Parsifal Unveiled: The Meaning of Richard Wagner’s Masterpiece

Samael Aun Weor explains why Wagner makes your spine tingle. I cannot pretend Samael Aun Weors interpretation came as a shock since I'm already familiar with the authors other monumental works (esp. Perfect Matrimony & Revolution of the Dialectic) I'm also familiar with all Wagner's Opera from the Flying Dutchman to Parsifal (which is admittedly my favourite). I still receive more than expected and do on every reading. I will write the review for the benefit of a Wagner fan who has a hunch there is something more too it. Those familiar with Parsifal will know that there is a lot of director’s embellishment in each production with their own particular twist on the narrative. SAW draws on the original libretto and his interpretation is absolute and leaves no wiggle room for alternative theories. There is no reference to other Academics or Wagnerians (Well Neiztche gets a mention) and subsequently would appear to be arrogant in his explanation except that he obviously drinks from the same fountain as Wagner. As far as productions Syberbergs 1982 Studio production seems to either know Samael Aun Weor or they both just know Wagner. But what about the book? If you could imagine a Venn diagram with hundreds of circles denoting different schools of thought across science, art, philosophy and religion and dots within the circles representing different individuals who have contributed to said fields. You would expect to find Wagner in the intersection of art and myth and over somewhere else Samael Aun Weor in the religion/spirituality crossroads. But this intellectual construct is like discarded attaché note trodden in the mud baking under the sun of a super vivid world in which the giants of wisdom inhabit, where supermen like Wagner, Samael, Dante, Mozart, Beethoven, Plato, Euripides, Virgil etc. all prostrate themselves before the same alter of a divine universal mystery. Through Parsifal Unveiled you will see there isno contradiction in the religiosity of The Ring and Parsifal they both belong to the religion of Wagner which is the same as that of Samael Aun Weor. It becomes obvious that Wagner created his masterpieces to help humanity in a time when to speak frankly was forbidden and Samael who now has permission to be very explicit explains how it relates to a practical work which we must do. This book is a good introduction for appreciating art consciously how Wagner intended. It is useless for merely academic/intellectual pursuits and will not be found in any art essay footnotes because that is a mistaken way to view it. Parsifal Unveiled is for seeing Wagner's work through conscious/aesthetic moments for the convention of intellectualising the work would be akin to examining Bernini’s, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa with the sensory apparatus of a slug. This is an accessible ‘in road’ book to a much more profound world which exists above and before the world we have constructed and I would encourage you to read it carefully and then view Parsifal again.