Download "THE GNOSTIC WORLDVIEW - A Lecture by LAURENCE CARUANA"
%3Aformat(webp)%2Fi.ytimg.com%252Fvi_webp%252FRJBn6ZKrQKo%252Fmaxresdefault.webp&w=1139&q=75)
Table of contents
Similar videos from our catalog
%3Aformat(webp)%2Fi.ytimg.com%252Fvi%252F2gEfBe4_sOg%252Fmaxresdefault.jpg&w=1139&q=75)
%3Aformat(webp)%2Fi.ytimg.com%252Fvi%252F4Zv9PUYPodw%252Fhqdefault.jpg&w=1139&q=75)
%3Aformat(webp)%2Fi.ytimg.com%252Fvi%252F5h52beXavf8%252Fmaxresdefault.jpg&w=1139&q=75)
%3Aformat(webp)%2Fi.ytimg.com%252Fvi_webp%252FDfbtEa0btSs%252Fmaxresdefault.webp&w=1139&q=75)
%3Aformat(webp)%2Fi.ytimg.com%252Fvi_webp%252FIEBjK69pXO0%252Fmaxresdefault.webp&w=1139&q=75)
%3Aformat(webp)%2Fi.ytimg.com%252Fvi%252FW3zTgYwJ1kg%252Fhqdefault.jpg&w=1139&q=75)
%3Aformat(webp)%2Fi.ytimg.com%252Fvi%252FbnIiAvSCvyI%252Fmaxresdefault.jpg&w=1139&q=75)
%3Aformat(webp)%2Fi.ytimg.com%252Fvi_webp%252Fdmg8zcWakDk%252Fmaxresdefault.webp&w=1139&q=75)
%3Aformat(webp)%2Fi.ytimg.com%252Fvi%252FeZgk8nKvJE4%252Fmaxresdefault.jpg&w=1139&q=75)
%3Aformat(webp)%2Fi.ytimg.com%252Fvi_webp%252FiJ-FQocztAs%252Fmaxresdefault.webp&w=1139&q=75)
Video tags
Subtitles
Russian
00:00:19
[Music]00:00:29
[Music]00:00:40
welcome to this series of lectures at00:00:43
the Vienna Academy of visionary art and00:00:46
I would like to speak today about a00:00:48
subject which is very dear to my heart00:00:50
which is to say Gnosticism and the00:00:53
Gnostic worldview and when we ask the00:00:57
question what is Gnosticism there can be00:01:00
many possible answers indeed even the00:01:03
word Gnosticism has been questioned as a00:01:07
concept but I would argue that we can00:01:10
use the word Gnosticism and gnosis and00:01:12
when we talk about it we are talking00:01:14
about a diversified religious movement00:01:17
from the first century of Alexandria00:01:19
which synthesized Greek hermetic Judaic00:01:24
and Christian views to express the00:01:27
direct experience of divine unity and00:01:30
this is gnosis and I will make an effort00:01:34
to explain this and go through this00:01:36
piece by piece and this presentation00:01:41
then is in three parts the first part00:01:43
will be a scholarly introduction to00:01:46
Gnosticism trying to see it in its00:01:48
context talking about its discovery00:01:51
about its gradual presentation to our00:01:54
culture and then in the second part00:01:56
we'll move into the Gnostic myth and00:01:58
specifically the Gnostic myth of the00:02:00
creation as exemplified by the00:02:02
apocryphon of John and to finish off00:02:06
then we'll get into the Gnostic Savior00:02:08
as well as the soul ascent what happens00:02:11
to us in a vision what happens to us00:02:14
after death this is in essence the soul00:02:16
ascent so let's begin then and I begin00:02:22
by stating that Gnosticism or gnosis is00:02:25
basically understood as a heresy00:02:28
and the reason why it's a heresy because00:02:30
it certainly wasn't at the beginning00:02:33
that the Gnostics were one of many early00:02:35
Christian movements in the first century00:02:38
of our era and indeed we're learning a00:02:41
lot about early Christianity through the00:02:44
Gnostic texts their theology there are00:02:47
texts their rituals rejected by the00:02:49
early church fathers by around00:02:52
200 of our era and once the church came00:02:56
into power through the politics as the00:02:59
official Church of Rome it was00:03:02
eventually condemned as a heresy by the00:03:04
Year 30000:03:06
so certainly Gnosticism was not always a00:03:08
heresy but it has become a heresy for00:03:11
the better part of our culture their00:03:14
texts were banned and possibly burned00:03:17
and certainly buried because we were00:03:20
fortunate to discover some of their00:03:23
texts in nag Hammadi what makes00:03:27
narcissism heretical it's a question of00:03:31
what is canonical and what is non00:03:34
canonical so if we speak about the00:03:37
canonical sources of the New Testament00:03:40
then we must go back to the 1800s into00:03:44
German scholars who using the art of00:03:48
philology we're able to determine the00:03:51
order of writing of the four Gospels if00:03:55
you open a book of the New Testament and00:03:58
you want to find out about the life of00:04:00
Christ00:04:01
you've discover that basically the New00:04:03
Testament gives us four versions of the00:04:06
life of Christ one written by mark one00:04:08
by Matthew one by Luke and one by John00:04:11
but a closer reading of those texts00:04:14
reveals that Matthew and Luke were in00:04:17
fact sourcing their Gospels on the00:04:22
Gospel of Mark which was dated then to00:04:24
about ten years prior to the writing of00:04:27
their Gospels by these German scholars00:04:29
the German scholars also suggested that00:04:32
there must be this cue list of sayings00:04:35
and cue from the German word fella00:04:39
which means source and so they had this00:04:42
source of sayings just a list of00:04:45
Christ's sayings Logie on in Greek and00:04:48
they were referencing both the cue list00:04:50
and the Gospel of Mark to create the00:04:53
Gospel of Matthew in the Gospel of Luke00:04:56
then when we read the Gospel of John00:04:58
which occurs about00:05:00
ten years after that around 90 AD we00:05:04
realized that John had to be reading at00:05:06
a later date and indeed it's often00:05:09
argued that the Gospel of John has a lot00:05:11
of Gnostic concepts or ideas in it so00:05:15
those are the four canonical sources of00:05:19
the life of Christ as recorded in the00:05:22
New Testament and this was then decided00:05:24
by the church fathers in the first00:05:27
centuries of the Christian era as a00:05:30
result the other texts were deemed non00:05:34
canonical Irenaeus who wrote a book00:05:39
called against all heresies around 18000:05:44
singles out one group that he calls00:05:48
Gnostics and he mentions these as the00:05:51
people who follow the knowledge falsely00:05:54
so-called or pseudo Nima's gnosis and he00:05:59
argues that their text must be non00:06:01
canonical or heretical because only four00:06:04
Gospels can exist and here is his00:06:07
argument he says it is not possible as00:06:11
the Gospels can be either more or fewer00:06:14
in number than they are for there are00:06:16
four zones in the world in which we live00:06:19
and for principle winds from which fact00:06:23
it is evident that the word the00:06:26
artificer of all has given us the gospel00:06:28
under four aspects but down together by00:06:32
one spirit so this is the kind of00:06:35
argument which is an argument more based00:06:38
on symbolism and types rather than on00:06:43
reason but nevertheless an argument for00:06:45
the four Gospels of Christ however if we00:06:51
open the pages of something like this00:06:55
book the New Testament Apocrypha and00:06:57
this was edited by violence named Asia00:07:00
we discover that in fact many00:07:03
alternative version00:07:04
of the life of Christ exist not just00:07:07
Gnostic ones but what we can call in00:07:11
general apocryphal or non canonical00:07:14
versions of the life of Christ and as we00:07:17
go through this list we discover that in00:07:19
fact there are many Gnostic texts00:07:22
included in this list but also non00:07:25
Gnostic non canonical texts and there's00:07:30
quite a few different versions many of00:07:33
them dating later than the original four00:07:36
Gospels but nevertheless possible00:07:39
versions of the life of Christ so if we00:07:44
want to know what Gnosticism is our only00:07:48
source for Gnosticism until the NAG00:07:51
Hammadi discovery in 1945 was through00:07:55
the writings of the church fathers and00:07:58
the church fathers we've met with00:08:00
Irenaeus already from around 100 AD00:08:04
Irenaeus of Leo wrote against all00:08:07
heresies where he gave us a description00:08:09
of what Gnosticism was he was followed00:08:13
by clement of alexandria who wrote his00:08:15
miscellanies and Tertullian of Carthage00:08:19
Hippolytus of Rome epifanio's of Salamis00:08:23
all of these were writing against the00:08:26
Gnostics and they had access to the00:08:29
Gnostic texts and indeed were sometimes00:08:31
quoting from the Gnostic texts and as a00:08:35
result we were able to piece together00:08:37
what Gnosticism must have been to give00:08:41
you an example then I'll quote here from00:08:44
Irenaeus against all heresies book 1 and00:08:46
typical for the way he writes he writes00:08:50
these men falsify the Oracles of God and00:08:54
proved themselves evil interpreters of00:08:57
the good word of Revelation they also00:09:00
overthrow the faith of many by drawing00:09:03
them away under a pretense of knowledge00:09:07
gnosis they maintained then that in the00:09:12
invisible and ineffable Heights there00:09:14
exists a certain /00:09:16
fect pre-existent a on invisible and00:09:20
incomprehensible eternal and unbegotten00:09:22
which remained throughout innumerable00:09:25
cycles of ages in profound serenity and00:09:29
quiescence there existed along with him00:09:32
Noah so as you can see suddenly he00:09:36
shifts from condemning the Gnostics to00:09:39
quoting up texts that he has in front of00:09:42
his eyes and so Hans Jonas for example00:09:45
we see in this book over here the00:09:47
Gnostic religion wrote this book before00:09:51
the discovery of the NAG Hammadi library00:09:53
and is perhaps the best description of00:09:57
the Gnostic religion by piecing together00:10:00
the patristic sources and by piecing00:10:03
together all that we had at the time00:10:05
about Gnosticism it's a fascinating book00:10:08
he's a Haida garyun and he views00:10:11
Gnostics as these countercultural00:10:14
revolutionaries and by itself it makes a00:10:17
fascinating reading even today even00:10:18
though he had to make emendations to the00:10:21
text after discovery of the NAG Hammadi00:10:23
library so what are the original Gnostic00:10:28
sources as I said the nag hammadi00:10:32
discovery was made in 1945 in nag00:10:36
Hammadi Egypt however before that we did00:10:39
have some original Gnostic texts and as00:10:44
you see on the left over here before the00:10:47
nag hammadi discovery that there was00:10:49
indeed the Bruce codex codex Luciana's00:10:53
which was purchased in Upper Egypt00:10:56
around 1769 and had a series of00:11:00
interesting Gnostic Gospels or texts of00:11:04
which the first book of you is perhaps00:11:07
the most interesting as well as the00:11:09
untitled text fragments of a gnostic him00:11:12
and so on another text that was00:11:15
discovered early on which is the askew00:11:18
codex codex askew Yanis was purchased in00:11:22
Egypt also around 1785 and that gives us00:11:26
the pista Sofia00:11:28
is a major text it is about a hundred00:11:31
pages long however it occurs fairly late00:11:35
in the Gnostic corpus and so it gives us00:11:38
a view of Gnosticism around the 3rd or00:11:41
4th century the Berlin codex discovered00:11:46
in 1896 in Egypt then gave us the gospel00:11:50
of Mary Magdalene and our first version00:11:54
of the apocryphon of John which becomes00:11:56
one of the most important Gnostic texts00:11:59
so we did have access to these original00:12:01
Gnostic texts as well as as you see at00:12:04
the bottom the Acts of Thomas gave us00:12:06
the hem of the pearl which is a00:12:08
beautiful example of a kind of Gnostic00:12:11
allegory but once we had access to the00:12:17
NAG Hammadi discovery which was made in00:12:20
1945 everything changed00:12:22
it was like we were suddenly given a00:12:25
direct view onto the Gnostic world I00:12:28
should also mention the Chacos codex as00:12:31
you see on the far right which was00:12:33
discovered in Egypt around 1970 however00:12:38
it was kept in a safe-deposit box for00:12:41
the longest time and was only released00:12:44
from the safe-deposit box in the year00:12:46
2001 and then finally published in 200600:12:50
although some pages apparently are still00:12:53
missing among the text of the Chacos00:12:58
codex is the famous Gospel of Judas and00:13:01
so where we get to hear from Judas's00:13:03
point of view what happened in the life00:13:06
of Christ that gives you an idea then of00:13:10
the original sources of Gnosticism so00:13:13
let's now move to the discovery of the00:13:17
nag hammadi corpus when the story begins00:13:21
with these two brothers that you see00:13:23
here califa and muhammad ali and that00:13:26
they were digging in these hills close00:13:29
to their village which lies not too far00:13:32
away from the larger city of naka mahdi00:13:35
and they were digging for fertilizer00:13:38
which was their custom00:13:40
they came upon a jar a sealed jar so00:13:45
they took this jar out of the earth00:13:48
broke it open and immediately all these00:13:51
dust particles and fragments of pages00:13:54
flew up into the air and they succumbed00:13:57
these series of codices in fact they00:14:01
discovered 13 codices and when they00:14:04
brought them home they showed them to00:14:07
their mother she immediately took one of00:14:10
them and thought hmm this must be good00:14:13
for fire kindling so she threw the first00:14:16
text straight into the fire and it was00:14:19
burned as a way to Kindle their fire00:14:21
however the brother did hold on to the00:14:24
other texts and eventually there's a00:14:26
long story but due to various family00:14:29
disputes they were given to the local00:14:33
Coptic priest who then sold them in00:14:35
Cairo and in Cairo is realized by Jean00:14:39
DRS that these are very important00:14:42
discovery00:14:44
it took however until the 1960s for00:14:51
scholars to come together as a team00:14:55
funded by UNESCO to actually go through00:14:59
the texts and try to preserve them to00:15:02
put them under glass to piece them00:15:04
together since they were so fragmented00:15:06
and finally to translate them so only in00:15:09
the 70s did these texts emerge into our00:15:13
culture and they emerged in this form as00:15:16
the Coptic gnostic library with the00:15:18
Coptic pages on the left hand and the00:15:22
translations into English on the right00:15:24
hand and then a more popular version was00:15:27
released called the NAG Hammadi library00:15:29
edited by James M Robinson and since00:15:32
then we've had quite a few translations00:15:35
also translations into other european00:15:38
languages like German and French and so00:15:41
on so that it is now entered into the00:15:44
public domain starting in the 1970s so00:15:49
let's have a look now at the thirteen00:15:51
codices in the NAG Hammadi00:15:53
election and the codecs just remind you00:15:57
is a book as opposed to say a scroll00:16:00
that codex is a bound book and these00:16:03
were bound with beautiful leather covers00:16:06
some of them even tooled with designs00:16:09
codex one was actually separated from00:16:14
the rest and found its way as a gift to00:16:17
Carl Gustav Jung and he had it in his00:16:20
possession for quite some time and then00:16:23
when all of the texts were put together00:16:25
and collected in the Coptic library in00:16:30
Cairo he willingly gifted it to the00:16:34
Coptic library in Cairo so you will find00:16:38
for example in codex to the apocryphon00:16:41
of John the Gospel of Thomas the Gospel00:16:44
of Philip what is an apocryphal00:16:46
apocryphon as opposed to Apokolips00:16:50
an apocalypse is a revealed teaching and00:16:52
apocryphon is a hidden teaching and00:16:55
indeed Christ appears to the disciples00:16:58
on in this text and reveals to him a00:17:02
hidden version of what really happened00:17:05
in history you have Gospels you have00:17:09
Acts you have letters and some of the00:17:12
main characters that you meet with in00:17:14
the Gnostic texts would be Adam or his00:17:17
descendant Seth Shem Melchizedek the00:17:21
high priest Jesus Christ in Sofia but00:17:25
also the Apostles like John James Peter00:17:28
Thomas Philip Mary Magdalene and Judas00:17:32
all of these having their own versions00:17:35
and indeed their own schools of thought00:17:38
in which they interpret the words of00:17:42
Jesus Christ other figures emerge like00:17:45
you know Stace marce Inez ala Jenni's00:17:48
and valentineís but not just Gnostic00:17:52
texts we also find Plato's Republic we00:17:55
find hermetic texts like the Asclepius00:17:58
and another hermetic text to discourse00:18:00
on the 8th and 9th so it's an00:18:03
interesting collection is mostly Gnostic00:18:06
but not just not00:18:07
tick and includes platonic texts00:18:09
hermetic texts and so forth so the main00:18:13
ones as I said the Gospel of Thomas the00:18:16
Gospel of Philip the apocryphon of John00:18:19
and another very well-known one up there00:18:23
is the Thunder perfect mind and there's00:18:27
a whole series of fascinating00:18:29
revelations over the course of these00:18:31
different pages if I take some examples00:18:36
then from the nag hammadi corpus and00:18:38
these examples can be called loggia or00:18:42
sayings this one for example from the00:18:45
tri morphic proto Noah00:18:46
I am androgynous I am the mother and I00:18:51
am the father since I copulate with00:18:54
myself I am the womb that gives shape to00:18:58
the all by giving birth to the light00:19:00
that shines in splendor just to give you00:19:04
an idea of the kind of poetry the00:19:07
spiritual poetry that you encounter this00:19:10
next one from the Thunder perfect mind I00:19:12
am the first and the last00:19:16
I am the honored and the scorned one I00:19:19
am the and the Holy One I am the00:19:22
wife and the virgin00:19:24
I am the mother and the daughter I am00:19:27
the barren one and many are my sons I am00:19:31
she whose wedding is great and I have00:19:35
taken no husband here's a line from the00:19:40
dialogue of the Savior on the top right00:19:42
clothe yourselves in the light and enter00:19:46
the bridal chamber and we will soon00:19:49
learn what this means about clothing00:19:51
yourself in light and entering a bridal00:19:53
chamber and these last two ones then00:19:56
from the Gospel of Thomas which is a00:19:59
list of sayings very much like this cue00:20:03
list that the German scholars suggested00:20:06
would exist and certainly it did show up00:20:09
as existing this list of loci on from00:20:12
the Gospel of Thomas loci on 17 Jesus00:20:16
said I will show you what no eye has00:20:19
seen00:20:20
and no ear has heard and what no hand00:20:23
has touched and what has never occurred00:20:27
to the human mind Logan00:20:32
18 which is very mysterious the00:20:35
disciples said to Jesus tell us how the00:20:40
end will come00:20:41
Jesus said have you already laid bare00:20:45
the beginning so that now you seek the00:20:48
end for the end will be where the00:20:53
beginning is and you can see why00:20:57
scholars are so intrigued by Gnosticism00:21:00
because you have these beautiful texts00:21:03
these beautiful sayings which don't00:21:05
exist in the canonical Gospels and00:21:08
suddenly we have words being put into00:21:11
the mouth of Christ which are pure00:21:13
poetry and not just poetry but also very00:21:16
profound in their spiritual and00:21:19
philosophical ramifications on the other00:21:23
hand when the NAG Hammadi library first00:21:28
appeared the way it appeared was00:21:31
somewhat difficult to read because the00:21:35
scholars were being very true to the00:21:37
text and to be true to the text whenever00:21:40
they made an emendation and added a word00:21:43
they did this in square brackets and00:21:46
very often they had to because the texts00:21:49
were so fragmentary as well every time00:21:52
there was a line break they put a slash00:21:54
they were numbering each line and also00:21:59
each page and so reading it you ended up00:22:03
reading something like this and then you00:22:06
see also that the language of Gnosticism00:22:09
can be very obscure let's take this00:22:12
example on the top left from the gospel00:22:14
of the egyptians and thus he was00:22:17
completed namely the father the mother00:22:21
the son the five seals the unconquerable00:22:26
power which is the great christ of all00:22:30
the incorruptible ones dot dot dot00:22:33
holy dot dot dot the end the00:22:36
incorruptible dot dot dot and dot dot00:22:39
dot they came forth so the text can be00:22:43
very very fragmented it depends on which00:22:45
text some are less fragmented the00:22:48
apocryphon of John which exists in three00:22:50
different examples we can collate the00:22:53
different versions to have a much longer00:22:55
incomplete text on the other hand let's00:22:58
take this one from the first Apocalypse00:23:00
of James where we finally get to00:23:03
discover the names of some of Christ's00:23:06
female disciples and it begins when you00:23:10
speak these words of this dot dot00:23:13
thought encourage these women Salome and00:23:18
Miriam and then the scholar guesses and00:23:21
Martha and arson no way that it breaks00:23:25
off since he takes some thought to me so00:23:29
just as we're getting the names of the00:23:32
women who followed Christ the text00:23:35
becomes fragmentary and this is the only00:23:37
text pretty much that mentions them by00:23:40
name00:23:41
another very important text is the one00:23:44
on the far right a Valentinian00:23:46
exposition and this text is important00:23:48
because we finally get in the words of00:23:53
the Gnostics themselves the relationship00:23:57
between Jesus and Mary Magdalene or00:24:00
rather between Christ and Sophia but00:24:04
when we read it it becomes very very00:24:06
difficult to read and just to go through00:24:08
it quickly but the syzygy is the00:24:12
complete one and Sophia and Jesus and00:24:15
the angels and the seeds are images of00:24:19
the plural ma moreover the Demiurge cast00:24:23
a shadow over the syzygy and the plural00:24:26
ma and Jesus and Sophia and the angels00:24:29
and the seeds the complete one glorifies00:24:34
Sophia the image glorifies truth and the00:24:38
glory of the seeds and Jesus are those00:24:41
of silence and mana Jenny's and the00:24:45
angels of the male00:24:47
and the Seminole ones of the females are00:24:49
all play Roma's moreover whenever Sophia00:24:53
receives her concert and Jesus receives00:24:56
the Christ and the seeds and the angels00:24:59
then the plural ma will receive Sophia00:25:03
joyfully and all will come to be in00:25:07
unity and reconciliation now it's a bit00:25:11
sad it's almost incomprehensible and you00:25:15
have to read it and reread it and start00:25:17
to understand the language the unique00:25:20
language that the Gnostics used words00:25:22
like syzygy and plural ma and mano00:25:26
Jennie's and so on once you start to00:25:29
learn the Gnostic language and start to00:25:32
see the Gnostic worldview you start to00:25:35
understand that here is in fact the00:25:38
marriage of Christ and Sophia at the end00:25:42
of time that will bring about the00:25:43
reconciliation of the all with the one00:25:46
and this is the single text that gives00:25:48
us a description of that so it's very00:25:50
important but you have to penetrate00:25:53
fairly deeply into the Gnostic worldview00:25:57
let us now have a look at Gnosticism00:26:00
today and Gnosticism has that is impact00:26:03
on in various facets of our culture00:26:06
clearly in the academic field that's00:26:09
where a lot of writing is being done00:26:12
about Gnosticism beginning here with00:26:15
Kurt Rudolph in Elaine Pagels Kurt00:26:18
Rudolph's book gnosis and Elaine Pagels00:26:21
the Gnostic Gospels two seminal texts00:26:25
that were published in the last thirty00:26:27
years or so more recent scholars such as00:26:30
April D Connick have emerged with00:26:33
interesting perspectives on Gnosticism00:26:36
as a countercultural movement and then00:26:39
many of the most known scholars Marvin00:26:42
Mayer John Dee Turner00:26:44
Madeleine's Capello Karen King burger a00:26:47
Pierson all of these academics00:26:51
professors at University00:26:54
who are doing an excellent job in both00:26:56
translating and interpreting Gnosticism00:27:00
on the other hand their writings don't00:27:03
necessarily reach such a broad public00:27:05
and this is where the independent00:27:07
scholars come in to bring knowledge of00:27:12
Gnosticism to a wider public and00:27:14
particularly Stefan H holder and Miguel00:27:18
O'Conner have played an excellent role00:27:21
Stefan H further from the ecclesia00:27:24
nastika on the west coast of the USA and00:27:27
Miguel O'Conner through his podcasts Eon00:27:32
byte have served this purpose other00:27:36
important figures in this independent00:27:39
scholar if you want movement would be00:27:41
Eric Davis his book tech gnosis Timothy00:27:45
frake and Peter Ghandi Andrew Philip00:27:48
Smith and I have to put myself Lawrence00:27:51
Caruana in that same category as an00:27:53
independent scholar of Gnosticism going00:27:56
further afield who are we as Gnostics to00:28:01
call the other Gnostics heretics00:28:03
but the esoteric field we have00:28:07
interpretations of Gnosticism by I'm not00:28:11
sure how to pronounce his name Samuel00:28:13
ennui or and John lamb lash these are00:28:18
from my taste00:28:19
interpretations of Gnosticism that go a00:28:21
bit too far afield at the beginning of00:28:24
our century Helena Blavatsky Aleister00:28:27
Crowley jewel dwinelle and the église00:28:30
mystique these were also through00:28:32
theosophy and so on attempts to create a00:28:36
gnostic view of understanding the world00:28:40
but not really deeply based in the00:28:44
actual text that we have today how do I00:28:51
fit into this context as independent00:28:54
scholar well I have had a book published00:28:57
a novel called the hidden passion a00:29:01
novel of the gnostic christ based on the00:29:03
NAG Hammadi texts where i actually take00:29:06
specific quotations from the dog Hammadi00:29:10
texts and insert them in the mouths of00:29:13
the characters referencing it throughout00:29:15
the novel and in this way I try to bring00:29:18
alive the Gnostic worldview and by00:29:20
presenting it in narrative form it00:29:22
becomes more presentable more00:29:24
understandable and along with that same00:29:27
endeavor I created the Gnostic queue and00:29:30
this is an online source for Gnostic00:29:32
studies where you basically have a large00:29:35
glossary of Gnostic terms that you can00:29:38
reference as a result of the rules that00:29:41
I've played my art has appeared in for00:29:44
example the Gnostic a magazine and I00:29:47
have appeared on a on byte radio with00:29:50
miguel conner talking about my books and00:29:54
certainly my books have had an impact00:29:57
within gnostic culture other important00:30:03
cultural references for Gnosticism would00:30:07
be cinema and literature even comic00:30:10
books Lawrence Durrell the Alexandria00:30:13
quartet or philip k dick valise on the00:30:17
far right these are definitely texts00:30:21
inspired by Gnosticism Cormac McCarthy00:30:25
blood meridian would be another example00:30:26
and The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown in00:30:30
the realm of children's literature His00:30:32
Dark Materials by Philip Pullman and00:30:35
then cinema Gnosticism has had a huge00:30:38
impact to the clearest perhaps being on00:30:41
the Matrix trilogy but also in other00:30:43
films such as Noah and I didn't mention00:30:48
until now young but this book you see on00:30:53
the far right the gnostics young and the00:30:56
seven sermons of the Dead that written00:30:59
by staff Anne Hiller that young without00:31:03
a doubt was deeply influenced both by00:31:05
alchemy and by Gnosticism and you can00:31:09
see Gnosticism occurring time and again00:31:11
in Jung's worldview depending where you00:31:17
go on the Internet today00:31:19
you can find Gnosticism in many I would00:31:22
say strange and bizarre contexts and00:31:26
with this slide that we just like to00:31:28
give you an idea of how Gnosticism can00:31:31
have a broad appeal but in the most00:31:34
bizarre of contexts mrs. Jesus and the00:31:38
zombie Gnostics for example or here the00:31:41
Gnostic Universalist Church with it's00:31:43
cannabis leaf living Gnosticism an00:31:46
ancient way of knowing with this very00:31:48
erotic cover of a nude Eve and neo00:31:52
Gnosticism it's lonely being one of the00:31:55
few who truly knows so I find it that00:32:00
unfortunately the more serious or00:32:04
scholarly approach to Gnosticism often00:32:06
gets buried in our public culture in the00:32:09
internet for example by examples where00:32:13
people are not really reading the text00:32:16
as deeply as they should perhaps but00:32:18
everyone's free to develop their own00:32:21
interpretation of what the texts are all00:32:24
about let's go back to the past now and00:32:29
start to put Gnosticism within its00:32:31
cultural context if you want to truly00:32:35
understand Gnosticism you must realize00:32:38
that granted the way it has come down to00:32:43
us is mostly as a Christian or00:32:46
judeo-christian literature but you00:32:50
cannot understand that unless you00:32:53
understand the its roots and those roots00:32:56
go back to Mesopotamia and ancient00:32:59
Babylon which is to say the Fertile00:33:01
Crescent you see between the Tigris and00:33:04
Euphrates rivers east of Egypt and this00:33:09
became the center of civilization around00:33:13
5,000 years ago the first city-states00:33:16
emerging around 3500 both in Mesopotamia00:33:21
and00:33:22
Egypt so from Mesopotamia which and its00:33:25
capital city of Babylon the entire00:33:29
cosmology of Gnosticism emerges the00:33:32
seven visible planets in the heavens and00:33:36
also this very important myth of in00:33:39
Anna's journey to the underworld I'll00:33:41
come back to that in a later on in this00:33:44
lecture and then in the culture of00:33:47
Alexandria around the years 100-15000:33:52
Babylonian culture was reinterpreted00:33:55
through a new lens with the Chaldeans00:33:58
Oracle's00:33:59
and these written by Julian the theorist00:34:02
and his father Julian the Chaldeans from00:34:06
the childî in Oracle's you get an00:34:10
influence on Gnosticism which is the00:34:13
demonology the reference to the names of00:34:16
the various demons that populate the00:34:20
unseen worlds in Egypt then the books of00:34:25
the Dead without a doubt had an00:34:27
influence on Gnosticism the journey of00:34:30
the soul through the after world but00:34:33
also other ideas such as the garment of00:34:35
light and in Alexandria again00:34:39
hermeticism the corpus Hermeticum when00:34:42
you read for example the ply mandra's00:34:44
which we have in these other lectures in00:34:47
this series you see that in the point00:34:50
mandra's as well you have a Demiurge00:34:52
which is serpentine which makes a lion00:34:55
roar which is to say a lion headed00:34:57
serpent this figure also appears in00:35:00
Gnosticism and Hermeticism Gnosticism00:35:03
both emerging from alexandria in the00:35:05
same time period are very closely allied00:35:09
philosophies even though they have their00:35:11
differences as well you have to look at00:35:16
ancient Greece Plato had a huge00:35:20
influence on Gnosticism his idea of an00:35:24
upper or lower world which is to say the00:35:27
upper world being a world of pure00:35:29
eternal being and timelessness the lower00:35:33
world is a world of becoming in time and00:35:37
Gnosticism then refers to this as the00:35:40
upper and lower yawns or worlds also00:35:44
Plato the Timaeus gives us the Demiurge00:35:46
the craftsman the divine craftsman00:35:49
whereas in Plato this is a positive00:35:52
divine force in Gnosticism there's a00:35:56
twist and the Demiurge becomes this evil00:35:59
creator of the lower world but the idea00:36:02
goes back to Plato same with the idea of00:36:05
the soul which is very important in00:36:07
Plato and the soul reappears in00:36:10
Gnosticism as this light figure that00:36:14
descends into a material body from00:36:17
Plato's successor Aristotle in his00:36:20
metaphysics there is the idea of God as00:36:25
thinking a thought of itself thinking00:36:28
also often referred to as thought00:36:30
thinking itself and this primordial idea00:36:33
plays a pivotal role in Gnosticism00:36:35
particularly the apocryphon of John we00:36:38
also get many other ideas many other00:36:41
Aristotelian ideas influencing00:36:43
Gnosticism such as the four elements00:36:46
then from other movements in Alexandria00:36:51
like Neoplatonism seer G figures like00:36:54
Platanias in bleakest pro cliffs this00:36:57
entire worldview that divinity is won00:37:01
and manifests its oneness in a series of00:37:04
emanations Gnosticism follows the same00:37:08
basic philosophical principle of monism00:37:11
this one expanding into the many the00:37:16
Greek magical the piri an interesting00:37:18
collection of magical spells and there00:37:21
you get similar language in charms and00:37:24
vocalizations which also appear in00:37:26
Gnosticism so all of these influences00:37:29
from ancient Greece and now turning to00:37:32
the right side over here Judaism without00:37:35
a doubt Gnosticism probably started as a00:37:39
break off group00:37:41
from Judaism and they were constantly00:37:44
referencing as well as subverting the00:37:47
Judaic texts so the book of Genesis00:37:50
plays a pivotal role in many Gnostic00:37:53
texts even if it is subverted the00:37:55
creation the role of Yahweh and so on00:37:58
also the book of Solomon where wisdom00:38:01
appears as an important character wisdom00:38:04
then reappears in Gnosticism The Book of00:38:07
Enoch you get the entire Merkabah00:38:10
descent literature which will also00:38:13
appear in its own version in Gnosticism00:38:15
so looking at all these different00:38:17
possibilities within its cultural00:38:19
context00:38:20
remember that Gnosticism most likely00:38:23
emerged from the city of Alexandria00:38:27
Alexandria the birthplace of00:38:29
Neoplatonism Theor G Hermeticism00:38:32
Gnosticism and alchemy and all of these00:38:36
different religious groups Christians00:38:40
Jews so to speak00:38:42
pagans which is to say Greek and00:38:45
Egyptian beliefs all interacting with00:38:49
each other all in the deep kind of sink00:38:52
rustic union which allowed Gnosticism to00:38:56
emerge so that concludes the first part00:39:00
of this presentation our scholarly00:39:02
introduction to Gnosticism trying to00:39:05
place it in its cultural context now for00:39:08
the second part I would like to move on00:39:10
to the Gnostic myth itself and we have00:39:14
to begin naturally enough with the00:39:16
creation and carefully review the00:39:20
Gnostic myth of the creation to prepare00:39:22
ourselves for the third part where we00:39:24
can then see the Gnostic Savior and the00:39:27
soul ascent basically Gnosticism is00:39:33
concerned with gnosis and gnosis is00:39:38
knowledge but this greek word has two00:39:43
possible meanings and we get this in00:39:47
French and German as well the difference00:39:50
in French between savoir and canoe00:39:53
so Wow is to know something is a fact00:39:56
but caneta is to have personal00:39:59
acquaintance with something00:40:01
same thing in German with vicinage Kenan00:40:04
in Greek as well in the ancient Greek00:40:08
language if you speak of gnosis this is00:40:12
a personal acquaintance it's not factual00:40:16
understanding of something but rather a00:40:19
direct experience knowledge through00:40:22
direct experience and in the case of00:40:24
Gnosticism the direct experience is one00:40:28
of divinity it's a direct experience of00:40:31
divinity through revelation and this00:40:34
revelation shows divinity to be one so00:40:38
the moment you experience in a mystical00:40:41
state the oneness of divinity you00:40:45
recognize that you yourself also play a00:40:48
role and that you are if this is the one00:40:51
like a spark of light in the field of00:40:55
this one all-knowing being then it00:41:03
starts to expand and you get the00:41:06
creation myth and the creation myth as00:41:09
we will see is the one reflecting upon00:41:12
itself and as it reflects upon itself it00:41:15
creates a series of emanations within00:41:18
the cosmos each one being a successive00:41:21
revelation and reflection of its own00:41:24
being until you yourself experience00:41:28
yourself as a reflection of divine being00:41:32
your knowing is in fact divine knowing00:41:36
everything that you have for example00:41:39
your uniqueness comes to you from divine00:41:42
oneness or uniqueness and so your00:41:46
ability to for example make a decision00:41:49
which is to say choose one from the00:41:52
other comes from this higher sense of00:41:54
oneness your ability just to know to00:41:56
think to understand to see all of these00:42:00
come from a higher place and that is the00:42:02
divine one00:42:04
the Savior is the one who passed through00:42:08
time and revealed all this in Gnosticism00:42:12
the Savior is a revealer and he not only00:42:16
revealed the creation so that we could00:42:19
find our proper place in the creation00:42:21
but the Savior also reveals the soul00:42:24
ascent and the soul ascent can be a00:42:27
ritual where we directly experience the00:42:31
one through a ritualistic ceremony of00:42:34
the soul ascent or after death he's the00:42:38
one who shows us the path for our soul00:42:41
to ascend to return to the one and that00:42:44
all together is the gnosis that the00:42:48
Savior reveals in Gnosticism00:42:51
so let's piece it apart bit by bit00:42:54
beginning with the creation and to talk00:42:57
about the creation I'm going to use the00:42:59
version that comes to us from the00:43:01
apocryphon of John which as I mentioned00:43:03
appears three times over the course of00:43:07
the various Gnostic texts that have come00:43:10
down to us it was clearly a very00:43:12
important a very seminal Gnostic texts00:43:15
and probably you'll see why once I00:43:18
finish going through it it offers a view00:43:21
which is unique and in a certain sense00:43:24
causes us to think differently to think00:43:27
and see the world in a different way it00:43:33
begins with this Aristotelian idea of no00:43:37
ASIS no assails no ASIS and this comes00:43:41
from Aristotle's book on metaphysics but00:43:44
in the apocryphon of John it is00:43:48
mythologized00:43:49
and so the divine one thinks the divine00:43:54
one becomes the thinking of a thought of00:43:59
itself thinking and this three-part00:44:03
structure of the thinking the thought00:44:05
and itself thinking becomes the divine00:44:09
Trinity in the apocryphon of John let's00:44:13
have a look at that so00:44:16
the thinking becomes the father in the00:44:19
apocryphon of John often referred to as00:44:22
noose or mind and also as the invisible00:44:26
spirit spirit being Numa the thought00:44:30
which is the object of the thinking00:44:33
becomes the feminine principle the00:44:35
mother and she is called variously00:44:37
annoyer00:44:38
or bar below together they create the00:44:44
child and the child is the first00:44:46
reflection in a certain sense the the00:44:49
mother is a reflection of the divine one00:44:52
as the object of thought but when the00:44:55
thinking in the thought then become00:44:57
thought thinking itself that is the00:45:01
creation of the child the third part of00:45:03
the Trinity and this child eventually00:45:06
becomes the son or the Christ although00:45:09
as we will see this child is actually00:45:12
androgynous and becomes Christ Sophia00:45:15
but for now we have the masculine father00:45:18
thinking the feminine mother thought and00:45:21
the androgynous child thought thinking00:45:24
itself that becomes Christ so let's read00:45:28
from the apocryphon of John to get a00:45:33
taste of how they describe all of this00:45:36
it begins and annoyer his thought00:45:41
performed a deed and came forth namely00:45:46
she who had appeared before him in the00:45:49
shine of his light this is the first00:45:53
power which came from Neuse his mind the00:45:58
perfect power which is the image of the00:46:02
invisible spirit and her light shines00:46:06
like his light she praised him because00:46:11
thanks to him00:46:12
she had come forth this is the first00:46:15
thought his image she became the womb of00:46:20
everything so there you see this idea00:46:23
that noose or the invisible spirit this00:46:27
is the masculine principle00:46:28
and she becomes the shine in his light00:46:32
she becomes an image in which he sees00:46:35
himself she is his first thought is00:46:38
proto neue or pronoia it goes on to say00:46:44
he he looked at bar below which is00:46:48
annoying the pure light which surrounds him and00:46:51
with his spark she conceived from him00:46:55
and begot a spark of light this was the00:47:00
only begotten child of the mother father00:47:04
and the invisible spirit rejoiced over00:47:08
the light and anointed it with his00:47:10
goodness and poured himself upon it so00:47:13
now the child emerges and what does the00:47:18
father do the father00:47:20
anoint sit with his goodness and pours00:47:23
himself upon it00:47:24
anointing remember Christ is the00:47:28
Christos the anointed one also Christ00:47:32
was baptized in the Jordan here the00:47:35
divine one pours himself his goodness00:47:38
and poured himself upon it so now the00:47:42
child emerges and what does the father00:47:46
do the father00:47:48
anoint sit with his goodness and pours00:47:50
himself upon it anointing remember00:47:54
Christ is the Christos the Anointed One00:47:58
also Christ was baptized in the Jordan00:48:01
here the divine one pours himself upon00:48:05
the Christ which is to say baptizes him00:48:08
with his watery light and in that way00:48:11
the child becomes another reflection of00:48:14
the divine one in this watery light the00:48:20
text continues speaking now about the00:48:24
pneuma the invisible spirit for it is he00:48:28
who looks at himself in his light which00:48:32
surrounds him which is the spring of the00:48:35
water of life and it is he who gazes00:48:38
upon his image00:48:40
which he sees in the spring of the00:48:41
Spirit it is he who puts his desire in00:48:46
his watery light which surrounds him now00:48:51
you have this clear understanding that00:48:54
there is this one and this one divides00:48:58
into two the father and the mother and00:49:02
then into three the father the mother00:49:04
and the child and all of these are00:49:07
different images and they are images00:49:10
within the watery light and that itself00:49:13
is very special for Gnosticism that this00:49:18
divinity is surrounded by a luminous00:49:21
water in which images of itself appear00:49:24
as reflections and each then is a00:49:28
reflection of its own oneness in many00:49:32
different guises in many different00:49:35
reflections those many different00:49:38
reflections in the technical language of00:49:40
Gnosticism are the Aeons00:49:43
and normally we understand the word Aeon00:49:45
to refer to a period of time but in00:49:48
Gnosticism it is like time expanding00:49:52
outward and reflecting back but not just00:49:55
time space is doing the same thing space00:49:58
is expanding outward and reflecting back00:50:01
to the one so this expansion in space00:50:03
and in time of the one into the many00:50:06
this is the eons and the self00:50:09
multiplication of itself other words for00:50:12
the eons are the hypotheses or00:50:15
emanations also called the extensions of00:50:18
being and in a more poetic sense is just00:50:21
simply called the silence so just to00:50:29
recap you have the father who is news or00:50:33
thinking and this is also called the00:50:35
invisible spirit you have the mother00:50:38
thought also called annoyed and bar00:50:40
below and the child which is thought00:50:43
thinking itself the Sun or the Christ in00:50:47
the next step in the creation the Christ00:50:51
expands00:50:52
from one into many and Christ asked to00:50:56
be given companions and the invisible00:51:00
spirit consented with the consent of the00:51:04
invisible spirit the Companions came00:51:07
forth and stood before Christ glorifying00:51:10
him so now Christ expands from 1 into 1200:51:15
and these 12 are described as the four00:51:19
lights as well as the twelve Yeon's the00:51:23
four lights being Archangels or kind of00:51:27
Archangels their names being our Mosel00:51:30
davia thigh Elif and Oreo and these four00:51:36
lights then reign over three of each of00:51:40
the 12 eons and the twelve eons which00:51:44
are like angels have names that describe00:51:49
their qualities and all of these are00:51:52
qualities of the heart or the mind the00:51:55
names of the twelve eons being truths00:51:58
perfection love understanding grace form00:52:05
memory after thought perception peace00:52:10
idea and last of the twelve wisdom so as00:52:16
you see it is like Christ himself00:52:19
as a new form of new sore mind sees00:52:22
reflections of himself in the watery00:52:26
light in these various guises as love00:52:29
truth understanding and most important00:52:32
of all wisdom00:52:36
next comes the creation of the anthropos00:52:41
quoting the text again of the apocryphon00:52:44
of John and through the revelation of00:52:47
the invisible spirit the perfect00:52:49
anthropos appeared called pajara además00:52:53
and it spoke saying it is for thy sake00:52:58
that everything has come into00:53:00
and everything will return to thee00:53:04
so here the moment this image of00:53:09
humanity appears it affirms that not00:53:12
only is it a reflection of divinity but00:53:14
it will return to divinity at the end of00:53:17
time00:53:18
now this anthropos is actually00:53:21
androgynous is neither male nor female00:53:23
and as the narrative continues we'll00:53:26
understand that this is actually the00:53:29
pneumatic or spiritual anthropos and00:53:32
that over time there will be also a00:53:35
psychic which is to say soul00:53:37
philanthropist and a highly core00:53:39
material anthropos and eventually one00:53:43
and the other and the third will become00:53:46
three stages of humanity but for now00:53:49
what we have in the uppermost heavens is00:53:52
this divine image of humanity perfect00:53:56
unclog neither male nor female then the00:54:04
drama takes a very important term and00:54:07
this turn is called the fall of Sophia00:54:11
and we have met with Sophia but she was00:54:14
just a minor character until now she was00:54:18
the wisdom that is one of the00:54:21
reflections of Christ then the narrative00:54:26
continues and Sophia being an eon00:54:31
conceived a thought from herself she00:54:35
wanted to bring forth a likeness out of00:54:38
herself without the consent of the00:54:40
Spirit and without her consort and00:54:44
though the person of her maleness had00:54:47
not approved still she brought forth and00:54:52
what came out of her was of another form00:54:55
and miss shapen because she had created00:54:59
it without her consort clearly there's00:55:03
something going on here but it needs a00:55:05
bit greater explanation so let's see00:55:07
what that is so let us take a series of00:55:10
quotes from other Gnostic tech00:55:13
not specifically the apocryphon of John00:55:16
to describe this important idea of the00:55:19
consent of the consort sources oh geez00:55:22
because it was emphasized time and again00:55:25
that her consort did not consent to00:55:28
Union and she created a thought without00:55:30
the consent now if you read the Gospel00:55:34
of the Egyptians it's written the two00:55:38
join in consent and with the parents00:55:42
final consent the consorts create a00:55:47
third to bring about the completion of00:55:50
the Aeons so clearly in the normal way00:55:56
of things in the upper yawns if oneness00:55:59
is to multiply the proper way for00:56:02
oneness to multiply is like we saw with00:56:04
the mother and the father the male and00:56:07
the female they come together and with00:56:09
consent they create a third and indeed00:56:12
they seek the parents consent the00:56:14
consent of the highest one before a new00:56:17
creation can be made within this what is00:56:20
called the plural ma the upper yawns the00:56:23
the heavens that surround the one00:56:28
let's now read the Sophia of Jesus00:56:30
Christ it's written when he reflects00:56:34
with she who is his syzygy they reveal00:56:39
their androgynous offspring with a male00:56:42
or female name so now the mystery gets a00:56:46
bit clearer that you have these suji's00:56:49
as they're called the consorts and one00:56:51
is male and one is female what they do00:56:54
is they give forth they bring forth a00:56:57
third which is androgynous but00:57:01
androgynous with a male or female name00:57:04
and just like any child that is00:57:07
initially androgynous eventually that00:57:11
child will grow to be a boy or a girl00:57:15
last quotation here and his Christ's00:57:19
consort is the great Sophia who from the00:57:24
first was destined00:57:26
him in Union so now you begin to00:57:29
understand what happened that Sophia was00:57:34
supposed to unite with Christ and bring00:57:37
forth the next stage of creation in the00:57:42
upper eons but she didn't00:57:44
she acted on her own and when she acted00:57:47
on her own she ended up creating00:57:50
something that was misshapen dark and00:57:54
basically evil in the Gnostic texts in00:57:58
the apocryphon of John the way he's00:58:01
described is through this passage and00:58:03
though the person of her maleness had00:58:07
not approved still she brought forth and00:58:10
what came out of her was of another form00:58:13
and miss shapen because she had created00:58:17
it without her consort and when she saw00:58:20
the consequence of her desire it changed00:58:23
into a form of a lion faced serpent and00:58:27
its eyes were like lightning fires she00:58:32
cast it away from her for she had00:58:35
created it in ignorance and she called00:58:38
him by the name Yalda bolas00:58:41
so here then is the beginning of the00:58:45
fall the fall of Sofia but also the fall00:58:48
of humanity the fall of the entire00:58:51
cosmos through the creation of yalda00:58:53
balls who becomes the Demiurge or Archie00:58:57
janitor which is to say the one who00:59:00
creates the lower worlds the apocryphon00:59:04
of John continues this is the first arc00:59:07
on who took a great power from his00:59:10
mother with it he became strong and00:59:14
created for himself00:59:15
other eons with a flame of luminous fire00:59:19
which still exists now and their meaning00:59:23
here the Sun in the sky00:59:25
yalta both joined with his ignorance and00:59:28
begot the archons Asaf harm us and00:59:33
kalila hombre yabo adonai who kind and00:59:38
able00:59:39
then AB Racine yobel mo PL Mel cheer00:59:45
added onion and the 12th Bell yes00:59:49
he placed the seven archons over the00:59:52
seven heavens each corresponding to one00:59:55
of the firmaments and five over the00:59:58
depths of the abyss so what you have is01:00:03
basically the Babylonian cosmos the way01:00:08
the heavens were perceived by the01:00:10
Babylonians but now the entire cosmos01:00:14
that we see with our eyes is in fact a01:00:18
demonic creation01:00:20
it's a demonic creation where 12 archons01:00:25
and archons is to say rulers and as we01:00:30
will see that they actually have 1201:00:32
animal faced powers and underneath each01:00:35
of them is 30 demons and when you01:00:38
multiply these you get 360 in all and01:00:41
these 360 demons surround us and it01:00:46
becomes a kind of fatal astrology where01:00:50
through the spheres of the Moon Mercury01:00:53
Venus the Sun Mars Jupiter and Saturn01:00:57
those seven spheres are the archons01:01:01
realms and the archons are then ruling01:01:04
over us through their spheres of01:01:08
influence and under them are the powers01:01:12
and the demons which as 316 all fulfill01:01:17
the entire circumference of the horizon01:01:21
as well as the cycle of the year which01:01:24
in Babylonian was 360 days they added01:01:28
five days in between to create the01:01:31
Julian calendar but was 360 days in time01:01:35
360 degrees surrounding us in space so01:01:39
all of time and space is ruled over by01:01:42
yalta baloff and his archons this is01:01:46
called the Heim Armony in Greek which is01:01:50
say fate and so they rule over fate they01:01:54
rule over time space and the structures01:01:58
of time and space that become fate01:02:00
another interesting fragment from the01:02:03
Gnostic texts about yell to bow here at01:02:05
the bottom yoga balls had a multitude of01:02:09
faces so that he could put a face before01:02:12
them all according to his desire the01:02:16
idea then that even though there are 1201:02:19
archons those 12 archons are just01:02:21
different aspects of yalta balith01:02:24
himself you know he is not one of the01:02:26
twelve he is all of the twelve combined01:02:30
into this serpentine line faced demon so01:02:38
when you read the text then you get this01:02:41
understanding that here is the altar bow01:02:43
at the center as the Archie janitor and01:02:45
then if you look up in the skies and you01:02:48
see the moon the moon is a bell who has01:02:53
a power under him named Seba day the01:02:55
fireface and this deity rules over one01:03:00
part of your soul which part of your01:03:02
soul your inconstancy then mercury if01:03:07
you see the planet Mercury you're01:03:09
actually gazing at the Archon Cain as01:03:13
well as his lower power adenine this is01:03:16
the monkey-faced01:03:17
demon who rules over greed in your soul01:03:22
Venus then ruled over by a denial who01:03:26
under sabaoth the dragon faced deity01:03:29
rules over lust01:03:31
the Sun is yabo the Archon whose power01:03:37
cow is a seven headed snake that rules01:03:40
over pride if you see Mars in the01:03:44
heavens you're actually Gaelic gazing at01:03:46
kalila Umbria whose power after feyo's01:03:50
is the hyena faced God and he rules over01:03:54
wrath Jupiter then01:03:58
is the arcon harm us whose power01:04:01
elihue is the donkey faced deity that01:04:05
rules over injustice and last of all01:04:09
Saturn is actually a thought whose01:04:11
adjunct or power a Thoth is a cheap face01:04:15
deity that rules over deceit so this is01:04:19
what's going on in the heavens the seven01:04:22
archons of the set of the heavens the01:04:26
planetary archons there are also five01:04:29
archons of the abyss as it was called01:04:32
and the five archons of the abyss now01:04:35
you have Delia's who is the earth you01:04:39
have Mel sheer add annoying01:04:42
who is water you have armed OPL who is01:04:46
air yobbo who is fire and ab Racine who01:04:50
is the ether all of these will end up01:04:53
ruling over both the soulful and fleshly01:04:56
anthropos as well as Adam and Eve once01:04:59
their fallen so this constitutes was01:05:02
called the lower eons or the Heim Armony the01:05:06
realm of fate and we already saw that01:05:09
there is the upper eons which is free of01:05:12
fate if you contrast the upper and lower01:05:18
eons then you can see that the upper01:05:22
eons are the eons of the light in which01:05:26
the one sees reflections of itself and01:05:30
so it is the one expanded into the many01:05:34
but all of these reflect the one to01:05:37
itself and so remain within its oneness01:05:40
but there was this reach through Sophia01:05:44
and then Yalta baath created the lower01:05:48
eons and now all of these become01:05:51
reflections not of the true one but01:05:54
reflections of Yalta Baath himself so01:05:57
the upper eons which are called the01:05:59
plural ma which is to mean the fullness01:06:02
in the Greek language are contrasted by01:06:06
the lower eons which the Greek word is01:06:09
kin01:06:10
ma kinoma being the emptiness and in01:06:13
fact according to the Gnostics the01:06:16
material world does not truly exist it01:06:19
is just an illusion of the flesh and01:06:22
what truly exists is the fullness the01:06:24
pleura ma the realm of light whereas01:06:27
this is the realm of darkness similarly01:06:30
if this is the realm of the watery light01:06:33
then in contrast this is the realm of01:06:37
luminous fire and yalta Boff burns like01:06:41
the Sun giving this false light of a01:06:45
luminous fire here below not as strong01:06:48
as the true light of the watery light01:06:50
the upper eons are boundless and without01:06:54
measure in space and in time01:06:57
whereas these are ruled over by linear01:07:01
time and by measures in space so01:07:04
basically this is the realm of eternal01:07:07
being the realm of the Immortals whereas01:07:10
here you enter into the realm of mortal01:07:13
being these are the archetypes what01:07:17
Plato would call the i-day and these01:07:20
only their shadows they're imitations01:07:23
this is the realm of spirit Numa this01:07:27
below is the realm of soul which is to01:07:30
say CK and of body soma in Greek01:07:35
fundamentally then you could say that01:07:37
this is what is truly real whereas this01:07:40
is illusory and also this is the01:07:43
non-dual realm where only oneness exists01:07:47
whereas duality does exist in fact this01:07:50
realm creates duality it creates the01:07:54
darkness in contrast to the light the01:07:56
death in contrast to the immortal and so01:07:59
on so this is the fall into duality into01:08:03
a form of multiplicity which is truly01:08:08
separated as opposed to unified another01:08:12
quote then from the apocryphon of John01:08:15
it says01:08:17
having created everything Yalta Baath01:08:20
organized it according to the model of01:08:24
the first Aeons Sophia repented with01:08:29
much weeping and she was taken to the01:08:32
ninth Aeon until her deficiency was01:08:36
rectified so in the first passage then01:08:39
you understand that everything that01:08:42
Yalta Baath created and remember he's01:08:44
the Demiurge he's the Creator God he01:08:48
looked towards the images in the upper01:08:52
world saw that there were 1201:08:54
for example 12 eons around Christ and so01:08:58
he created 12 eons around himself01:09:00
and everything below is an imitation or01:09:03
it is organized according to the model01:09:06
of the first eons Sophia who repented01:09:12
for having created Yalta Baath was01:09:14
placed here and she's placed between the01:09:19
upper and lower realms and this becomes01:09:21
very important because Christ's role01:09:24
will be to redeem Sophia for now she is01:09:28
fallen in the sense that she is the01:09:30
lowest of all the upper ionic beings01:09:33
that Sophia repented with much weeping01:09:36
this is a very important line because01:09:39
the famous weeping disciple of Jesus01:09:44
Christ was Mary Magdalene she's the one01:09:47
who is often portrayed as crying as01:09:49
repentant for what she had done01:09:51
she's the repentant soul and so Sophia01:09:55
also has this role of one who is01:09:57
repentant let us now look at what01:10:03
happens in the next step of the creation01:10:06
which is to say what happens to the01:10:09
anthropos which as you recall was01:10:12
androgynous neither male nor female01:10:15
and eventually the anthropos will pass01:10:18
from numatic to ckick to01:10:21
somatic or hi lick as it's called to01:10:25
become the divided Adam and Eve for this01:10:29
passage I'll be using the apocryphon of01:10:31
John but I'll also be referencing to01:10:34
other Gnostic texts the apocalypse of01:10:36
Adam and the hypothesis of the archons01:10:40
because they also have rich01:10:42
contributions to make to the subject of01:10:45
what happened to Adam and Eve in the01:10:47
garden so let's begin and when he saw01:10:55
the creation which surrounds him and the01:10:57
multitude of the angels around him he01:11:00
said to them I am a jealous God and01:11:04
there is no other god beside me so this01:11:09
is Yalta vows but yelled Abbas speaking01:11:13
the words I am a jealous God is clearly01:11:17
repeating the words that get into the01:11:19
mouth of Yahweh in the Old Testament and01:11:23
the Gnostics are taking that and then01:11:25
referencing it and changing it01:11:28
suggesting that in fact the God of the01:11:31
Old Testament is yalta Baz is this01:11:34
demonic God so what happens to yalta01:11:38
boss he and the archons and the archons01:11:42
looked up and saw the image of the01:11:46
anthropos in the water above them and01:11:49
said come let us create a man according01:11:54
to the image of God and according to our01:11:57
likeness01:11:58
so his image may become a light for us01:12:01
and they created him according to their01:12:04
respective powers so this is again01:12:08
quoting the book of Genesis where God01:12:11
creates man but here is now the archons01:12:15
that are creating man in the image of01:12:18
God and in their own likeness01:12:20
so they created him according to their01:12:23
respective powers and they created01:12:26
really the psychic or soulful anthropos01:12:30
which is apart from the new01:12:32
patek anthropos that is above the01:12:35
psychic or soul philanthropists then is01:12:38
created by a series of archons and01:12:42
powers and demons and the four chief01:12:45
demons are f men--they who belongs to01:12:49
pleasure yoko who belongs to desire01:12:52
menon Toph nee who belongs to grief and01:12:56
Baumann who belongs to fear and these01:12:59
are like like the four elements earth01:13:01
air fire and water these are like the01:13:03
four primordial emotions that give birth01:13:07
to other dark emotions it goes on and01:13:11
from the four demons the passions came01:13:15
forth and from pleasure much wickedness01:13:18
arises and empty pride and similar01:13:21
things and from grief came envy jealousy01:13:25
distress trouble pain callousness01:13:29
anxiety and morning and from desire01:13:34
comes anger wrath and bitterness and01:13:37
bitter passion and unsated nests and01:13:41
similar things and from fear comes dread01:13:45
fawning agony and shame so you see these01:13:48
four primordial emotions multiplying01:13:52
into more and more emotions within the01:13:55
soul philanthropist who is not yet01:13:57
matter but is the seat of all the01:14:01
emotions it goes on and the multitude of01:14:07
the Angels attended Yalta by us to01:14:10
create the proportions of the limbs and01:14:13
the proper working together of each of01:14:16
the parts and you get this very long01:14:19
list now where for example after ectomy01:14:23
created the right eye and fast pamoja01:14:26
created the left eye and then you get01:14:29
the nose the mouth the left ear the01:14:33
right ear the right hand the left hand01:14:35
and so on which is to say whenever you01:14:39
move your eyes or move your hands that01:14:44
move01:14:45
is animated by a spirit and the spirit01:14:49
animating that movement is this is a01:14:52
spirit here below in the darker01:14:55
underworld and they were able to name01:14:57
each of those different spirits that's01:15:00
coursing through your body allowing you01:15:03
to move your body now we're still at the01:15:06
level of the soul philanthropist so01:15:08
these are spirits or demons working in01:15:11
your soul allowing you to move your body01:15:14
and indeed you can find entire lists of01:15:19
these demons and that becomes part of01:15:22
the whole demonology of the apocryphon01:15:25
of John it concludes and the number of01:15:30
angels and demons is 365 they all01:15:34
constructed the psychic body ruling over01:15:38
each part but it remained completely01:15:42
inactive and motionless so now this body01:15:46
exists but it exists in potential only01:15:50
it's missing one thing01:15:52
what it's missing is that vital life01:15:55
spark this is then the next section01:15:58
where Sophia repents for what she has01:16:03
done and sure you Pence to the father01:16:05
the father sends down the four lights if01:16:09
you remember the four lights were the01:16:11
four that surrounded Christ these four01:16:13
ark angels and the text to goes on to01:16:16
say that the four lights advised yalta01:16:19
both blow into his face something of01:16:23
your spirit and his body will arise and01:16:27
he blew into his face the spirit which01:16:31
is the power from his mother the body01:16:35
moved and gained strength and it was01:16:38
luminous now this is in a certain sense01:16:42
divinity tricking yalta both who is an01:16:45
ignorant God and yalta both took the01:16:50
divine spark the power that his mother01:16:53
possessed when she gave birth he took01:16:57
that power from her01:16:58
and with it he created the entire lower01:17:01
eons he Shawn like the Sun and then he01:17:04
even created this psychic anthropos but01:17:08
now he's being tricked to blow that01:17:10
spark of light into Adam or in this case01:17:14
the anthropos so here it is soul into01:17:19
matter the fall of the psychic into the01:17:21
highlig anthropos and when they that is01:17:24
say the archons and when they saw that01:17:27
he was luminous they took him and they01:17:30
threw him into the lowest regions of01:17:32
matter01:17:33
they took fire earth and water and mixed01:17:37
them with the four winds and brought01:17:40
Adam into the shadow of death so what01:17:44
happens then is they create the psychic01:17:47
anthropos yalta both blows his spark of01:17:50
divine light into him he stands up as01:17:53
this glowing being and they see him as01:17:57
luminous and they become jealous so what01:18:00
they do is they take this glowing being01:18:02
and they throw him into matter and they01:18:05
throw him into earth air fire and water01:18:08
they create this highly anthropos this01:18:11
material or bodily anthropos and he01:18:15
falls into that now we come to the01:18:18
creation of Eve and Sophia will play an01:18:21
important role as the epinoia recall01:18:25
that that we also met with pronoia or01:18:30
proton Oya which is the forethought here01:18:33
the epinoia is more of the afterthought01:18:35
and so Sophia occurs in this form as the01:18:39
afterthought or epinoia then epinoia01:18:43
Sophia hid herself in Adam and the chief01:18:49
Archon that's yalta boss01:18:51
wanted to bring her out of his rib but01:18:55
epinoia cannot be grasped and he made01:18:58
another creature in the form of a woman01:19:02
which is to say he made Eve when Adam01:19:06
saw the woman beside him01:19:09
the luminous epinoia01:19:11
or Sophia appeared within Eve and lifted01:19:15
the veil which lay over his mind and he01:19:18
recognized his counter image so yalta01:19:23
boss creates Eve but then Sophia or01:19:27
epinoia enters into Eve awakens Adam and01:19:31
reveals to him that she is in fact his01:19:34
consort his syzygy his counter image and01:19:37
so Adam and Eve truly belonged together01:19:39
as one then comes the tree of knowledge01:19:43
and now it is Christ who speaks in the01:19:48
apocryphon of John and he says our01:19:50
sister Sophia is she who came down in01:19:54
order to rectify her deficiency and01:19:57
through her they tasted the perfect01:20:01
knowledge gnosis which is to say they01:20:04
that is Adam and Eve tasted the perfect01:20:07
knowledge at the fruit of the tree of01:20:10
knowledge and in Christ goes on to say I01:20:14
appeared in the form of an eagle on the01:20:17
tree of knowledge that I might awaken01:20:19
them so this is interesting strange01:20:23
bizarre but in Gnosticism the entire01:20:27
story of Adam and Eve and the tree and01:20:30
eating from this fruit of knowledge is01:20:33
reversed it's turned on its head and it01:20:37
said that in fact by eating from the01:20:39
forbidden fruit they gained knowledge01:20:42
and the one who forbids the fruit is in01:20:45
fact yalta by the serpent the lion01:20:48
headed serpent and the one who bids them01:20:50
to eat is Sophia in the form of Eve and01:20:54
Christ in the form of an eagle on the01:20:57
tree of knowledge so this is now the01:21:01
gnostic version of what happened at the01:21:04
tree of knowledge that they gained01:21:06
gnosis they gained a remembrance of who01:21:10
they truly are that they are in fact01:21:13
they contain particles of divine light01:21:16
and that they are divine in their true01:21:20
essence but yalta boss and his darkened01:21:24
forces are trying to hide this from them01:21:26
trying to make them forget so as you can01:21:31
see you have this idea then that in the01:21:36
fruit of gnosis is knowledge and its01:21:40
knowledge fundamentally of our origins01:21:43
of who we truly are and who we truly are01:21:46
is this spark of divine light and we01:21:50
have within us what is called the pneuma01:21:53
the spirit and this spirit or breath is01:21:57
what makes us divine it gives us our01:22:00
divine spark or our particle of light01:22:02
which in the Gnostic text is also called01:22:05
the dew drop or the pearl or the seed01:22:09
and it is also the remembrance of unity01:22:12
the knowledge of our origins all of that01:22:16
is contained in the fruit of knowledge01:22:18
which wake senses us to the divine spark01:22:21
in us that we are in fact luminous01:22:24
divine in origin so what happens then is01:22:31
yalta bob causes Adam and Eve to forget01:22:37
this by putting them in the body and01:22:40
then casting them out of Eden and then01:22:43
through multiplying we multiply and01:22:47
become more and more human beings01:22:49
populating the earth some of whom01:22:51
contain this divine spark and those are01:22:54
the Gnostics themselves so let's move on01:22:58
to the third part of this presentation01:23:00
and the third part is on the Gnostics01:23:02
Savior as well as the soul assent if you01:23:09
search for an image of the Gnostic01:23:11
Savior I can't think of any better image01:23:13
than this one created by Ernst Fuchs you01:23:17
can find it here in Vienna at the air01:23:20
spooks Museum in this triptych and it is01:23:24
clearly a Christ who is not suffering01:23:28
but01:23:29
risen and is risen luminous and the01:23:33
gnostic savior as we will see is an01:23:36
alumina is a revealer is a figure of01:23:39
light who awakens us rather than calls01:23:43
us to suffering although he's not afraid01:23:46
of suffering if he must suffer for01:23:49
Sophia to return to the upper eons when01:23:54
we speak of the gnostic savior or01:23:56
revealer we come up against an01:24:00
interesting part of Gnosticism and that01:24:02
is there is not simply one Gnosticism01:24:06
but many Gnosticism x' and Gnosticism01:24:09
divided up into various groups or01:24:12
schools one of which is Seth Ian also01:24:15
called bar below01:24:16
Gnosticism and this is actually01:24:20
pre-christian probably Judaic where the01:24:24
important figures are bar below herself01:24:26
who is wisdom or Sophia as well as01:24:29
pronoia the for thought protozoa the01:24:32
first thought and the great Seth who is01:24:35
called the Otto Jenny's the01:24:37
self-generated and this is the main01:24:40
Savior figure in bar below Gnosticism01:24:43
but what happens and the apocryphon of01:24:46
John is an excellent example they take01:24:49
these sofyan texts and they01:24:51
Christianized them and who was the Otto01:24:55
jenay's the great Seth becomes Christ01:24:58
otherwise you have for example the01:25:01
Simonian Gnostics who followed Simon01:25:05
Magus and his partner Helena and these01:25:09
two former primordial pair very similar01:25:11
to Christ and Sophia accepted Simon and01:25:15
Helena nevertheless their myth reveals01:25:18
to us many things about Christ and01:25:20
Sophia through Simonian Gnosticism then01:25:24
within the strictly Christian Gnostic01:25:27
tradition you have Thomasin Gnosticism01:25:30
you have Yoani Gnosticism and you have01:25:33
Valentinian Gnosticism and this one in01:25:35
particular stresses the duality of01:25:39
Christ in Sophia01:25:41
as consorts as these G's and we'll01:25:44
see that the Valentinian gnostics is01:25:46
where Christ and Sophia come together in01:25:48
the bridal chamber so speaking of the01:25:53
various gnostic saviors then let us01:25:56
begin with this passage from the Gospel01:26:00
story from the apocryphon of John and it01:26:04
gives you a taste of what kind of a01:26:06
savior Christ is he says I am the light01:26:11
which exists in the light I am the01:26:15
remembrance of the plur oh ma the01:26:17
fullness of the upper yawns and I01:26:20
entered into the midst of their prison01:26:22
which is the prison of the body that is01:26:27
to say he entered the realm of the01:26:29
archons who rule over our body as if it01:26:33
were a prison and I said whoever hears01:26:37
me let them get up from the deep sleep01:26:40
and they wept and shed bitter tears and01:26:44
said who is it that calls my name and01:26:47
from where has this hope come while I am01:26:50
still in the chains of the prison and I01:26:54
said remember that is you who were01:26:58
called follow your root which is I the01:27:02
compassionate one and guard yourself01:27:05
against the angels of poverty which is01:27:08
to say the archons and the demons of01:27:11
chaos and all those who ensnare you and01:27:14
I raised them up and sealed them in the01:27:18
light of the water with five seals in01:27:22
order that death might not have power01:27:24
over them from this time on the five01:27:28
seals being an important mystery within01:27:32
gnosticism we don't know what they are01:27:34
exactly but it was part of a ritual in01:27:37
which you receive the gnosis you receive01:27:42
understanding of the origins of the01:27:45
cosmos and it becomes part of the soul01:27:47
ascent01:27:50
so what is the relationship between01:27:53
Christ and Sophia and Jesus and Mary01:27:56
Magdalene what we learn in the Gnostic01:27:59
texts is that both Christ in Sophia were01:28:02
created in the upper eons before time01:28:06
began and as we know Sophia fell to01:28:10
create yalta Baz01:28:12
in the meantime Jesus and Mary Magdalene01:28:16
are human beings and in fact the Christ01:28:19
only enters Jesus when he's baptized in01:28:23
the Jordan and in a similar way01:28:26
Sophia enters Mary Magdalene but this is01:28:31
never made completely explicit in the01:28:34
Gnostic text is just suggested so here's01:28:37
a quote now from the Gospel of Philip01:28:39
and it reads and the companion of the01:28:43
Savior was Mary Magdalene he loved her01:28:47
more than all the other disciples and01:28:49
used to kiss her often on the mouth the01:28:53
rest of the disciples became angry with01:28:55
this nast him why do you love her more01:28:58
than us01:28:59
so aside from the jealousy that's being01:29:02
expressed the idea is that he is kissing01:29:06
her on the mouth because he recognizes01:29:08
that she is his true consort she's his01:29:11
syzygy she's the one that he was01:29:14
destined to be with from the beginning01:29:16
another quote from the Valentinian01:29:18
exposition begins when Sophia receives01:29:23
her consort then the plural ma will01:29:26
receive Sophia joyfully and all will01:29:29
come to be in unity and reconciliation01:29:32
now this is a very fragmented portion01:29:37
from the Valentinian exposition from the01:29:38
original Gnostic texts if we turn to01:29:42
Irenaeus we get a much more complete01:29:45
version of this whole idea which is very01:29:48
important it comes from Valentinian01:29:50
Gnosticism and it is the whole concept01:29:53
of the bridal chamber the union of01:29:56
Christ and Sophia as the bride and the01:29:58
bridegroom so Irenaeus quoting a text01:30:02
which he has in front of him which we no longer01:30:04
have begins when the whole seed is01:30:08
perfected then she Sophia will leave her01:30:12
place in the middle and enter the plural01:30:15
to receive her bridegroom the Savior01:30:19
with the result that the Savior and01:30:21
Sophia will form a pair a syzygy these01:30:25
are said to be the bridegroom and the01:30:27
bride and the bridal chamber01:30:30
is the whole plural ma the spiritual01:30:34
beings will divest themselves of their01:30:36
souls and become mindful spirits and01:30:40
without being hindered or seen they will01:30:43
enter into the Parana and will be01:30:46
bestowed as bribes on the angels around01:30:49
the Saviour so what he's showing us here01:30:54
is the scenario at the end of the world01:30:56
and as it was stated before Sophia did01:31:01
not unite with Christ at the beginning01:31:03
and as a result on her own she created01:31:06
yalta ba and this was her great fault at01:31:09
the end of time her great fault will be01:31:12
rectified some monastics believed that01:31:15
Christ through his crucifixion was able01:31:17
to rectify Sophia's fault in any case he01:31:21
does something to trick the archons to01:31:26
releasing Sophia and so she is able to01:31:29
leave her place in the middle which is01:31:31
between the lower and upper eons and she01:31:34
will be reunited with Christ and during01:31:36
that moment as well the souls of the01:31:39
Gnostics will be able to rise up01:31:42
unhindered or seen so they will be able01:31:45
to escape the archons prison and reunite01:31:50
with their angels around the Savior they01:31:54
will become eternal beings and this is01:31:57
the whole scenario of this reunion is01:32:00
called the bridal chamber in Gnosticism01:32:03
the bridal chamber remaining somewhat of01:32:06
a mystery but it's a definitely01:32:07
Valentinian concept and then we know01:32:10
that there was a right of the bridal01:32:12
chamber which involved a form of baptism01:32:15
but this is the closest we come to01:32:17
explaining what the bridal chamber is01:32:19
really all about it's the marriage of01:32:21
Christ and Sophia I would now like to01:32:25
conclude with the soul ascent and the01:32:28
soul ascent is both a ritual and a01:32:33
ritual of preparation for what will01:32:35
happen after you die and the soul01:32:38
ascends through the seven cosmic spheres01:32:41
of the archons now this idea is original01:32:47
to Gnosticism but is referencing back01:32:50
similar myths from ancient Mesopotamia01:32:53
and from ancient Egypt looking at the01:32:57
top here you see a reference to in01:32:59
Anna's journey to the underworld this is01:33:02
a Mesopotamian myth a sumerian myth and01:33:05
in this story an Anna is a goddess and01:33:09
they say from the great above who must01:33:13
descend to the great below and as she01:33:16
descends to the great below she has to01:33:19
divest herself of one of the emblems of01:33:22
her powers at each gateway and in fact01:33:25
there are seven gateways and she divests01:33:28
herself of an emblem of power at each of01:33:31
the seven gateways until naked she01:33:34
enters the underworld this mythic motif01:33:37
of emblems or garments and taking off01:33:41
for putting on garments as you pass01:33:43
through doorways this will be used in01:33:45
the Gnostic soul ascent01:33:47
similarly in ancient Egypt you have the01:33:52
Night Journey of the solar bark through01:33:54
the twelve gates of the underworld and01:33:56
it is believed in ancient Egypt that01:34:00
when you die your soul will join with01:34:04
the solar bark this the boat of the Sun01:34:07
as it journeys through the nether world01:34:09
or the underworld01:34:10
and it must pass through 12 gateways and01:34:14
it must repel the demons awaiting before01:34:18
each doorway for the bark to pass01:34:21
through and for the soul to finally join01:34:23
with the Sun in the01:34:26
turning of the cosmos so you can see how01:34:30
these two myths will play a role in the01:34:32
soul ascent I'll just mention also that01:34:35
Salome's dance of the Seven Veils which01:34:38
we do get in the New Testament is like a01:34:41
old reminder of the same mythic motif01:34:47
Salome must remove seven of her veils as01:34:50
she dances before Herod and these Seven01:34:52
Veils being symbolic of the seven01:34:54
garments that were put on as the soul01:34:57
descended through the planetary spheres01:35:01
now in the traditional version the01:35:06
canonical version of Christianity what01:35:09
happens to the soul at the end of time01:35:11
is that there is the Last Judgement and01:35:13
this is the vision that's given in the01:35:16
book of Revelation at the end of the new01:35:17
testament so Christ will reappear in the01:35:20
heavens sitting upon a rainbow and he01:35:24
will judge the living in the dead and01:35:26
the Archangel Michael which you see01:35:28
below him will carry scales and our soul01:35:32
will be weighed on the scales and if it01:35:35
is found lacking we will go to hell but01:35:37
if it is found to be beneficent we will01:35:40
rise to heaven so you have this dual01:35:42
movement of the soul either ascending to01:35:45
heaven or descending to hell in the01:35:49
Gnostic Rite of the soul ascent the01:35:52
vision was quite different in fact what01:35:55
is happening is it's believed that when01:35:58
we were one with the divine we separated01:36:03
and as we separated we descended and as01:36:06
we descended we put on the twelve states01:36:11
of mind surrounding Christ which is to01:36:14
say truth and grace and form and so on01:36:18
including wisdom and then we put on our01:36:22
soul and we put on seven soul garments01:36:27
and the seven soul garments which I01:36:29
mentioned before our deceit injustice01:36:33
wrath pride lust01:36:37
inconstancy we put on one garment from01:36:40
each of the archons and then we put on01:36:43
the physical body and we put on the01:36:45
physical body which is made of earth01:36:48
water air fire and ether all mixed01:36:51
together so in the vision journey and01:36:55
when you die you must go up through that01:36:59
entire process releasing the physical01:37:02
body which is to say releasing the five01:37:05
elements that form the physical body and01:37:08
the five archons who rule over those01:37:10
five elements then releasing the seven01:37:14
soul garments taking off the seven soul01:37:17
garments as you try to reassemble and01:37:21
Terry doorways of the cosmos until01:37:24
finally you arrive at the middle and01:37:26
then in the final stages of the soul01:37:29
ascent you pass through twelve states of01:37:32
mind to reunite with the angels around01:37:35
Christ as I say on the far right the01:37:39
soul ascent was a ritualistic visionary01:37:42
journey through the lower eons and the01:37:45
upper eons into the experience of union01:37:48
with the divine one and all of this01:37:51
constitutes gnosis a knowledge of the01:37:55
afterlife a knowledge of the beginning a01:37:58
knowledge of all so Gnostics had01:38:03
sacraments that they practiced there01:38:06
were rituals and we don't have a clear01:38:09
understanding of these sacraments but01:38:11
they do mention them in their texts and01:38:14
we can start to piece together what some01:38:16
of these sacraments were the most01:38:18
interesting being the sacrament of the01:38:20
five seals and this became a ritual01:38:25
which in the Valentinian version also01:38:28
included the bridal chamber so here a01:38:31
fragment from the Gospel of Philip the01:38:34
Lord did everything in a mystery a01:38:37
baptism and a chrism and a Eucharist and01:38:41
a Redemption which is to say01:38:43
resurrection and a bridal chamber now01:38:47
this is interesting01:38:48
because the Gospel of Philip is giving01:38:51
us five sacraments the baptism being the01:38:55
first the chrism which is to say01:38:57
anointing with oil on the forehead or01:38:59
maybe on the mouth and nose and ears and01:39:03
eyes the Eucharist which is to take in01:39:06
the wafer as the body of Christ and what01:39:09
he calls the redemption which in other01:39:13
texts is called the resurrection and if01:39:16
you understand the redemption or the01:39:18
resurrection to be this ascent of the01:39:21
soul through the planetary spheres that01:39:24
I was describing earlier then it becomes01:39:27
a reenactment of the resurrection of the01:39:31
soul ascent after death and the final of01:39:34
the five is the bridal chamber which as01:39:36
is stated is a mystery01:39:38
the next fragment from the Gospel of01:39:41
Philip while we are still in this world01:39:44
it is fitting for us to experience the01:39:48
resurrection so that when we strip off01:39:51
the flesh we may find the way to our01:39:54
final resting place this begins to01:39:57
clarify a bit more this concept of the01:40:01
sacrament of the Resurrection that in01:40:04
fact while we're still in the world we01:40:06
must learn the pathway through the seven01:40:09
planetary spheres so that when we strip01:40:12
off the flesh when we die we will find01:40:14
our way to our final resting place we01:40:17
will find our way to the upper eons01:40:19
another quote from the Gospel of Philip01:40:22
baptism includes the resurrection and01:40:25
the redemption the redemption takes01:40:29
place in the bridal chamber so you can01:40:32
see how we have mysteries within01:40:34
mysteries within mysteries but there was01:40:36
a kind of a ritual or ceremony which01:40:39
included baptism it included the unction01:40:42
or the anointing with oil the chrism as01:40:45
well as this resurrection or Redemption01:40:49
I've studied this quite deeply and in my01:40:53
novel the hidden passion i reconstruct01:40:55
the entire ceremony in the01:40:57
chapter and the way it's reconstructed01:41:01
reading the text carefully in01:41:03
referencing them can be summarized as01:41:06
follows after a three-fold immersion in01:41:10
water which is being baptized three01:41:12
times and a single function with oil01:41:16
which is the chrism as well as possibly01:41:18
receiving the host the Eucharist the01:41:21
initiate began the visionary ascent and01:41:24
this is the resurrection by renouncing01:41:29
the archons of the lower eons and this01:41:33
is called the renunciation in for01:41:36
example the gospel of the Egyptians and01:41:38
the invoking of the angels of the upper01:41:42
eons again called the invocation in the01:41:45
gospel of the Egyptians through01:41:48
vocalizations confessions charms and01:41:51
visualizations we'll look at some of01:41:53
those I'll just mention that if you go01:41:56
to any Catholic Church today and you01:41:58
participate in a baptism you will in01:42:01
fact be called upon to renounce the01:42:04
devil as part of the ritual and to01:42:06
invoke the Angels as part of the ritual01:42:09
this still remains in the traditional01:42:11
baptism ritual carried on in Catholic01:42:14
churches today so all of these include01:42:19
stripping off each of the seven soul01:42:22
garments to pass beyond the archons01:42:26
planetary gateway and to be recognized01:42:30
which is mirrored or twinship by the01:42:33
upper ionic beings and this idea of01:42:36
mirroring and twinship I'll explain that01:42:38
in a moment the initiate was then called01:42:42
by their spiritual name and so there's a01:42:45
rite of naming and received an image as01:42:48
they were sealed in the watery light of01:42:51
the upper eons and this is the ceiling01:42:54
where you receive your image then01:42:56
eternally clothed in their garment of01:42:59
light they experienced a momentary01:43:02
divine union in the mysterious bridal01:43:05
chamber so that is the01:43:09
visionary assent and let's begin with01:43:12
imagine you have been baptized three01:43:16
times you have received the unction you01:43:20
have received the Eucharist and now the01:43:23
journey begins the visionary is sent and01:43:25
this is the passage through the lower01:43:28
eons I'm going to quote from the01:43:30
dialogue of the Savior which is a text01:43:32
that appears in the NAG Hammadi library01:43:33
and it begins the Savior said to his01:43:37
disciples I opened the pass and I taught01:43:42
them about the passage through when the01:43:46
time of dissolution arrives the first01:43:49
power of Darkness will come upon you do01:43:53
not be afraid if you are afraid it will01:43:56
engulf you for there is not one among01:44:00
them who will spare you or show you01:44:02
mercy but look upon the archon without fear01:44:05
since you have mastered every word on01:44:08
earth the crossing place is fearful but01:44:13
you with a single mind will pass it by01:44:16
and so Christ01:44:18
in fact taught this the disciples the01:44:22
names of the archons the words necessary01:44:26
to pass through their doorways and by01:44:29
being able to name a demon you have01:44:31
power over a demon and you can get past01:44:33
a demon but also if you had submitted to01:44:38
those archons in your lifetime if you01:44:41
practice too much lust or or too much01:44:44
greed for example then when you come to01:44:47
the doorway of that Archon he can01:44:49
justifiably push you back down and you01:44:53
will be reborn and there will be this01:44:55
cycle of existence reincarnation what is01:44:58
called metempsychosis in greek where01:45:01
your soul returns to another existence01:45:03
and this is what the Gnostics believed01:45:08
another way to pass through the archons01:45:12
doorways was by surrendering a seal and01:45:16
in a text called the first book of you01:45:20
or a Jew you are given actually the01:45:25
seals and the names that accompany the01:45:28
seals and so these seals indicate the01:45:32
sign or sigils that belong to each of01:45:35
the archons it's a bit mysterious we're01:45:38
not quite sure what the purpose of these01:45:40
sigils is it's a late gnostic text so it01:45:45
seems to involve more of a kind of a01:45:47
magical passage through the archons01:45:51
doorways but interesting nonetheless and01:45:55
the what you see in the middle here is01:45:58
another example of diagrams that appear01:46:03
throughout this book and it is01:46:05
surprising how much this diagram01:46:07
resembles for example a Buddhist mandala01:46:11
a Buddhist mandala is a kind of a palace01:46:15
or a pyramid viewed from above and you01:46:18
can see here that there is something01:46:20
like steps and we are going up these01:46:23
different steps ascending one level to01:46:26
the next to the next to penetrate deeper01:46:28
into this inner territory so I think01:46:34
there's a strong similarity between01:46:35
these rituals and if you study Buddhist01:46:38
mandalas and the meditation on Buddhist01:46:40
mandalas you will see that there are01:46:41
parallels and similarities so those are01:46:44
the seals and there were also01:46:47
vocalizations this is also from the01:46:49
first book of ieo and here you get this01:46:55
translation of the text that you see01:46:57
above to give you a taste of what this01:47:00
book is all about when you leave the01:47:03
body and reach the Aeon of the first01:47:07
Archon seal yourself with this seal this01:47:12
is its name so they say then save01:47:17
yourself with the words fall back01:47:21
protest pair some fond coos you are kahn01:47:26
of the first yawn because I challenge01:47:29
you01:47:30
aaaah za Zao zaz zou Zayas and this01:47:37
might seem a bit funny you're comical to01:47:40
us all of these vowels and consonants01:47:43
shifting and moving together with all01:47:45
these sounds but in fact they had01:47:51
developed an entire logic behind these01:47:55
vocalizations and the logic is that any01:48:00
vowel sound belongs to the upper yawns01:48:04
whereas the consonant sounds like01:48:07
Puckett to belong to the body and so01:48:11
belonged to the lower01:48:12
yawns when you see I challenge you as a01:48:17
Oh zaz those a AHS in fact he's using a01:48:22
series of Z consonants to identify that01:48:26
arc on Christ who is the word appears in01:48:32
the gospel of the Egyptians here and01:48:34
this is the secret name of Christ I'll01:48:38
quote the word who came forth from the01:48:42
silence he whose name is an invisible01:48:46
symbol a hidden invisible mystery came01:48:50
forth II ah oh and in fact what you are01:49:02
getting is the seven vowels of the Greek01:49:06
alphabet and each vowel had an01:49:09
Associated sound so Christ Himself is01:49:13
the EA oh oh and this might seem strange01:49:18
to us but remember that breath is the01:49:22
pneuma that breath is spirit and through01:49:26
this expression of spirit through this01:49:28
expression of the breath01:49:30
we are vocalizing the name of Christ01:49:33
through the vowels looking then at the01:49:36
first book of yeah01:49:39
names with vowels are spoken in the01:49:43
tongue of the father in another text01:49:47
called the untitled manuscript in the01:49:49
Bruce codex names with consonants are01:49:53
spoken with a tongue of the flesh which01:49:55
is to say the tongue of Yalta boss the01:49:58
tongue of the lower archons and then in01:50:02
a final very fragmented test called01:50:04
marce Inez you get this distinction01:50:07
between all the different vowel sounds01:50:08
in marsan use it's written the sounds of01:50:12
the double long vowels are superior to01:50:15
the short semivowels the sound of the01:50:18
short semivowels are superior to the01:50:21
voiceless consonants the sound of the01:50:23
aspirant consonants are superior to the01:50:26
in aspirate or voiceless consonants and01:50:29
so you get the idea of what's going on01:50:32
here all of these constitute the01:50:34
nomenclature of the gods and the angels01:50:37
but usually when they say angels they01:50:40
mean archons when that explains these01:50:43
vocalizations they were using vowels and01:50:47
consonants in combination to name and01:50:51
not just name but in a certain sense01:50:54
create that vibrational inner01:50:57
vibrational state related through the01:51:01
vowels the tones the consonant sounds01:51:05
and therefore pass through in their01:51:07
vision journey from one state to the01:51:10
next state to the next state so once you01:51:14
have managed to pass through the seven01:51:18
doorways the seven planetary doorways of01:51:21
the archons and not be thrown down01:51:25
if you succeed and you pass through what01:51:27
they call the middle we're Sofia remains01:51:30
then you can finally enter into the01:51:33
realm of the light the upper yawns and01:51:37
in the upper yawns you are bestowed your01:51:41
robe of light and there are many01:51:43
references to this for example in a text01:51:46
called the Tri morphic proton Oya of how01:51:49
you four angel01:51:51
descend and invest you with your robe of01:51:54
light here from the Gospel of Philip the01:51:58
powers do not see those who are closed01:52:03
in the perfect light and are not able to01:52:06
detain them one will clothe himself in01:52:10
this light sacramentally in the union01:52:13
so the moment then that you rise up to01:52:16
the upper Aeons and you enter into the01:52:18
presence of the divine and simply being01:52:22
the presence of the divine becoming a01:52:24
reflection of the divine you enter into01:52:26
the union and you receive this robe of01:52:29
light which if you recall there was a01:52:32
ceremony of the baptism which involves01:52:35
water and that the upper Yeon's are a01:52:39
watery light then it's like this watery01:52:42
light pours over you and becomes this01:52:45
protective garment sealing you and01:52:48
protecting you and once you receive the01:52:50
robe of light as is mentioned in this01:52:52
passage then the powers the archons will01:52:55
not see you because you're clothed in01:52:58
the light and will not be able to detain01:53:00
you when you rise up through their seven01:53:05
doorways after death so the purpose of01:53:08
this ritual was to put on the robe of01:53:11
light to protect you during your01:53:13
lifetime against the archons evil01:53:16
influence and protect you after death as01:53:18
you rise up through the seven doorways01:53:22
this garment of light appears in other01:53:26
traditions such as in theory where they01:53:29
speak of a soul vehicle ok m'a is the01:53:33
word and in this ok MA or vehicle you01:53:37
also have this geometrical either a01:53:40
sphere or some other shape like a01:53:42
Merkabah vehicle and this Merkabah01:53:45
vehicle will also protect you during01:53:48
your visionary ascents through the01:53:50
different levels of the heavens and so01:53:53
you have this similar idea occurring in01:53:55
theory in the Merkabah literature which01:53:58
also emerge01:53:59
temporary with Gnosticism finally you01:54:04
are met by the angels in the upper01:54:08
heavens and what is interesting is that01:54:10
they say that you are recognized by01:54:14
these upper ionic beings and you are01:54:18
recognized because you see yourself as01:54:21
them and they see themselves as you this01:54:25
is the realm of unity and in the realm01:54:28
of unity there is mutual recognition01:54:30
there is this mirroring or twinship that01:54:33
goes on where you see an angel with your01:54:36
face and angel sees you with its face01:54:39
and you are in fact mirror reflections01:54:41
of each other you see your higher self01:54:44
you become your higher self and this is01:54:47
what happens in the upper eons finally01:54:53
you enter the realm of the four lights01:54:55
and the twelve eons this is the realm of01:54:59
mind and so your spirit reunites with01:55:03
these twelve states of mind you01:55:07
experience love perfection understanding01:55:12
you experience grace you see all of the01:55:15
forms that constitute the upper eons01:55:18
you remember through memory and01:55:20
afterthought who you truly are01:55:22
you see it with this divine perception01:55:25
experiencing idea peace and finally01:55:28
wisdom so that is the final stage before01:55:33
being reunited with the one in the01:55:37
bridal chamber and the bridal chamber is01:55:40
simply an immersion in complete oneness01:55:45
as the culmination of this entire ritual01:55:50
of the soul ascent so thank you very01:55:57
much for paying attention during this01:56:00
fairly long lecture but I think it's01:56:03
important that Gnosticism which as I01:56:06
stated at the beginning was condemned a01:56:09
heresy and01:56:11
therefore buried and eliminated from our01:56:16
culture I think it's important that we01:56:19
begin to reintegrate this point of view01:56:22
this much expanded view of Christ and01:56:26
Christianity so that we particularly in01:56:29
the West who come from this Christian01:56:32
tradition can begin to see a new01:56:34
richness of what early Christianity was01:56:37
really all about how early Christianity01:56:40
did reach into Egypt and Mesopotamia as01:56:45
well as hermeticism and theor G to01:56:49
create a much broader fuller picture of01:56:53
who Christ was of how divinity was both01:56:56
male and female of how Christ not only01:57:00
suffered but was also an awakened er or01:57:03
illuminator and how Sophia played a01:57:07
fundamental role with the entire drama01:57:09
of the souls fall and then resurrection01:57:15
or ascent into the higher eons and01:57:19
finally this idea of divinity not just01:57:23
as some God the Father in the heaven but01:57:26
rather this direct experience a mystical01:57:30
experience of oneness which can be01:57:33
understood as the gnosis and those who01:57:36
have experienced the oneness the gnosis01:57:38
come together to view the world in a01:57:41
fundamentally different way and that was01:57:44
what the Gnostics were really all about01:57:46
so again thank you very much for01:57:47
listening and I look forward to speaking01:57:49
with you again01:57:51
[Applause]01:58:29
[Music]01:58:33
youDescription:
This visual presentation of the Gnostic Worldview is given in three parts: I. A Scholarly Introduction - Gnosticism in Context (2:19) II. The Gnostic Myth of the Creation (42:55) III. The Gnostic Saviour and the Soul Ascent (1:22:30) Filmed at The Vienna Academy of Visionary Art on March 4th 2019, this lecture was given by Academy Director Laurence Caruana, author of several books with Gnostic themes. It is illustrated with works by Visionary artists, both classical (Blake, Michelangelo) and contemporary (Fuchs, Venosa, Alex Grey etc). More information on L. Caruana's books: https://www.amazon.com/L.-Caruana/e/B00J6ZRFO4 More information on The Vienna Academy of Visionary Art: http://academyofvisionaryart.com
Preparing download options
* — If the video is playing in a new tab, go to it, then right-click on the video and select "Save video as..."
** — Link intended for online playback in specialized players
Questions about downloading video
How can I download "THE GNOSTIC WORLDVIEW - A Lecture by LAURENCE CARUANA" video?
http://unidownloader.com/ website is the best way to download a video or a separate audio track if you want to do without installing programs and extensions.
The UDL Helper extension is a convenient button that is seamlessly integrated into YouTube, Instagram and OK.ru sites for fast content download.
UDL Client program (for Windows) is the most powerful solution that supports more than 900 websites, social networks and video hosting sites, as well as any video quality that is available in the source.
UDL Lite is a really convenient way to access a website from your mobile device. With its help, you can easily download videos directly to your smartphone.
Which format of "THE GNOSTIC WORLDVIEW - A Lecture by LAURENCE CARUANA" video should I choose?
The best quality formats are FullHD (1080p), 2K (1440p), 4K (2160p) and 8K (4320p). The higher the resolution of your screen, the higher the video quality should be. However, there are other factors to consider: download speed, amount of free space, and device performance during playback.
Why does my computer freeze when loading a "THE GNOSTIC WORLDVIEW - A Lecture by LAURENCE CARUANA" video?
The browser/computer should not freeze completely! If this happens, please report it with a link to the video. Sometimes videos cannot be downloaded directly in a suitable format, so we have added the ability to convert the file to the desired format. In some cases, this process may actively use computer resources.
How can I download "THE GNOSTIC WORLDVIEW - A Lecture by LAURENCE CARUANA" video to my phone?
You can download a video to your smartphone using the website or the PWA application UDL Lite. It is also possible to send a download link via QR code using the UDL Helper extension.
How can I download an audio track (music) to MP3 "THE GNOSTIC WORLDVIEW - A Lecture by LAURENCE CARUANA"?
The most convenient way is to use the UDL Client program, which supports converting video to MP3 format. In some cases, MP3 can also be downloaded through the UDL Helper extension.
How can I save a frame from a video "THE GNOSTIC WORLDVIEW - A Lecture by LAURENCE CARUANA"?
This feature is available in the UDL Helper extension. Make sure that "Show the video snapshot button" is checked in the settings. A camera icon should appear in the lower right corner of the player to the left of the "Settings" icon. When you click on it, the current frame from the video will be saved to your computer in JPEG format.
What's the price of all this stuff?
It costs nothing. Our services are absolutely free for all users. There are no PRO subscriptions, no restrictions on the number or maximum length of downloaded videos.