The great beast

[earl]

The Great Beast smiles his approval and relief. Reading these comments he knows his dominace in Plato's cave is assured. He has even condescended to buy a round of drinks for the house in appreciation.

He does have his good side. Just stay in line and don't cross him and you will get what you deserve.

Karmically speaking, we all get what we deserve. earl

 

[Nick_A]

Karmically speaking, we all get what we deserve. earl

Very true. Regardless of the finest platitudes, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

 

[Dream]

Is this your pic Dream?

It is not me! I found your links though, and its entertaining that this guy's site is called 'Be the Dream!' ahaha talk about a coincidence! I promise it isn't me, though! I suspect I'm not as good looking as this fellow. He really does remind me of a Philosophy Proff. I once met, but he's not the same guy.

Don't know much at all about Zen actually, except for a tiny bit I read in a book by Suzuki -- just the sitting up straight part. You're supposed to sit up straight, etc. I also don't know much at all about Anthropology.

I coined the word Zenanthropist as a conjunction between Zen and Philanthropist, but it was a toss up between that and Zenvangelist. Zenanthropist sounds nicer, plus you have a hominid avatar.

 

[citizenzen]

...plus you have a hominid avatar.

Who doesn't sit up very straight.

 

[Netti-Netti]

The beast from the earth is the false prophet who enforces emperor worship and produces signs to deceive the people.

It seems to be a warning against returning to a worship of secular powers and overestimating one's powers. In this sense, it is a takeoff on the A and Eve Temptation theme. It illustrates that it's important to avoid self-idolatry and respecting the parameters of Divine Jurisdiction. It is a symol of the out-of-control consequences of giving in to the attraction to power

The beast seems to be a very old image. In appears in Hinduism as the Makara, which may be represented as a crocodile or monster imagery. The Wiki descibes the Makara as

the vahana of Ganga and Varuna. It is also the insignia of Kamadeva, a god (of Hindus) representing love and lust.
​

Lord Krishna does battle with it and is victorious.

 

[Netti-Netti]

The Beast archetype also appears as the Zoroastrian deity, Ahriman.
And again we see the monster in battle:

The image of the monster being engaged in battle points to delusion and lack of faith. The basic idea is not trusting G-d's presence in the world, getting caught up in fearful defensiveness, and then becoming identified with a blind attachment to one's own powers of destruction:

Ormazd, the eternally wise and good lord, and Ahriman, the ignorant lord of evil existed in the beginning. Ormazd knew of Ahriman, but Ahriman knew not of Ormazd.

Ormazd began creation, and this act scared Ahriman so that he declared war on it from the beginning. Ormazd told Ahriman he need not declare war on creation, but Ahriman was suspicious and continued his conflict.
​

http://library.thinkquest.org/29064/summaries/iran.html

There is a technical term for this kind of delusion, lack of faith, fear, and idolatrous attachment: foolishness.

 

[Nick_A]

The Beast archetype also appears as the Zoroastrian deity, Ahriman.
And again we see the monster in battle:

The image of the monster being engaged in battle points to delusion and lack of faith. The basic idea is not trusting G-d's presence in the world, getting caught up in fearful defensiveness, and then becoming identified with a blind attachment to one's own powers of destruction:

Ormazd, the eternally wise and good lord, and Ahriman, the ignorant lord of evil existed in the beginning. Ormazd knew of Ahriman, but Ahriman knew not of Ormazd.

Ormazd began creation, and this act scared Ahriman so that he declared war on it from the beginning. Ormazd told Ahriman he need not declare war on creation, but Ahriman was suspicious and continued his conflict.
​

http://library.thinkquest.org/29064/summaries/iran.html

There is a technical term for this kind of delusion, lack of faith, fear, and idolatrous attachment: foolishness.

True. the Beast exists within us. Othewise we wouldn't be the "wretched man." When taken together as the collective, the beast exists also within society itself and becomes the "Great Beast" that humanity serves and Simone Weil describes so well:

"The Great Beast is introduced in Book VI of The Republic. It represents the prejudices and passions of the masses. To please the Great Beast you call what it delights in Good, and what it dislikes Evil. In America this is called politics."

 

[Netti-Netti]

The beast archetype seems popular.
It appears in animistic Balinese mythology: