Gnostic Gospel, Pt 9 -- Characteristics of the Deficiency

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

The virtues of the original aeons did not remain within the Boundary, but fled to the Fullness when Logos retreated from the Deficiency, leaving behind small, weak, imitations of the original. These phantoms of the Imitation did not exist from the beginning, and so they possessed neither the love of the Father nor the originating consciousness of the Son and the ALL.

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.

Those of the Imitation do not know the hierarchy of the Fullness, nor do they have assigned roles and places there. Lacking the ALL’s cooperative design, they exist in a state of perpetual disturbance, driven by self-centered ambition, “exalting themselves in lust for dominion, each one of them according to the magnitude of the name of which he was a shadow, fantasizing that he would become greater than his fellows” [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 79].

These phantoms represent values contrary to the originals in the Fullness:

Those of the Imitation give rise to “fighters, warriors, troublemakers, rebels” and other such disobedient types, driven by the will to dominate [The Tripartite Tractate, v. 80]. Left to their own feeble devices, those of the Imitation strive against each other in a state of darkness, woe, and misery.

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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 claims that a person's set of beliefs influences how we behave in the world. We carry these memes around like our own personal bundle of beliefs. This meme bundle overlays our Self's otherwise perfect Unit of Consciousness and becomes a filter through which we view the world.

You can see how one who holds to the left side of the list above would behave very differently than one who embraces the virtues on right side of the list. The content of one's meme bundle determines not only their beliefs, but how they view others and the values they impugn to others' motives. In other words, if I am a liar and a cheat, I believe everyone else is either a liar and a cheat or a sucker. If I am patient and generous, then I hope and trust that good will arise from my patience. 

"Hope springs eternal" is a meme from the right side of the list. "Screw you. It's a dog-eat-dog world," arises from the meme bundle on the left. 

If you find yourself dwelling on darkness, woe, and misery, then this is a clue that you are embracing the wrong memes. The Simple Explanation recommends shedding unhelpful memes from your bundle so that the light of the Universal Unit of Consciousness can shine through.

The meme shroud overlaying our otherwise perfect unit of consciousness.
torus art by Richard Keely

When the memes are stripped away, only love remains.