The Two Cups and the Two Rivers - (2271)

Introduction

Esotericism speaks about the cup of forgetfulness and the cup of remembrance.

Dante Alighieri in the second book; “Purgatorio” of his work, the Divine Comedy, wrote about the two rivers: Lethe and Eunoe.

These two rivers and the cups of forgetfulness and remembrance are directly related.

This post explains their relation and is an improvement upon the last post (2270) attempting to make the theme more complete and clearer, as to how the two cups fit into the big picture of self-realisation.

Cup of Forgetfulness and the River Lethe

The cup of forgetfulness can be seen in two ways. One way is in the general esoteric sense and the other way is in the esoteric initiatic sense as introduced by Dante Alighieri and corroborated by Master Samael.

General Sense – (Spiritual Fall)

The cup of forgetfulness is the cup it is said that one drinks from when one falls spiritually.

When one drinks from this cup, it is said that one’s esoteric memory and psychological work memory fade. The degree to which it fades all depends. Read on…

Degree of Fading to Oblivion Depends on the Magnitude of the Fault and on Time

How close the fading of memory approaches total oblivion depends on the magnitude of the fault and on how much time passes before one works to regain what was lost.

If the fault is great then a large degree of fading will be processed.

If the fault is not so great, a lesser degree of fading is processed, though as time passes, having fallen, one makes many more mistakes and so the fading further increases.

If no efforts are made to work spiritually again this fading continues to almost total oblivion. Which is basically our case.

The Typical Case

The above paragraph describes basically what has happened to us, to be in the state of forgetfulness that we are currently in, which is a state of almost total oblivion of esoteric and psychological work memory.

What is Forgotten?

Please note, there is not physical or real cup of forgetfulness it is something symbolic only.

When one falls and symbolically drinks from the cup of forgetfulness, one forgets one’s inner Being, one forgets about the values, ethics, abilities, powers and faculties of one’s inner Being, one forgets one’s past lives, one forgets even who one is (an essence), one loses one’s identity in the consciousness and in the essence, one forgets the esoteric teachings and knowledge, as well as the internal worlds and the white lodge etc.

The degree of forgetfulness depends on the magnitude of the fault and how much time passes and how many errors are made over time.

Why the Fading?

Master Samael says that when a bodhisattva falls that bodhisattva loses one third of his or her powers and is punished by having to pay karma for one: assassinating the inner Buddha, two: betraying the white lodge and three: for having committed other minor crimes.

When one falls, besides incurring the karma mentioned above, one loses a degree of one’s consciousness to a drowsiness and sleep of the consciousness. The degree to which it falls asleep depends on the magnitude of the fault.

The reason why it falls asleep to a certain degree is because the ego resurrects and what was free and awakened essence is now conditioned to the degree of the magnitude of the fault.

The memories of the consciousness are submerged by the fall into the subconscious. In fact the part of the consciousness that is made to sleep becomes subconscious and without awakening the subconscious can not be easily accessed as the forgetfulness is processed.

The sleeping consciousness has its memory conditioned to only remember what concerns its interests. The sleeping consciousness does not remember and the sleeping consciousness breaks the continuity of memory producing large lagoons in our memory.

Dante being bathed in the River Lethe to forget the "I".

The River Lethe in the Initiatic Sense

In the initiatic sense, Dante and Master Samael write that the river Lethe is the river where the masters of the second mountain are bathed in so to forget the ego.

The master of the second mountain is bathed in the River Lethe or symbolically drinks of the initiatic cup of forgetfulness after the works in the stage of purgatory have been completed. That is all the seeds of the ego have been fried.

As mentioned in the previous post (2270) the master needs to forget the ego, because that way the death of the ego is made totally complete. Remembering an ego can cause it to revive if it is dead and if it still alive remembering it strengthens it.

River Lethe

The river Lethe comes from Greek Mythology where it was one of the five rivers of the underworld. It has also been said that it flowed through the cave of the God Hypnos (God of sleep) where it would induce drowsiness.

It gets its name from the Goddess Lethe, who was the Goddess of forgetfulness and oblivion.

A representation of the Goddess Lethe.

Ovid and other ancient Greeks believed that before the souls of the deceased were to return to the Earth they were given to drink from the river Lethe so to forget their previous life and start their new life afresh.

River Lethe Linking the Two Cups of Forgetfulness

Dante says that the river Lethe is located in the Earthly paradise and flows downwards into the bowels of the earth terminating in the ninth circle at the very centre of the Earth’s infra-dimensions in a frozen lake.

Obviously the river Lethe is about forgetting and there are two ways of forgetting. One way is the forgetting of the ego and the other forgetting is the forgetting the Being. As both ways are about forgetting the river Lethe links both regions together where Dante indirectly tells us that heavens are about forgetting the ego and the infernos are about forgetting the Being. He also says that by forgetting the Being we descend into the infernos and by forgetting the ego and remembering the Being we ascend to the heavens.

Cup of Remembrance

The law of duality applies nicely here. Where the cup of remembrance is the opposite of the cup of forgetfulness.

Once again the cup of remembrance can be seen into ways. One is in the general esoteric sense of the awakening of consciousness and the other way in the initiatic sense.

General Sense

One is said to drink from the cup of remembrance, when one awakens one’s consciousness again. Then one knows one’s inner Being, one knows profoundly one’s own consciousness and one can remember one’s past lives.

Drinking from the River Eunoe - to strengthen the
light and be confirmed in the light.

Initiatic Sense

In the initiatic sense we see that Dante after being bathed in the river Lethe so to forget the ego is then told to drink from the river Eunoe, with the purpose of remembering and strengthening his good deeds. In other words strengthening the values and virtues of the Being and polarising Dante or the master with the light and with the values of the Being. Master Samael calls this the confirmation in the light where the light accepts the master once again.

This can be symbolically said to have drunk from the cup of remembrance.

Interesting Point About Master Samael

He never lost his esoteric or psychological work memory completely. He retained a degree of awakened consciousness that allowed him to remember that his Being was the fifth of the Seven, that is the Logo of Mars – Samael, and he naturally and instinctively remembered meditation and through his ecstasies in early childhood he remembered that he was an essence, and it seemed that didn’t forget about the astral and the unfolding into the astral.

Our case is very different due to the lack of free and awakened consciousness though. We may have retained a little something of remembrance, however what matters is how we will recuperate it once again. With our work in mystical death and awakening it will be recuperated.

Memory as Value and Cosmic Attribute

Memory is a important cosmic function or attribute. I will write more on this later on. The general rule is that if something can be used positively or negatively and the positive use takes one closer to the Being and the negative use takes one further from the Being then that ‘something’ is a legitimate and authentic value of function of the cosmos and also of the inner Being of a person.

End (2271).