Gnostic vision
editThe Gnostics practised a radical egalitarianism amongst themselves (with the caveat that women participate on equal terms by aligning themselves with the male vision: Gospel of Thomas 51.19-26). However, they were also realistic enough to know that the majority of people who remained outside the Gnostic circles were not ready to give up their hierarchy-ridden ways. That was one of the reasons why they remained outside. I call it egalitarian elitism. In general, as societies become more spiritually developed, under the guidance of Gnostic elites and wise philosopher-kings, the closer they should come to general egalitarianism. Whereas, led by materialist egalitarians, they inescapably become more class-stratified. Ironic, isn't it?
Hitler and the Nazis
editThe early Catholic church ripped off its ideas from the diverse sects of early Christianity ('Gnostics') and reused them in a twisted form to justify building up a centralised hierarchical organisation run by control-freaking bishops. Once they had the power, they sidelined and then suppressed the looser and more creative movements that were the original source of their ideas. Hitler and the Nazis did exactly the same thing to the diverse groups of völkisch populists and nationalists that had been around in central Europe since the 19th century.
If you look past the cynical channeling of all things völkisch into organisations under Nazi control, the NSDAP really had a parasitic relationship with the völkisch movement. Hitler held much of it in contempt. There is almost no evidence to support the more specific and often-repeated claims that the guy with the moustache or other leading Nazis were involved in secret circles of völkisch occultists, and my policy on Wikipedia will be to chase down such unhistorical claims and to break or de-emphasise those links wherever the evidence (or lack of evidence) warrants it.
Race
editSince I've been asked, and might get asked again, I don't acknowledge the racism/anti-racism binary.
- Along with race realists, I'm convinced there is sufficient scientific evidence to justify a belief in the real, objective existence of biological human races - which also means racial differences, otherwise they cannot be defined at all. Such differences would necessarily involve inequalities in specific traits - though not overall inequality, which simply cannot be measured (there are too many variables).
- Along with anti-racists, I don't accept that racial (or any other biology-based) differences imply a relationship of superior and inferior. No differences, whether real or perceived, can justify either hate towards any human group, or social and legal disadvantages to any section within a mixed community, still less colonialism or acts of genocide.
Self-evidently, these are not contradictory positions. Real anti-racism would not poison minds with the message that "we're all the same under the skin", minimising biological differences and urging the whole planet into the melting pot, as though we could not accept or value people unless they were as similar as they can possibly get. The purveyors of sameness seem to have missed the point that anti-racism is about how we deal with people who are different, and it's a poor sort of anti-racism that can't handle that. (Some outright Nazis, whom I abhor on other grounds, seem to understand this better than the "hear no race, see no race, speak no race" brigade.) Racial, ethnic and cultural diversity constitute a wonderful human asset and long may those differences continue to bloom. NO to the racist melting pot!
Humans are, I concede, emotionally predisposed to prefer the company of their own biological, cultural and linguistic kith and kin. But there are circumstances (such as impending global ecological crisis) where we need to transcend those limited attachments and all pull together for everybody's well-being. This can best be achieved not by denial of difference but by learning to love it. If the world turned to desert and all humans were Eskimos, where would we be? If the world iced over and all humans were Bushmen, where would we be?
A final point. Opposing hatred is not the same thing as suppressing it, either by legislation or by Orwellian thought control. Political correctness is the mortal enemy of good race relations because it leads to the inevitable backlash. One of the prices of a free society is that people are free to hate and free to express their hate. If somebody offends you, you can offend them back. Or you can choose to ignore them. Or you might try to enlighten them with measured and rational argument. Words can always be answered with words. As Nicolas Walter used to point out, the time to take action is when words lead to action - and not one minute sooner!
Music
My current all-time favourites are listed on Phaedriel's awesome Soundtrack of Wikipedians, which has re-acquainted me with stacks of songs I'd forgotten I liked.
| “ | I believe that one learns a great deal about a person, and can also understand his/her character and ideas better, if one gets to know "their" music...those songs that define their mood and character, those that make them daydream or feel better, those that bring them dear memories...or simply that music that they really like! | ” |
My soul in twenty songs:
N.B. Copyrighted video content can be linked if the website has licensed the work. The Performing Right Society licenses more than 10 million pieces of music on YouTube in official videos authorised by the artists and labels as well as in user-uploaded videos. In UMG vs Veoh, the judge interpreted reasonable effort to remove material after becoming aware of infringement as compliance with copyright law. It is for the company to notify, not for the user to ensure videos are safe.
Quotes
There is an eternal vital correspondence between our blood and the sun: there is an eternal vital correspondence between our nerves and the moon....The cosmos is a vast living body, of which we are still parts. The sun is a great heart whose tremors run through our smallest veins. The moon is a great gleaming nerve-centre from which we quiver forever....Now all this is literally true, as men knew in the great past, and as they will know again.
— D. H. Lawrence, Apocalypse (artist, novelist and pagan)
Man will once more feel his unity with his fellows, he will feel his unity with the animals, with the mountains and the streams, with the earth itself and the slow lapse of the constellations, not as an abstract dogma of Science or Theology, but as a living and everpresent fact...The meaning of the old religions will come back to him. On the high tops once more gathering he will celebrate with naked dances the glory of the human form and the great procession of the stars, or greet the bright horn of the young moon which now, after a hundred centuries comes back laden with such wondrous associations - all the yearnings and the dreams and the wonderment of the generations of mankind - the worship of Astarte and of Diana, of Isis or the Virgin Mary.
[Gnosis] leads us to the endless and perfect end, teaching us beforehand the future life we shall lead, according to God and with gods....and they are called by the appellation of gods, being destined to sit on other thrones with the other gods that have first been put in their places by the Saviour.
— Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies (Catholic Father and gnostic)
Jesus said: "If those who lead you say, 'See, the Kingdom is in heaven', then the birds of heaven will be there before you. If they say to you, 'it is in the sea', then the fish will be there before you. But the Kingdom is inside you and it is outside you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realise that it is you who are the sons of the living Father. But if you will not know yourselves, you are in poverty, and it is you who are the poverty."
The Aryan spirit considers law to be evil and supports the rights of conscience.
— Dunbar Heath, On the Great Race-Elements in Christianity (19th-century anthropologist)
The most genuine Aryans, those who are most Aryan and most sure of their Aryanism are not anti-Semites...on the other hand, in the aggressive anti-Semite one can always detect certain Jewish traits even when his blood is free from any Semitic strain.
— Otto Weininger, Sex and Character (Jewish philosopher)
What the human being basically is, what his innermost secret, most inviolable possession is, that is the great community of living beings in him, that is his lineage, the commonality of his blood with that of all his ancestors.
— Gustav Landauer (German-Jewish anarcho-nationalist revolutionary and völkisch mystic)
The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected.
— G. K. Chesterton (Christian distributist)
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