Gnosticism Series - Part 2: Exploration of Gnostic Text
Excerpts, Analyses, Interpretations: This world and our brains both seem designed to make Man suffer. But there's something inside him offers endless joy and rest.
Self-remembrance, awareness of "I am" , ripens you powerfully and speedily. Give up all ideas about yourself and simply be.
— Nisargadatta Maharaj
Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.
— Yoda
Disclaimers on the Text
Lets dive into the Nag Hammadi library. First, some disclaimers and insights on the overall body of text…
First insight: most revelations contain elements of a dream journal.
These books are often phantasmagoria — a series of rushing images, seemingly disconnected at times, much like dreams. In fact, the authors often say things like, “I went up onto the mountain and received this vision.” Hermes, a Greek God, even makes an appearance, in what the author states is a dream-vision. It would be nothing if not fitting that authors who celebrate Mind and Perception and Knowledge-of-Inner-Divine are receiving messages in their dreams — for where else would one find Inner-Divinity but beneath the dark waters of one’s unconscious; how else should one explore the frontiers of Mind but through dream travel? Even if they did not explicitly tell us they were receiving visions, it is easily discernible by the content of their stories: Peter sees a man in one scene, sees him in a later scene and he looks different, then he disrobes and identifies himself as Jesus. What is crystal clear to me is that the authors were interpreting and relaying symbols, and not always factual accounts of things that were said or done in the flesh.
Second insight: the symbols and code point toward authors telling psychological stories.
The symbolic nature of Gnostic writings is shared by the canonical New Testament. Jesus can’t just tell the disciples what exactly the Kingdom of Heaven is and how to access it. No, instead he says: “the Kingdom is like the mustard seed” or “this is the body and blood.”
But the Gnostic writers are enamored with the Mind, the immaterial inner self, the Psyche (Greek for ‘Soul’), and this comes through in the myths they create. They create Gods using Greek words as their names, or use existing Greek Gods, to do so. One example: Eros (who is the Greek god of passionate love) is named as a God in one of the myths, and “he was scattered in all creatures like many lamps can be kindled from one lamp, and the other Gods were enamored by him. The intercourse of Eros was consummated, so too the first sensual pleasure sprouted upon the earth.” Another example, Sophia, which I will explore in greater depth later in this Part, is known as Wisdom, but her act of creation without her male counterpart results in Ignorant demi-gods — in other words, incomplete Wisdom results in Ignorance. The Gnostic writers are telling psychological stories, myths of the soul’s creation and journey.
Third insight: poor, unedited, scattered writing.
The Nag Hammadi texts sometimes contradict one another — for example, there are different versions of the Demiurge myth. Often, you find a text that resembles a rough draft. Other times, the whole text isn’t even there to translate. It all comes across as thought experiments, some of which are half-baked attempts to explain truth, and not divinely-inspired infallible truth itself. This is all notable because it means Gnosticism cannot be lumped into one coherent dogma. It also means, in my view, that the myths not be interpreted literally. Instead of saying “Gnostics believed an evil spirit created the world,” we should instead ask, “what is it these people were trying to get at? What point were they trying to make behind iterative stories?”
MAJOR THEMES AND EXCERPTS
With these disclaimers in mind, here are major themes and excerpts from the text. Some excerpts are my own paraphrasing for clarity, which you can validate if you wish.
SPIRIT, SOUL, FLESH
Spirit is the name given for the Father, The Eternal Being, He-Who-Is, Invisible Spirit, The One, The Unconceived, the Illimitable, unfathomable, eternal, unutterable, etc. etc. The Tao, if you are familiar with it. The Source. The Root. Imagine the universe as energy which is neither created nor destroyed, always existing in pulses between big bangs and contractions — this All is the One is the Spirit.
Soul is the name given for man’s Psyche, his inner self. Recall, Psyche is Greek for Soul.
Flesh is the earthly, material, passionate, imperfect, mortal, corporeal expression of the First Perfect Androgynous Man of God’s thought.
Soul exists somewhere on a spectrum between Flesh and Spirit. It is connected to both Light and to earthly matter.
“Gnostics believe you have a true self and it’s entirely distinct from the body” — this is an inaccurate depiction that I have often heard about Gnosticism. Gnostics said you have Spirit inside you, and it is distinct from Flesh. But you also have a Soul, which is intimately connected to both Flesh and Spirit — it is immaterial like Spirit, but it is dependent upon the Flesh. When the Soul gives into the passions of Flesh, it moves away from Spirit; when it is disciplined against gluttony or lust, it moves closer to Spirit. By this reading, it is still very possible to eat right, exercise, build muscle, and be a good Gnostic.
These three words are critical in Gnostic vocabulary, and you should keep them in mind as we move forward.
BUDDHIST THEMES: Detachment from possessions, control passions of desire and lust, forego physical pleasures to attain inner peace
You likely know the story of Buddha: he examined the nature of suffering and determined it was caused by attachment and passions of the flesh. Letting go of passions and meditation to merge with the internal “I am” is the cure for suffering, and the door to bliss on this earth.
The Gnostics would have gotten along great with the Buddhists:
Control yourselves, receive the imperishable seed, bear fruit, and do not become attached to your possessions.
— Book of Marsanes
Knowledge of the ordained things is the “healing of the passions of the matter.” Learning is something derived from knowledge. If there is ignorance, and learning doesn’t exist in the soul, and additional evil comes from the passions, it constantly gnaws at the soul, and this produces evil. But God sent to men knowledge and learning.
— Book of Asclepius
The authorities wish to make the mind of the soul incline her toward one of them and overwhelm her, like a hook, drawing her by force in ignorance, deceiving her until she conceives evil, and bears fruit of matter, and conducts herself in uncleanness, pursuing many desires, covetousness, while fleshly pleasure draws her in ignorance. But the soul — she who has tasted these things — realized that sweet passions are transitory. She had learned about evil; she went away from them and she entered into a new conduct. Afterwards she despises this life, because it is transitory. And she looks for those foods that will take her into life, and leaves behind her those deceitful foods. And she learns about her light, as she goes about stripping off this world, while her true garment clothes her within, (and) her bridal clothing is placed upon her in beauty of mind, not in pride of flesh.
— Book of Authoritative Teachings
The wise man who is nourished by the truth will be like a tree growing by the meandering stream. But the visible things are far from the truth. Fire of passion guides them, and imprisons them, tricks them, blinds them with lust. For when you come forth from the sufferings and passions of the body, you will receive rest from the good one, and you will reign with the king (the Spirit-Father), you joined with him and he with you, from now on, for ever and ever, Amen.
— Book of Thomas the Contender
Sophia creates without a consort, and “dwells in passions.”
— Valentinian Exposition
Stop loving the flesh and fearing suffering. You’ve been abused and imprisoned by the evil one, as I was. Suffering is a blink in the grand scheme of life, so love life and disdain death.
— Apocryphon of James
Those born of flesh are nourished by flesh but those born of spirit are nourished by spirit. You can’t see something without becoming like it. You see the spirit, you become the spirit. You see Christ, you become Christ. You see the Father, you become the father. In the world, you see everything, but you don’t see your Self. But in the spirit realm, you see your Self, and you become what you see.
— Gospel of Philip
Buddhism is a purely Mystical religion: where Mysticism is “belief that union with or absorption into the Absolute, or the spiritual apprehension of knowledge inaccessible to the intellect, may be attained through contemplation and self-surrender.” Gnosticism is clearly similar; except it uses Christian symbolism to profligate the message.
And yet both traditions seem to present asceticism as a path to enlightenment. This interpretation not unfair. I would argue, however (and I will argue in Part 3), that emerging one’s psyche into the senses as a way of cultivating presence of mind is an effective way of expanding consciousness; and further, cultivating superior fitness of body is a way to help propel the soul towards Spirit. Walk the narrow path between appreciating the blessings of creation without falling victim to passions of the flesh. Gnostics do not talk much about this middle path, and it is duly noted.
THE AUTHORITIES: Archons and the Demiurge are metaphysical characters that are prominent in Gnostic writings
Have you ever thought to yourself, “the Old Testament God is kind of a dick — he put man in paradise, then put a big beautiful tree in the middle and told man not to eat it, then punished him with eternal suffering for eating it. What’s up with that?”
You’re not alone. The Gnostics thought so too. So they created myths of their own.
Recall the Platonic roots of Gnosticism. Plato was born in 428 BC, and Platonism spread for centuries after his death throughout the Hellenistic world. Among his teachings is the concept of the Demiurge, a spiritual figure responsible for fashioning the physical universe. Gnostics took Plato’s demiurge, and stitched it together with the Jewish creation myth, to create their own, new origin story.
Gnostics were primarily focused on the inner divine, and the mystical union with it via Gnosis, but they could not ignore the question: if perfect Immortal Spirit exists within man, from where comes Imperfect Mortal Flesh? Not only did Gnostics offer their own answer, they took the opportunity in doing so to attempt to destroy the Orthodoxical answer: the God of the Jewish Bible is actually the Evil One; he created man imperfectly; he sought to keep him away from Knowledge, he allowed man to be tempted anyways, he punished man for allowing himself to fall to temptation with suffering and floods and other heinous acts carried out in the Old Testament, and taken altogether, this is the behavior of a vengeful and imperfect spirit. In Canonical Christianity, Jesus is the next step in progression after the events of the Old Testament; in Gnostic Christianity, however, Jesus is a rebuke against the power of the Old Testament.
Though different books tell different stories (which is notable), here is how the most popular story goes: The Inexpressible Spirit created Aeons with his thought. One Aeon, Sophia (whose name means Wisdom), attempted to create something on her own, without her male counterpart of the blessing of the One. This resulted in an imperfect Aeon, called the Demiurge or Yaldabaoth. This god was arrogant, and ignorant, since he didn’t contain the light of the source. He caught a glimpse of the image of the Perfect Man, tried to create him, but he wouldn’t animate. God forgave Sophia and blew his spirit into this creation, and so it was that Man was born – part imperfect material, part perfect spirit. The Demiurge and his Archons (spirit helpers, authorities of the material realm), trapped man in a garden, told him not to eat the tree of knowledge, but when Man did eat it, he expelled him and has been molesting him ever since with floods and famines and suffering.
We should recall here and now the first three insights: the dream-trance nature of these writings, their scattered nature, as well as their coded psychological nature. People say, “Gnostics believe a Demiurge created mankind.” Perhaps it is so. But a) different books tell different versions of the story, and b) we are not taking any other writings literally at face value … so why would we treat this metaphysics literally? Christians believe that a talking snake is the reason childbirth is painful. What weirdos, am I right?
Regardless, the myth exists. So, what were Gnostic writers trying to get at with this concept of the Demiurge, and the Archons?
A first possible interpretation: the Gnostics believed the myth literally. It is plausible that Gnostics were searching for the one, true, authentic theological and metaphysical system, believed that Plato’s demiurge was real, and clicked it seamlessly into their understanding of Judaism and Christianity. Perhaps they really believed a fallen God created an imperfect world.
Or perhaps like with Eros, they were telling a psychological story.
Perhaps, like their inspiration Hermes said, "As above, so below, as within, so without, as the universe, so the soul." Perhaps their cosmological myth was a way of describing something going on in the Psyche — i.e. the human soul.
Another possible interpretation: Demiurge represents your Ego. If Gnostics, enamored with the Mind as an expression of the Divine, sought the cause of the suffering, where better to look than within the Mind — at man’s lying, arrogant, self-serving Ego. It thinks it is smarter than it actually is, when in reality it is limited and ignorant. It tells itself comforting lies, it thinks too highly of itself. Even 130 IQs are susceptible to idiotic tendencies. The Ego traps man’s awareness inside of it — from the time we wake up to the time we go to sleep, we are thinking, reading, working on problems, and we never make time to turn this off and center in our quiet Consciousness. It creates a self-sustaining dopamine loop. Its Intellect is a limited, bastardized version of the Intelligence deep within us. The Ego is a veil of illusion which keeps most of us in a waking sleep throughout our days.
Read the myth as a story of man’s psychological development. The creation of incomplete Wisdom results in ignorance, something that sees itself as separate from other things, something arrogant. This thing, this ego, it creates the frame through which our psyches see the world — i.e. it creates your world. It is blind to the inner I AM, which is the same in you as it is in all living beings, and it is divine. Man lives in suffering and ignorance because of it, but if Man can find that seed of I AM / Consciousness within him and return to it, he can regain full Wisdom, enlightenment.
Creation is imperfect, but it contains traces of perfection — this much is obvious to anyone capable of basic observation: for example, the human eye is an imperfect expression of something which seems to have a perfection or at least an intelligence within it: it’s a perfect circle, but with ripples. Same with planets: the earth expression of a perfect sphere, except for all of the mountains and valleys. Creation is near to perfection, but blemishes are present. The Brain and/or the Human Ego are the prime example of this, perhaps the example which Gnostics were trying to explore: the brain is elegant and reflects Intelligence, but its design, evolution, and function are mostly geared, like the Demiurge, towards towards desiring control, and manipulating other humans to greedily pull power into itself. We develop countermeasures of detection, logic, etc., but they are woefully inadequate — could it be possible that we created/designed this way? If so, who is this creator/designer, and why did it design us in a default condition of ignorance? It is not unreasonable to pin these flaws on a spiritual being responsible for creation; nor is it a completely hopeless message: while there are shades of imperfection in the physical world we inhabit, beauty can be found in it by way of the dynamic human experience.
Another likely interpretation: the Archons represent the orthodox political establishment of the day.
To defeat a people, you must defeat their gods. With the myth of the Demiurge, the Gnostic writers were very clearly taking swipes at the God of the Old Testament — and I find it very likely this was a way of taking attacking the Jewish Orthodox establishment. They were writing heresy about how the Jewish God was actually evil; he is arrogant and ignorant and tried to deceive Adam in the Garden of Eden. This is the highest blasphemy, and spitting in the face of the religious leaders of the day, who represented the established political order as well. The writers even mention, on multiple occasions, that circumcision is not good — going against one of the very first commandments Yahweh gave Abraham.
When I say “the corrupt government officials of this world,” there are several examples from the Nag Hammadi library which provide this context:
For many have sought after the truth and have not been able to find it: because there has taken hold of them the old leaven of the Pharisees and the scribes of the Law. And the leaven is the errant desire of the angels and the demons and the stars. As for the Pharisees and the scribes, it is they who belong to the archons who have authority over them.
— Testimony of Truth
The Pharisees and the scholars have taken the keys of knowledge and have hidden them. They have not entered nor have they allowed those who want to enter to do so.
— Gospel of Thomas
The great messenger told us “our conquest is not against flesh and blood, but rather the authorities of the material universe and the spirits of wickedness.” The chief authority is blind and ignorant who said “I am god there is no other but me.”
— Hypostasis of the Archons
The Archons here are presented as explicitly anti-Jewish Orthodoxy
Those who are supported by archons will blaspheme and teach evil things, say evil things. They’ll ask about dreams, and say that dreams come from demons, but they will be given perdition. Evil cannot produce good fruit. These souls come from death, so they create death. It is always a slave, it is created for its desires and their endless death. They love creatures of matter which come forth with them.
— Apocalypse of Peter
Authorities / Archons here are presented as real people who will single out Gnostic Christians as lunatics. They only love people who focus on materialism.
Gnostics even drew ire from early church leaders because of the structure of authority within their religious practice: they would draw lots to determine who had the role of priest, bishop, reader, etc. during their gatherings. You can imagine how a Bishop or Priest or Rabbi within religious establishments would despise this. But Gnostics despised something else: the concept of imperfect, individual, mortal authorities lording over others. It is very possible they are talking about the masters of world governments, militaries, and churches, and coming up with stories to say how they are unenlightened and ungodly, in contrast to their own enlightened souls.
This is consistent with the first interpretation: the Ego, which tends to deceive us internally, is also responsible for strife externally. It alone is incapable of bringing lasting happiness because it focuses on impermanent, material things, and, just so, the powerful Egos which govern our civilization, governments, and institutions are also incapable of leading humanity into Light — in fact, they lead mankind into darkness. Egos shape the entire material world in which we currently live, and have created the herd instinct in man throughout the ages to tie us up into statism and servitude. The default wiring of our human brains is responsible for desire and suffering internally, or war and strife externally (I repeat: the human brain is mostly geared towards manipulating other humans and greedily pulling power into itself). Gnostic writers treat the designer of this thing as demi-gods in their theology, and if we open ourselves to the presence of Gods like Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury (or Cronus, Zeus, Hermes; or whatever else you want to name them), then why close ourselves to the presence of dark gods (or dark aspects of gods? If “The Gods” are just anthropomorphized versions of “beings” or “forces” which rule matter and mind, cannot Archons be treated the same, when writing tomes of code and symbol?
Could it even be that these heretics were merely openly blaspheming against the religious and political establishment of their day, and using “Archons” as the code word to do it? Is “Archon” merely an ancient version of “Globohomo” — a word that dissidents settled on to mock their establishment authorities? What if, in two thousand years, someone read tweets where dissidents called their own political enemies Orcs, Demons, or NPCs; and what if they believed that we literally held that Orcs were running our government? Gnostics were known as libertines, shunning common laws and spitting in the face of external authorities — would it not make sense that much of their writings comment on those authoritarians of their day? Those “rulers of creation”, “authorities of the material world”? Today, we have globalist bankers, media personalities, and government officials of the same ilk — we should ask ourselves: what spirits are animating their conquest of global empire, and dominion over all the earth?
And so, I posit to you, that the Gnostic Demiurge Myth is a way to kill two birds with one stone: it is a swipe at religious and Government authority, while also explaining the psychological source of suffering: the Ego. It was an attempt to understand what leads men to be asleep or in slavery, and further how man might liberate his soul from destructive internal tendencies, or oppressive civilization, or both. In my view, the Demiurge is a myth, not to be interpreted literally, but it is a myth with an important message.
Both Orthodox and Gnostic teachers sought to answer the question “from where comes suffering, if perfect God is the source of all?”, and they both answered it with “it’s someone else’s fault”: In Orthodoxy, Satan was a fallen angel who tricked Man as a Snake; God’s creation was perfect, but an evil spiritual being introduced imperfection into it. For Gnostics, the Demiurge is also a fallen angel, but he is the one creating an imperfect world, and an imperfect mortal man. Orthodox original sin (i.e. the default state of man is suffering) is not so different from Gnostic imperfect creation. In both cases, Man is corrupted by default, and away from God, as a result of some devious spirit’s deceit. These are just two contrived myths which attempt to say similar things: that Man and the material world are imperfect, and he ought to return to union with God.
Where Gnostics and Orthodox Christians differ primarily is: where is God, and how do we rejoin with him? The Gnostic says God is internal, and we join him in life through experiential knowledge of him. The Orthodox says God is external, and we join him after death by believing in him and the historical Jesus in life.
SOPHIA AND THE BRIDEGROOM: the presence of the female Goddess as a counterpart and consort of Christ
In Orthodox Christianity there is only Christ the Son; in heretical Gnosticism, there is also Sophia, his twin sister in many texts — not a person who was a daughter of Mary, but the mythical sister, a spiritual counterpart.
The female soul’s story is told in the book The Exegesis on the Soul. Recall the distinction between Spirit, Soul, and Flesh as you read the summary:
When the soul was alone with her father she was a virgin in androgynous form. When she entered a physical body she fell into the hands of thieves. They abused her and took her virginity. She became a whore and depended on them. Then they left her. The father saw and took mercy on her, took her back into his house. When it turned inward it was Baptized, cleansed like dirty clothes soaked in water are. Then the father sent the bridegroom, the soul’s brother, and she waited for this Christ eagerly. The bridegroom entered the bridal chamber. The marriage was not carnal. They left behind the burden of physical desire. They became a single flesh. The soul joined her true love. Gradually she recognized him and was happy again. She got from him the seed which is the life giving spirit and has beautiful children by him. The soul was regenerated as it once was. The divine nature and rejuvenation came from the father. This is the resurrection from the dead, ransom from captivity, ascension to heaven. Through return to androgynous nature with her other half, her soul was reborn, and through rebirth, she was saved. The text says: “Salvation isn’t from skills or books or phrases. It comes from the gift and grace of the Father Ever-Being. This is the way to heaven.”
This too is clearly an allegory meant to communicate something about man’s inner self, his soul, his psyche. And it is not so different from the myth of Sophia and the Demiurge: The soul (female Sophia) lives in the Flesh (the Soul forgets the divine essence within it), and from this, suffering in the physical realm follows. The Soul needs to return to union with the inner divine Spirit to be saved.
The sacrament of the bridal chamber is visited repeatedly across several texts. It can be visualized in the Monad: The Spirit is the inner seed of divinity. The Soul is the Psyche. The Flesh is the Body. The Soul can exist at the Flesh, or it can merge with the Spirit within (i.e. it can be married in the bridal chamber). Christ is the name given either for the Spirit itself, or for a soul which lives as one with the Spirit, and so his is also the name given for the bridegroom that the soul marries in the bridal chamber.
Two myths, two ways of making a point — but they are making the same point.
KNOWLEDGE of the God Within is the path to salvation; and MINDFULNESS is the path to this KNOWLEDGE
Following from the Exegesis of the Soul, we come to the belief that the Psyche merging with Inner Spirit is what brings salvation of the soul.
How to get there?
Someone falls asleep, or becomes forgetful, or lives in the darkness of ignorance — these are common ways by which a Gnostic writer describes someone who is away from grace, or under the influence of archons. Conversely, Gnostics praise men who are enlightened, of knowledge, free from the rule of the authorities.
From the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus says: “the Father's kingdom is within you and it is outside you. When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty. It will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, 'Look, here!' or 'Look, there!' Rather, the Father's kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people don't see it."
Jesus is telling his disciples that we can all be Sons of God if we attain knowledge of our inner divinity.
How to attain knowledge of our inner divinity? Practice Mindfulness.
Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you.
He said to them, "You examine the face of heaven and earth, but you have not come to know the one who is in your presence, and you do not know how to examine the present moment."
— The Gospel of Thomas
From the Teachings of Silvanus:
Live with Christ, who illuminates the mind and the heart. Light of Christ is reason. Mind is a lamp which lights up the parts of the soul. You cannot see anything without Light.
Christ is the eye who looks at the invisible father.
If you do not know yourself you will not be able to know the Great Mind. Open the door for yourself that you may know the One Who Is.
Know yourself, from what substance you are. The Mind is what came from God. Live according to Mind. The Mind is Stronger than Flesh. The Mind is the Male Part. You will take likeness from the part of yourself toward which you turn. Turn towards your rational nature.
Be illuminated in Mind!
From the Book of Eugnostos the Blessed:
In the beginning, he decided to have his likeness become a great power. Immediately, the principle (or beginning) of that Light appeared as Immortal Androgynous Man. His male name is 'Begotten, Perfect Mind'
From the Tripart Tractate:
His members, however, needed a place of instruction, which is in the places which are adorned, so that they might receive from them resemblance to the images and archetypes, like a mirror.
Throughout the texts, I cannot help but to interpret Light as Consciousness / Awareness / Mind. In fact, Christ himself can often be interpreted as consciousness, evidenced in the first quote from Silvanus above (Live with Christ, who illuminates the mind and the heart. Mind is a lamp which lights up the parts of the soul. You cannot see anything without Light). Further, Water can be interpreted as the inner Unconscious self beneath the surface of which the Spark of Spirit resides (Water as the Unconscious is a common symbol in modern dream interpretations. Symbols are the universal language, they say….) In these ancient texts, written by dream travelers, it is right to translate Light and Water as Mind and Unconscious.
This is the meaning of Baptism: a sacrament of Light and Water where the soul initiates its journey toward spirit — it is conscious awareness turning down into its unconsciousness where the Spirit resides.
From the Gospel of Philip, Water is a mirror by which Light can see itself:
No one can see oneself in the water or in a mirror without light, nor can you see yourself in the light without water or a mirror. So it is necessary to baptize with two elements, light and water.
There are more common threads throughout the Nag Hammadi texts, but these stood out to me as the most important.
In Light of these themes and teachings (i.e., now that we are aware of them), I want to turn the clock forward.
In Part 3, I will offer a modern interpretation of Gnostic teachings. I will expand on Salvation, Consciousness, and that Spirit which lives beneath the Water that we feel as our Great Inner Will…