Part 15 -- Judgment Day and the Coming Paradise

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

The Christ entered history about two million years ago to bring an end to the "economy" that sustains life on our material earth. About that time, Christ raised human beings above their fellow eukarya by endowing us with the ability to reason, remember, and glorify our Father and the ALL. Humans were designed to be truly existent living images of the Fullness.

The aeons of the Fullness dream of Paradise

"So they came, they too being far superior in their carnal emission compared to the ones who had been brought forth from deficiency. For in this way they too were emitted bodily together with the Savior by being manifested in union with him.  These are such as belong to the single substance, and that is the spiritual one. The economy, however, is variable, this being one thing, that another [Tripartite Tractate, v. 115, 116].

The Gnostic Gospel claims that we humans are all children of the spiritual realm of the Fullness, Redeemed by the body and blood of Christ in the form of "a drop" of remembrance, "a seed of the promise" that "now enabled instruction and a return to that which they had been from the beginning" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 117]. 

DNA carries the "remembrance" of organisms

Humans were endowed with reason so they could remember their true inheritance and repent of their tenacious claim to material life. This Redemption comes easier to some than to others: "Now, humanity came to exist as three kinds with regard to essence--spiritual, psychical, and material--reproducing the pattern of the three kinds of disposition of the Word, from which sprung material, psychical, and spiritual beings" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 118]. 

Eukarya, which include all animals, plants, and fungi, are an Order above the prokarya, who lack cellular walls, nucleii, and double-helix DNA. This Simple Gnostic Gospel classifies prokaryotes as soulless material beings and the 2nd Order of Powers as psychical beings with souls. Humans are eukaryotes whose DNA has been augmented with advanced capabilities that enable them to "remember" their spiritual home. Because Christ's code is inscribed into our DNA, all humans are able to remember and glorify the Father. 

"The spiritual kind [of human] is like light from light and like spirit from spirit... It received knowledge straightaway from the revelation... When he remembered that which is superior and prayed for salvation, [he has] salvation without any uncertainty" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 118, 119]  These are the prophets, evangelists, and teachers of the Word, whose job it is to help their brothers and sisters to remember the Father above.

"The psychical kind, however, being light from fire, tarried before recognizing the one who had appeared to it, and still more before rushing to him in faith... it was content that it was not far from the hope given by the promise, having received... a pledge of the assurance of things to come... Those who rid themselves of the lust for domination that was given to them temporarily and for short periods, who give glory to the Lord of glory and who abandon their rage, will be recompensed for their humility by being allowed to endure indefinitely" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 118, 120].

These are folks who feel they are doing just fine, leading a mostly moral and comparatively upright life--good family people, good citizens. They realize nobody is perfect, and they try to be helpful to their neighbors.

"The material kind, however, is alien in every respect: it is like darkness that avoids the shining light because it is dissolved by its manifestation. For it did not accept his coming, and is even filled with hatred against the Lord because he revealed himself... 

"Those who arrogantly pride themselves in their vainglorious lust, who love temporary glory, who are oblivious to the fact that the power they have has been entrusted to them only for a limited time and period, and for that reason have not acknowledged that the Son of God is the Lord of the ALL and the Savior, and who have failed to rid themselves either of their fury or their way of imitating those who are evil--they will receive judgment for their ignorance and their senselessness, namely suffering" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 120, 121]. 

These people proudly call themselves atheists and they have no fear of God because their meme bundle rejects sober contemplation of God. Others may proudly call themselves scientists; still others, academics. Some may be industrialists, tech giants, entertainers, pandering politicians, or philandering priests. They are successful materialists who have no inclination to replace their ego with God. They mock believers, believing themselves superior to those poor, deluded fools.

The Gnostic Gospel names Jesus of Nazareth as the incarnation of the Christ, who walked the earth 2,000 years ago. Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God and instructed his followers in the ways of virtue. Jesus did not ask to be worshiped or glorified, rather, he redirected praise to the Father. 

Jesus was both "fully human," with human DNA inherited from his earthly mother, and "fully God," entwined at conception with DNA inherited from his spiritual Father. Within the body and blood of Jesus flowed the perfected genomic instantiation of the Paradise dreamed by the Fullness. In this manner, Restoration came to the Deficiency below.

Christ's incarnation in the body of Jesus, and the spilling of his blood onto the earth, brought the ALL and the aeons of the Fullness face to face with the material agony of life, suffering, and death. 

We may now infer that with the coming of the King, the final Kingdom is at hand. For not only did the Christ incarnate in that body, but so too did the angels and the powers of the Fullness who worked tirelessly within the cradle of each cell, protecting and expressing Christ Jesus. 

"The final restoration, however, will take place after the ALL is manifested in him who is the Son--the one who is the redemption, who is the road toward the incomprehensible Father, who is the return to the preexistent--and after the members of the ALL have been manifested in him who is truly the inconceivable, ineffable, invisible, and ungraspable one, so that the ALL obtains its redemption" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 123, 124].

"For the redemption began to be given among the humans who were in the flesh, with his firstborn and his love, the Son, coming in the flesh, and the angels who were in heaven having been found worthy of forming a community, a community in him on earth" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 125].

The most accurate interpretation of these verses is that the angels were literally inside of the body of Jesus, forming a "community" in him, living and dying with him. Indeed, our karyotic cells work as an integrated community inside each of us, devoted to taking care of the needs of our bodies. 

"As for the true baptism, into which the members of the ALL descend and where they come into being, there is no other baptism except the one--and that is the redemption--which takes place in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, after confession of faith has been made in those names--and after one has believed that the things one has been told are real" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 127, 128].

The end goal of Redemption is return to the Father's abode--that Paradise dreamed by the Fullness, where there is no death, no disease, no disappointment, and no deficiencies. That Paradise where Christ is King and peace reigns supreme, and there is only cooperation, fellowship, and true love. In Paradise there is naught but life; so all the grass is green, and flowers blossom endlessly, and every soul that has ever lived, lives happily with their friends and families. 

"The Prologue and the Promise" by Robert McCall was a popular image of Paradise that once graced the walls of Disney's Florida EPCOT Center.

What happens on Judgment Day? 

The spiritual ones who already serve the King take their places in Paradise as the "Elect" of the Church, and they join with the aeons in the "concord and the inseparability of the ones whom he has known and who have known him" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 128]. 

Those who are of the "Calling," that is, those of the Remembrance who were caught in the endless war with the Imitation, have within themselves "good dispositions and... a sentiment that derives from that which is" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 130]. "They greeted the light" like a bolt of lightening, "and they bore withness that it had appeared for their salvation" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 131]. Thus the Called will condemn evil and will turn away from the rage that has consumed them, and they will be healed as they "acknowledge that they have an origin of their existence, and they desire to know what that is that exists before them" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 132].

"And even those who were brought forth from the desire of lust for domination, having inside them the seed that is lust for domination, will receive the recompense of good things if they have worked together with those who are predisposed toward good things, and provided they decide to do so deliberately, and are willing to abandon their vain love of temporary glory so as to do the command of the Lord of glory, and instead of that small temporary honor they will inherit the eternal kingdom" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 131, 132].

As for Those of the Imitation who embrace the darkness and deny the light, well, "even they will obtain direct vision, so that they will no longer have to believe only on account of a small word produced by a voice that this is how things are. For the restoration back to that which was is a single one. Even if some are exalted because of the economy, having been set up as causes for the things that happened, unfolding numerous physical forces and taking pleasure in them, they--angels as well as humans--will obtain the kingdom, the confirmation, and the salvation" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 133].

These, too, will be provided "with dwelling places where they will dwell eternally after they have renounced the downward attraction of deficiency, and the power of the Fullness has pulled them upward, on account of the great generosity and the sweetness of the preexistent aeon" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 136].

The only forms banished to the outer darkness are those attributes of the Deficiency that "did not exist from the beginning"--the shadows and phantoms of the Imitation that bring nothing but death and destruction.

Gnostic Gospel, Pt 14 -- The Final Restoration

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

The Christ came into the world to redeem all of creation through his body and his blood. Salvation comes not only to those of us on Earth, but also to the Fullness above and to Logos in particular, the aeon whose Fall brought creation into existence. 

The Gnostic Gospel represents the Christ as this orb of light and power, the Fruit of the Fullness, embodying the light of the Father and the attributes of the ALL.

You are nearing the end of the Gnostic Cosmology. Why not begin with Part 1 for a better understanding of the Simple Gnostic Gospel concepts and terms.

The aeon, Logos, who had Fallen, created, and then abandoned the Deficiency, "decided to pray that the fixed economy might attain all those who had gone forth from him," including those still clinging to the Deficiency. 

The Simple Gnostic Gospel has identified the method by which Remembrance entered the Earth--through the genes of double-helix DNA, encased in "chariots" of cells. The domain of Eukaryotes is the fruit of Logos and the Fullness, praying together to correct the Deficiency of the Imitation. 

The Second Order of Powers resembled their parents in the Fullness, "each one of them being a small impress of one of the figures" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 94]. These were no larger than those of the Imitation, but they came into the world with a better disposition, reflecting the qualities and powers of the Fullnesses. 

The Second Order of Powers are also known as "psychical ones," referring to their souls, or psyches. Those of the Imitation, on the other hand, are called "material ones," because they do not embody souls, "being nobody's children." Material ones primarily reveal their soulless status by their lack of a nucleus and their inability to live cooperatively. Although they possess DNA, it is in florets of circles rather than the entwined double-helix of eukarya. When prokaryotes replicate, it is through a process called "rolling circle replication." No DNA is created; it is duplicated through precise replication, as demonstrated below. 

Because the psychical ones were created through the prayers of many acting as One, eukarya are able to work cooperatively with the proteins, enzymes, and whatnot to sustain a complex economy within their own bodies, plus outside of their bodies with each other at the societal level. Because their parents live in a cooperative hierarchy, eukarya are innately communal. 

These six chronoflagellate eukaryotes have formed themselves into a flower-shaped colony. Chronoflagellates are the closest living relatives of animals.

Eukarya did not evolve from the archaea and bacteria of the Imitation, but were a new fruit designed to bring needed corrections to the Deficiency. Corrections like nuclei and cell walls, and essential cellular components like mitochondria.

"As a result, those whom he brought forth in accordance with this intention occupy chariots, so that they may traverse all regions of activities lying below, and each one may obtain his fixed place in accordance with what he is" [Tripartite Tractate, v.91].

The single-celled eukarya of 2nd Order of Powers, riding their chariots of fully formed cells, found themselves trapped in an endless war with those of the Imitation. Although they had a "small remembrance" of their Father and the Fullness, they lost themselves in battle, due to the Law of Mutual Combat.

Here, a demon of the Imitation attacks a 2nd Order Power by drilling a hole through its cell wall. Viruses are able to invade and kill living cells, despite the fact that they themselves are "dead." 

"Nevertheless, it was a good thing for the economy that was to be, because it had been decided concerning them that they should pass through the lower stations, and the stations would not be able to accept them coming quickly through them unless they came one by one. And their coming was necessary because everything was to be fulfilled through them" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 95].

The Fruit of Logos and the Fullness: a nucleus preloaded with double-helix DNA, carrying the genetic instructions for the domain of eukarya.

The ecology of the Economy takes time to unfold, as every corner of creation must have the opportunity to receive redemption through Christ. Eukarya DNA, conserved and precisely replicated for several billion years, suddenly turned itself on about 800 million years ago. At the appointed time, life on Earth quickly evolved by unlocking the expression of genes allowing the development of multi-cellular organisms, eventually leading to every plant, animal, and fungus on the planet. This rapid proliferation of species fulfilled manifestation of a blueprint that was already contained in eukarya DNA.

The more complex a eukaryote is, the more of its DNA remains a mystery. For example, only 25% of the genome carried by C. elegans nematodes actively contributes to building the organism. The other 75% is deemed "junk" by scientists who cannot comprehend its purpose. In humans, approximately 95% of our genome is so-called "junk DNA," with no apparent role or function. Furthermore, these same "junk" genes are "highly conserved," meaning they are identical to the DNA of single-celled eukarya that have lived on Earth for hundreds of millions of years. 

Autotrophs are able to eat food obtained at the molecular level. Heterotrophs are required to eat other life forms for food. This is part of the necessary "Economy" required by our Earthly bodies.

And so it came to pass that "every grace, and food" that had been contemplated through prayer and the ALL came into existence. 

"In short, then, at once the Word received all things, pre-existent, present, and future, having been entrusted with the economy of all that exists. Some were already realities, since their coming into being had been useful; seeds that would come into being in the future, however, he kept within himself--seeds deriving from the promise, by which he had conceived, because it was a promise consisting of seeds of the future. And he gave birth to his offspring, which was the manifestation of that which he conceived. The seeds of the promise, however, were withheld for some time from coming into being, because they were such as had been appointed to be sent out at the advent of the Savior and his companions" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 95].

At this point in history, about two million years ago, the Fruit of  the Father and the ALL, that is the Christ, intervened in evolutionary history by enabling humans to emerge from the rest of the eukarya pack as a spiritual being modeled after himself, endowed with unique capabilities. 

"The first human, then, is a mixed molding and a mixed creation, and a depository of those on the left and those on the right, as well as of a spiritual Word, and his sentiments are divided between each of the two substances to which he owes his existence" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 106].

Side and top views of DNA. Here we can see those on the left entwined with those on the right. We can also see the pattern of the ALL.

Less than 5% of human DNA goes toward construction of our bodies. What is the purpose of the other 95%? If it carries the historical record of all eukaryotes, i.e., their highly conserved DNA, is this not proof of a pre-existent intelligent design culminating with us?

The face of the revealed Christ, "possessed the word of the Son, together with his essence, his power, and his form. He was the one he desired and delighted in, he was the one who had been prayed for in love. This aeon was light and a desire to be set aright, an openness for instruction and an eye designed for vision--qualities that it had from those above. Moreover, it was wisdom for his thought against the ones who were placed lower in the economy, a word for speech, and other perfect things of this kind" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 93, 94].

Those who are Redeemed by the Christ are unshackled from the chains that  bind the material and psychical orders to this world. So much so, in fact, that they form a new, "Third Order of Powers"--the spiritual ones.  The Redeemed are also known as the "Assembly of Salvation," "The Bride," "The Church," and "The Elect" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 92]. 

The Tripartite Tractate mentions the name of Jesus only a couple of times, and the Savior and the Christ many more times than that. And of course the entire book begins with long discourses concerning the nature of the Father and The Son. Here is what it says about Jesus at this point in the story:

"Because the seed of the promise about Jesus Christ had been deposited, whose revelation and unification we have ministered to, this promise now enabled instruction and a return to that which they had been from the beginning--that of which they possessed a drop inciting them to return to it--which is what is called redemption. And that means to be released from captivity and to obtain freedom. The captivity is of those who were slaves of ignorance, which reigned in its own territories" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 117].

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Continue on to the final article in the Simple Gnostic Cosmology: Judgment Day and the Coming Paradise. 

A Simple Explanation of Gnostic Evolution

There are just a couple of basic ways you can think of evolution. 

As commonly taught in school, "scientific" evolution explains the tremendous diversity of life on earth as lucky mutations that add up to great results. Darwinism promotes the idea that mutations and mechanisms morph into increasingly sophisticated life forms because genetic goof-ups allow the ones who change to better survive and dominate those who stayed true to form. These lucky mutations keep going in the same lucky direction until there are so many of them they add up to a new and improved creature, and now they are "evolved." 

These developmental genes are the same for all multicellular animals. Evolutionists believe they have been highly conserved through hundreds of millions of years of evolution. [Hox protein classification across model organisms by CLANS analysis, Hueber et al. ]

You can also explain evolution by applying the concept of "intelligent design." Intelligent design says that evolution is guided by a top-down blueprint, where the final product is known beforehand and the evolution moves toward fulfilling its production. Intelligent design is, of course, denied and ridiculed by the majority of scientists, mainly because it stipulates a supernatural creator. The two basic tenets of intelligent design are 1) irreducible complexity, and 2) specified complexity.

Irreducible complexity refers to a single, complicated object or mechanism that requires so many parts and particular forces all working together toward a narrowly focused goal that it couldn't have evolved as independent puzzle pieces. 

ATP synthase is a good example of a mechanism that is so complex and clever, it's hard to imagine how it was not designed first and then built to order. Watch this short video of the ATP synthase mechanism in operation. Keep in mind that even the most primitive, single-celled creatures come loaded with this equipment, and have for 4.5 billion years, almost as long as there has been water on earth. As you watch the video, consider how this mechanism could have possibly "evolved" outside of and prior to the first living cell or organism? What are the odds of stupid molecules accidentally forming themselves into a ratcheted, proton-powered driveshaft that just happens to open and close assembly bays?

The second argument for intelligent design is called "specified complexity," which refers to the improbability of essential, highly complex operations arising by chance. The double-strand DNA machinery is one example of a super-complex mechanism where many steps must be accomplished using many components assembled in exactly the right order. Watch the short video below and contemplate how unlikely it is that the DNA replication process "evolved" by chance. 

The complexity of mechanisms at the smallest possible chemical and biological levels argues against their having arisen by happenstance as quickly as they did. 

This prokaryote eats electrons for food. That's how close it lives to the molecular edge of life.

Below is the geological clock of earth. Look how soon protokaryotes arose on Earth--just half a billion years after the newly-arrived moon stabilized the planet's tilt and rotation. Yet all of the sophisticated machinery required for assembling and maintaining a cell was already available for use by the newly emerging single-celled organisms; if they hadn't been, the organisms could not have formed. How were those complex processes ready and waiting? By chance? I don't think so.

For a religious system that existed long before modern science invented the concept of evolution, Gnosticism has a lot to say about it. The Tripartite Tractate of the Nag Hammadi scriptures that I use for reference, describes us humans as the end result of an unfolding, universal ecosystem it calls "The Economy." The supernatural beings credited with this intelligent design are the Father, the Son, and the Fullness.

The simple Gnostic Gospel Illuminated has already described the steps by which life on Earth arose. You may review them, if you wish, by catching up with the Simple Gnostic Cosmology here.

The Gnostic Gospel suggests that life on earth arose in several cataclysmic steps, with each jump bringing a new order of life to the planet via newly-minted instructions. 

The jump that started the Earth-ball rolling was the Fall itself, when a higher-order being named "Logos" tried to plug itself into an unauthorized location ("The Father") in order to accomplish a task it was not assigned. The Fall of Logos is the seminal act of the Gnostic creation story. When Logos "fell," it broke apart into all of its component pieces. The ruptured body of Logos is called "The Deficiency."

"The Deficiency" is the ruptured body of Logos, encircled by a Boundary.

The consciousness of Logos abandoned its dispersed components "down below" and fled back up to the Fullness. The abandoned components of Logos assembled themselves into "Those of the Imitation." 

Those of the Imitation are organized at the molecular level. They are unable to work together or to procreate with others of their kind. The Simple Gnostic Gospel now identifies prokaryotic organisms with "Those of the Imitation". These two prokaryotic lineages, or domains, are still with us today--Archaea and Bacteria. Archaea is the oldest domain, with chemical signatures in strata going back four billion years. Very little is known about the domain Archaea, which, until the late 1970s, was misclassified by scientists as a type of bacteria. 

Prokaryotes arose remarkably soon after Earth's formation. These solitary creatures lack a nucleus and organelles, their DNA is circular, and they replicate themselves by themselves--asexually. Nonetheless, prokaryotes display surprising complexity at the molecular level.

"Those who came into being resemble in fact the Fullnesses of whom they are imitations... They thought of themselves that only they existed and that they had no beginning, since they saw no one existing before them" [Tripartite Tractate, v.79].  

"Over those who belong to the imitation he placed the ordering word to provide them with form. He also placed over them the law of judgment, and, further, he also placed over them the powers that had their roots in the lust for dominion. He placed them to rule over them, so that the order should be kept in check either by the firmness of the wise word, by the threat of the law, or by the power of the lust for dominion, all of which diminished that order's evilness, until the Word was content with them as useful for the economy" [Tripartite Tractate, v.99].

The above quote says that Logos supplied the materials he had left behind in the Deficiency with various kinds of non-physical aids. The term "ordering word" refers to both knowledge and organization, in the same way that words and syntax organize letters of the alphabet into meaningful packets of information that can link together to form sentences that blossom into language. DNA coding would be an example of the ordering word. 

Prokaryotes have circular loops of DNA arranged in this flower shape.

"The Law of Judgment" refers to cause and effect and their predictable outcomes based upon physical and chemical laws.  "Powers" refers to "forces," as in atomic and molecular forces--attraction and repulsion, spin, phase separation, even microgravity--pulling and pushing electrons and protons from one assembly to another. 

The forces within and between carbon atoms form the "carbon chain." The carbon chain links carbon atoms to hydrogen atoms through shared electrons, forming the molecular basis of all life on Earth. Every living thing is constructed with carbon chains.

Gnostic cosmology states that Logos was unsatisfied with those of the Imitation. As described below, those of the Imitation were doomed from the outset to "multiform thought" because they arose from the unauthorized, solitary action of a single aeon--Logos--whereas the design of the Fullness emphasized cooperation and mutual effort among an entirety toward a shared goal. In other words, an ecology.

"Instead of perfection he saw deficiency; instead of unity he saw division; instead of stability, disturbance; instead of rest, upheaval... Those who had come into being did not know themselves, nor did they know the Fullnesses from which they had originated... being feeble and small creatures, infected with the same sicknesses with which he himself had been infected" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 80, 81].

Cyanobacteria are prokaryotes that have been producing energy for themselves and oxygen for the planet for over three billion years. Their method of photosynthesis drives the same process found within organelles of plants. Cyanobacteria are credited with changing Earth's atmosphere, and blue green algae continue that function today.

Viruses, by the way, are a particularly insidious form of the Imitation. Viruses are not prokaryotes because they are not considered "alive" by any measure of life. Since they are not alive, they cannot be killed. They are not living cells but simply a shell housing strands of RNA and DNA gathered from their environment. They have no metabolism, no cells or cellular mechanisms, and cannot replicate the DNA and RNA they carry without invading and commandeering a living host's machinery. The DNA and RNA found in viruses does not work to build the virus; it is merely freight until injected into a host cell. Despite their utter simplicity, viruses are able to carry out complex, mechanical invasion procedures on others' living cells. Viruses, by the way, are extremely small. Meet the demons.

The "bacteriophage" virus infects both bacteria and archaea by drilling a hole through the victim's cell wall and injecting DNA. The bacteriophage's DNA then hijacks the host's cellular mechanisms and instructs them to begin producing copies of the virus. Keep in mind we are talking about non-living beings able to organize and carry out complex functions. 

According to Gnostic cosmology, after the Fall, Logos returned first to the Father, then to the ALL altogether, and then one by one to his brothers in the Fullness. In this manner, with all of their individual and intertwined capabilities working in coordination, they produced a new fruit called "The Second Order of Powers". 

The aeons of the Fullness prayed for a new fruit to correct the Deficiency of the Imitation.

"These powers were much better and greater than those belonging to the Imitation. ... from a thought that had known them in advance" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 82].

The next major jump into the "Second Order of Powers" forms the third Earthly domain called "eukaryotes," which arrived soon after the Earth's atmosphere turned to oxygen--about 2.7 billion years ago. These Powers are also called "Those of the Remembrance." I would like to suggest that what was sown in the Second Order of Powers that lifted them above the Imitation was "the Remembrance" contained in double-helix DNA. For what is DNA but a huge book of instructions for higher-ordered life?

"He sowed in them an inclination to seek and pray to what is glorious and preexistent, and he also sowed in them an ability to think about it, and a power of reflection to make them realize that something greater than themselves existed before them, but they had not understood what it was. Bringing forth harmony and mutual love by means of that thought, they acted in unity and unanimity, since to unity and unanimity they owned their existence" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 83].

The encircling pattern shows up in this top view of a 3-molecule protein called a sliding DNA clamp homotrimer that forms a torus shape around a DNA strand, unzipping it like a zipper for replication.

Here is a side view of the same sliding clamp torus wrapped around the twisting helix of DNA.

New micro imaging techniques combined with computer simulations give never-before-seen glimpses into the glory of DNA. Take a look at the four known types of double-helix DNA. We are accustomed to seeing DNA from the side view; it's a whole different view from the top:

Here are the side views and top views of DNA. The mandala patterns formed by DNA's top view reveal another level of circular complexity that adds spice to DNA's familiar lattice shape.

It appears the Simple Explanation is not the first to note the similarity between DNA's top view and humanity's love of a stained glass window or a pretty lace doily.

This logo for a genetic engineering firm demonstrates the culture's recognition of the connection between the caduceus and DNA.

The third domain of life on Earth is known as eukarya to science. With the advent of double-helix DNA came membrane-bound organelles and a nucleus, cellular respiration, and sexual and asexual reproduction. We humans and all of the Earth's fauna and flora are part of the eukarya domain.

As it turned out, the Second Order of Powers became infected with the same lust for dominion that had infected those of the Imitation, due to the "Law of Mutual Combat," and the two orders began a never-ending war over resources in the limited ecology of early Earth. The "Likenesses" resembled the original aeons of the Fullness, but they lost themselves in the confusion of Earth.

"The powers of the remembrance were adorned with the names of the preexistent, whose likenesses they were; the order of those of this kind was in harmony with itself and with each other. It fought, however, the order of those of the imitation, because that order waged war against the likenesses... as they were producing various kinds of matter and all sorts of powers, mixed with one another and in great number" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 84, 85].

One more cosmological jump to a "Third Order of Powers" was needed to complete the intelligent design. This time the plan was to bring forth One who reflected ALL of the traits of the Fullness. This transforming power is called the "Christ." 

Acceptance of the Christ refined the DNA of those of the Remembrance so that they "remembered" their Father above and their place in the ecology of the Fullness. This ability to read and follow more complex instructions "Redeemed" those of the Remembrance. This Redemption enabled the eukaryotes to work cooperatively within their own bodies in the form of multi-cellularity, and also to coordinate with others in the form of social connections. Because the Fullness above is a cooperative ecosystem, the Third Order of Powers is also cooperative. 

My Simple Gnostic cosmology suggests the final cosmic jump occurred when eukaryotes transitioned from single-celled organisms to multi-cellular organisms about 600 million years ago. These eukaryotes were suddenly able to organize themselves into massive, cooperative cellular structures all working at the behest of a single organism. This jump in complexity made possible the "Cambrian Explosion" that gave rise to all of the animals and plants we see today. 

Choanoflagellates are single-celled organisms that can live by themselves or gather into cooperative colonies. They are the closest living relatives to multi-celled animal life. Choanoflagellates possess a flagellum tail that propels them through the water, ringed by a collar of microvilli that trap and engulf bacteria and other food. 

Those single-celled eukaryotes who now carried the code of the Redeemer's DNA inside themselves, were raised up "little by little, making him grow, raising him up" [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 90].

The Redeemed "were produced as an army for him, as for a king, in which those who belong to this thought share the command and are united in agreement. They went forth in a form that consisted of many forms. . .  [He] also sowed in him, invisibly, a word designed for understanding and gave him the power to detach and dispel from himself those who were disobedient to him" [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 88].

Slime molds were incorrectly classified by scientists as fungi until recent DNA analysis revealed them to be eukaryotes. The Simple Explanation would have predicted their home in the eukaryotic domain because of their ability to work both singly and in close cooperation with one another--a trait not shared with bacteria. Although they are single-celled organisms, slime molds have true cells with true nuclei and double-helix DNA. Reproduction takes place as a cooperative effort of the entirety, just as in the Fullness.

Those redeemed by the Christ were made whole and complete. They were given access to "chariots" like those of the aeons, able to carry them throughout all of the regions and activities contained within the Boundary. Because the Christ carried knowledge from the ALL and the Fullness, and power from the Father, their chariots brought the order of the hierarchy to all corners of the universe, and organized systems began to appear, displacing the chaos of the Imitation. Riding these chariots, "each one may obtain his fixed place in accordance with what he is" [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 91]. 

Humans are Redeemed Eukaryotes, growing through intelligent design into "Truly Existent Living Images," reflecting the pattern of the body of Christ and a Spirit that acknowledges the sovereignty of the Father.

"Now, the whole establishment and organization of the images, likenesses, and imitations has come into being for the sake of those who need nourishment, instruction, and form, so that their smallness may gradually grow, as through the instruction provided by the image of a mirror. That, in fact, is why he created the human last, after having prepared and provided for him the things that he created for his sake" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 104].

"Now, the human inside him was a single one, for he was the ALL and he was all of them, and he possessed what was flowing from the Father to the extent that the various stations were able to receive it... His limbs, however, needed a school... to provide it with the likeness of the images and the archetypes in the manner of a mirror, until all the limbs of the body of the Church would be united in one place and would attain the restoration together, by appearing as the sound body" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 122, 123].

"If, in fact, we confess the kingdom in Christ, it is for the abolishment of all diversity, inequality, and difference. For the end will regain the form of existence of a single one, just as the beginning was a single One--the place where there is no male or female, nor slave and free man, nor circumcised and uncircumcised, nor angel and human, but all in all is Christ" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 132]. 

"For the restoration back to that which was is a single one. Even if some are exalted because of the economy, having been set up as causes for the things that happened, unfolding numerous physical forces and taking pleasure in them, angels as well as humans will obtain the kingdom, the confirmation, and the salvation" [Tripartite Tractate, v. 133].

A Simple Explanation of Slime Molds--with a Cool Video Example

Slime molds are pretty smart for single-celled organisms. 

This assembly of single-celled yellow slime mold chooses to grow into a fractal shape as it searches for food.  photo credit: Audrey Dussutour, CNRS

Slime molds are not bacteria, but single-celled organisms called "eukaryotes" who have been on the planet for a couple of billion years, long before the emergence of multi-cellular life forms. They are the "first life" progenitors of all of the plants, animals, and fungi on the planet. Eukaryotes possess a true cell nucleus and DNA with the double-helix structure, and all of the complicated cellular mechanisms that go along with that, still used in our bodies today.

From wikipedia:
When a slime mold mass or mound is physically separated, the cells find their way back to re-unite. Studies on Physarum polycephalum have even shown an ability to learn and predict periodic unfavorable conditions in laboratory experiments.^[10] John Tyler Bonner, a professor of ecology known for his studies of slime molds, argues that they are "no more than a bag of amoebae encased in a thin slime sheath, yet they manage to have various behaviours that are equal to those of animals who possess muscles and nerves with ganglia – that is, simple brains."^[11]  MacPherson, Kitta (January 21, 2010). Princeton University.

One cool thing about slime molds is that they are individual, single-celled organisms, yet when conditions call for it, they come together and form one fully coordinated body. Once in that aggregated body, the mold acts with one mind, one will, and one goal. 

When an assembly is pulled apart, the individuals and fragmentary clumps will crawl toward one another and pull themselves back together. 

When it comes time to reproduce, the mold body individuals will form themselves into stalks and reach upward to the sky, holding their spore sacs into the surrounding water or air to be carried away. While the withered stalk drops back down in self-sacrificial death, the memory of the stalk's form swims away in the wake of the new single cell, propelled by the long, trailing flagella that emerges from the remains of the umbilicus.

Physarum polycephalum "many headed slime" photo credit: HelenGinger

Watch this short video that shows slime mold aggregations acting as a single, multi-cellular animal.

Now, if you think this behavior is surprisingly complicated, take a look inside a cell and see a whole 'nother world of complications. Here are two articles from the Simple Explanation blog that take you inside the machinery of the cell:
"ATP Production Machine"  and  "Inner Life of a Cell."

Humans like to arrange themselves into pyramids and stalks, too.

According to the Simple Explanation of Absolutely Everything, consciousness is not dependent upon size, nor is operational complexity. Every single thing in our universe, no matter how big or how small, carries within itself the blueprints and consciousness needed to get its job done, whatever that job may be. The Simple Explanation calls these blueprint-carriers "Units of Consciousness." 

This simple torus diagram represents the basic blueprint for every material instantiation in our universe. 

Here is the Simple Explanation hierarchy as manifested by the human body. This hierarchy is formed by Units of Consciousness "holding hands" with their neighbors to level up to the next, more complex, form. At each level, new Units of Consciousness emerge to inform and coordinate the tasks.

The lowly slime molds are a beautiful example of the Simple Explanation's Golden Rule--reaching out to others like themselves with love, information, assistance, and the willingness to work together for the common good.

These single-celled organisms-who-work-as-one are living proof of the Simple Explanation's model of aggregated consciousness and collective will.

The Simple Gnostic explanation is that these slime molds are emanations of the Fullness, as are we all. These single-celled primitives are part of the Second Order of Powers, put on earth to rectify the Deficiency. There is no need to puzzle over the level of sophistication demonstrated inside the cells and amongst the single-celled Eukaryotes because they reflect the intent of the Fullness to redeem the Deficiency that began with Logos, the Demiurge. The Eukayotes, and their use of the DNA double-helix, bring the will of the Son and the Hierarchy of the Fullness, to the earth.

This illustration represents the Fullness of the ALL as a hierarchy where every aeon knows its place, power, function, and name. The rays behind the pyramid represents the ALL, and the white cloud behind is the Son. The Fullness and the ALL dream of a plan to correct the lifeless condition of the Deficiency.