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Post by IW on Apr 22, 2018 13:29:14 GMT
Nag Hammadi (Gospel of Truth):
For the name of the gospel is the manifestation of hope, since that is the discovery of those who seek him, because the All sought him from whom it had come forth. You see, the All had been inside of him, that illimitable, inconceivable one, who is better than every thought.
This ignorance of the Father brought about terror and fear. And terror became dense like a fog, that no one was able to see. Because of this, error became strong. But it worked on its hylic substance vainly, because it did not know the truth. It was in a fashioned form while it was preparing, in power and in beauty, the equivalent of truth. This then, was not a humiliation for him, that illimitable, inconceivable one. For they were as nothing, this terror and this forgetfulness and this figure of falsehood, whereas this established truth is unchanging, unperturbed and completely beautiful.
For this reason, do not take error too seriously. Thus, since it had no root, it was in a fog as regards the Father, engaged in preparing works and forgetfulnesses and fears in order, by these means, to beguile those of the middle and to make them captive. The forgetfulness of error was not revealed. It did not become light beside the Father. Forgetfulness did not exist with the Father, although it existed because of him. What exists in him is knowledge, which was revealed so that forgetfulness might be destroyed and that they might know the Father, Since forgetfulness existed because they did not know the Father, if they then come to know the Father, from that moment on forgetfulness will cease to exist.
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Post by IW on Apr 22, 2018 13:30:23 GMT
That is the gospel of him whom they seek, which he has revealed to the perfect through the mercies of the Father as the hidden mystery, Jesus the Christ. Through him he enlightened those who were in darkness because of forgetfulness. He enlightened them and gave them a path. And that path is the truth which he taught them. For this reason error was angry with him, so it persecuted him. It was distressed by him, so it made him powerless. He was nailed to a cross. He became a fruit of the knowledge of the Father. He did not, however, destroy them because they ate of it. He rather caused those who ate of it to be joyful because of this discovery.
And as for him, them he found in himself, and him they found in themselves, that illimitable, inconceivable one, that perfect Father who made the all, in whom the All is, and whom the All lacks, since he retained in himself their perfection, which he had not given to the all. The Father was not jealous. What jealousy, indeed, is there between him and his members? For, even if the Aeon had received their perfection, they would not have been able to approach the perfection of the Father, because he retained their perfection in himself, giving it to them as a way to return to him and as a knowledge unique in perfection. He is the one who set the All in order and in whom the All existed and whom the All lacked. As one of whom some have no knowledge, he desires that they know him and that they love him. For what is it that the All lacked, if not the knowledge of the Father?
He became a guide, quiet and in leisure. In the middle of a school he came and spoke the Word, as a teacher. Those who were wise in their own estimation came to put him to the test. But he discredited them as empty-headed people. They hated him because they really were not wise men. After all these came also the little children, those who possess the knowledge of the Father. When they became strong they were taught the aspects of the Father's face. They came to know and they were known. They were glorified and they gave glory. In their heart, the living book of the Living was manifest, the book which was written in the thought and in the mind of the Father and, from before the foundation of the All, is in that incomprehensible part of him.
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Post by IW on Apr 22, 2018 13:33:52 GMT
Having entered into the empty territory of fears, he passed before those who were stripped by forgetfulness, being both knowledge and perfection, proclaiming the things that are in the heart of the Father, so that he became the wisdom of those who have received instruction. But those who are to be taught, the living who are inscribed in the book of the living, learn for themselves, receiving instructions from the Father, turning to him again.
Since the perfection of the All is in the Father, it is necessary for the All to ascend to him. Therefore, if one has knowledge, he gets what belongs to him and draws it to himself. For he who is ignorant, is deficient, and it is a great deficiency, since he lacks that which will make him perfect. Since the perfection of the All is in the Father, it is necessary for the All to ascend to him and for each one to get the things which are his. He registered them first, having prepared them to be given to those who came from him.
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Post by IW on Apr 22, 2018 13:36:33 GMT
As one's ignorance disappears when he gains knowledge, and as darkness disappears when light appears, so also incompleteness is eliminated by completeness. Certainly, from that moment on, form is no longer manifest, but will be dissolved in fusion with unity. For now their works lie scattered. In time unity will make the spaces complete. By means of unity each one will understand itself. By means of knowledge it will purify itself of diversity with a view towards unity, devouring matter within itself like fire and darkness by light, death by life.
Certainly, if these things have happened to each one of us, it is fitting for us, surely, to think about the All so that the house may be holy and silent for unity. Like people who have moved from a neighborhood, if they have some dishes around which are not good, they usually break them. Nevertheless the householder does not suffer a loss, but rejoices, for in the place of these defective dishes there are those which are completely perfect. For this is the judgement which has come from above and which has judged every person, a drawn two-edged sword cutting on this side and that. When it appeared, I mean, the Logos, who is in the heart of those who pronounce it - it was not merely a sound but it has become a body - a great disturbance occurred among the dishes, for some were emptied, others filled: some were provided for, others were removed; some were purified, still others were broken. All the spaces were shaken and disturbed for they had no composure nor stability. Error was disturbed not knowing what it should do. It was troubled; it lamented, it was beside itself because it did not know anything. When knowledge, which is its abolishment, approached it with all its emanations, error is empty, since there is nothing in it. Truth appeared; all its emanations recognized it. They actually greeted the Father with a power which is complete and which joins them with the Father.
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Post by IW on Sept 13, 2018 9:07:32 GMT
Truth appeared; all its emanations recognized it.
truth recognizes itself..
Tripartite Tractate (74:18f)
The Sophia-Logos brought forth "that which was deficient in itself" corresponding to the sufferings described by Ptolemy. This took the form of a false reality in the form of "likenesses, copies, shadows, and phantasms, lacking reason and the light, these which belong to the vain thought, since they are not products of anything."
in the Tripartite Tractate, the fall results in "disturbances" and "tumults" which have an energy and a false reality of their own. This false reality belongs to the Sophia-Logos' "vain thought" or "arrogance" much as the false reality in the Gospel of Truth belongs to the "error" of the Aeons. This primordial chaos corresponds to matter which according to the Tripartite Tractate was later formed into the visible world by the Demiurge.
While error is in reality present in the minds of the Aeons, they falsely perceive it as external to themselves much as they falsely perceive a material creation external to themselves. It is an "illusory self" which is "projected out and externalized" when in truth there is no reality outside of the self.
Error acts "without having learned to know the truth" (17:18) and represents a "substitute for the truth"(17:20).
The text describes how "the realm of appearance which belongs to the lack is the world" (24:22-24). Thus the material realm is said to belong to both error and lack further supporting the hypothesis that the two are interchangeable. There is further confirmation of this from elsewhere in the text. According to one passage, "the lack belonging to the realm of matter did not result from the infinity of the Father...rather the Father's Depth is immense and it is not with him that the thought of error resides"(35:8-18).
The lack expresses itself as the negative emotional states (sufferings) experienced by the fallen Aeon Sophia such as grief, fear and confusion. These negative emotional states are the origin of matter. Error is similarly said to produce negative emotional states such as "forgetfulness", "fear" and "agitation" in those subject to it.
I have been spending much time in Mr. Goddard's work/site towards "clarity of being" and so the topic of Garbage came up. This led me back to Sophia. We find the Illusory self here in the simulated world created out of mind that is not based in Truth but in emptiness.
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