Simple Gnostic Explanation of the Nature of Human Beings

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

The Gnostic Gospel Illuminated has thus far explained the origins of our universe, beginning with the Father and proceeding through the Christ. We need to review the entire run of the Gnostic cosmology to understand the nature of human beings because, in Simple Explanation terms, humans are fractal representations of the entire created universe, so if you understand the cosmology, you will understand humanity. 

We begin with the Father as the initial ground state of undifferentiated consciousness--all knowing and ever present, with no particularities or distinctions. The Father's consciousness feels to us like "love."

The Simple Gnostic Gospel represents the unfathomable Father as a field of pure nothingness.

From the Father comes the first awakened consciousness--the Son. The Son contains all of the attributes of the Father in a diffuse, unnamed state. The Son is represented by a hazy brightness emerging from the field of consciousness.

In the silence of the Absolute, the Father brings forth the first and only Son from its realization of Itself. The Son exists as the Father having a thought. As the Father knowing Its own eternal Self. The Son also feels to us like love.

The instant the Son arose, it brought forth the ALL. 

The ALL emerges as the Son becomes aware of itself as a distinct set of traits. Each ray of the Son becomes a self-aware entity, mirroring individual qualities that form a unity.

The Son is reflected by the totality of the ALL, and they understood who he is, and he is covered by the ALL. The ALL is represented as rays of one sun. The ALL is also known as the "Pleroma."

As soon as the ALL became aware of themselves, they named themselves, which caused them to reorganize into a hierarchy of personalities, ranks, and roles. The Simple Gnostic Gospel depicts this organization as a pyramidal structure where everyone has a unique place and function. No longer a singular entity, the ALL is now a hierarchy of named individuals known collectively as "aeons." The aeons love each other and their places in the hierarchy, and they love their father, who is the Son.

The aeons live in a perfectly cooperative hierarchy where everyone shares a single dream of Paradise. This pyramid of aeons is called the "Fullness."

The aeon at the very top of the hierarchy is assigned various names and genders by different renditions of Gnostic scriptures. The Tripartite Tractate of the Nag Hammadi scrolls, which the Simple Explanation uses as source material, calls this chief aeon "Logos." The particular name and gender is irrelevant. I prefer to call Logos "he" and "him" so the Fall is not associated with human women as it so often is.

Logos is the epitome of the Fullness. His singular personality reflects all of the traits and talents of all the other aeons. He is like a favored, golden child. 

Because of the abundance of blessings given Logos, Logos mistakes himself for the ALL and forgets that he is only one of many.

The chief aeon, Logos, mistakes himself for the ALL. He thinks he is all alone up there on the top of the Fullness. His error is called "presumptuous thought."

Forgetting his place in the Fullness, Logos breaks the rules and reaches up to reconnect himself with the Father. 

Logos overreaches and Falls.

Logos shatters from the Fall and abandons the Deficiency he has accidentally created.

The shattered pieces of Logos left behind in the Deficiency behave as the aeons did when they first recognized and named themselves. These broken shadows and phantoms of the traits of Logos and the Fullness are called the "Imitation." A "Boundary" contains the Deficiency. The Deficiency is no longer organized into a cooperative hierarchy. Chaos reigns in limited space.

Logos fell because he forgot his place and proper function in the Fullness. The shadows of the Imitation, left behind by Logos when he fled back to the Fullness, are the Yin to Logos' Yang. Where traits of Logos came from the brightness of the Son and the ALL, Logos left behind darkness and shadows when he fled home. The Deficiency left behind arose from presumptuous thought and overreaching. Therefore, the Imitation is characterized by presumptuous thought and overreaching, i.e., Ego, combined with the opposites of the traits of Logos.

Logos and the Fullness were desperate to correct the Deficiency of the Fall. All together, in Oneness, the Fullness prayed to the Father for healing. Out of their prayer they produced a fruit with all of the good qualities and powers inherent in the Fullness, designed to fit within the Boundary that had been created and to do battle against those of the Imitation. 

The aeons of the Fullness pray to their Father for healing the Deficiency. They produce offspring called the "Second Order of Powers."

This "Second Order of Powers" bears the likeness of the "First Order of Powers" in the Fullness. They are also called "Those of the Remembrance" because they were implanted with a dim memory of the Father and the Son, and a longing to rejoin the aeons in the Hierarchy and their dream of Paradise. They are considered superior to "Those of the Imitation" because they come from noble thought and not presumptuous thought.

"Those of the Imitation" arise from presumptuous thought--Ego. "Those of the Remembrance" arise from noble thought.

Those of the Remembrance are caught in an "Endless War" with Those of the Imitation, due to the "Law of Mutual Combat."

At this point in the tale, we can begin to see human nature emerging. While this Gnostic Gospel Illuminated has been told as a creation story, it is also the story of every human being. In Simple Explanation terms, we humans are fractal interations of the aeons of the Fullness--their "fruit." We have dim memories of a perfect Paradise as dreamt by the Fullness. We have a built-in longing for the Fullness. We barely remember the Son and the Father other than an expectation of feeling Loved. And we are locked into an Endless War with the dark side of our natures and with other people who stand in our way.

"Those of the Imitation" defend and embrace the darkness of the Deficiency, while "Those of the Remembrance" do their best to overcome their "darker" nature and follow the "light." Those of the Remembrance may or may not be "religious" folks, but they do all seek a higher consciousness. Religious folks call this higher consciousness "God," and the memory of the Fullness "Heaven." Those of the Remembrance who are not part of a religious body or the meme bundle of a religion are still "Spiritual" because they do still seek reunification with the One while rejecting the forms of religion. 

Those who hear the "still, small voice of God" but can't quite bring themselves to believe in "fairy tales," are Seekers that wind up stumbling into blogs like this as they search for something to believe in. At some point during this life, each person decides for themselves whether to continue trusting in their own presumptuous Ego, or to heed the call from "above."

The Gnostic call for Redemption goes like this: Because the Second Order of Powers has gotten all gummed up chasing after each other in Endless War, another Fruit was required to bring peace. This time the Fullness prayed to the Father, individually and collectively, for a Champion to end the War. This Champion is called the Christ.

The aeons not only produced a singular Fruit reflecting the Father, but that Fruit also reflected their own individual countenances and aspects from their positions in the hierarchy of the Fullness. In this manner, they "went forth in a form that consisted of many forms, so that the one whom they were going to help should see those to whom he had prayed for help as well as the One who brought it to him" [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 87].

In Simple Explanation terms, the Christ is the correcting algorithm for Second Order fractals that no longer ring true. The Christ replicates all of the qualities of the ALL, that is, the full attributes of the Originating Consciousness in their pure form that existed prior to the Fall, with all confounding memes stripped away. When one accepts the gift of the Christ, one invites a correction to Ego's deluded meme bundle, so the best functioning of the Universal Unit of Consciousness may be reestablished within your self. The Christ also provides a homing beacon to the the Son via a rooted love connection. 

Here's the simplest Gnostic Gospel:

• You admit you are a flawed human being, with an Ego that is self-centered.
• You remember "The Gnosis": that you came from the Father and from the ALL and you wish to return to them.
• You tell your Ego to move aside and make room for the Christ to bring new life from above. This is called "Repentance."
• With Ego off the sub-conscious throne, you are able to give glory to the Father.
• You replace Ego with Love, and you use Love as an open beacon to and from the Father.
• You begin to embrace the qualities of the ALL and stop defending the Imitation. You exchange memes for virtues.
• You are now no longer Fallen, but Redeemed.
• When you die, remember your Father is in Heaven. Look up. Follow the Love. Don't look down.

If you are not Spiritual, and are not a Seeker, you shake your head and mumble something about foolish notions, and either go on trying to be a better person on your own or you get angry and continue to wholeheartedly embrace the Imitation. Those who actually reject the light and prefer the Imitation's earthly memes to what others may call "virtues" have a strong chance of becoming wealthy and powerful within the economy of the Deficiency. But, as they say, you can't take it with you.

This diagram is the probably most concise Gnostic Gospel ever conceived.

Gnostic Gospel, Pt 13 -- The Revelation of the Son

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

The Fullness, in cooperation with their Father, brought forth a new aeon designed to correct the Deficiency. They brought forth One that combined every attribute of the ALL manifested in the image of the Father "of whom they had been thinking when they gave glory and prayed for help" [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 86]. 

The Fruit of the ALL and the Father, the Christ, the Savior and Redeemer, the Advocate, the Light, the Beloved

Over the course of illuminating the Gnostic Gospel, the Simple Explanation has designed a series of visual metaphors representing facets of Gnostic and Christian belief. For the fullest understanding of this article, you may wish to read the entire Gnostic Gospel Illuminated series from the beginning.  If you would prefer to first read the "Simple Gnostic Gospel, Part One: The Father, The Son, and the Birth of The ALL," click here.

The Fruit of the ALL first shone its light on those of the Second Order of Powers who had lost their vision and wanted to see again. These Powers had a small inkling that something higher existed prior to them, and they were not surprised by the revelation of the Light. They greeted the Light, "with inexpressible joy," and gladly bowed down before it. 

Those of the Remembrance joyfully greeted the Light.

Those redeemed by the Light 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]. 

Those with eyes to see were given chariots like those of the aeons that could traverse all realms.

Those who were now enlightened felt the power of the Redeemer inside themselves, "being together with him, sharing his suffering, relieving him 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].

Those of the Imitation, on the other hand, were unprepared for the Light, for they had come into being out of darkness, and could not comprehend it. To them, the light came as a brief, terrifying flash, "a leap and a blow," that drove them deeper into the shadows of the abyss. To them, this utter darkness was home. [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 89].

Those who came from the Fall retreated further into darkness when light entered the universe.

The aeon Logos, who had Fallen and then abandoned the Deficiency he had created, "decided to pray that the fixed economy might attain all those who had gone forth from him," including those still clinging to the Imitation. In this manner, Logos was also made aright from the Fall, as those of the Deficiency attained the economy of the ALL, and the Second Order of Powers united with the knowledge that had been given them [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 91]. 

Thus, the Redeemer "took charge of the economy of the ALL, by means of the authority vested in him from the beginning and the power needed to execute it. In this way he proceeded to carry out his revelation" [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 88]. 

"So those [of the Deficiency] were found worthy of becoming rulers over the unspeakable darkness as their own property and the lot that fell to them. This is what he granted them, so that they too might become useful for the economy that was to be, and of which they were oblivious" [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 89].

So it came to pass that "every grace, and food," that was contemplated through prayer and the ALL came to be. "For the Word greatly increased mutual cooperation and expectant hope, and they experienced happiness, deep rest, and undefiled pleasures" to the extent each was able to embrace them [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 92]. 

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Those readers who are put off by the name "God" or other religious words like the "Father," the "Son," and the "Holy Spirit," are free to continue using more modern memes like "consciousness" and "self-awareness," "algorithms" and "fractals." 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 of consciousness. 

The ALL is every thing that will ever be, in potential. They began as unrealized fractal iterations of the pattern of the Son. This is the second iteration of the singular Unit, which carries the formulae of our universe. 

The Fullness represents the expressed fractals of the third iteration: the proliferation of singular Units of Consciousness. These fractals are called "aeons," and they have multiplied into the potential of all forms, processes, and personalities. In same way that an individual's DNA carries its species' potential form, so each unit of consciousness carries within itself the complete pattern of creation. 

The Boundary of the Simple Explanation is the fractal shell of the Universal Unit of Consciousness. The Simple Explanation model suggests that the undifferentiated consciousness of the Metaverse is held apart from this created universe by means of a toroidal-shaped membrane "composed" of consciousness. One purpose of the toroidal shell is to contain the space, time, and memes of our universe so the tranquility of the Metaverse remains undisturbed.   

The cooperation amongst the ALL is the prototype for the Simple Explanation's Golden Rule, which the Simple Explanation puts 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."   

Logos represents the best possible single individual that could ever exist, for its personality contains the formula for every good thing possible. Yet, even then, Logos was unable to create on his own because he lacked the "will" to carry it out. The will is what the Simple Explanation identifies as the coherent, pre-energetic potential that enters our universe through the portal of here and now. The will would be the Metaversal information streaming into our universe via the singularity at the center of the Universal Unit of Consciousness. While Logos identified himself with the Universal UC, Logos was mistaken, for he deviated from the Universal algorithm when his individual will conflicted with the will of the Fullness. 

The phantoms produced by the Fall are not fractal iterations of the Son. They are broken code. The phantoms cannot replicate on their own; they lack activation by the Source at the center, as they were generated away from the metaversal portal. 

"Those of the Remembrance" are also called "The Second Order of Powers," which is another indication that they are self-aware, fractal Units of Consciousness. These beings are not identical to the aeons of the Fullness, for they are offspring made to fit within the contained space of our universe. Like those of the Imitation, the "Powers of the Second Order" are full of passions arising from their individuality.  

"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. . . unless they came one by one. And their coming was necessary because everything was fulfilled through them" [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 95]. Here is what this verse looks like in terms of the Simple Explanation:

Units of Consciousness are called "Powers of the Remembrance" for they replicate the values of the Universal Unit of Consciousness, whereas "Those of the Imitation" remember neither the values, the hierarchy, nor the Source. Here, on the human scale, are all the formulae and rules of matter and biology, with a place for everything, and everything in its place.

The Fruit of Logos and the Fullness discussed in this article represents the fourth iteration of the originating fractal pattern. The Christ Principle would be a perfect fractal iteration of the Universal UC, taking into account the new information available to the universal formula arising from the goings-on in our bounded space. 

In Simple terms, the Will of the One informs our universe through the portal at the center of the Universal Unit of Consciousness. 

The middle of the torus is the location of here and now. It is from this singularity that energetic potential enters our dimensional space.

At this point in the Gnostic Gospel, new fractal iterations of the originals in the Fullness are entering the Deficiency, bringing their correcting algorithms with them. 

The Fruit of the ALL and the Father becomes another fractal iteration of the Universal Unit of Consciousness, but this iteration is not a fractal deriving from Second Order of Powers. The Christ Principle would be a perfect fractal iteration of the Universal UC, taking into account the new information available to the universal formula arising from the goings-on in our bounded space.  The Universal Unit of Consciousness has just amended the primary algorithm of the universe to include up-to-date data specific to each individual Unit of Consciousness in our space-time continuum. This new code represents patches to the fragmentary error-code of the Deficiency, in order to end the stalemate and reestablish harmony and proper functioning of the Economy.  

The "chariots" of the aeons of the Fullness, and now also of the Redeemed, are represented by the torus. This wire-frame torus is used by the Simple Explanation to represent the knowledge and life-giving power of the Universal Unit of Consciousness. The center of the torus is where the Universal UC enters our space / time continuum, informing our universe with all of our laws and principles.

The "forms consisting of many forms" refers to the nested fractal hierarchies of our toroidal space that makes up all of the normal matter of our universe. Our Universal UC continually pours information, metaversal values, love and coherence into our space. The "utter darkness" of the shadows possibly refers to "dark matter." The phantoms of the Imitation also refer to the delusional memes that populate our shared transpersonal sphere and obscure our personal Units of Consciousness.