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].