Gnostic Gospel, Pt 3: The ALL--Perfect Union Becomes Self-Aware

Notice: There is now a separate blog dedicated to the New Gnostic Gospel. You can get there by clicking here.

You may wish to review the first and second articles in this Gnostic Gospel series prior to reading this article. In those first two articles, the nature of the Father is described, and the birth of the Son and the ALL. Part three continues this creation story, which all happened before the Biblical Genesis.

Some claim that it is impossible to know or describe the full glory of the  transcendent, immortal Father of consciousness, due to our own limitations. How could limited beings possibly imagine the greatness of the originator of the universe, much less our place in the grand design? Wouldn’t lesser beings reflect a diminished view of God? Wouldn’t these lesser beings be limited to offering a tarnished glory that falls far short of the object of their praise?

“If the members of the ALL had risen to give glory according to the individual powers of each, they would have brought forth a glory that was only a semblance of the Father, who himself is the ALL." [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 68] Thus, creation would have been doomed from the outset to never comprehend the full glory of either the Father or itself.

According to the Gnostic Gospel, the Father realized this impossibility and so built in a helpful work-around meant to aid comprehension—selfless union and cooperation with others in a shared task.  “For that reason they were drawn into ... mutual intermingling, union, and oneness,” “through the singing of praise.” [68] “From their assembled fullness” they were “one and at the same time many,” accurately reflecting “the One who himself is the entirety of the ALL.” [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 68] 

Out of perfect union with itself and the Son, and by means of a single, shared effort, the ALL gave glory to the eternal One who had brought it forth. The glory given out of this perfect communion left the ALL perfect and full, as it was perfect and full to begin with, and the object of their glory was also perfect and full. [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 69] This phase of the ALL is referred to as "The Second Glory," with the Son being called "The First Glory."

However, this state of perfect union with the Son and communion with each other did not last. Because of their combined effort, the ALL became self-aware, and “it” became “they.”

No longer simply an unaware member of the ALL, singing in unison the same song of praise, the ALL became aware of its individual traits, and the singing came to be produced by the will of each individual aeon, themselves a reflection of the Father’s countless qualities and powers. [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 70].  The aeons conceived themselves to know themselves, in fulfillment of the Father’s desire for pure consciousness to become differentiated and self-aware.

The moment “it” became “they,” individual identities arose and immediately sorted themselves into a hierarchy. “For this reason they exist as minds over minds, words over words, superiors over superiors, degrees over degrees, being ranked one above the other. Each of those who glorify has his own station, rank, dwelling place, and place of rest, which is the glorification he brings forth.": [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 68]  This hierarchical arrangement of the qualities of the ALL is known as "The Fruit of the Third Glory" in Gnostic cosmology. It is also called "The First Order of Powers" and "The Fullness."

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Those readers who are put off by the name "God" or other religious words like "The Father" and "The Son" are free to continue using more modern memes like "consciousness" and "self-awareness." You may study these same topics in my Simple Explanation blog and book. However, if you are already familiar with Hebrew and Christian memes, then you will understand these Gnostic writings without needing to first dip into the Simple Explanation, and so you may skip the following translation.

The Simple Explanation of Absolutely Everything refers to the Father as the Metaverse, that which is above our Universe.

The Simple Explanation calls the Son the Universal Unit of Consciousness, because while identical to the Father, or Metaverse, this all-knowing consciousness is now also a singular Unit. In fractal terms, the Son is the first iteration of the pattern. The first Torus wireframe potential if you want to go that way.

The ALL is every thing that will ever be, in potential. Plato's forms, every photon, particle, and proton, every personality, every position and rank, and every physical formula, imprinted upon the Universal Unit of Consciousness. These potentialities are not manifest, nor even self-aware. They began as unrealized fractal iterations of the pattern of the Son. By this point in the Gnostic Gospel, the ALL has realized itself and become expressed fractals of the second iteration. 

The cooperation amongst the ALL is the prototype for the Simple Explanation's Golden Rule, which the Simple Explanation puts it this way: "In order for units of consciousness to join and work together for the greater good, they need to share relevant information, they need to assist one another's efforts, and they need to love one another."   In the same way that the ALL sat in perfection together while singing the same song of praise, so do we all instantiate the pattern of cooperation needed to "get the job done" when we work together for the greater good, without selfish motive.

It is fascinating to me that hierarchies arise so early in the Gnostic cosmology. Hierarchies are not mistaken grabs for power. Hierarchies are essential to our manifested universe.

This is the basic human hierarchy. While you may think of yourself as a singular human being, you are actually composed of countless billions of hierarchically assembled units of consciousness. Read more about it.