Secret Book of John -- The One

The Secret Book of John, an excerpt titled "The One."

A spirit appeared to John and told him that he would teach him of unimaginable things:

"I asked if I might understand this and it said to me, The One is a sovereign that has nothing over it. It is god and father of all, the invisible one that is over all, that is incorruptible, that is pure light at which no eye can gaze. 

The One is the invisible spirit. We should not think of it as a god or like a god. For it is greater than a god, because it has nothing over it and no lord above it. It does not exist within anything inferior to it, since everything exists within it alone. It is eternal, since it does not need anything. For it is absolutely complete. It has never lacked anything in order to be completed by it. Rather, it is always absolutely complete in light. The One is: 

illimitable, since there is nothing before it to limit it,

unfathomable, since there is nothing before it to fathom it, 

immeasurable, since there was nothing before it to measure it,

invisible, since nothing has seen it,

eternal, since it exists eternally,

unutterably, since nothing could comprehend it to utter it,

unnamable, since there is nothing before it to give it a name. 

The One is the immeasurable light, pure, holy, immaculate. The One is unutterable and is perfect in incorruptibility. No that it is part of perfection or blessedness or divinity: it is much greater. 

The One is not corporeal and it is not incorporeal.

The One is not large and it is not small. 

It is impossible to say, 

"How much is it?" or "What kind is it?"

For no one can understand it. 

The One is not among the things that exist, but it is much greater. Not that it is greater. Rather as it is in itself, it is not a part of the eternal realms or of time. For whatever is part of a realm was once prepared by another. Time was not allotted to it, since it receives nothing from anyone: what would be received would be on loan. The one who is first does not need to receive anything from another. Such a one beholds itself in its light. 

The One is majestic and has an immeasurable purity. 

The One is a realm that gives a realm, life that gives life, a blessed one that gives blessedness, knowledge that gives knowledge, a good one that gives goodness, mercy that gives mercy and redemption, grace that gives grace. 

Not as if the One possesses all this. Rather it is that the One gives immeasurable and incomprehensible light. 

What shall I tell you about it? It's eternal realm is incorruptible, at peace, dwelling in silence, at rest, before everything. 

It is the head of all realms, and it sustains them through its goodness. 

We would not know what is ineffable, we would not understand what is immeasurable, were it not for what has come from the father. This is the one who has told these things to us alone."

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It sounds as though John received quite an earful from this angelic spirit! How do you measure something so infinite in it's infinity? How does the human mind grasp it without going insane?

"The one who is first does not need to receive anything from another."

So he does not crave our adulation or obeisance, he simply offers to show us the mystery behind the curtain. It's free. No sit, kneel, pray, sit, kneel, pray required. No long chants or prayers at a certain time of the day and no facing a certain direction. There is no ritual required to summon him and no hoops to jump through because he is already here! We just have to open our ears.

"Names" in the Gospel of Philip

The Gospel of Philip states

"The names of earthly things are illusory.

We stray from the real to the unreal.

If you hear the word "god" you miss the real

and hear the unreal.

Father, son, holy spirit, life, light, resurrection, church.

These words are not real. They are unreal

but refer to the real, and are heard in the world.

They fool us. If those names were in the eternal realm,

they would never be heard on earth.

They were not assigned to us here.

Their end dwells in the eternal realm."

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

This is the reason why gnostics end up sounding like raving lunatics the majority of the time when confronting literalists. We can only use human approximate words which already exists to explain what we see and feel. Meanwhile, literalists have these terms which have been used for centuries upon centuries and have so much baggage attached to them all we can see is the baggage and not the root of the word itself as it was intended. 

Science-fiction author Orson Scott Card appeals to me for this vary reason. The term 'philotic web' works very well to describe what the interconnected auias of the bodhisattva look like covering the earth while communicating and meditating on the state of affairs in the world. How could a science fiction author(Mormon at that!) come up with this idea of philotes and their interconnectedness? In the dreamscape which we all share, ideas are exchanged. Words and terms are bandied about and ahah! A descriptive is decided upon to be the be one to be used at the moment. And so every day we get closer and closer to knowing ourselves and one another. As we learn and get closer to the All we evolve and our understanding helps us to mature.

Let us enjoy this dreamscape for what it is-- it's dialogue with one another while we learn what it is we are striving for. 

Gospel of Truth- Calling Those Who Have Knowledge

Blog Author's Note: In The Gnostic Bible section in the side-column you'll see the names of several books. This blog post is a continuation of a series on The Gospel of Truth. This collection of gnostic wisdom is a meaty, stick-to-your-bones, meditative kind of literature. It is not light religious cuisine. 

In several online sources for the text I have found a very common problem- headings, or rather a lack thereof. The interpretations are all the same, however they do not possess the subject headings of the printed version in the Gnostic Bible. I am keeping the subject headings provided in the printed version as it is easier to ... digest, if you will.  Without the headings it all runs together in a mish-mashed heap.

Because the Gospel of Truth is such heavy reading I prefer to keep the headings and separate the book out into easier-to-swallow type chapters. Each chapter or section is never very long but the use of sectional headings is important when searching for topic matter. Also, if one attempts to read the book as one long tract they will end up with a migraine to end all migraines. I do not advise doing it. But if you do, have some mercy on yourself and keep a heavily caffeinated drink nearby or at least some Tylenol. It is best to enjoy the book as a fine sipping wine-- in very small doses.

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The Father Calling Those Who Have Knowledge

Those whose name he knew first were called last, so that the one who has knowledge is he whose name the Father has pronounced. For he whose name has not been spoken is ignorant. Indeed, how shall one hear if his name has not been uttered? For he who remains ignorant until the end is a creature of forgetfulness and will perish with it. If this is not so, why have these wretches no name, why do they have no sound? Hence, if one has knowledge, he is from above. If he is called, he hears, he replies, and he turns toward him who called him and he ascends to him and he knows what he is called. Since he has knowledge, he does the will of him who called him. He desires to please him and he finds rest. He receives a certain name. He who thus is going to have knowledge knows whence he came and whither he is going. He knows it as a person who, having become intoxicated, has turned from his drunkenness and having come to himself, has restored what is his own. 

He has turned many from error. He went before them to their own places, from which they departed when they erred because of the depth of him who surrounds every place, whereas there is nothing which surrounds him. It was a great wonder that they were in the Father without knowing him and that they were able to leave on their own, since they were not able to contain him and know him in whom they were, for indeed his will had not come forth from him. For he revealed it as a knowledge with which all its emanations agree, namely, the knowledge of the living book which he revealed to the Aeons at last as his letters, displaying to them that these are not merely vowels nor consonants, so that one may read them and think of something void of meaning; on the contrary, they are letters which convey the truth. They are pronounced only when they are known. Each letter is a perfect truth like a perfect book, for they are letters written by the hand of the unity, since the Father wrote them for the Aeons, so that they by means of his letters might come to know the Father. 

The Father's Son Is Jesus Of Utmost Sweetness

While his wisdom mediates on the logos,

and since his teaching expresses it,

his knowledge has been revealed.

His honor is a crown upon it.

Since his joy agrees with it,

his glory exalted it.

It has revealed his image.

It has obtained his rest.

His love took bodily form around it.

His trust embraced it.

Thus the logos of the Father goes forth into the All, being the fruit of his heart and expression of his will. It supports the All. It chooses and also takes the form of the All, purifying it, and causing it to return to the Father and to the Mother, Jesus of the utmost sweetness. The Father opens his bosom, but his bosom is the Holy Spirit. He reveals his hidden self which is his son, so that through the compassion of the Father the Aeons may know him, end their wearying search for the Father and rest themselves in him, knowing that this is rest. After he had filled what was incomplete, he did away with form. The form of it is the world, that which it served.

For where there is envy and strife, there is an incompleteness; but where there is unity, there is completeness. Since this incompleteness came about because they did not know the Father, so when they know the Father, incompleteness, from that moment on, will cease to exist. As one's ignorance disappears when he gains knowledge, and as darkness disappears when light appears, so also incompleteness is eliminated by completeness. Certainly, from that moment on, form is no longer manifest, but will be dissolved in fusion with unity. For now their works lie scattered. In time unity will make the spaces complete. By means of unity each one will understand itself. By means of knowledge it will purify itself of diversity with a view towards unity, devouring matter within itself like fire and darkness by light, death by life.