"Christ and the Soul" in Gospel of Philip

I believe gnosis is universal, timeless, and didn't only begin in the Christian era of when Christ lived and died. How could it be that Plato and all the dozens of other proto-gnostics wrote allegories using symbolism Christians and other Mystery religion sects did centuries later? One followed the other, yes, but there are such gaps in time and space that it almost seems impossible to reconcile. 

It doesn't make sense because they were so removed from one another, despite the evidence that a few of them maintained a correspondence and became on again/off again teachers. These schools were wiped out time and time again. Gnosis can't be learned or felt with only a few letters exchanged. Momentum needs to be built, forward thinking and actions are needed to propel a thing like gnosis into a community affair or even be accepted as a 'muse' which one can count on for truth and comfort.

The best theory about how gnosis has traveled through time is that these themes are universal to the human psyche and within pleroma these thoughts are a constant. Time is not linear within him and I think this is the most difficult concept to accept. Daydreams and nightdreams are used as vehicles for communication. With us being so interconnected, if you consider that as a possibility then it all comes into focus quite sharply that there is no true original thought or idea. No one has a patent on anything! We're just very good at recycling and re-finding/re-imagining and refurbishing what has already been imagined countless times before. 

Think of the many 'renaissances' which have existed before now.  Count the many monuments left behind by civilizations which have flourished and then fallen- too many to count, really. We have all the evidence we need to say definitively: human beings are endlessly creative and tirelessly spiritual in nature. We are not atheist in nature! We are creative beings who want to connect to the divine in every way. It's what we long for when we are awake and when we dream. Why else would we go to such extremes, swinging madly between dark chaos and filth all the way over to courtly love and saccharine sweet paintings of rather naughty flying dresses?

Enchantingly beautiful, isn't she? Flirty and living in the moment on that swing. And the shoe! Do you see it? She's so happy and carefree that she is smiling even as her left shoe goes flying off her foot. Of course the paramour she's teasing in front of her is enjoying the spectacle of her happiness. Pleroma is like that handsome lover, grinning at us saying, "There you go! Live and love and laugh. I wants to see it and experience it with you!"

Is there gnosis in paint? What about in a bottle of Smirnoff? .... I have to say 'yes' to both of those. I tend to get a little more lyrical with my own paintbrush when I combine it with a good stiff drink or five. And you know what? There's nothing wrong with that!! It's the experience which matters; the internal dialogue which takes place and in which we find answers. It's the experience of life itself which drives us higher and higher, like the lady on that swing, to reach toward the gentle light of love which we feel deeply within us. A lot of times it difficult to see pleroma around us but when we center ourselves once more we can branch out from there and learn to truly live again.

When you have a run in with a person or even a group of people and you think: "Man, they really need to retract that stick up their @#$%. They'd be happier."  You are on the path of gnosis. Seeing unhappiness and gnowing(<-- My fingers slipped on the keyboard but it's funny so I'm keeping it) the solution to it is gnosis demystified. Truly, it is that simple. What brings you peace? To be exclusive or to be inclusive? Are you happy hating other people? Don't you think the divine wants us to be One or to be many and fight endless wars with one another?

And those riddle-like verses in the gnostic gospels aren't always built with a hundred layers like a french Opera cake. Some, like the  Gospel of Philip can be read quite literally- but only if you know the players. 

Christ as the Savior of humanity:

"Christ came to buy. He rescued and redeemed,
redeeming aliens. He made strangers his own.
He brought his own and made promises,
construing a strategy, and gave his life
when he appeared and when the world began.
Then he came and took back what he promised,
which fell into the hands of thieves. They captured it,
but he rescued it back. Then he redeemed
both the good and evil people of the world."

Could Philip be talking about literalists overtaking the gnostic sects with the line 'came and took back what he promised which fell into the hands of thieves'? Or maybe he's speaking of Judas 'stealing' what belonged to the world and which left the world(at least in the flesh) because of his deeds?

Either way you want to interpret this passage, the crucifixion story is not original only to Christian tradition. Nearly every religion has a holy person which is sacrificed in some way for knowledge or need of a group of people for what their death can offer. Why is that? Why this need for sacrifice?

Wise Men

I read a sign outside a local church today:

"Even wise men constantly strive toward a closer communion with the savior."

Sage advice to ring in the New Year. The parent-child connection between the good god and man means it is worthwhile to keep our hearts and minds open to new relationship advice. He only wants our hearts to be open and loving but there are times when we lose our temper. In those times he can give compassionate assistance in helping us detach ourselves from the situation to look at it from broader perspective.

In the grand scheme of things I think we may get too worked up over some very silly stuff.

And on that note, I think this would be a good time to list my New Year's Resolutions!

1) Yell less.
2) Listen more.
3) Fully understand that others are capable of solving their own problems and I don't have to be there to kiss every boo-boo just because I can.
4) Go easy on the Nutella. That stuff is addictive and I don't plan on buying a new wardrobe this year.

Prayer of the Messenger Paul

This singular prayer is the very first text of Codex 1 in the Nag Hammadi collection. It stands alone.

Grant me your mercy.
My redeemer, redeem me,
for I am yours.
I came from you.
You are my mind:
give me birth.
You are my treasure:
open for me.
You are my fullness:
accept me.
You are my rest:
give me unlimited perfection.

I pray to you,
you who exist and preexisted,
in the name exalted above every name,
through Jesus the anointed,
lord of lords,
king of the eternal realms.
Give me your gifts, with no regret,
through the human child,
the spirit,
the advocate of truth.
Give me authority, I beg of you,
give healing for my body, as I beg of you,
through the preacher of the gospel,
and redeem my enlightened soul forever, and my spirit,
and disclose to my mind the firstborn of the fullness of grace.

Grant what eyes of angels have not seen,
what ears of rulers have not heard,
and what has not arisen in the hearts of people,
who become angelic,
and after the image of the animate god(demiurge)
when it was formed in the beginning.
I have the faith of hope.
And bestow upon me
your beloved, chosen, blessed majesty,
you who are the firstborn, the first-conceived,
and the wonderful mystery of your house.
for yours is the power and the glory and the praise and the greatness,
forever and ever.
Amen.

Obvious Paradoxes & Contradictions

The Sacrifice of Isaac by Caravaggio

In a discussion on the Atheist Camel's blog, an anonymous commenter made a few deductions which were so perfect I couldn't resist talking about it here.

The Atheist Camel's blog post was called Loving The One You Fear: The Peculiar Christian Dilemma. In it, Dromedary Hump points out the flawed and contradictory relationship literalist Christians have with their God. In essence, this is an abusive relationship.

Anonymous goes even deeper into the paradox saying,

"Do we love abusive parents too? I personally can't stand to read about a parent who abuses their own.

For example, would you build a playground for your kids, and than put a running chainsaw in the center?(garden of Eden).

Would you leave your toddler(s) alone in the neighborhood knowing that a drug pusher was going to try to convince your kids to do something forbidden?(Serpent in said garden).

Would you kill all your kids but one and his immediate family?(Noah).

Imagine two of your kids gave you a present. Would you tell one child how wonderful his present was, and tell the other what a piece of crap HIS present was?(Cain and Able)

How about this..... Your kids are having problems. So you instuct one child(Moses) to tell the other child (Pharaoh)to knock it off, or he will pay. In the mean time, you tell the other child NOT to listen to the first("and he harden the Pharaohs heart). Then, just for kicks you kill all the innocent first born in the second childs village to teach him a lesson!!! Man, that's one terrible dad!!

The last example(of many) is one of my all time favorites. You make a bet with your sworn enemy(Satan) that he can't shake the love of your best behaved child(Job). Your enemy tortures your kid to the point of death, destroys those he loves, and generally is a real terror to him. Well, your kid still loves you, and your enemy is proven wrong. But to what end? All that horror has made absolutly zero difference!! Your enemy is still your enemy, he hasn't changed, but your kid is scarred for life!! What a great parent!!!

Above all, don't forget the Xtian mantra "god gave us free will". Yeah, sure he did "love me or burn". That's not free will. Free will would be "believe in me and go to heaven", or "don't believe and go to heaven". They confuse freedom of choice with free will. Sorry, abusers don't give free will."

-- The Serpent Was Right

What are we $$paying$$ for?

Two days ago I was standing in the checkout line of Walmart and this seventy-something year old man in front of me was holding an armful of groceries. The usual. Fruit, meats, and toilet paper. He turned around to face me and said, "Honey, I'm going someplace where I won't need all this stuff. Bought and paid for."

Normally I don't engage in religious talk with people I don't know. Call me quiet, call me something of a lover of peace; I just don't think it's wise to do it very often. But I took the bait anyway. I was in a magnanimous mood and so I humored him. I replied, "Oh, you mean heaven?"

He said, "Yep! Jesus paid for it with His blood and I paid for it with accepting Jesus as my savior."

I took a deep breath and dared. Yes. I did. Maybe it was cruel of me to do so to a man who was probably on death's door anyway but I still opened my mouth. "Why would you have to pay for something that's already free?" I asked.

Naturally a quizzical look appeared on his face and after thinking a moment he said, "Because of Eve's sin. She sinned and so we've all sinned. We have to pay for that."

"Oh, I see. The sins of the parents passed down to the children and all that...." We both nodded in understanding one another. He seemed happy with that and said no more.

As I pondered this conversation further the next few days it became more and more clear to me that this was plain bullshit brainwashing of the demiurge. Come on now. Use your common sense. Why would a deity force children to pay for the sins of the parents? Isn't that cruel? It's like credit card companies calling to harass the family for payment on old debts of a deceased family member. Legally they cannot collect. But if the family wants to pay out of the generosity of their hearts it's not like the credit card companies would turn them down. Your debt is written off/washed away with your death. But not your debt to Yahweh. Eve sinned so you've got to make the sacrifice. Extract and lay down your brain at the door to dogmatic Christianity; free thinking isn't allowed.

Book Review

Jesus Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents the Historical Jesus
By: Michael Wilkins & JP Moreland

This book left a lot to be desired by way of real scholarship.

I checked out Amazon's feedback on this book left by customers/readers and not surprisingly there was a lot of "This is the best book ever written on the topic!!!" type comments left by literalists and "ye gods, people- wake up!!" comments from the apologist haters. (I'd leave a review along that last line myself but I'm too damn lazy to do so. I'd actually have to remember my Amazon log in information.)

This customer said essentially what I was thinking:

Circular Reasoning, September 5, 2000

By A Customer

I have to admit up front that I stopped reading this book after the first 100 pages or so (the first three essays). Despite the claims of this book that the Jesus Seminar's research starts with the assumption that the Jesus in the Gospels could not be the true Jesus, this book starts with the equally arguable assumption that everything in the New Testament is true (despite serious inconsistencies between the four Gospels) unless proven otherwise.

***************

Along the same lines as the "circular thinking" motif, I wonder if the authors realized just how asinine it is to call a 2,000(supposedly) year old collection of writings as accurate when they're using THE WRITINGS THEMSELVES to authenticate it.

*blog author slams head into keyboard*

Repeating a verse so many times doesn't make it true. Classifying and color coding verses into ratings of what the Jesus-they've-visualized would have said into nice, neat little piles doesn't make their fact finding mission true. Not when you've got asshats like Irenaeus at the helm of Christian orthodoxy so many centuries ago.

I know that sometimes I sound almost like an atheist in my arguments. But I'm not. I'm simply fed up with the pathetic cookie-cutter circular reasoning happening in the minds of worldly Christians. It's self defeating.

Gnosis is about using your BRAIN to come to a conclusion about a question. Not circular reasoning. Not by using the the subject matter itself to prove it's dogmatic worth when we really know crap about what happened 2,000 years ago. Anything of real worth that once existed to compare it to in order to find the truth- simply does not exist anymore. There were too many library burnings taking place. Once you get through the first few chapters of fluff where the authors spout off at how they're going to "prove the Jesus Seminar wrong" the book takes a decidedly apologetic turn- straight downhill.

Pure fluff for the brain-dead masses.

Redemption from what, exactly?

Stephen Hoeller, the modern day gnostic philosopher and Bishop of the Ecclesia Gnostica, put together a fantastic lexicon concerning the How's and Why's of gnosticism.

(Pay careful attention to number thirteen as it concerns "lay gnosis.")

Here is what he has to say concerning gnosis and salvation:

1. What is Gnosis?

Gnosis is the revelatory and salvific knowledge of who we were, of what we have become, of where we were, of wherein we have been thrown, of whereto we are hastening, of what we are being freed, of what birth really is, and of what rebirth really is. This is an ancient definition which is still accurate.

2. Is there more than one kind of Gnosis?

The experience of Gnosis comes to human beings in individual manifestations, yet it always has common features and a common keynote.

3. Is Gnosis an experience or a doctrine?

It is both. The experience of Gnosis is mystical knowledge that liberates. This is both accompanied and preceded by a kindred kind of Gnosis that informs. These were called (by Clement of Alexandria) the Divine Gnosis and Human Gnosis respectively. The human or doctrinal part of Gnosis consists of a certain kind of knowledge of the spiritual, psychic and material worlds and their relationships.

4. How is Human Gnosis acquired?

Primarily by way of the study and assimilation of the teachings of the Messengers of Light and of the seers and sages of the Gnostic tradition and by way of the amplification of these by individual insight.

5. How does one come to Divine Gnosis?

By divine grace combined with sincere and informed human aspiration.

6. What specific help is there available to us in order to receive both Divine and Human Gnosis?

Such help comes to us from Messengers of Light and other enlightened teachers of Gnosis.

7. Was there a time when humans were without Gnosis?

From the beginning of the human race, some people were in possession of Gnosis. These early Gnostics were at times symbolically called the "Great Race of Seth", after Seth, the third son of Adam, who was recognized as the prototype of all Gnostics.

8. Who was the latest great revealer of Gnosis?

It was the Lord Jesus Christ, who acted both as the rectifier of the existing tradition of Gnosis and as the revealer of new elements of Gnosis.

9. Can Gnosis be given by another?

A Messenger of Light comes to enlighten humans by his teachings and to transform their spiritual lives by the mysteries he bestows on them. But only those in whom the true spiritual intuition ("the Light Mind") is awakened will welcome the message and benefit from the mysteries.

10. What are we to be saved from?

We are to be saved first from ignorance which prevents us from knowing our true source, our real nature, our condition and our destiny. At last we shall also be saved from the burden of earthly existence with its attendant conditions of suffering and exile from our true home.

11. What brings about salvation?

Salvation is brought about neither by faith (belief in God, or Christ) nor by works (the performance of good deeds), but by Gnosis.

12. Why is this so?

Because faith and works do not result in a radical change in the being of one's consciousness, but Gnosis does.

13. What does the radical change of consciousness brought about by Gnosis accomplish?

It establishes a renewed link of the soul with the spirit and of both with God. This breaks the bonds that have shackled our true being to the forces of earth. Ultimately it brings liberation from all earthly things.

14. What are the further benefits of salvation by Gnosis?

A turning away of the soul from the attachments of life, a constant straining upwards to the pure Divine Spirit, wherein is our true home. Also, God's friendship in this life, a good death, and after that a swift passage through cleansing regions to God's presence in the Fullness (PLEROMA) of divine glory, goodness and love.