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Teachings of the Essenes: "From Enoch to the Dead Sea Scrolls"
This is the Preface
from the book
"From Enoch to the Dead Sea Scrolls:
I highly recommend this book.
Date: 12/17/2007 10:18:08 PM ( 18 y ) ... viewed 3413 times Edmond Bordeaux Szekely (pronounced Say-Kay)
The Teachings of the Essenes
From Enoch to the Dead Sea Scrolls
To all those who perceive that peace for the whole depends upon the effort of the individual.
The several chapters of this book are compiled from material antedating the findings of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947. During the twenty preceding years, 1927 to 1947, I wrote and published a number of books on the Essenes based on certain historical sources such as the works of Josephus Flavius, Philo and Plinius, and on manuscripts in the Library of the Vatican, the Library of the Habsburgs in Vienna and the Library of the British Museum. In these books I concentrated on the Essene traditions which I consider of great practical value for modern man.
When the first discoveries at Qumrum became public and many persons urged me to publish an interpretation of these new findings, I decided to do so in two volumes. This first volume condenses the quintessence of the Essene traditions from pre-Qumrum sources. The second volume will deal exclusively with the new discoveries.
The present work is concerned with the meaning of the Essene traditions in relation to their values for mankind today and the actual practices which result in an expansion of consciousness. These values may be considered from four standpoints.
The Essene traditions represent a synthesis of the great contributions to humanity of the different cultures of antiquity.
They represent for us a path leading away from the one-sided utilitarian technology of contemporary civilization, a valid and practical teaching utilizing all the sources of energy, harmony and knowledge everywhere surrounding us.
They give us permanent standards in an age where truth seems to dissolve in a continual shifting of concepts.
This resulting neurosis and insecurity is given a complete balance and harmony through the Essene teachings.
It is noteworthy that in his book, "The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls," A. Powell Davies says of the Essenes, "The Christian Church in its organization, its sacraments, its teaching and its literature is related to-and in its early stages may have been identical with-the New Covenanters, who were known as Essenes, some of whom wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls."
Likewise significant in the pre-Qumrum traditions of the Essenes is the existence of certain Zoroastrian elements, a fact which I have previously maintained and which Arnold Toynbee has also pointed out in a recent writing. They bear a similar correlation to later teachings like those of the Kabala and Freemasonry. Their most unique element, which has apparently been developed independently, is their science of Angelology.
The quotations appearing on the page preceding each chapter are from two of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the "Manual of Disciplines" and the "Thanksgiving Psalms," or "Book of Hymns," which I have translated from photo static copies of the original texts found in the caves of Qumrum.
Edmond Bordeaux Szekely
San Diego, California, 1957
And Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him.
Genesis 5:24
Bio Note on Edmond Bordeaux Szekely:
http://www.answers.com/Edmond%20Bordeaux%20Szekely
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