The word “troubadour” was derived from the French trovere which meant “to compose” but also “to invent” or “find.” Any instructor of art would want his student, as soon as possible, to sing his own song or write his own poem. These worshippers of love touched the depths of the collective psyche. This ecstatic union of souls is depicted in the music and poetry of the medieval troubadours. No place at all for his own dreams, like falling in love or fleeing to the country. As for Winston, the war with Eurasia was now his main concern. They freely discuss their “sexcrimes”, “thought crimes”, and other “treacheries.” No need for the Party to keep them apart any longer. After their torture, the lovers could meet openly because they no longer had feelings for each other. The only authorized version was “goodsex”, which meant sex for reproduction only, with no pleasure. George Orwell’s classic work, 1984, reveals the antipathy of all authoritarian structures to the notion of romantic love, which was outlawed in the fictional Oceania where Winston and Julia must conceal their romance, meeting only in secret.īut they were caught and found guilty of “sexcrimes”, which in Newspeak meant the sex act performed with love and passion. By embarking on the inner journey in solitude, we are introduced to all the world in an amazing correspondence of experience as though each individual, on his own, has tapped the same vast reservoir of gnosis. For gnostics, however, Christians were identified by an ecstatic union with the Divine, for which romantic love is but a metaphor. This is why authoritarian structures go to such great lengths to suppress the divine feminine.įor the early orthodox Christian Church, true believers were identified by external criteria, first and foremost – acceptance of Church authority and doctrine. In such a setting, doctrinal correctness and obedience to authority cannot inspire or command loyalty. But Christ loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often on her mouth” and herein lies, in symbolic terms, the basis of gnostic spirituality, arising as it does from joy, passion, romance, ecstasy, celebration, love and intimacy – the lifeforce itself. “- the companion of the Saviour is Mary Magdelene. The Gospel of Phillip reveals the rivalry between the male disciples and Mary Magdelene. The rest of the disciples, especially Peter, were deeply offended. Jesus says, “upon this rock (Peter) I will build my church” but in the gnostic gospels of Phillip and Mary Magdelene, any successor would surely have been Mary Magdelene and not Peter for it was Mary Magdelene who was Jesus’ most intimate companion, one who received from him special teachings. In the orthodox gospels, the Saviour ordains Peter to commence an unbroken line of apostolic succession. Orthodox churches accepted as genuine the pseudo-Pauline letters of Timothy, Colossians and Ephesians, where “Paul” insists women are to keep silent in the churches and to remain obedient and submissive to their husbands. The orthodox community began to accept the domination of men over women as divinely ordained in social life, family life and in the churches.
In the early centuries of the Christian era, different attitudes towards sexuality emerged in gnostic and orthodox circles, opening a great gulf between them over what it meant to be a Christian.