Gnostic Gospel, Pt 11 -- Endless War

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

The First Order of Powers, the aeons of the hierarchy, gave birth to a Second Order of Powers--"the emissions of the remembrance."

Logos and the Fullness produced a Second Order of Powers patterned after the First Order of Powers that dwelt in the hierarchy. The Second Order of Powers was named "the emissions of the remembrance" because they had been created by the unified will of the Father through union with Logos and the Fullness, and therefore they contained the traits of the Father.

(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 powers of remembrance were adorned with the names of the pre-existent, whose likenesses they were; the order of those of this kind were in harmony with itself and with each other" [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 84].

This new Order of Powers reflected the values of the Son, but it was formed within a Boundary rather than a hierarchy, and so they had more freedom to assemble themselves into non-hierarchical patterns.

The Second Order of Powers is contained within the Boundary, unlike their parents in the Fullness.

These newly formed beings "did not have more substance, nor did they have a greater glory, for they are not equal to the pre-existent ones. If, on the other hand, they were superior to the imitations, the only thing that made them elevated above them was that they were from a good disposition--for they had not come out of the sickness that arose" [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 83]

Whereas those of the Deficiency arose from the Fall, those of the Remembrance arose from the consecrated union of Logos and the Fullness. Those on the left represent phantoms and confusion, whereas those on the right represent virtues of the ALL.

A strange and tragic thing occurred next. When those of the remembrance came upon those of the imitation, they attempted to overthrow them out of an inherent sense of self-righteousness. Those of the remembrance knew they were superior to those of the imitation, "because they were nobler than those previous ones" [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 84].

The Second Order of Powers fought against the shadows of the imitation. 

Because the imitation "waged war against the likenesses" in the Fullness, the offspring of the Fullness "acted against itself on account of its rage." But the ones who were in opposition would not surrender, due to their own ignorance of what came before. "They believed they were self-engendered" and had given birth to themselves, and so owed nothing to these Powers either above or below [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 84]. 

Those of the Deficiency are locked in endless war with those of the Remembrance

"The two orders fought against each other, struggling for command with such a result that they were engulfed by forces and material substances in accordance with the law of mutual combat, and they too acquired lust for domination and all the other passions of this sort; and consequently, empty vainglory pulls them all toward the desire of lust for domination, and not one of them remembers what is superior or confesses it" [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 84].

A popular internet meme expresses this recognition of the Endless War

"Because of this. . . their envy, malice, rage, violence, lust and ignorance ruled, as they were producing various kinds of matter and all sorts of powers. . ." [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 85]

***************
Continue on to the next article: Part Twelve -- 
Peace Offered To End the Endless War

***************

In terms of the Simple Explanation, the Fruit of Logos and the Fullness represents the fourth iteration of the originating fractal pattern of our universe. (The Son=#1, the Universal Unit of Consciousness; The ALL=#2; The Fullnesses=#3; The Offspring of Remembrance=#4.) These offspring represent the values of the Universal UC entering the transpersonal space contained by the infinitely recursive fractal Boundary around our space and time. Those of the Imitation do not acknowledge or replicate the original source code and so are unable to breathe life into their creations.

The Simple Explanation is also an information-based theory. "Meme" information is shared at the cultural level and passed around among humans at the personal and transpersonal levels.  You can understand the Simple Explanation of Memes by reading this article. 

What happens when meme chords collide? What happens when the memes I believe in and hold onto contradict the memes you hold dear? Herein lies the source of all human conflict. The disagreements, the fights, the wars, are all conflicts over incompatible memes. 

Sure, I may believe my memes are vastly superior to yours. Does that mean I should kill you? How ridiculous. Yes, I can claim my memes are the best, no doubt about it. Does that mean you have to believe every meme I believe or else? How absurd. Yes, I say, but my memes are so much better than your memes. Does that mean you are stupid? Does that mean you are a fraud? Does that mean you just don't get it? Maybe, maybe not. Most of our memes came embedded in larger meme chords handed down by others. Most of us have no idea what meme chords we hold and how we came to hold them. In any case, you can't force someone else to adopt your memes, any more than you can force someone to adopt your gender or your skin color. It is impossible. 

We are now in the midst of a social epidemic of intolerance. Intolerance is the opposite of "live and let live." When we are intolerant of others' memes, we are declaring that our memes are correct and their memes are wrong. And then we take it a step further--we refuse to "tolerate" the others' memes. We throw up resistance, we throw up roadblocks, we close our ears and refuse to listen to the other. We do not merely disagree, as reasonable people may do from time to time. When we are intolerant, we look for ways to force the other to abandon their memes and adopt ours. We shout them down because we feel we are shouting the right memes and theirs are not only wrong, they are evil and have no right to be heard. And once you declare the other "evil," it is no longer a disagreement in good faith, but a fight in the Endless War for the soul. 

Antifa counter-protesters prepare to hurl insults after a "Unite the Right" rally. August 12, 2017, Charlottesville, Virginia. Photo: Chip Somodevilla--Getty Images

Once words can no longer be exchanged, frustration builds and violence follows. This is what we are seeing now in the U.S.  Free exchange of memes has been thwarted because of intolerance. Exchange of ideas is the key. You needn't agree with the other person, but you must hear them out. Because, once you agree to sit and exchange ideas and concerns, whether or not you adopt the other's ideas, the very act of hearing each other out creates a shared space that acts as a balm to soothe your soul and theirs. When you are too angry, frustrated, or afraid to listen to the other, you perpetuate the intolerance that leads to violence. This intolerance is not helpful. 

We hear a lot about the importance of "diversity" nowadays in America. True diversity can only thrive if we allow each other to "live and let live." When you seek to silence those with whom you disagree, you are not encouraging diversity; you are actually encouraging intolerance. 

Bi-partisan cooperation has ground to a halt since the Democrats won the House back from the Republicans in the 2018 elections, allowing the Legislative and Executive Branches to chase each other's tails around the Mulberry Bush of endless war.

Gnostic Gospel, Pt 10 -- The Second Order of Powers

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

The Imitation arose from the broken body of Logos. Logos gathered himself up the best he could and returned to the Fullness to lick his wounds, leaving behind the shadows and phantoms of his Fall contained within the Boundary.

Phantoms and shadows of the Deficiency held at bay within a Boundary

Logos regretted the Fall and the phantoms born of the Fall. Regret turned to condemnation of "the irrational things he had produced. This condemnation became a judgment directed against them, aiming at their destruction" [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 81].

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.

Logos and the One who drew him back to the Fullness "did not remain idle, but they brought forth a fruit in the Fullness with a view to overthrowing what had come into being because of the deficiency" [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 78].

"Now, all his prayer and remembrance were numerous powers, also produced in accordance with the Boundary mentioned. . . . These powers were much better and greater than those belonging to the imitation. For [the imitation] have the substance of darkness, having come into being from illusory imitation and a vain and presumptuous thought. These, on the other hand, are from a thought that had known them in advance" [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 82]. 

Logos and the Fullness bring forth a fruit with the goal of overthrowing the deficiency.

In other words, the newly produced offspring of the Fullness and Logos were patterned after the originals in the Fullness, formed to fit within the Boundary rather than the hierarchy. 

The Fruit of Logos and the Fullness Fitted to the Boundary

And, whereas those of the imitation "are like oblivion and heavy sleep; like people who have troubled dreams in which someone pursues them and they are surrounded," "these others, however, are for him like beings of light who are waiting for the rising sun, as when the dreamers have been able to see dreams in their sleep that are truly sweet" [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 82].

These newly formed beings "did not have more substance, nor did they have a greater glory, for they are not equal to the preexistent ones. If, on the other hand, they were superior to the imitations, the only thing that made them elevated above them was that they were from a good disposition--for they had not come out of the sickness that arose" [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 83]

"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 owed their existence" [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 83]

Continue to Part 11--Endless War

*****************

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 in what the Simple Explanation used to call the doughy blue ring of the donut.

The Fruit of Logos and the Fullness discussed in this article represents the fourth iteration of the originating fractal pattern. We know this because "fruit" refers to the legitimate offspring of Logos and the Hierarchy of the Fullness formed through the Will of the One. In Simple terms, the Will of the One is expressed into our universe through the portal at the center of the Universal Unit of Consciousness. 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. These new beings are called "The Second Order of Powers," which is another indication that they are self-aware entities, for they are called "Powers" rather than "Imitations."

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. They are called Powers of the Remembrance for they represent the values of the Originating Source, whereas Those of the Imitation remember neither the values, the hierarchy, nor the Source. 

Gnostic Gospel, Pt 8 -- The Boundary

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

As facets of the shattered aeon spread out into the darkness, the brightness and intelligence at the heart of Logos “hastened upward to that which was his, and to his kin in the Fullness. He abandoned that which had come into being from deficiency and what had issued from him in an illusion, since they did not belong to him.” [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 78]

Those of the deficiency are phantoms of those in the Fullness

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 Fall of Logos gave rise to a Boundary between those who remained with the Father and the imitations that spilled forth from the fractured one. As Logos retreated to its own in the Fullness, the Boundary hardened, containing that which had been produced and separating finitude from infinity, ignorance from truth, and light from darkness.

A Boundary hardened around the Deficiency, enclosing a finite space

“It was not without the Will of the Father that this Word had been brought forth, nor that he should rush forward; rather, the Father had brought him forth for the things that he knew must take place. . .  For this reason, then, it is wrong to condemn the movement [of Logos]. Rather, we should speak about the movement of Logos as the cause that made an ordained economy come to pass.” [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 77]

“For the Father and the realm of the All now withdrew from him in order that the Boundary should be firm that the Father had fixed—for it does not exist to prevent the unreachable from being reached, but because of the Will of the Father—and also in order that the things that happened should be for the sake of an economy that was to come about. . .” [The Tripartite Tractate, v.76, 77]

The Boundary serves the purpose of holding the deficiency away from the perfection of the Father and of the ALL. This insures the purity of the origin so that none of its glory is diminished by the Fall.

The ALL rests upon its Father, The Son

The Deficiency is Contained

The Boundary also serves the purpose of containing a space wherein an “economy” can emerge. Economy here means “an orderly management or arrangement of parts; organization or system” [https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/economy].

The hierarchy of The Fullness represents every possible personality, position, and power, arranged in a cooperative structure that benefits them all.

In other words, the Boundary was established so that a hierarchy patterned after the Fullness would have a space to take root and grow.

***************
Proceed to Part 9: "Characteristics of the Deficiency"

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 mySimple 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 ALL is every thing that will ever be, in potential. Forms and photons, particles and protons, personalities, positions, and ranks. Every mathematical and 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 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."   

In the same way that the ALL sat in unitary 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. So, too, the Fullness, though differentiated into units of consciousness with individual stations and ranks, dreams of a Paradise where everyone knows their job and does it in perfect cooperation with others for the benefit of all. 

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 in what the Simple Explanation used to call the doughy blue ring of the donut.

According to the Simple Explanation, information enters our universe from the singularity at the center of the donut. Objects that are formed away from the white star at the middle lack the glory of the Metaverse and therefore lack life.

It is fascinating to me that hierarchies arise so early in the Gnostic cosmology.    Hierarchies are essential to our manifested universe. 

This is the human hierarchy.

The arrangement of the hierarchy shows up throughout creation. Every small thing in our universe reaches out laterally to others to form aggregations of the next level up. Sub-atomic particles form atoms. Atoms form molecules. Molecules form elements. Elements form aggregations of building materials, always according to the simple rule of "the higher the fewer." This is why hierarchies look like pyramids--at each level of aggregation, there are fewer instances of things forming the next level up.

One of my neighbors has begun obsessively stacking rocks into pyramids. Note that merely adding one inert thing atop another does not make a new creation; it is only an aggregate of the lower forms, stacked. For an aggregate to "level up" into a newly created thing, it must be "willed by God." 

The "ONE" dollar bill of the United States displays the hierarchy of the ALL as a reference to the Gnostic Economy discussed above. The American founders were conscious of the necessity of acknowledging the original source.

Another scientific prediction: As of now, science is unable to determine whether or not our universe is infinite or bounded. If this Gnostic Cosmology is true to our actual universe, then we can safely hypothesize that our universe is finite. 

Gnostic Gospel, Pt 7 -- Division Becomes the Imitation

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

Logos was the final aeon born from the will of the Son and the ALL. This singular being possessed the latent characteristics of the ALL, including the full variety of personalities, proclivities, powers, and positions arrayed in the Fullness. Each aeon of the Fullness was an individual who was also an integral part of the larger whole. So, too, Logos embodied all of these parts precisely situated within the whole that was himself.

The aeon named Logos sits atop the hierarchy of the Fullness

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.

When Logos overreached and fell into the darkness, he shattered into a confusing jumble of disconnected parts. These pieces of the shattered aeon were “sicknesses”: small, dark, ignorant, divided, and roiling with chaos. They reflected neither the glory of the originals in the Fullness, nor the ecology of the hierarchy. And, because they were no longer arranged in the pattern of the hierarchy, they forgot their functions and their names [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 77]

The shattered corpse of Logos gave rise to the imitations of the deficiency

"Those who had come into being did not know themselves, nor did they know the Fullness from which they had originated, nor did they know him who had become the cause of their existence. For since the Word was in such an unstable condition, he no longer attempted to bring forth offspring in the form of emissions... of glory. ...Instead, what he brought forth were feeble and small creatures, infected with the same sicknesses with which he himself had been infected." [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 80]

Because Logos had been reaching for the heights when he fell, the imitation born of the fall continued to be motivated by a desire “to reach the unreachable,” but now that upward drive was divorced from the goal of reaching for the glory of reunification with the Father. [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 77] With no recall of who or what came before, this upward drive was entirely self-interested, for those of the imitation had no cooperative arrangement amongst themselves.

What had been an upward pull to reunite the Fullnesses with the Father became an upward push arising out of each singleton, not for the glory of the Father, but for the vainglory of the individual. “For they desired to command one another and to lord it over them in their vain love of glory, and the glory that they acquired [from their striving] became the cause of the structure that was to be.” [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 79] In this manner, egoic striving for vainglory replaced glorious longing for the Father--ambition replaced God's Will.

The “offspring of the presumptuous thought”, as they came to be known, recognized neither Logos, the All, nor the Father as their progenitor. “They thought of themselves that only they existed and that they had no beginning, since they saw no one existing before them. For this reason they exhibited disobedience and rebellion, being unwilling to submit to the one who had brought them into existence.” [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 78]

"The Word, then, was the cause of these things coming into being, and he became increasingly desperate. He was dumbfounded. Instead of perfection he saw deficiency; instead of unity he saw division; instead of stability he saw disturbance; instead of rest, upheaval." Logos “was unable to bring their love of disturbance to an end, nor could he destroy it,” for Logos “had become powerless when his wholeness and his perfection had abandoned him” to become the deficiency. The deficiency took on an imitation of life on its own, becoming “the cause of the things that do not exist on their own account from the beginning.” [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 80]

These “irrational things” were condemned by Logos. “Because of that, what was perfect in him left him and went upward to his own [in the Fullness]. . . “The one who hastened on high [Logos] and the one who drew him to himself [The Son] did not remain idle, but they brought forth a fruit in the Fullness with a view to overthrowing what had come into being because of the deficiency.” [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 78]

*******************

You may read more about the deficiency in this article: Implications of Dark Matter and Gnostic Cosmology.

Click here for the next Simple Explanation blog article: "The Simple Gnostic Gospel, Part Eight -- The Father, The Son, and the Birth of The ALL"

The Simple Explanation is using its method of meta-analysis to strip out the confusing elements of the various Gnostic Gospels to form a simple, coherent, creation story. I have chosen the Tripartite Tractate as the book out of the Nag Hammadi scriptures to focus on, because I find it to be the least confusing and most complete Gnostic account of the origins of the universe, with the fewest non-essential elements. You will not find lists of names and numbers here. Only the cosmology and its rationale. The purpose of this exposition of the Simple Gnostic Gospels is to clarify and simplify so that any person who cares to may fully understand the essential Gnostic truths.

Cyd and Munchkin working on the Gnostic Gospel

Implications of Dark Matter and Gnostic Cosmology

In 2015 I raised the question of whether dark matter could be what the Gnostics called "The Imitation." I would like to revisit that article and that question again at this point in our Gnostic Cosmology studies. [If you are following along as the Gnostic Cosmology unfolds on this blog, we are jumping ahead one or two articles. The Imitation will occur as a result of The Fall, and that hasn't happened yet.] Jump to this highlighted blog article if you would like to read the Simple Explanation of Gnostic Cosmology.

********************* 

In 2015 it occurred to me that the way scientists describe dark matter and what the Tripartite Tractate calls "The Deficiency" sound very much alike. It looks as though a case can be made that an ancient religious document is describing a process that has only recently been scientifically hypothesized. 

Let me try to explain: 

Scientists now believe that our universe is filled with an invisible type of matter that far outweighs ordinary matter by a ratio of over five to one. According to the European Space Agency's Planck spacecraft census of the composition of the universe, ordinary matter only makes up 4.9 percent of the total, while dark matter makes up 26.8 percent. (The other 68.3 percent is made up of formless energy.) As explained in the Simple Explanation's Dark Matter blog article, dark matter was first hypothesized in the 1930s, but it wasn't until the 1990s that astronomers were able to observe what they take to be dark matter.

Not much is actually known about dark matter, since its presence can only be inferred by its gravitational effect on the light travelling from distant stars and galaxies. According to a 2013 article in Discover Magazine, here is what scientists generally believe about dark matter: it is "the glue that holds together the universe and all its rich diversity," and most dark matter tends to "gather in giant, diffuse clouds." Dark Matter particles could also be lurking in a gigantic, invisible disk near the center of our galaxy, "smashing into each other" creating a "strange type of [gamma] radiation" that is "60 billion times as potent as ordinary yellow light." 

Lastly, from wikipedia: "The most widely accepted explanation for these phenomena is that dark matter exists and that it is most probably composed of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) that interact only through gravity and the weak force. Alternative explanations have been proposed, and there is not yet sufficient experimental evidence to determine whether any of them are correct."

That's all that is known about dark matter. Now let's switch hats from cosmologist to philosopher to consider The Imitation.

Prior to The Fall, there was no material, only mind. Beginning with undifferentiated consciousness (The Father), mind first became aware (The Son). The Son then differentiated its thoughts and qualities into ALL potential thoughts and ALL potential qualities (The ALL, aka The Fullness, aka The Pleroma). The Fullnesses then named themselves, which automatically sorted them into hierarchical relationships. From this hierarchy of The ALL came the final expression of the Fullness--the final cherry on top of the stack--known in the Tripartite Tractate as "Presumptuous Thought." Presumptuous Thought was a singular entity that combined all the other Fullnesses' qualities into one mind. It was Presumptuous Thought that initiated the Fall from the immaterial plane when it mistook itself for The ALL and acted unilaterally rather than harmoniously.

Now, listen to these descriptions out of the Tripartite Tractate concerning the consequences of "The Fall" of Presumptuous Thought that led to the Creation of our Universe:

"Those who belong to the arrogant thought and those of the likeness are called ... "the Dark Ones"... (98, 15).

"The things he had wished to grasp and reach, however, he produced as shadows, phantoms, and imitations, for he could not bear to look at the light but looked at the depths, and he faltered. Because of this, he suffered a division and a turning away" (77, 11).

"Those who came into being from the presumptuous thought resemble in fact the Fullnesses of whom they are imitations, though they are phantoms, shadows, and illusions, deprived of reason and light, belonging to this empty thought, being nobody's offspring" (78, 28).

"The Word, then, was the cause of these things coming into being, and he became increasingly desperate. He was dumbfounded. Instead of perfection he saw deficiency; instead of unity he saw division; instead of stability he saw disturbance; instead of rest, upheaval" (80, 11).

"Those who had come into being did not know themselves, nor did they know the Fullness from which they had originated, nor did they know him who had become the cause of their existence. For since the Word was in such an unstable condition, he no longer attempted to bring forth offspring in the form of emissions...of glory.... Instead, what he brought forth were feeble and small creatures, infected with the same sicknesses with which he himself had been infected" (80, 15) .

"The imitation that had taken place solitarily in this state was what had been the cause of the things that do not exist of their own from the beginning. In this state he continued to produce such deficient beings, until he began to condemn the irrational things he had produced" (81,2).

Perhaps the production of the "Dark Ones" of the Imitation was the initial cosmological event that kicked off the Big Bang. These Dark Ones, these "shadows," had "no reason," no "light." Instead of the perfection of the hierarchical arrangements, these Dark Ones came "into being" in a state of "chaos." Rather than acting in unity, these Dark Ones manifest "division," "disturbance," "upheaval." These Dark Ones did not resemble the "glory" of the Fullness, but were feeble and small. 

This is the initial state of Creation according to Gnostic cosmology. No light, chaotic, no life, no rules. Filled with feeble, small things, isolated from one another and alone. You could easily call them WIMPS (weakly interacting massive particles). These Dark Ones/WIMPS did not lack the information inherent in ordinary matter, but they were unable to organize themselves the way normal matter does, because they did not possess the spirit of cooperation, coming into being as they did out of a solitary act. 

Looking at this popular illustration of our expanding universe, we can see that in the beginning was a dim glow called the cosmic microwave background. This glow was eclipsed by utter darkness at about 375,000 years into creation. The Dark Ages lasted for about 400 million years, until the first dim stars began to glow. From then on our universe took on the familiar look it has today.

The Gnostic Gospel appears to accurately describe the early history of our universe, with an initial burst of energy followed by darkness for a period of time. The dark matter would be the disorganized, weak production of "the Imitation" during this initial dark expansionary phase of the early universe. This darkness of the Imitation lasted until order could be initiated and the first light of stars began to glow.

This map shows the oldest light in our universe, as detected with the greatest precision yet by the Planck mission. The ancient light, called the cosmic microwave background, was imprinted on the sky when the universe was 370,000 years old. It shows tiny temperature fluctuations that correspond to regions of slightly different densities. By analyzing the light patterns in this map, scientists are fine-tuning what we know about the universe, including its origins, fate and basic components. Image courtesy of ESA and the Planck Collaboration.

If this hypothesis is true, that dark matter is the "Imitation" described in the Gnostic Gospels, then the Simple Explanation can make the following scientific predictions based upon this hypothesis:

1. It will be discovered that dark matter was the initial material of our universe, arising prior to ordinary matter.

2. Dark matter is stupid. Dark matter has no inherent patterns or organization. Dark matter exists in a chaotic state. The best that dark matter can do is weakly aggregate with others of its kind. But these aggregations are loose and wispy and cannot build themselves into more coherent structures.

3. Dark matter is not generative. Dark matter cannot give rise to new copies of itself.

Dark matter is not to be confused with dark energy. The Simple Explanation proposes that dark energy is not of the Imitation but is of the ALL. The only reason they are both called "dark" is because they do not interact in the ordinary way with ordinary matter. But whereas dark matter came into our universe at the beginning, it does not replenish itself. What we observe as dark matter is the remnant of the dark matter created during the Big Bang event, or as the Gnostics called it, The Fall. Dark energy, on the other hand, is a generative force that continually enters our universe from the metaverse, bringing coherence and information into our space and time from the originating source of creation.

I was very pleased to find this timeline of the universe this morning, published by the NASA/WMAP team, that tentatively identifies the source of the more rapidly expanding universe to be the rise of dark energy. Yes! That is also my hypothesis. 

The Simple Explanation suggests that there is a toroidal force that feeds our universe information and coherence from the Universal Unit of Consciousness. The Simple Explanation hypothesizes that our space is seeded with tiny toruses kicking out information. These toruses are also kicking out coherence in the form of gravity, which attracts ordinary matter to itself. These energetic toruses are the seeds of stars and galaxies, and they throw toroidal patterns into the space surrounding the large objects in which they nest. The dark energy force counteracts entropy and it is causing space to expand at a more rapid rate than before.

Yesterday I ran across an article in National Geographic that expressed confusion over the roles of dark matter and dark energy in galaxy formation. "This Galaxy Has Almost No Dark Matter, and Scientists Are Baffled." Scientists had observed a "halo of dark matter" surrounding all galaxies and had hypothesized that galaxies are formed by dark matter pressing in from the outside and thereby capturing the aggregations of matter that form the galaxy.  But then they found this galaxy with no dark matter halo and that blew the theory of galaxy formation.

My Simple Explanation is that the reason there is a dark matter "halo" (read "torus") around galaxies is because the dark energy torus at the galaxy's center pushes the dark matter outward to the galaxy's edge, like a giant leaf blower blowing the dark matter out of the garden and leaving the carved out impression of the torus at the edge. The dark matter is wispy and easy to push around. The torus at the center is powerful, and it gathers the ordinary material to itself to build, in a coherent fashion, the objects that surround it.

The Gnostic Gospel identifies the dark energy as Logos and the ALL repairing the mess that started out as the Imitation. The Tripartite Tractate describes how the Imitation, the Deficiency, was only step one in creation, with a quick adjustment that halted production of the Dark Ones until a more "reasonable" form of matter could be produced that combined light with matter, leading to the eventual redemption of matter by mind and spirit. This will be simply explained in my continuing Gnostic Cosmology series. But meanwhile, you can see the evidence for yourself in the NASA illustrations included with this article.

By borrowing information from the unlikely source of an ancient wisdom book that lay buried under Egyptian sand for almost 2,000 years, we have generated several scientific predictions that will prove or disprove my hypotheses. This Gnostic creation story claims that the first material objects in our universe were dark matter. Light and ordinary matter followed later and began a never-ending dance with dark matter. And then, much later, about the time of our solar system's formation, the dark energy faucet turned up and began streaming coherence into our universe at ever-increasing rate, expanding the size of our universe.