Kimetikos II: Theory (Premiseless Imperative)

Previously: Kimetikos I: Foundations

As illustrated by the preceding myth, Kimetikos is based on the understanding that the essential core of the human, our Nous or Intelligence, is the conscious experiencer within each of us. As an aspect of the Pleromic realms which exist in the Macrocosm, the Nous, activated by Sophia and the Logos, should reside within the human Spirit. Due, however, to the inherently imperfect nature of the World of Forms, the Nous has become bogged down within Destiny, and occluded by various aspects of the Soul and Body. Proper alignment– or redemption– of the different aspects of the Soul and Body allow one to overcome Destiny and bring the Nous back into the seat of Spirit. This process results from, and results in, gnosis.

Kimetikos works under the assumption that the Macrocosm and Microcosm are self-similar, after the fashion of the fractal in Chaos Mathematics[1]. Through coming to an understanding of the myth of creation, and by ritually interfacing with the information contained therein, the practitioner seeks the redemption not only of the Self, but of the entirety of creation. The imperfect nature of the Kosmos, in which the Nous finds itself trapped, is necessary for this redemption as a requisite aspect of the Monad. As the Monad extends to fill all possibilities, one of those possibilities must be the realm of imperfection.

In our system, the human construction is subject to Destiny within the World of Forms because the Soul and Body are modeled on the emanations of the Demiurge and influenced by the Zodiac and the Planets. This is in no way an original idea; the ancient Platonist-derived Mysteries were obsessed with the influences of the Planetary Spheres and the Fixed Signs of the Zodiac on the human. Each Sphere influences the human in particular ways depending upon that human’s Destiny (Heimarmene), and after death the soul of the human ascends through the Planetary Spheres, shedding the negative qualities associated with each. In Book Ten of his Republic, Plato breaks philosophical ground on this concept with the “Myth of Er,” which is also found in such diverse works as Cicero’s “Dream of Scipio” and the Hermetic Literature, particularly Book I of the Corpus Hermetica (the “Poimandres”). Within the Hellenistic world, astrological determinism was taken as a given, and the individual initiated into the mysteries could come to an understanding of their destiny by symbolically or ritually ascending through these Spheres.

Kimetikos, however, is a Gnostic practice, and as such relies upon a Gnostic view that Heimarmene is not something to be learned about or embraced; rather, Destiny is the result of the rule of the Archons and the Demiurge, and is something to be escaped or overcome. Ample evidence exists for this point of view in Gnostic literature. In the Books of the Saviour (Pistis Sophia), we find entire passages which discuss the Christos’ ascent through the Planetary Spheres, during which he “changes the direction” of the Spheres, thereby ruining the ability of astrologers to divine:

…[T]hou hast taken their power from them and from their horoscope-casters and their consulters and from those who declare to the men in the world all things which shall come to pass, in order that they should no more from this hour know how to declare unto them any thing at all which will come to pass.[2]

At a later point in the codice, in a different book in the same collection, the soul of the Gnostic, ascending through these Spheres, delivers a resounding denial to the Rulers of Fate who would subject it to Destiny:

Take your destiny! I come not to your regions from this moment onwards. I have become a stranger unto you for ever, being about to go unto the region of my inheritance.[3]

Another, similar account in which the Spheres are disturbed, thereby eliminating Fate can be found in the text “Trimorphic Protennoia”:

And the lots of Fate and those who apportion the domiciles were greatly disturbed over a great thunder. And the thrones of the Powers were disturbed, since they were overturned, and their King was afraid. And those who pursue Fate paid their allotment of visits to the path, and they said to the Powers, “What is this disturbance and this shaking that has come upon us through a Voice <belonging> to the exalted Speech? And our entire habitation has been shaken, and the entire circuit of the path of ascent has met with destruction, and the path upon which we go, which takes us up to the Archgenitor of our birth, has ceased to be established for us.”[4]

That Gnostic sacramental practice could unloose the bonds of Fate is attested to in the Excerpts of Theodotus, a collection of Valentinian sayings recorded by Clement of Alexandria:

78. Until baptism, they say, Fate is effective, but after it the astrologers no longer speak the truth. It is not the bath alone that makes us free, but also the knowledge: who were we? what have we become? where were we? into what place have we been cast? whither are we hastening? from what are we delivered? what is birth? what is rebirth?[5]

Again and again we find this concept in the Gnostic literature. The human is trapped within the World of Forms, under the subject of the Archons, who rule the Zodiac and the Planetary Spheres. This lack of control over one’s own set of circumstances leads to what we refer to in This Way as the aforementioned “Kenomic Worldview.” Let’s go over it in a little more detail.

The Kenoma, or “Emptiness,” is where we reside, that place apparently outside of the perception of the Monad into which Pistis Sophia projected the Demiurge. The Kenomic Worldview is marked by a deeply embedded sense of this emptiness– as existential ennui, manifested especially as a sense of purposelessness. The emptiness which contrasts with the fullness of the Pleromic Worldview resides under layers of what Philip Dick referred to as “kipple”– meaningless content– but is not always completely manifested (for the manifestation of utter emptiness would annihilate an individual). Rather, it appears like something submerged off the shore of a great lake of extraneous stuff, visible when the tide recedes and vanishing when the tide increases, but always there below the surface.

The problem with approaches to the Kenomic Worldview in many circles is its equation to emotions or thoughts, the false heart/brain dichotomy. One equates the Kenomic Worldview with sadness, or dissatisfaction, or depression, or with entrapment by material distractions. This approach confuses the kipple with the Worldview itself. One can be perfectly happy or in love or extremely wealthy and still dwell within the Kenoma. One can also be melancholy or sad or angry or poor and still dwell within the Pleroma.

If you live in the Kenomic World, you have no idea what you are doing here. You may have a relatively happy life by your culture’s standards. Nonetheless, the basic routines of life seem meaningless and trite. You likely get up each morning, eat breakfast, drink some coffee, take out the dog, take a shower and head to work. You do your job, perhaps happily– it may even be a job you enjoy very much! You go home to your family, with whom you are deeply in love, watch some television and hit the hay. Or, perhaps you wake up in the morning, do some Yoga, go for a quick jog and shower, eat a healthy breakfast. Then you go to your job at an eco-friendly Ad firm that caters to progressive political causes. You head home, read for a while and meditate, do some gardening and then hit the hay. Nonetheless, in any or all of these cases, a feeling of emptiness and purposelessness abides.

In the Kenoma, you are subject to heimarmene. You convince yourself that you have to do what you are doing because of the influence of external powers (the need for food, shelter, etc.). Horoscopes work for you, as do other divinatory systems like weathermen or work schedules, all of which predict possible futures only inasmuch as you provide them with import. You do what you do because you have to do it, whether that thing is going to your job at a corporation or chanting to the Buddha of Compassion or praying the Rosary. You are fated to do these things, and stuck in a situation from which you can’t escape.

You may try to suppress the emptiness with externalities, purchases, mind-altering substances or abstract busy-ness. Conversely, you may try to fill the emptiness with good works and “positive” thoughts, with Spiritual Practice or Love, with meditation or Prayer. You will find, however, again and again, that none of these approaches work to finally rid yourself of the empty feeling from which the Kenomic Worldview develops.

Why does the Kenomic Worldview develop in so many? It is because, macrocosmically, those of us who dwell in the Kenoma were born into the World of Forms, under the control of the Demiurge and the Archons. As Jesus says in the “Gospel of Thomas,” a little child seven days old is closer to the Kingdom of Heaven than an old man. As we grow older within a milieu in which we are taught that we have very little control of the external world, the Archons work to cover us in layers and layers of kipple. This goes beyond the usual platitudes about social “conformity” and politics and the value of public education; these are all externalities which, though they may be important, must take a back seat if one is working to move from the Kenomic World to the Pleromic.

The Kenomic individual all too frequently points the finger outside of him/herself when addressing the hollowness inside. This is the individual who risks falling into the Anarchonic Fallacy, the erroneous trope that salvation comes through rebellion. This condition maintains that the emptiness develops as a result of the “Church” or “Science” or “Politics.” Although the Kenoma is reflected and contained within each of these things to the extent that it is reflected and contained within individuals, railing against them is in and of itself an Archonic act, an error of collectivist irrationality, judging an entire body of persons based upon what may be a single aspect of a single individual one has encountered. Transcending the Kenoma does not entail becoming a “nonconformist” or fighting against perceived “injustices” or religio-political organizations or any other external thing. Working to fight against social injustices is always a good thing, but one can do so and still dwell within the Kenoma.

Thankfully, we each have a spark of the Pleromic World within us. Clement ofAlexandria quotes the “Prophetic Scriptures” as saying, “As to gnosis, some elements of it we already possess; others, by what we do possess, we firmly hope to attain.  For neither have we attained all, nor do we lack all.”  In essence, gnosis exists to allow an individual to create a teleology, to defend their own self-worth, to uncover a reason for being. The achievement of gnosis via the Logos and Sophia enables one to perceive the Pleromic purpose, or reason for being. Although this will not completely eliminate the Kenomic Condition, it will at least provide blueprints with which the Gnostic can begin constructing a ladder to the Pleromic realms.

Not everyone needs to know their reason for being, and this is fine. Only those who do, who are driven to seek the Pleroma by the Premiseless Imperative, are invited to leave the Kenomic World, to accept the outstretched hands of the Logos and Sophia and rise above the bottomless pit of the Kenoma. When, however, one “shakes the foundations” of the Spheres through Gnostic practice, be it sacrament or contemplative prayer or– in our case– Kimetikos,  one is free from the Archons and is instead part of the Family of Aeons who reside in the Pleroma.[6]

The idea that the Gnostic could ritually ascend through the Spheres in order to overcome fate was likely influenced by both Platonic and Jewish Mystical practices common to the Hellenistic world.[7]  In our method, it is this Prayer of Ascent which especially serves to redeem the Soul, which confronts the Archons as it ascends, shows each its name and seal– thus proving its power over them– and passes into the next sphere, shedding negative psychological qualities attributed on the way.[8]  The Spirit, then, is redeemed through a similar ascent sequence, but instead of confronting the Archons it glorifies and meditates on the Aeons in the Pleroma, incorporating their positive qualities.

In the Kimetikos Worldview, the Demiurge represents the lower reflection of the Piger-Adamas, or Ideal Human.  If, microcosmically, the Archons are psychological qualities to be shed, the Demiurge might be considered the Ego of the individual prior to its redemption, which operates not under self-knowledge but instead on a solipsistic dependence upon, and devotion to, the images it creates. Traditionally, this is the “I,” the Self, the individual interface with reality. It is this “portion” of the living thing that translates perception into individual experience and creates the sense of distinction between the Self and the Other. In mainstream Buddhism (and certain other more esoteric religious traditions), the complete elimination or sublimation of the Ego is desired, that one may experience the inexpressible Oneness. This is not, however, the case in the practice of Kimetikos, in which the Ego is something to be redeemed, not destroyed. This idea is important enough to discuss at some length.

The Gnostic presentation of the Ego or Self seems to provide a kind of happy medium between individuation and union with the Pleroma. The complete elimination of the Ego is not something found in Gnostic thought– at least, not something one attains while trapped in the World of Forms. As mentioned previously, the Gnostic Demiurge character represents the Ego and its trappings. “I am the only true God; there is no God other than me,” “I AM THAT I AM”– these statements made by the Demiurge are qualitative indicators that this is an individual personality which stands between the human and the true experience of divinity.

One might suggest that throwing off the shackles of the Archons and the Demiurge would result in the elimination of Self. In Gnostic myth, however, it is important to note that there are indications that the Archons will not be eliminated, but will instead be redeemed. In “The Reality of the Rulers,” for instance, we learn that it is possible for this redemptive process to occur, as one of the Archons, Sabaoth, repents of his actions:

Now when his offspring Sabaoth saw the force of that angel, he repented and condemned his father and his mother, matter. He loathed her, but he sang songs of praise up to Sophia and her daughter Zoe. And Sophia and Zoe caught him up and gave him charge of the seventh heaven, below the veil between above and below. And he is called ‘God of the forces, Sabaoth’, since he is up above the forces of chaos, for Sophia established him.[9]

Whether or not it applies to the Demiurge himself is a matter of speculation, but in Kimetikos we speculate that this redemptive process would extend from the qualities of the Ego (the Archons) to the Ego itself. In other words, the Ego is not eliminated when its qualities are redeemed, it becomes somehow perfected or redeemed. This is still within the realm of Modern Gnostic speculation, but the very nature of gnosis  bears this out.

Nowhere in Gnostic literature do we see the elimination of Self or Ego indicated. Indeed, it almost seems like the complete opposite. Without delving too far into Cartesian Metaphysics, in order for gnosis to be experienced– in order that something can be known– there must be something to do the experiencing. In Kimetikos, this “thing that experiences” is the Nous, the essential core which contains the Divine Spark. What gnosis is for, we find, is to raise the individual into a perpetual state of modified perception, a literal phenomenological phase change in which the perfection contained within, the spark and the Pleroma, become perceivable. This is the resurrection that happens while one is still alive. Without the Self, this would not be possible. Eliminating the Ego is counterproductive because one is still in the World of Forms. Far better to redeem it so that you can continue to make your way through the World of Forms. After all, the elimination of Ego discussed in Illuminist religions is impossible to maintain except, perhaps, in the most rigorously ascetic practice. Eventually one has to “come out of it,” to do things like eat or sleep or poop, at which point the Ego is there in full glory.

The elimination of the Ego would also be counterproductive because it would eliminate the Essence That Experiences. This extends to the individual personality; without the amalgam of stuff that we have built up around the self as the personality, the experience of gnosis would not be a unique experience, and since the entirety needs to experience every single unique portion of itself in order to become complete– for the universe to acheive its own gnosis– then the Archons and the Demiurge are a necessary part of the process. Eliminating them serves no real purpose within Kimetikos; redeeming them, on the other hand, would make far more sense in this context. So, although we could couch the idea of the redemption of the Ego in terms of death, it’s important to proceed through this ego-death to ego-resurrection. This is encoded in the message of the story of the phantom spirit found in the Pistis Sophia (the speaker is Mary, Jesus’s mother):

When you were little, before the spirit had come upon you, while you were in a vineyard with Joseph, the spirit came out of the height and came to me in my house, looking just like you; and I didn’t know it was him, but I thought that it was you. And the spirit said to me: Where is Jesus, my brother, so I can meet with him?’ And when he said this to me, I was at a loss and thought it was a spirit coming to test me. So I seized him and bound him to the foot of the bed, and I went to find you and Joseph in the field, and I found you on the vineyard, Joseph propping up the vineyard. When you heard me tell this to Joseph, that you understood, were joyful and said: ‘Where is he, that I can see him; or should I wait for him here?’ When Joseph heard you say these words, he was startled. So we went down together, entered the house and found the spirit bound to the bed. And we looked on you and him and found you just like him. And he who was bound to the bed was unloosed; he took you in his arms and kissed you, and you also kissed him. You became one.[10]

In Gnostic descriptions of the Aeons and the realms of perfection, we very often find the term “Autogenes,” which means “self-generated.” Many of the characters found within the Pleroma “generated” themselves. It follows that these beings were understood as having Selfness, whether literally or otherwise, which gives credence to the idea that the act of emanation from the Oneness resulted in its desire to know itself. The emanations are “Selfs” that interact with other segments of the Unknowable Wholeness; by knowing the sum of all of its parts, the Unknowable Wholeness can come to know itself.

The greatest amount of material in the practice of Kimetikos is devoted to preparation for the redemptions of the Soul and Spirit via the redemption of the Body itself. Until one has credible self-knowledge of the various parts of one’s body– the tool with which we interface with the Kosmos– it is exceptionally difficult to have credible self-knowledge of the Soul or Spirit. The Buddhist contemplative practices which developed into “mindfulness,” Taoist alchemical practice and Tai Chi, Yoga– all of these practices attest to an inherent knowledge within certain spiritual paths that body knowledge is essential to spiritual practice. The Archons in the “Secret Book of John”, restated above in our Hermetic dialogue, may well illustrate that at least one group of so-called Gnostics had similar ideas.

To make this a little clearer, let us discuss the Buddhist idea of the five Skandhas, or aggregates. According to Buddhist phenomenology, the “self” as a unique entity does not exist. Instead, what humans percieve as “selfness” is actually the five skandhas: form (rupa), sensation (vedana), perception (sanna), mental formations (sankhara) and consciousness (vinanna).  Coming to the realization that all of these skandhas are essentially ephemeral and changing is a key facet of Gautama’s original teaching. Confusing one’s “Self” with any one of the skandhas, or any combination thereof, is the root cause of desire and suffering in the world. At the same time, consciously and mindfully focusing upon and contemplating the impermanence of the skandhas can bring the practitioner to the experience of Nirvana through the elimination of self-ness:

Put another way, if we were to self-identify with an aggregate then we would cling (upadana)[23] to such; and, given that all aggregates are impermanent (anicca), it would then be likely that at some level we would experience agitation (paritassati) or loss or grief or stress or suffering (see dukkha). Therefore, if we want to be free of suffering, it is wise to experience the aggregates clearly, without clinging or craving (tanha), as apart from any notion of self (anatta).[11]

Remarkably, the source documents also list five “powers” that govern the interaction of the human with the Kosmos:

The one who governs the perception of things is named Archendekta, who is enthroned with Hotness. The one who governs the reception of things is named Deitharbathas, who is enthroned with Cold. The one who governs the imagination of things is Oummaa, who is enthroned with Dryness. The one who governs the integration of things is Aachiaram, who is enthroned with Wetness. The one who governs all of the impulses is Riaramnacho, who is enthroned with Matter.

The skandhas and the governors of perception have an almost one-to-one correspondence, though presented in a different order:

Form: Rupa:: All of the Impulses: Riaramnacho

Sensation: Vedana:: Reception: Deitharbathas

Perception: Sanna:: Perception: Archendekta

Mental Formations: Sankhara:: Imagination of Things: Oumma

Consciousness: Vinanna:: Integration of Things: Aachiaram

Since the source documents for Kimetikos are so patently works of phenomenology, and as the Buddhist skandhas are an aggregation of various experiences as perceived by humans through the senses but are not essentially real, so the Gnostic Archons also represent unreal experiences within the World of Forms which lead the human into pleasure, desire, grief and fear.

Interactions with the Kosmos require the presence of the Seven Senses, whose ruler is Esthesis-Zouch-Epi-Ptoe, and the Material Soul, whose ruler is Anayo. The presence of these powers invites the influences of the powers who rule over the passions, who are four in number. Their names are:

Ephememphi, associated with pleasure, who rules over lust, unmerited pride, and evil.

Yoko, associated with desire, who rules over anger, fury, bitterness, outrage and dissatisfaction.

Nenentophni, associated with distress, who rules over envy, jealousy, grief, vexation, discord, cruelty, worry and mourning.

Blaomen, associated with fear, who rules over horror, flattery, suffering and shame.

As mentioned in our discussion on the Ego, there is no indication within Gnostic thought that the Self does not exist. Indeed, the Archons involved in the creation and perception of the ephemeral world serve to occlude the Self at their center. This does not mean that invisible aliens are crawling all over your soul; these are not “Body thetans.” They are, instead, the impermanent things that impede one’s ability to experience the psychospiritual state we call “dwelling in gnosis.” They are the roadblock on the path to self-knowledge, and through mindful contemplation on them, one doesn’t discover that there is no self, but instead discovers that essential spark of the Universal Self that exists under the surface of the World of Forms.

In short, Kimetikos is a procedure for what online philosopher and bon vivant Tim Boucher once described as “proprioception”: an intimate and intensive course of action and contemplation that the Gnostic might use to come to a deeper understanding of one’s Self:

So if you applied this understanding to Gnosticism, it begins right at the source. That is, you. Your body. You may or may not be the source of the universe, but the thing to understand is that your body is the source of all of your perceptions of the universe. I like to think of perceptions as the reflection not the illusion of the universe reflected into your nervous system. Which is exactly where proprioception lies: at the root where perception has its conception: the point of deception. The point where your brain stops saying to itself, “I am collecting sensory data reflected onto my nervous system from the exterior world” and starts saying the shortcut, “I perceive existance directly.” It’s almost like the difference in role playing games between saying, “My character does such and such,” and “I do such and such.”

It has to do with the being at the level of identifying with your shortcut habitual perceptions and reactions to the world. And this is what the ego is constructed out of: once useful logical habits upon which hinge emotional and physical reactions like colors on a painting. And this is the domain of the Demiurge. In more straightforward Christian myth, it is the Devil as the ruler of this world. In the Tarot we see the Lovers chained at the feet of the Devil, like Princess Leia on Jabba’s Pleasure Barge.[12]

This understanding is one facet of gnosis. In his original teachings, Gautama never intended Nirvana to mean a post-mortem state of bliss. It is, in fact, a way of living, a way of experiencing the world of imperfections without needlessly suffering. Gnosis is also a way of living in the imperfect world of forms, and Kimetikos presents one possible way to achieve that state.

Although in no way as strenuous as Yoga or as variegated as Tai Chi, the Body Sequences of Kimetikos utilize visualization, auditory toning and kinetic movements to allow the individual practitioner to become intimate with his or her body. The “barbarous names” of what we term the Nodes and Circuit Points and their Rulers, through which the bai or activating spirit flows thorough the body, act on an energetic level to draw the attention of the Nous to the part of the body on which one focuses. That these specific names are used is a matter of expediency; one could just as readily translate, say, the names of various condiments into a foreign language and intone them and one would achieve a similar result.

A note on all of the names used in the sequences:  Hermes Trismegistus provides the root sounds assigned to each Sphere, Fixed Sign and Element. The enterprising Kimetikon might be able to uncover many additional secrets about the barbarous names and voces magicae using this information.

Next Up: Kimetikos III: Practice!

(Some of this material has been published in various forms on the internet, as well as in The Gnostic: A Journal of Gnosticism, Western Esotericism and Spirituality. Not yet reading The Gnostic? Why not? You would absolutely love it!)

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[1] For more similarities between fractal mathematics and gnostic cosmology, see A Gnostic Worldview: Part I.

[2] Mead, G.R.S. trans. Pistis Sophia, or Books of the Saviour, Book 1, Chap. 18.

[3] Ibid. Book 3, Chap. 112.

[4] Turner, John trans. “Trimorphic Protennoia.” The Nag Hammadi Library in English, Robinson, James ed.

[5] Casey, Robert trans. Excerpta Ex Theodoto. http://www.hypotyposeis.org/papers/theodotus.htm

[6] For a fascinating investigation of these ideas, see “Gnostic Liberation from Astrological Determinism: Hipparchan “Trepidation” and the Breaking of Fate,” by Horace Jeffrey Hodges, Vigiliae Christianae, Vol. 51, No. 4 (Nov., 1997), pp. 359-373.

[7] See Turner, John, “The Gnostic Threefold Path to Enlightenment: The Ascent of Mind and the Descent of Wisdom.” Novum Testamentum, Vol. 22, Fasc. 4 (Oct., 1980), pp. 324-351.

[8] One might consider the myth of Inanna’s descent to the Underworld a kind of proto-ascent sequence of this kind (in the other direction, of course). In this myth, the Sumerian goddess Inanna must decend into the Underworld to free her lover Tammuz from Death. On the way, she is stopped at seven gates, at each of which she is asked to shed one of her mystical garments.

[9] Layton, Bently trans. “The Hypostasis of the Archons.”  The Nag Hammadi Library in English, Robinson, James ed.

[10] Mead, G.R.S. trans. Pistis Sophia, or Books of the Saviour Book 1, Chap. 61.

[11] “Skandha.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skandha

[12] Boucher, Tim. “Saving the Gnostic Body.”http://web.archive.org/web/20080904223432/http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2007/08/16/saving-the-gnostic-body

A Gnostic Worldview – Part IV

Part I | Part II | Part III

It is impossible to be totally nihilistic in a world that includes delicious, delicious sushi.

10. So what? Maybe so nothing– maybe who cares? It’s possible you read this series and think, “golly, this is a whole bunch of crazy hoodoo nonsense. Why did I even waste my time?” In that case, the answer to ”So what”? is “Yeah, so what?” If it’s not for you, it’s not for you. No harm, no foul. I’m not here to change any minds, just to get some ideas off of my chest and maybe sell a few books so I can afford to pay for gas.

But if you dig on it, it’s worth thinking about ways to incorporate it into your daily existence. So, if we go over all of this information, can we drill down to some basic assumptions that directly impact how it can help us interact with the world?

For me, the following dataset sums up my place in the World:

One: Existence is Imperfection.

Two: The origin of imperfection is separation from the Fullness of the Pleroma.

Three: It is possible to reconnect to the Pleroma.

Four: Reconnection to the Pleroma is possible via the cultivation of gnosis.

Perfection is an impossibility in the World of Forms.  Existence is predicated on a confluence of Living Information, both valid and invalid, that we’re unable to properly process without special preconditions having been met. We get here, we become subject to a whole series of impelled systems over which we have no control, from the dress code at work to the laws of physics. We can spend all of our time working on understanding these systems, but invariably, our attempts to do so will be thwarted.

Since we’re products of an imperfect world, it’s never safe to trust any information you’re given by any source ever that you can’t somehow verify. This means you constantly need to ask questions no matter what. It’s super important to be skeptical, critical and distrustful of everything originating from any human system.  Once you feel like you’ve really uncovered the truth behind something, KEEP DIGGING and find out what’s really underneath, because whatever is on the surface becomes some degree of false as soon as it’s observed. This doesn’t mean you have to rebel against everything; sometimes you might question something and find out it’s okay. What it *does* mean is that you have to *test everything against Reason.*

It also may be most satisfying to operate under the assumption that if you’re not directly in control of a situation, the “worst” possible outcome is the most likely. Now, the Universe contains far too many factors to know any outcome with certainty, and good things definitely happen, but the less you are engaged in a situation, the greater likelihood that you won’t be keen on the results.

Why’d things go so far South? It’s because Wisdom (Sophia) went too far without Reason (Logos). You can be totally wise, but when you’re unreasonable, too, things aren’t going to work out for you, and vice-versa.

There are all of these perfect qualities– valid information– out there that we strive towards (the Aeons), but given that we’re in a limited, imperfect place, governed by time and fate, we can’t get to them.  We’re sitting inside an enormous fractal that’s patterned on the Pleroma, which means there are patterns upon patterns. It’s possible to learn to read these patterns and recognize historical iterations, if you’re so inclined, but you also have to expect a lot of flotsam and jetsam. You also have to expect meddling from Archonic forces, be they psychological or hypostatic.

Separation from the Pleroma caused that bad information we’re talking about. But, you can learn to spot bad information, and to look for it in everything. You can also learn to filter it out, like tuning a radio dial, so you can start picking up the good stuff. When you start messing with your tuner, though, it’s a good bet that something out there will start picking up on you.

It’s good to have a plan, and your plan might be hanging out with your friends and family, having a good time, playing music or games or watching TV, or maybe gardening. Any of these things are perfectly fine ways to reconnect with the Pleroma. As I’ve said before, this Way is not for people who are happy and contented and already have a sense of purpose. Or, maybe, you’re like me, and it helps to have a toolkit– some technologies and semiotics that help make that connection.

The tools in my toolkit are designed to help establish gnosis. They’re designed to cultivate Reason, Wisdom, and the Awakening Event. They’re designed to help you move from a worldview of Emptiness to a worldview of Fullness. I can’t guarantee they’ll work for everybody, especially people who immediately rebel against everything, but I feel kind of obligated to share them (thus all the books and whatnot).

I have what I think are some cool items planned for the next year or so. Thanks for reading along so far. I hope you’ll continue to do so, at least until and unless your bullshit meter kicks in.

A Gnostic Worldview – Part III

Part I | Part II

9. Gnosis. Hypostatically, the upshot of this whole process is that the Limitless Light’s self-knowledge has been interrupted within the realm of ignorance by the Demiurge, who wants us to worship him.  Sophia realized this immediately, of course, which is one of the reasons she gets called Wisdom, and set about correcting this error by essentially sneaking a portion of the Limitless Light into the human-being assembly line.  With the Logos, she activates that portion of the Limitless Light within us, allowing us to understand who we are, where we come from, where we are and where we are going.  This activation by both the Logos and Sophia is called gnosis, or enlightenment.

Even a cursory glance through the extant material illustrates that the word “gnosis” doesn’t mean what most people say it means.  It’s not anything like “enlightenment” in the popular sense of the word. It’s not some kind of radical insight granted by taking entheogens. It’s a multi-faceted understanding that has multiple components, which we describe, in This Way, as a formula: Gnosis = Awakening (Word + Wisdom).

Gnosis includes:

A: An Awakening Event – This might be an epiphany, a theophany, a revelation, etc., but it must be personal and must be experienced.  Way persons may participate in and perform the Christian Sacrament of the Eucharist, and perform and recognize the validity of the other Christian Sacraments.  The primary practice for the cultivation of awakening, however, is contemplative.

L: The Word, or Logos – An informational context into which one can place the awakening event. Remember that one of the meanings of Logos is “word,” but it also means “faculty of reason,” “discourse,” “law,” “pronouncement.” Jesus Christ, as the Logos, represents the deliverer of discourse– in Buddhist terms, we may find similarities to the Buddha as the Living Dharma. In the Sethian myth, Jesus carries forth the Discourse as an extended faculty of reason initiated in the Pleroma by the Divine Seth. The preexistent Logos within the Pleroma is the Christos, which manifests within the World of Forms as living information. He is the instructor who institutes the sacraments– information. He teaches the Way to his disciples– information. He facilitates the presence of the Nous within each of us– information.

S: Wisdom, or Sophia – The wisdom to apply the awakening event through praxis within one’s holistic life. This is Sophia, tempered by faith, who carries us forward in our day-to-day existence. She delivers the essential Wisdom necessary to apply the teachings of the Logos to day-to-day life. With her infinite compassion, she descends through the spheres of the Archons to engage the spirit in each of us and allow us to develop compassion for all beings. She allows us to perform the sacraments presented by the Logos wisely, and fills our actions with content, keeping us moving forward and upward as we climb the ladder of emanations towards the realms of the Pleroma.

If it doesn’t include all three of these components, it might be pretty cool, but it ain’t gnosis.

Something else: gnosis doesn’t give you superpowers, the ability to read minds or materialize things out of thin air. It isn’t available for sale (quite the opposite). The Path isn’t revealed by channeled Atlantean Warriors or UFOnauts or visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Enlightened beings don’t perform miracles or intervene on behalf of this or the other organization– even Jesus himself didn’t perform miracles for people who asked for them. Most mystical traditions state that getting in touch with your past lives or performing magic tricks are actually substantial distractions from the path. Zen monks tell you to ignore visions and prophecies you receive when meditating because they’re not the goal. Zen monks don’t do card tricks. 

Another popular trope, which is really silly when you start to think about it, is that “gnosis is different for everybody.” That’s a little like saying “objectivity is different for everybody.” Consider: stick your hand in a bucket of water, a bowl full of ice, or above a steaming bathtub. What happens? Your hand gets wet. Same kind of deal with gnosis:  it may manifest differently for everyone, but it doesn’t mean anything anyone wants it to. It is specific to certain contexts.

A note on entheogenic drugs. It is this author’s humble opinion that they’re really, really dangerous, and probably not worth it. I mean, they’re made of matter. They’re artifacts of the World of Forms. Artifacts of the World of Forms can assist in personal introspection, but they can’t deliver gnosis on their own. I can’t advise anybody to use ‘em.

Of course, there is the matter of grace. Grace is the exception to these conditions. The Logos and Sophia can do whatever they want; they may activate the gnosis of the Pleroma at any time, at any moment, in any person. The ways of the Christos and Sophia can’t ever truly be known by humans; otherwise, the Archons might learn of their plans and work against them. Their activities in the World of Forms, and those whom they touch, must remain transparent to the Authorities.

So: how do we get this gnosis? Well, if you’re interested in gnosis within the limitations of the Black Iron Prison, the person of Knowledge (that’s you) can cultivate the gnosis of the Fullness through the Mysteries established by the Christos and Sophia: Devotion to Reason and Living Information, The Ascent Through The Spheres, Mindful Incorporation Into the Continuum of Being.

Devotion to the Word is sincere and honest study of the Living Information as revealed by certain enlightened teachers and their students. The Ascent Through The Spheres is the denial of the Archons and the overcoming of Fate. Mindful Incorporation Into the Continuum of Being is the spiritual methodology of the Buddha. We’ll go into a little more detail on each of these later on this site– for now, we’ll stick to this overview.

We’ll also talk more about what it means if you get gnosis. It ain’t all fun and games: getting into this stuff means painting a big ol’ target on your back with a sign that says, “Come an’ get me, Archons!” It also means being incredibly unpopular within most circles.

Gnosis isn’t merely something that’s limited to church or personal ritual. It’s not something that’s done in soup kitchens or prison ministries. Gnosis is something that happens within each individual Gnostic, every second of every day. Gnosis might drop in on someone during Mass or meditation, but it has no limits; it is just as likely to drop in when you’re watching an episode of Louis or driving home from work.

And when you have it, you have to try to live it; there is no alternative, nor is there escape. Gnosis expands within you as an awareness, an intimate awareness of a far more subtle understanding or comprehension of the universe. It then becomes a compulsion. If you aren’t compelled to live it, you haven’t experienced it– this is an absolute.

Gnosis floods your existence. It saturates you and sits on your shoulders like wet wool. It charges you to do something about it, even if there’s nothing you can do. So, you have to try to Live it, as best as you can. You don’t have to go to church or take communion, though you can if that’s how you’re moved. You don’t have to say your prayers every night, though that’s a good practice. You don’t have to meditate every day or even to be nice to other people. You can Live Gnosis by getting up and going to work in the morning. You can live it by writing about it, or by studying it in school. You can live it by forgiving someone who’s done you wrong. You can live it by drawing or painting or making music.

All of these things can also *not* be living gnosis. It’s up to you. Because, *All that it takes to Live gnosis is to allow your gnosis to manifest itself in your interactions with the World.* In computer terms, you have to allow your gnosis to become your input/output device. Everything that comes in gets processed by gnosis. Everything that goes out leaves by gnosis. In that way, you have the opportunity to “live gnosis” every time you talk to anyone whatsoever. You have the opportunity to “live gnosis” when you’re deciding what to have on your pizza. You have the opportunity to “live gnosis” when you’re playing with your dog, or talking with your friends. A little gnosis might happen in church (in any church), but unless you live in your church, eat in your church, sleep and work and interact with other people in your church, most of your gnosis will happen outside of it. In fact, if the only place you’re able to contextualize gnosis is in your church, you are not living gnosis to its fullest.

10. Anthropology and the Chain of Attainment.  As containers of the Spiritual Seed, which, when activated by the Christos and Sophia, reveals the inbreaking of the Pleroma into the World of Forms, all humans are intrinsically involved with the redemption of the imperfection. This redemption is necessary inasmuch as the completion of the redemption will allow the Great Invisible Spirit to truly Know itself in full knowledge of its emanations. For this reason, the imprisonment must also have occurred, for how can the Great Invisible Spirit come to know itself if it is not first ignorant of some part of itself?

In one sense, the redemption has already occurred. It’s continually occurring. If, indeed, the Limitless Light is eternal and unchanging, then we can’t limit it in the constraints of Time. The concept of Time is a concept of limitations, and as a concept of limitations, Time is ruled over by the Archons and their servitors. Thus, the passage of Time is an illusion maintained within the World of Forms. The process of redemption and of the gnosis of the Great Invisible Spirit has-occurred-is-occurring-will-occur. All that is, that appears of change, is but a single instance, a single firing of a single synapse in the Nous.

Now then, according to our understanding, humankind exists as three-in-one: the hylic, who has surrendered to the Archon, the pneumatic, who has surrendered to the Christos and Sophia, and the psychic, who sometimes surrenders to the Archon, and sometimes to the Christos and Sophia. Most of us are in the psychic state, which doesn’t mean we can read minds; it means we live in a complex world where sometimes we’re really cool and sometimes we behave like jackasses.

Of course, it’s a huge mistake to say that these are three different types of human by nature. It’s a dangerous game to start applying labels to other people and making value judgements based on those labels. Claiming that any other person is stuck in some kind of spiritual state, or is less than perfect, is giving in to the power of Fate. And we all know who controls Fate, right? That’s right: the SPACE NAZIS! (ha ha obviously not really, but claiming that “so-and-so is hylic and not as good as so-and-so who is pneumatic” is just as dangerous as claiming that “so-and-so is Jewish and not as good as so-and-so who is German,” to get all Godwin-y on you).

So, we use these aspects as tools for self-understanding, because they’re three aspects of all humans, all of whom contain the spiritual seed. The Christos and Sophia can awaken gnosis in any one of these aspects; therefore, your best bet is to treat everybody as though they may already be awakened. You can never know where the Christos and Sophia will do their work, because if it’s that easy for us, then it’s just as easy for the Archons, who could seek the person out, and put that person to death.

You just never can tell. Obviously, we find out all the time that a lot of folks who claim to be ascended spiritual masters, and who volunteer in soup kitchens and give money away and such, are scam artists and manipulative narcissists.  On the other end of the pole, as we’ll see, it’s possible for someone with complete gnosis to seem like a jerk who insults people and eats lots of fast food. So it’s best to give everybody the benefit of the doubt, at least at first. 

Now, let’s get a little morbid and talk about what happens to us when we die. As Platonic philosophers with a serious Buddhism fix, we’re into the concept of metempsychosis, or “reincarnation.”   Most individuals experience this constant cycle of birth and rebirth, and are subject to what Eastern religion calls karma, cause and effect, action and reaction.  In This Way, we call it the Chain of Attainment. 

According to Gnostic mythology, the soul resides within this imperfect chain of attainment until saved via the gnosis of the Logos and Sophia. The redeemed soul, after death, transcends the realms of limitation and becomes one with the experience of the Ultimate Freedom of the Limitless Light. Should a soul remain unredeemed within a lifetime, that soul will be unable to escape the chain of attainment and will be reborn accordingly.

We are big fans of Universalism, that every single soul will eventually acheive this redemption– it’s just a matter of “Time.” Indeed, according to our understanding of Time, this redemption has already occurred, as the passage of time is an illusion of the imperfect world.

We also refer to “The Kingdom of Heaven” when discussing the ultimate redemption of the universe and the self. As far as the preexistence of the soul, we generally believe that incarnated souls are those which haven’t yet escaped the imperfect World of Forms, or, in many cases, are experiencing incarnation for the very first time as part of the ongoing process of material creation.

This system works really well for the Demiurge:  he can reward or punish as he sees fit, and maintain his control over the World of Forms.   He does this via the medium of the Black Iron Prison and its impelled control systems, which discourage the individual from finding gnosis for herself, instead maintaining that deliverance can only be granted by another.

Unlike Eastern religion, however, in which reincarnation occurs in linear time, our Gnostic school recognizes that linear time is an Archonic illusion.  This is why, in Gnostic scripture, the Archons are assigned the days of the week or signs of the Zodiac.  In reality, as we know from our discussion above, the Limitless Light transcends space and time to such an extent that what we perceive as motion, change and time would by necessity appear as a single unit to the Limitless Light, as it would perceive every instant simultaneously.  If this is the case, then the soul and the accompanying portion of the Limitless Light might be reborn in any “time” and as any individual.  You may be reborn as someone living in the time of Jesus, I may be reborn as someone living in the future.

Remember, the Limitless Light is differentiating itself until it has experienced all of the potentialities that it contains.  This means that the process of metempsychosis allows the Limitless Light to experience each of its aspects as a single consciousness.  There is only one consciousness—it is the one you are experiencing right now, as you read this.  It is also the consciousness that I’m experiencing right now as I type this.  This is the Limitless Light learning about itself, and it literally means that everyone is everyone else.  I might be reborn as you, you might be reborn as me.  Gnosis is the personal realization and experience of this fact. This is a huge secret that I’ve just let you in on.

Obviously, not everyone experiences gnosis.  Thankfully, Sophia and the Logos are correcting the divine equation by way of iteration. To return to the Chaos Theory analogy, if we are all rounded variables in a fake ordered set which is dictated by an underlying fractal, the Limitless Light and its Aeons are stripping off the “rounding” and returning us to our original natures that exist on the left side of the decimal point.

This is why ritual can be important, and can also be applied to the concept of the eucharist, whereby the Phildickian “plasmates” (living information) are introduced to an iterated formula: ritual that is repeated at regular intervals. This is not to say that any specific ritual is “right” or “wrong,” but rather that Divinity tends to introduce itself into the equation of the World of Forms via iteration.

Back to the idea of the three states of humanity– again, this is all as ‘literal’ as it needs to be to you.  Is it hypostatic, or psychological? Which helps you the most? So. If you die in the state of a hylic aspect, you’ve been weighed down by the material, and ensnared by the Archon, and will descend back into a body in the World of Forms according to the control system of the Archons. This isn’t always a bad thing; it does, however, mean rebirth into the realms of limitations and not into the Kingdom of Heaven. If you die in a pneumatic state,  you’re reborn into the Fullness of the Pleroma as soon as the gnosis is realized. After the death of the body, you ascend into the realms of Perfection, the Fullness, escaping the bonds of the Black Iron Prison and the cycle of incarnation. That spirit, that wonderful and perfected spark of the divine Light, may also become a Messenger of the Light– a Bodhisattva, taking on a body in the World of Forms out of compassion and mercy for those still trapped within the Prison, along with the Christos and Sophia assisting them with their own resurrections.

Got to repeat it: you can’t say for sure what state somebody else was in when they died. This is advice for your own self-discovery, not to be used to judge what happened to other people.

Concluded in PART IV!