Man is a Marvel

While I have been studying Gnosticism for over three years now, I have recently started to get into Hermeticism.  A lot of the concepts, from what I read, go along with Gnosticism quite well.  I am currently reading “The Hermetica: The Last Wisdom of the Pharaohs”, translated by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy.  This book is a collection of various Hermetic texts.  Sort of an introduction to Hermeticism if you will (though I did read “The Kybalion” before this, a book that I will cover at another time).  There are amazing passages in this book and I would like to share some.  With this post, I am sharing the text titled “Man is a Marvel” which is about Man and his place among the divine line; God – Cosmos – Man.  The authors of the book use the word “Atum” in place of GOD (Atum being one of the ancient Egyptian names for the Supreme One).  They wanted to avoid using the word GOD due to the preconceptions that come with the word.  Personally I prefer “The Father”.  For this post, I will use “The Father” rather than “Atum” as that is how I read it.  

Man is a Marvel

The Father is first,

The Cosmos is second,

And man is third.

The Father is One,

The Cosmos is One,

And so is man–

For like the Cosmos

He is a whole made up

Of different diverse parts.

The Maker made man

To govern with him,

And if man accepts this function fully,

He becomes a vehicle

Of order in the Cosmos

Man may know himself,

And so know the Cosmos,

By being aware

That he is an image of The Father

And of the Cosmos.

He differs from other living things

In that he possess Mind.

Through Mind he may commune

With the Cosmos, which is the second god–

And by thought he may come to Knowledge

Of The Father the One-God.

The human body encloses pure Mind,

As if within a walled garden,

Which shelters and secludes it,

So that it may live in peace.

Man has this two-fold nature–

In his body he is mortal,

And in his intelligence he is immortal.

He is exalted above heaven,

But is born a slave to Destiny.

He is bisexual,

As his Father is bisexual.

He is sleepless,

As his Father is sleepless.

Yet he is dominated by carnal desires,

And lost in forgetfulness.

Of all beings that have Soul,

Only man has a two-fold nature.

One part, called “The Image of The Father”,

Is single, undivided, spiritual and eternal.

The other part

Is made of the four material elements.

One comes from the Primal Mind.

It has the power of the Creator,

And is able to know The Father.

The other is put in man

By the revolution of the heavens.

Man is the most divine of all beings,

For amongst all living things,

The Father associates with him only–

Speaking to him in dreams at night,

Foretelling the future for him

In the flight of birds,

The bowels of beasts

And the whispering oak.

All other living things

Inhabit only one part of the Cosmos–

Fishes in water,

Animals on the earth,

Birds in the air.

Man penetrates all of these elements.

With his sense of sight,

He even grasps the heavens.

To speak without fear,

Human beings are above the gods of heaven,

Or at least their equal–

For the gods will never pass

Their celestial boundaries

And descend to Earth,

But a man may ascend to heaven,

And what is more,

He may do so without leaving the Earth,

So vast an expanse

Can his power encompass.

By The Father’s will,

Humankind is compacted,

Of both divinity and mortality.

He is more than merely mortal,

And greater than the purely immortal.

Man is a marvel,

Due honour and reverence.

He takes on the attributes of the gods,

As if he were one of their number.

He is familiar with the gods,

Because he knows he springs

From the same source.

He raises reverent eyes to heaven above,

And tends the Earth below.

He is blessed by being the intermediary.

He loves all below him,

And is loved by all above him.

Confident of his divinity,

He throws off his solely human nature.

He has access to all.

His keenness of thought

Descends to the depths of the seas.

Heaven is not too high

For the reach of his wisdom.

His quick wits penetrate the elements.

Air cannot blind his mental vision

With its thickest fog.

Dense earth cannot impede him.

Deep water cannot blur his gaze.

Man is all things.

Man is everywhere.

Man not only receives the Light of divine Life,

But gives it as well.

He not only ascends to God,

But even creates gods.

Just as The Father has willed

That the inner man

He created in his likeness,

So we on Earth create the gods

In our human image.

Is this not worthy of wonder?

There are then these three–

The Father, Cosmos, man.

The Cosmos is contained by The Father.

Man is contained by the Cosmos.

The Cosmos is the son of The Father.

Man is the son of the Cosmos,

And the grandson, so to speak, of The Father.

The Father does not ignore man,

But acknowledges him fully,

As he wishes to be fully acknowledged by man,

For this alone is man’s purpose and salvation–

The ascent to heaven

And the Knowledge of The Father.

The Twelfth Deep

Today I present another section of the untitled text from the Bruce Codex. Like so many parts of this text, this section stuck out. It gives me quite a bit to think about every time I read it. The 12 deeps are part of the make up of the Pleroma. As I mentioned in the previous post, the untitled text is a cosmology text of the ALL and the Aeons that comprise the various aspects of the heavens. It’s a text that requires much study and even then, you still probably won’t understand half of it (I am in the same boat! lol). But each time I read it, phrases stick out and this one is an example. I used both the Baynes and MacDermot translations to put together a text that I think flows well. Here it is:

The twelfth Deep is the Truth.  

From this, all Truth comes forth.

This is the Truth that encloses them all.

This is the image of the Father.

This is the Mirror of the All.

This is the Mother of the Aeons,

Whom encompasses all the Deeps.

This is the Monad, which is inconceivable,

Unknown, of which all are ignorant.

The characterless One, which all are blessed forever.

For thy sake we have been clothed with glory,

And through thee we have seen the Father of the All,

And the Mother of All things who is hidden in every place.

She who is the thought of every Aeon.

She who is the Conception of every god and lord.

She who is the Gnosis of all invisibles.

And thy image is the Mother of all things uncontainable.

And it is the power of every infinite one.

And they bless the Only-Begotten One saying:

“Through thy image we have seen thee

And we have fled to thee,

And have stood with thee.

We have received the unfading crown,

Which we all have learned through thee.

Glory to thee forever O Only-Begotten One!

AMEN.”

“I Bless Thee”

Recently I’ve read through the “untitled text” from the Bruce Codex twice. The first time was a cold read. The second time I read along with commentary. It is a very fascinating text that describes the cosmology of the Pleroma (the text itself is sometimes given the name “The Pleroma” but there is no official name for it). I read the translation by Charlotte Baynes, which can be found at amazon under the name “A Coptic Gnostic Treatise: Contained In The Codex Brucianus.” There is also another translation that can be found online by Violent MacDermot. The text does not get much attention, which is a pity as it is quite the fascinating text regarding The ONE and the Aeons. I want to share one of the passages that really struck a cord with me. I took both translations to piece this together (mainly Baynes) and I think it flows quite well. I refer to this prayer as “I Bless Thee”….

I bless thee, the Father of all fathers of Light

I bless thee, the infinite Light, every infinitude excelling.

I bless thee, the Light uncontainable, every uncontainable surpassing.

I bless thee, the Light unutterable, every unutterable preceding.

I bless thee, the Light incorruptible, every incorruptible excelling.

I bless thee, the Light Source of every Light.

I bless thee, the Light unspeakable.

I bless thee, the Light – even by himself unthought.

I bless thee, the unbegotten Light.

I bless thee, the self-alone-caused Light.

I bless thee, the Forefather of Light, every forefather excelling

I bless thee, the invisible Light, every invisible preceding.

I bless thee, the Light Thought, every thought excelling.

I bless thee, the God of Light, who art before all gods.

I bless thee, the Gnosis, which to all gnosis is the Light.

I bless thee, the Light unknowable every unknowable preceding.

I bless thee, the still Light, every stillness preceding.

I bless thee, the all-powered Light, every all-power excelling.

I bless thee, the triple-powered Light, every triple-power excelling.

I bless thee, the undivided Light-and thou art he who separates all Light.

I bless thee, the uncommingled Light, all uncommingled things excelling.

I bless thee, the One who all things knoweth, whereas himself, no one doth know.

I bless thee, the One who in himself the Whole possesseth, whereas himself, none doth possess.

I bless thee, who begettest all in unbegottenness, inasmuch as him, none hath begotten.

I bless thee, the Source of the Whole, and of all things.

I bless thee, truly the unmoved Light: thou art the Light of those who in thy Light were moved.

I bless thee, the Silence of all silences of Light.

I bless thee, the Saviour of all saviours of Light.

I bless thee, the unconquerable Light alone.

I bless thee, who to all spaces of the Whole alone art Space.

I bless thee, who alone art Wise, and who alone art Wisdom.

I bless thee, the All-mystery alone.

I bless thee, the All-perfect Light alone.

I bless thee, the only Unattainable One.

I bless thee, thyself the Good, and thou dost every good reveal.

I bless thee, thyself the Light, and thou dost every Light reveal.

I bless thee, who all Mind awakest, who gives Life to every soul.

I bless thee, Repose of those who are in Silence.

I bless thee, in all Fatherhoods abiding-from the Beginning until now all seek for thee-in that thou art their quest.

Yea, harken to the supplication of the Main in every place-this same who prays with his whole heart.

AMEN

“The Gospel of Mary (Magdalene)” – animated

To go with the video I posted the other day, this animated video is of “The Gospel of Mary (Magdalene).” The Gnostic texts have quite a bit of material related to various feminine aspects (Sophia being the most spoken of). However, Mary Magdalene is a very prominent character in the texts. She is greatly featured in the “Pistis Sophia” and “The Gospel of Mary” but also appears in “The Gospel of Thomas”, “The Sophia of Jesus Christ”, “The Gospel of Philip” and “The Dialogue of the Savior.” There could be more that I am not thinking of at the moment. Mary Magdalene is also viewed in some texts as Sophia personified.

To read a translation of the “Gospel of Mary”, check it out at gnosis.org (LINK).

Animated “Gospel of Thomas” 5

Greetings! Thank you for visiting the page. I will be using the blog to post various topics, not necessarily related to the group. In this first post, I wanted to share an animated version of saying five of the “The Gospel of Thomas”, which states:

5. Jesus said, “Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you.

For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed. [And there is nothing buried that will not be raised.]”

“The Gospel of Thomas”, for those not familiar, is a collection of 114 sayings of Jesus. This Gospel is probably the most popular text from Gnostic literature. It is an absolute favorite of mine and I read it every so often. I have attached a link to a youtube video that I thought was quite interesting. It is an animated take on the saying and I thought they did a great job. I will present the video below. Also, if you have not read “The Gospel of Thomas”, you can view it at gnosis.org by clicking HERE.