The topic is on "leveling up." If you are familiar with A Simple Explanation of Absolutely Everything, you know that all units of consciousness "hold hands" with others to form the next level up in complexity. This linking up is the fractal pattern that builds our universe.
According to the Gnostic Gospel, all life forms are created by the Father with the help of Logos (knowledge, order, logic) and the Pleroma (blueprints, personalities, forces, natural law). Without their blessing and involvement, life cannot arise.
i.e.: atoms hold hands to make molecules; molecules hold hands to make elements. Elements aggregate into larger forms such as minerals and planets and galaxies. As far as non-living units go, there is no higher form of consciousness than molecular consciousness. A virus is an example of a complex molecule that behaves as if it were alive, but it is only a complex molecule, albeit the smartest type of non-living molecule, able to carry out incredibly clever instructions.
Then we get to living forms. Using all of the molecular matter as building blocks: sub-cellular components hold hands to make cells; cells hold hands to make organelles; organelles hold hands to make organs; organs hold hands to make organisms--all creatures from bacteria through all types of fauna and flora. In addition to building and birthing conscious life forms, creatures also hold hands to make cultural aggregates like families and tribes, herds and businesses, cities and nations.
Looking at the diagram below, you can see how the various levels cooperate within themselves to "level up" to the next level above. The level above is more complex than the level below. There are also far fewer instances of objects/units of consciousness each time you level up. There are way more cells than organs in an organism, for example.
For some time I have wondered if there were a qualitative difference between life forms and molecular level consciousness. Why is it that "meat" levels up to make more complex, conscious assemblages, whereas "mud" can't rise above molecular level consciousness. A statue carved out of a stone cannot give birth to baby statues or animate itself because it is not "alive." Another way to put this is that living things are able to give birth, whereas "mud" cannot give birth. Viruses, for example, cannot make baby viruses or walk about on their own steam, no matter how complex they look and behave. All that viruses can do is conquer and kill living organisms.
Another thing that cannot give birth or level up to the next unit of live consciousness is an organoid. An organoid is a collection of cells grown in a lab dish that scientists hope to prod into an organ. But, try as they may, the best organoids can only grow laterally to produce more cells like themselves. They are unable to level up to form the organ they would naturally form if these cells were embedded in a living organism. A dish of neuronal brain cells will not make a brain, for example.
The answer became clear to me during the walk I was taking in 2018 when I recorded this audio file. For you Simple Explanation followers, these musing overlap the New Gnostic Gospel material from my other blog. Before we proceed, listen to this audio, and I'll explain more afterward.
Simply put, the way that units of consciousness level up is by holding hands, sharing information, and working together with a common purpose. This is what the Simple Explanation refers to as the "Golden Rule."
If this is the fractal pattern of our universe, why can't nonliving forms give rise to living forms? Why is it that computer networks will never give rise to a truly conscious AI life form? Why can't an organoid become an organ? Why can't a corporation or a city become self-aware?
Turns out the answer lies in the nature of the originating consciousness. The originating unit of consciousness, also known as the Father in religious traditions, is the only life form in the universe. Life doesn't give rise to consciousness--consciousness gives rise to life. Consciousness doesn't work its way upward from the mud; consciousness is bestowed from "above." Holding hands and working together is our universal mandate, and that is what builds our ordered universe, but it is not what gives rise to units of consciousness.
This is what gives rise to new units of consciousness:
This is why mud, created during the Fall, cannot come alive. This is why organoids, assembled by humans, cannot level up to organs. This is why AI will never be truly alive, although as part of the Deficiency, it will do a great imitation of life. And this is why our cultural aggregations and computer simulations are not self-aware, because they come from us rather than the Father, or the originating unit of consciousness.
The reason the audio message above speaks of "the church" is because that is a Gnostic term for the assemblage of aeons in the Pleroma whose function it is to glorify the Father. The human churches here on earth are replicas of the church of the Pleroma, and the "devout" are replicas of the "elect" of the Pleroma. As human-made institutions, they have no life or consciousness of their own. But in "spirit filled" churches, the spirit comes down from the church of the Pleroma to enliven the assemblage. This is why I say that a true church can be considered alive. Certainly not all churches are true or alive, and not all religious folks are "devout," and that is why the audio speaks of "devout" assemblages only.
