The Double Mind

The tragic killings in Norway are such a blatant instance of occult-sponsored terrorism that its almost comical. We the public are presented with yet another three named lone nut in Anders Behring Breivik with an obsession with the occult and mystical orders, despite the media's portrayal of this killer as as a white, nationalistic Christian crusader with a good heaping of Nazism for good measure. The Calgary Herald presents a different picture, noting:

"Aside from his interest in Christianity, Breivik appears to have studied aspects of esotericism and neopaganism, and may have been involved with such circles at one time. In regards to followers of the neopagan religion of Odinism, he says, 'Even Odinists can fight with us or by our side as brothers' in the Knights Templar organization that Breivik claims to be a founding member of... 

"The modern Knights Templar will, according to the manifesto, fight 'against the “cultural Marxist/multiculturalist regimes of Western Europe before . . . we are completely demographically overwhelmed by Muslims.' In its romantic view of indiscriminate violence and adoption of militant religious imagery, the organization — whether real or imagined — is in many respects a mirror image of al-Qaeda. The manifesto says that the founders of the organization decided on carrying out a 'large successful attack every five to 12 years . . . depending on available forces.'

"In the manifesto and video are three photographs. In the first, Breivik is shown wearing Masonic regalia. This seems a peculiar decision, but it is extremely significant. Popular legend suggests that the Masonic fraternity was created by the medieval order of the Knights Templar, but Breivik was probably also aware that Islamist extremists have viewed Freemasonry as an enemy for several decades. It was made illegal in Iran after the Islamic Revolution of 1978-79, and the Hamas Charter of 1988 claims that Freemasons 'work in the interest of Zionism...'

"Breivik would almost certainly have known that a Masonic building in Oslo was attacked in January 2009. The assault took place during an anti-Israel demonstration by pro-Palestinian Muslims and left-wing activists, at which anti-Semitic chants and threats against Jewish people were reportedly made. At one point, several Arab-looking youths broke away from the demonstration and led a reporter and cameraman to the Masonic building. They then smashed a window and took turns throwing high-power firecrackers inside. 

"It is possible that this assault was a factor in Breivik’s decision to target youth members of the Labour Party, since a children’s party was being held inside the Masonic building at the time of the attack, and children could be heard screaming in terror after each firework exploded...

"In the manifesto, Breivik acknowledges being a member of the Masonic fraternity, and of taking the first three degrees, but he also criticizes Freemasonry because it is 'not in any way political.' Freemasons, says Breivik, 'claim to be Knights of Christ, yet they are not willing to sacrifice their life for the preservation of European Christendom. They do not even acknowledge that European Christendom is in the process of being deconstructed.' 

"Breivik does commend Freemasonry as 'keepers of cultural heritage.' This appears to be emotionally important for Breivik, who insists that those joining his Knights Templar organization must perform an initiation ceremony that is 'somewhat similar to the ancient and original ritual of the Knights Templar...'

"The manifesto states that he was present at the founding of the revived Knights Templar in London in April 2009. This, he says, is a 'revolutionary conservative movement because we had lost hope that the democratic framework can solve Europe’s current problems.' 

"It may be a coincidence, but 'revolutionary conservative' was a term used by the anti-Masonic occultist and fascist Julius Evola. Notably, Breivik criticizes the extreme right for being inspired by Rene Guenon, a convert to Islam and the founder of the pro-Islamic esoteric school of traditionalism that Evola knew and imitated. Breivik seems to place himself broadly within the school, while rejecting its favourable view of Islam. 

"Breivik says, 'In the U.S., Christian fundamentalists and Islamic organizations are increasingly creating common platforms to speak out against trends of moral decay (abortion, pornography, etc.). Some of these phenomena of traditionalist alliance-building are quite respectable, but they are nevertheless conducive to Islam negationism.'

An image from a video posted by Anders Behring Breivik on the Internet

To call Mr. Breivik's belief system confused and riddled with contradictions would be quite the understatement. The one positive I see from this whole bloody affair is the fine example Breivik gives of the double mind in action, and just how far these contradictions can be ignored.

"The double-mind -the profoundly disturbed mind at war with itself and ignorant even of that fact -is a characteristic of the scapegoat-patsy 'lone nut' cult-killers -and of the American people in general. For, in the this time-frame of ours, we are initiated into their cult by means of exposure to the electronic videodrome. And thus, our prospects become the same as those of David Berkowitz, Mark David Chapman, Arthur Bremer or James Earl Ray. In the 19th century the phenomenon was termed 'masonic apoplexy.' Today it is called zombieism."
(Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare, Michael A. Hoffman II, pg. 35)

We shall now examine various aspects of the double-mind behind the psychosis of Anders Behring Breivik.

For starters, you have Mr. Breivik's anti-Marxist stance combined with his reverence of the Knights Templar. This is highly amusing, considering the Templars were one of the first proto-communist organizations around. Wikipedia notes:

"Though initially an Order of poor monks, the official papal sanction made the Knights Templar a charity across Europe. Further resources came in when members joined the Order, as they had to take oaths of poverty, and therefore often donated large amounts of their original cash or property to the Order."

I shall let historian Thomas Keightley elaborate on this practice:

"This ambitious and covetous order required that he who sought this honour of affiliation with them should, besides taking three vows, pledge himself to lead a reputable life, to further the interests of the order to the best of his power, and leave it the entire of his property at his death. If he was married, and died before his wife, he might leave her a competent provision for life; but from the day of his admission into the order he was to abstain from her bed, though he might continue to reside in the same house with her; for were he to have children, he might provide for them to the disadvantage of the order, or on his death they might give trouble to it by claiming his property. For a similar reason the affiliated were forbidden to be sponsors, lest they might covertly or openly give some of their property to their god-children. They were not even permitted to give offerings to the clergy. If hey dared to violate these injunctions, a severe punishment -in general, confinement for life -awaited them."
(Secret Societies of the Middle Ages, pgs. 202-203)

Now, consider that Keightley is not even referring to the actual members of the Order, but simply to those affiliated with the Order, in the above paragraph. Actual members, such as the knights who came from noble families, were required to turn over all their property upon joining the Order.

"In keeping with his vow of poverty, Hugh de Payens [the first Grand Master of the Knights Templar] gave all of his property to the order, and the other founding Templars soon followed suit. If a new Templar recruit did not have property to contribute, he was expected to come with a money 'dowry.' Once a Templar, he was permitted to keep no money or other valuables, not even books, in his personal possession. If loot was taken, it went to the order. This Rule was so important that if, upon his death, it was learned that a Templar had money or property of his own, he was declared outside the order, which precluded Christian burial."
(Born in Blood, John J Robinson, pg. 71)

This was a major factor in the rapid growth of the wealth of the Knights Templar which eventually enabled them to become the first international banking organization. Here we also find one of the first early overlaps between 'communism' and 'capitalism' that plays into the collective double mind of the masses.

The seal of the Knights Templars, depicting two members sharing a horse

Still, it is Breivik's obsession with Islam, and his total ignorance of the Templars curious relationship with it, that is best representative of the double mind. In Anders Behring Breivik's YouTube video he notes that their are 45 Christian 'democracies' in Europe and 50 Islamic 'dictatiorships' in the world. Yet the Knights Templar, Breivik's champions of the West, were a thoroughly totalitarian organization. Continuing with Robinson:

"Instant obedience to his superiors was required of every Templar, and since the order was responsible to no one but the pope, it essentially created its own system of punishments, up to the death penalty, for disobedience. For example, a penitential cell only four and a half feet long was built into the Templar church in London, and in that cell the brother marshal (military commander) for Ireland was confined for disobedience to the orders of the master. Unable to stand up, unable to stretch out, he was kept in the cramped stone cell until he starved to death. In no other way were the Templars to be bound by the laws of the countries in which they might reside from time to time. Only their own Rule governed their conduct, and only their own superiors could discipline them."
(ibid, pg. 71)

That Breivik would turn his modern Templar order into a glorified terror cell similar to al-Qaeda, and other 'Islamic extremist', is not an accident. In fact, it's likely that that is what the original Knights Templar themselves did after years of close relations with the Assassins, possibly the first 'Islamic' terrorist organization.

The Assassins, or more aptly the Nizaris, are a complex topic, as is their relationship with the Knights Templars. Thus, I will mainly with generals in this piece until a later date when I can give this fascinating topic the depth it deserves. But for now, a brief description of the Assassins/Nizaris:

"Nearly a thousand years ago, the Western world was enthralled by tales of Islamic terrorism, espionage, sabotage and assassination. It was believed that religious fanatics, devotees of a mysterious Islamic leader who lived in an impregnable mountain fortress, had ordered his men to infiltrate enemy cities and assinate their leaders, Christian and Muslim alike. There was no defense against this secret network of killers. They could show up at any time, anywhere, to carry out their murderous agenda. Even worse, they were not afraid to die, and would gladly undertake suicide missions where their chance of survival was nil. This organization came to be known as the hashishiyya, an Arabic word that means 'hashish eaters.' It was from this word that the European language derived their word asssassin, demonstrating a conscious equivalence between this obscure (to the West) religious sect, drugs, and the practice of political murder."
(Sinister Forces Book II, Peter Levenda, pg. 133)

Alamut, the legenday stronghold of the Assassins

Both organizations are generally characterized as fanatics of their respective religions, yet both groups maintained esoteric teachings within their ranks derived from Gnosticism, neo-Platonism, the Qabal, Zoroastrianism, the Mandaeans, and countless other fringe religious teachings preserved in the Middle East at that time. Both groups maintained strict hierarchies in which their most precious secrets were only revealed to the highest ranking members. Both sects were a combination of religious and military orders. And both groups had dealings, and likely influence, upon one and other. Continuing with Levenda:

"There is ample documentation to show that the Assassins and the Templars had financial and other relationships... While somewhat more is known about he Hospitallers and the Assassins... the relationship with the Templars is not so well understood or explicated. The Hospitallers, of course, were not suppressed and information about their operations is considerably better known. Both military orders were warned by the Church on several occasions about their unhealthy relationship with the Assassins, and with Muslims in general. The Church did not condone the tidy little arrangement in which the Nizaris paid a tribute to the Hospitallers for protection against Saladin, and in which the Nizaris agreed to assist the Hospitallers for protection against Saladin, and in which the Nizaris agreed to assist the Hospitallers against their common enemy as well.

"...the close working relationship between the Crusaders and the Assassins is a matter of record in both European and Islamic sources. Only the details are secret, and especially so in the case of the Templars. The Templars and Hospitallers were held in captivity by the Muslims for more than a year at one period, and it is said that they learned Arabic at that time... Templar Grand masters are known to have had Arabic-speaking secretaries and to employ Muslim informers in the courts of the caliphs."
(ibid, pg. 145)

The founder of the Assassins, Hasan-i Sabbah, was also the pioneer of terrorism as a political tool.

"Hasan-i Sabbah knew that his preaching could not prevail against the entrenched orthodoxy of Sunni Islam -that his followers could not meet and defeat the armed might of the Seljuq state. Others before him had vented their frustration in unplanned violence, in hopeless insurrections, or in sullen passivity. Hasan found a new way, by which a small force, disiplined and devoted, could strike against an overwhelmingly superior enemy. 'Terrorism,' says a modern authority, 'is carried on by a narrowly limited organization and is inspired by a sustained program of large-scale objectives in the name of which terror is practiced.' This was the method that Hasan chose -the method, it may well be, that he invented."
(The Assassins, Bernard Lewis, pg. 130)

Hassan-i Sabbah

The major difference between the terrorism of the Nizaris and their modern predecessors is that the former struck with surgical precision, targeting the heads of various Islamic states. They did not attack civilian populations as the later are want to do. For the most part, this method was relatively effective until the Nizaris came into contact with the West, and specifically the Templars and Hospitallers.

"'The Old Man of the Mountain,' says Joinville, speaking of a later Ismaili chief in Syria, 'paid tribute to the Templars and the Hospitallers, because they feared nothing if he caused the Master of the Temple or the Hospital to be killed; for he knew very well that if he had one killed, another just as good would replace him, and for this reason he did not wish to lose Assassins where he could gain nothing.' The two orders of knighthood were integrated institutions, with an institutional structure, hierarchy, and loyalty, which made them immune to attack by assassination; it was the absence of the qualities that made the atomized Islamic state, with centralized, autocratic power based on personal and transient loyalties, peculiarly vulnerable to it."
(ibid, pgs. 130--131)

To this day many Islamic countries feature the same kinds of structural problems. Thus, the scope of targets for terrorist acts was broadened largely as necessity in combating the West. At least, this is what conventional historians will have you believe. But what if another organization, based in the West, but influenced by the techniques of the Nizaris, came to this realization long before the modern suicide bombers?

"Obviously, the Templars and the Assassins shared much of the same mindset. The passion for secrecy, and the willingness to die if ordered to do so, were two very important things the two groups had in common. In addition, they were both religious orders, devoted to God, and they were both military organizations devoted to conquest. The main difference between them -aside from religion -was the fact that the Assassins operated in secret, in disguise, with lethal precision, whereas the Knights Templar were everywhere obvious by their mode of dress, and they struck as soldiers, in the open field, en masse. While the Assassins would take a castle by murdering its ruler, the Templars took a castle by overwhelming its forces in the heat of bloody conflict. But that would all change on October 13, 1307, when the Templars were arrested throughout France and the order went out to crush them in every part of the Catholic empire. At that point, the Templars went underground like their Nizari counterparts, and they suddenly had much more in common than ever before, for they suddenly had a common enemy in the Catholic Church and the Catholic kings of Europe."
(Sinister Forces Book II, Peter Levenda, pg. 158)

Templars burned at the stake

It is quite possible that the Knights Templars embraced terrorism as a political tool as the Nizaris had, with slight adjustments in targets to account for the cultural differences of Europe.

Of course the prior statement is highly speculative -most mainstream historians would not even dare assert that the Templars survived in organizations such as Freemasonry, and certainly would not consider terrorism as a new political tool that these 'brotherhoods' employed. An in depth discussion of these possibilities is well beyond the scope of this blog, though hopefully one day I will address this topic in depth.

For now, I can only point out the obvious, that a member of a modern Knights Templar organization has embraced terrorism as a political tool. And I can point out the blatant instances of the double mind in action, as I have throughout this piece, in the mind of both Anders Behring Breivik as well as the masses, who are literally being mentally torn apart by the contradictions of this tragedy.

Such is the nature double mind, both individually and collectively.