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There are a lot of charlatans,  in this religious world, in it for fame, books sales, sex, money, ego strokes, or all of the above.   They will play on the human propensity to grasp anything that sounds reasonable and comforting, but slip in a little self serving insanity.   I repeat, God is not insane.   If it’s insane, it’s not of God. ( If you think it’s all one, check with your mental health professional)

One of my favorite ancient text, is the “Teachings of Sylvanus”, because the author speaks about the divinity of reason.   Stop.  Think.  If someone could really manifest an angel, in this world of video, it would be on Youtube by now.    Chanting will not cause money to magically appear in anyones pocket except the person who has convinced you it will.

Gnosis,seperate from the divine,  is knowing what is, and you know what is, because you have genuinely experienced it.   It’s not a one time shot, but a process of accumulating knowledge.  And that knowledge is repeatable, and makes sense because it is based in truth.   If it’s not based in truth, it may be a lot of things, but it’s not gnosis.    Gnosis doesn’t come in a jar of pills, it doesn’t sexually liberate you, (though it might free you from sex), and it doesn’t give you magical powers.   It allows you to see what is.   What is, uncolored by tradition, opinion, or superstition.      It seems to the unlearned, to give wisdom.  However, that wisdom is the ability to see what is.  It’s not supernatural.    What is supernatural, is the human ability to project desire onto what is, to the point that genuinely seeing what is, appears supernatural.    What is, once the projections are removed, is seldom insane.

Insanity is not of the True God, though there are a tremendous amount of Apostles for the insane god.   Make it part of your daily practice to examine everything you think you know, everything you believe.  Is it reasonable?  Is it sane?   If you can let it go, you are on the way to gnosis.

What is this thing called “Spirituality” any way?  What do people think of when they hear “Spirit”?  Is it the same thing that the Ancients meant when they wrote “Spirit”?

These are questions that I sometimes ask myself.   Some people think of me as a very “Spiritual” person.  But I don’t even know how they define that word.

I think a good place to start is to look at all the different things that “Spirit” can mean.   “Spirit” might mean a thinking living entity;  a Hollywood “Ghost” or “Demon”, something imbued with the “I Am” or Soul.

When I think of God, I think of an “I Am” with an infinite IQ.  A Mind that is greater than even Einstein’s by quantum amounts.  Then, I have a hard time understanding Einstein.  I chuckle to myself when people try to tell me who God is when they can’t even tell me who Einstein is.

I watched a science fiction movie called “Starship Troopers”.   A thing that interested me as much as the space ships and alien lifeforms, were the constant interruption by “Public Service announcements” that were carefully crafted propoganda pieces designed to imbue the viewing public with the “Spirit” of war.  “Spirit” then, can be manipulated, in this definition, and the “Spirit” then takes on a life of its own, to manipulate the “Viewer”.

I am definitely a “Spiritual Person” by this definition, as I am a “Viewer” of all things spiritual;  I strive to understand how people are so easily led;  we are sheep by our very nature, even when we think we are not.

I have seen “Mean Spirited” horses;  They would like nothing better than to sneak up behind you and bite a chunk out of you, and no, they were never abused in any way.  Their stable mates were sweet as could be, just these aberrations were twisted some way in their nature.

I have seen people just as mean in nature.   Twisted inside.  Some were real dummies, others could give Edison a run for his money, so I know it’s not based on intelligence.

There is a spirit of empathy; this is when somebody relates to another person as though those persons experiences were their own.  On the surface, this would seem to be a good thing.  A big however, is that there are killers who can really empathize with other killers, so we must be looking for something more, some guideline or boundary.

There is the written Law present in the Old testament.   But even when we take out the weird stuff, like getting rid of the mildew in your home by killing a pair of doves, the Apostle Paul warned that the written law was death itself.  So even the apparent “Spirit of righteousness” in the written law, doesn’t provide adequate guidelines for dealing with “Spirit”.

The Gospel of Philip writes “Those who have gone astray, whom the spirit begets, usually go astray also because of the Spirit. Thus, by one and the same breath, the fire blazes and is put out.”   I have witnessed this myself.   Someone is hot on the trail of gnosis, a real go getter, then all of a sudden they are distracted by something else and their flame dies.  It’s as if the Spirit gave them a taste, and She decided they weren’t ready for the real deal.

There is the “Spirit of Truth”, to which we have dedicated our church.   This Spirit is supposed to be the comforter, whom the “world cannot receive”.   Oh, yeah, I’ve witnessed that also.   Given the choice between the truth and a comforting belief, people will generally go with the comforting belief every time.  It seems funny that on the surface, a belief can be of more comfort than the “comforter”.

So then, there is a counterpart to “the Spirit of Truth”, the “Spirit of Belief”.  Could this then be the counterfeit Spirit we were warned about?

There is the “Spirit of War”;   This spirit is so powerful that it was anthropomorphized in a number of ancient religions.   “War is Hell”, said Sherman.  He also said, “You people speak so lightly of war; you don’t know what you’re talking about.”    I would say he was one of the leading experts of the time on the subject;  So if those that want to bring Hell to earth aren’t under the influence of a demon, then demon’s don’t exist.

There is the “Spirit of Christ” to whom I have dedicated my remaining Life.  Jesus was said to have received the Christ Spirit as His baptism;  I won’t argue the point.  Personally, I think he was prepared ground, as in the parable of the “sower”.   How does one prepare the ground?   I don’t think we ourselves can really do it.   You are either good ground, or you’re not.   If you are still reading this, well, you are probably good ground.

What does God look like?   He looks just like the Spirit that was in Jesus.   Accept that, and Yes, you ARE spiritual.   Just beware of those other ones!

An exploration of the early Christian perspective.

This is one of those subjects that has to be approached very carefully, and
in the Christian Gnostic tradition of trying to encompass every facet
simultaneously.  Sophia, simply put, is the Greek word for “Wisdom”,
however, that is like saying the Ocean is “Wet”.

Numerous attempts have been made to capture the essence of this elusive
damsel;  somehow, they have all fallen short, and I fear that this attempt
will also miss some of Her finest aspects, however, as far as I know, no one
else has undertaken to tell you everything that I hope to reveal.

Sophia is a complicated creature, primarily because of an error that She
made before time was introduced into the primal material universe; as a

matter of fact, the primal material universe came into existence because of
this error, as well as a couple demi-gods and not a few angels.  But then,
as time was introduced to being order out of the Chaos of her “abortion”, we
cannot say that one happened before the other, but rather simultaneously,
if such a word can even apply in the absence of time.

“The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works,
before his deeds of old”   Proverbs 8:22

The masculine and feminine aspects of God were explored in ancient Jewish
lore, and one need not look any further than the symbolism present in the
star of David, which is composed of two overlapping triangles, one with its
apex pointing up to represent the divine male, and the other with it’s apex
pointing down to symbolize the divine female, with the two then superimposed
to represent the completeness of God.   Sophia is representative of one of
the feminine aspects of God.

The short story of Sophia’s error, is that being the “youngest” of the Aeons
of the first Power, She attempted to explore that Light on her own, but
ended up chasing Her own light.   By attempting to “create” without Her
consort “Christ”, she ended up not finding the True light, but giving birth
to a false god:

“The Perfect Savior said to them: “I want you to know that
Sophia, the Mother of the Universe and the consort, desired by herself to
bring these to existence without her male (consort).”~Sophia of Jesus

“It happened now after this she looked down. She saw his power of light in
the parts below, and she did not know that it was that of the triple-powered
Authades. But she thought that it was from the light which she had seen from
the beginning in the height, which was from the veil of the Treasury of the
Light. And she thought to herself : “I will go to that place without my
partner, and take the light, and create of it for myself aeons of light, so
that I shall be able to go to the Light of Lights which is in the highest
height.”~ Pistis Sophia 1:31

This was also a warning to the “young” Christian, not to go chasing beams of
“light” without Christ, lest one might also fall into error;  Sophia in
error is a metaphoric image of the human race without Christ, the Love of
God.  Her abortive creation is described as the God of Nature, the God of
Justice, the God of this World and various other phrases that conveyed the
mastery of his power over the physical realm, not only with his ability to
shape matter, but to instil physical desires and instincts into his creature
creations.

The Nag Hammadi scripture “On the Origin of the World” records the following
exchange between Sophia and Her bastard son: “And he was honored by all the
army of angels. And all the gods and their angels gave blessing and honor to
him. And for his part, he was delighted and continually boasted, saying to
them, “I have no need of anyone.” He said, “It is I who am God, and there is
no other one that exists apart from me.” And when he said this, he sinned
against all the immortal beings who give answer. And they laid it to his
charge.

Then when Pistis saw the impiety of the chief ruler, she was filled with
anger. She was invisible. She said, “You are mistaken, Samael,” (that is,
“blind god”). “There is an immortal man of light who has been in existence
before you, and who will appear among your modelled forms; he will trample
you to scorn, just as potter’s clay is pounded.”

This exchange instructs the “young” Christian on the incompleteness of the

god(s) that existed before the consort of Sophia revealed the “True

God”(John 17:3And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only
true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ.)

Now that we have explored the “fallen” Sophia, or human wisdom, we have to
remember that the story does not stay dismal, but Sophia in her fallen state
cried out for her consort:

“1. ‘O Light of the powers, give heed and save me.
2. May those that want to take away my light from me fail and he in
darkness. Let them return to the Chaos, and may those who want to take away
my power be put to shame.
3. May those that persecute me and say : we have become lords over her,
return quickly to the darkness.
4. May all those who seek after the light rejoice and flourish and may they

who want thy mystery say at all times : let the mystery be raised up.
5. Do thou now at this time save me, O Light, for I am lacking in my light,
which has been taken away. And I need my power which has been taken from me.
Thou, O Light, thou art my Saviour, and thou art my rescuer, O Light.
Save me quickly out of this Chaos”~Pistis Sophia 1:37

Sophia is rescued by Her consort, and regains her rightful place at His
Side.   This is metaphically representative of the “Young” Christian whom
Christ has “found”.   At this point, Sophia is also representative of the
“Bride” of Christ:
“Indeed, one must utter a mystery. The Father of everything united with the virgin who came down, and a fire shone for him on that day. He appeared in the great bridal chamber. Therefore his body came into being on that very day. It left the bridal chamber as one who came into being from the bridegroom and the bride. So Jesus established everything in it through these. It is fitting for each of the disciples to enter into his rest. “~Gospel of Philip.

In my case, there was just nobody else teaching the Nag Hammadi, which really runs cross current with other gnostic organizations.   So I stepped up to the plate with no idea what I was doing, and learned as I went.   I inadvertently, almost accidentally made a difference.   A small thing, in the grand scheme of things…I look at the hospitals that first opened their doors way back when, when a doctor or even a nurse saw a need, and stepped up to the plate, often with no money and potentially none in their future.

That’s the way it works.   You see something that needs doing, and you do it.  Whatever fame or fortune comes your way later is not even a thought;  meaning, that if you’re in it for fame or fortune you probably won’t get it, and shame on you if you do.

I think about the story of Jesus.  Was Jesus predetermined?  Or did He have free will?   Could He have chosen to be like the vast number of people who just don’t even try to overcome their fears to do something that needs doing?   Personally, I like to believe He made that choice, and that if He had chosen the other way, the world would never have been changed.   By stepping up to the plate, stretching His limits, learning as He went, He made a difference.

The Gospel of Thomas says “Whoever has ears, let him hear. There is light within a man of light, and he lights up the whole world. If he does not shine, he is darkness.”   It’s this last part that got me thinking, got me to writing this page.   If he does not shine, he is darkness. Ouch.   In other words, if you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.    What’s the problem?  Are you kidding me?   Wars, plagues, floods, petulance, famine, flem, bile, and buccas!    Hatred, intolerance, couples divorcing, no dancing in the streets, bears coming out of the woods….you get the picture.

Somebody’s got to do something about it.   At this point, you look to the right and you look to the left and nobody is stepping out of the crowd.  Somebody?  Anybody?

Alpha & Omega, in answer to Miguel’s charge that there are not enough women shaping modern christian gnostic churches has heard the plea!

Ladies, Women, Gals and girls!

We are looking for you, if you would like to step up to a leadership role

Join our board, and our Skype services.    No pay, no glory, and a lot of hard work…….but you are needed!

Don’t expect the usual fare when perusing this site!

Alpha & Omega is dedicated to the “Spirit of Truth”
14:17even the Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth him not, neither knoweth him: ye know him; for he abideth with you, and shall be in you. ~ Gospel of John

Over the centuries, a lot of stories purported as true have developed around Christian churches, and in the last couple centuries, around churches calling themselves Gnostic;  the infallibility of the bible, Peter went to Rome, a list of churches claiming unbroken Apostolic succession and Magical thinking surrounding ritual and tradition, that contradicts critical history, science and psychology.

We blow right through that stuff;   We aren’t interested in anything that cannot withstand the simplest testing, except as a means to bring us closer to the truth.
“Why?” someone might ask.

Because, if something is not the truth, and reported as the truth, then it is the opposite.   I don’t know about you, but WE hate being lied to, especially concerning the potential of eternity and what it takes to achieve it, and WE are not going to shoot the dice either on pious error nor on beliefs based in falsehoods, magical thinking or mysterious traditions that are impossible to verify or deny.   We take eternity seriously!

Ok, what does that leave?

There are certain things that CAN be verified.     New testament and apocryphal scriptures (and we give them the same weight, based on critical scholarship) tell us not only our actions, but also our thoughts and intent have both long term  and short term consequences.   In other words, if you are doing it right, there will be REAL internal changes in thinking and attitude that will be manifested in how we treat others;  not artificial changes or hypocrisy—  for example, before the change someone might treat another person nicely, even though they have no love for them.  After the change, that same person is treated nicely because they are genuinely loved.   A real and genuine healing of the soul has occurred.  If there is no healing, there is no salvation.

Salvation is not a one time deal, nor do we consider salvation to be “going to heaven”, which we say is NOT salvation but a CONSEQUENCE of salvation.   Most times, it is a long slow process.

The only tradition that we are going to put weight on, is the tradition that we are establishing for ourselves;  A love for each other, and a love for truth.   As Truth is continually unveiling itself through critical study and advancements in philosophy, science and experience, Alpha & Omega remains equally dynamic, but unwavering in the principle, that the things that truly matter are freely available to all—-  there is not a magic formula nor ritual that can surpass good old fashioned spiritual elbow grease.

We are not SELLING anything!

There are a lot of people out there selling books that purport to be concerned with your Spiritual welfare.   They often contain truisms, or old maxim’s in a new guise.   If they were that concerned, those books would be sold without profit to either author or organization but handed out as tracts;   In order to maximize profits, books appeal to emotions centered around things we WANT to hear.   Nobody sells books saying “Oh, you are really, really going to HATE this”!   There are a lot of “Ministry” television shows, that beg you to “dig deep into your pockets”.  We are not offering books, ads, or things to make you feel smug about yourself.  We are not saying “I’m ok, your ok, those people over there are idiots”.  We are not offering “flesh colored Christ’s that glow in the dark”.   We are offering an opportunity to really LIVE a spirituality that has been misunderstood and misrepresented for centuries;  a spirituality that is in accordance with the understanding of some of the  earliest Christians found in the Nag Hammadi Library (From here on in, shortened to NHL), and in so LIVING, witness genuine positive changes in the way that spirituality is lived and understood.   We are not looking to depreciate the genuine value of any church or religious organization that any may belong to, but are offering a CLEAR alternative to those that have found nothing but further questions and dissatisfaction in their spiritual search, and in making the offer, doing so in a way that does not have us patting you on the head with one hand while reaching into your pocket with the other.

We have managed to come the last few years without accepting any charitable donations except our website;  nobody will ask you for any money.

Belief as a tool.

Many a divorced couple will attest that they had belief and faith that their spouse would ALWAYS be faithful.    Belief and Faith allow us to function, but they are TOOLS that allow us to function.

What we do is take our beliefs and mentally separate them from verifiable Truth, both physical and spiritual, and place them in a box labeled “Tools for spiritual growth”.    They are not allowed to gather dust or rust and otherwise become useless,   but we ARE going to organize them into useful and extraneous categorizes according to our individual needs.   The Wright brothers believed they could fly, before they did.   It is important to recognize that their ability to actually accomplish this feat was physical law, but that belief was a tool that kept them searching for the secret of flight.

What does this separation process do for us?   Just to give one clear example out of many, we are not going to feel obfuscating emotions if someone poses an argument over the historical Jesus…..   We will recognize that is an argument that is faith based and so can neither be won nor lost;  a person posing an emotional argument for or against is questioning their own belief system as much as ours….and as we constantly question our own as procedure, those arguments will bring no new hurt or insight.    To use the example of the Wright brothers again, they did not stand on belief, vainly flapping their arms, but experimented until they discovered the basic principles of flight.

Story as Mythology

Mythology may be entertaining, but it is not entertainment.   Nor does it matter if Mythology is physically true, or impossible.   Mythology is carefully crafted to highlight the highest of human ideology, thus using physical imaging to tell of those things that are invisible;  Faith, Hope, Love.    When learning of spiritual truth, which is invisible, a way has to be made to tell it in word images.   This is the way that we communicate with each other, and also the way that we use to discover our own potential.

We use the early Christian mythology that is found in the NHL and parts of the Bible.   We are not arguing that it is historically accurate or even probable—-for our purposes believing it to be of absolute historical accuracy DOESN’T matter;   In the movie PATTON, one of General Patton’s aides consoled Patton over his opponents absence from the battlefield by saying “If you have defeated Rommel’s plan, have you not defeated Rommel?”   By the same token, if we have followed Jesus’ plan for salvation, this makes us Christian despite Jesus’ presence or absence on the “battlefield”.   It won’t matter if Jesus was a real person if you cannot find Christ within yourself, and it will not matter if He wasn’t really born in a manger if you DO find Him within yourself.

By the same token, we MUST believe that the stories attributed to Jesus are paramount and priceless in their spiritual value if they are to have any impact on our lives whatsoever.    To be “lukewarm” in anything spiritual is the ultimate error, resulting in a hodgepodge belief system that will ultimately stall and fail when it is needed most.   Because of this simple, but often hard to take truth, we keep with a set methodology, emphasizing that which has shown positive results, and de-emphasizing that which has not ultimately mattered.

Don’t paint yourself into a corner!

The existence or lack thereof of heaven, hell, eternal rest, rejoining god, visionary experiences are all hotly debated topics.   Why are they hotly debated after ten thousand years of religious “Truth” being loosed in the world?   Because those are things unknowable by any outward evidence.  Error debating Error.   If we treat others and ourselves honestly and find the Christ within that enables us to value honesty, integrity,  compassionate reason, and love for others, while eschewing the more base and selfish emotions, the existence or lack thereof of a judgment day will take care of itself, and consequently our own self esteem is raised along with the self confidence that life demands of us.

Admit to yourself that some things are just unknowable, and use the mythology to help strengthen those things that are real and desirable;  Faith, Hope, Love.

Let’s get to the meat and potatoes

So far, we have discussed mythology and how we can bring it into our lives;   However, we are not using the entirety of the Christian bible, and here is why;   it is not one book but many, with an “Old testament” that is probably the greatest source of bronze age writings available, and a “New Testament” that was compiled in the Fourth century to promote catholicism, which though we honor in it’s inclusiveness and adoption of esoteric christian sectarianism, is actually counter productive to understanding the early gentile Christian thought that we follow.  We see Christianity, as taught by the NHL, and some of Paul’s own genuine writings, as rejecting Judaism as an accurate portrayal of God….   We can see from Paul’s own writings, and from the NHL, that when Paul taught among the gentiles, he did NOT teach Pharisaical Judaism!    This was (re?)-introduced into gentile Christian thought sometime after the first century.  (See Marcion’s Antithesis for a partial listing of bible verses that provide evidence of this radical way of thinking)

We rely heavily on the NHL, because we want to be as close as possible to understanding those early teachings of Paul, and shed the centuries of man made traditions that have been heaped upon early Christian thought until it is a confused tower of Babel that is no longer approachable except by wading through mountains of apologists and sectarian denominations.
The NHL is best described as scriptural commentary rather than scripture;  a very careful study will show that it refers and comments both on scriptures that can be found in the bible, and those no longer to be found anywhere, plus some long lost scriptures that were included along with the commentaries.  We use the “Robinson” text, because of it’s accessible price and availability.   The “American Standard” bible is used for much the same reason, though if you have any other version, don’t go out and buy another.

So what are we saying?  Are we anti-Semitic?

God is not a cheer leader for any nation, for nations are part of the Grand illusion that is Matter.   None of us, are in reality, nailed down to any piece of dirt.  We are all part of Mankind, all are capable of the very best, and all capable of the very worst.  We are not Anti-Anybody.  We are pro-Christ, as long as the Christ that is visualized is love, compassion, acceptance….and the yardstick for all the good that we are truly capable of.  A true Savior, teaching the road to salvation, both by word and example.   The previously invisible image of the Father, not the imaginary gods of men’s imagination, but the True Living God that is unknowingly mentioned here and there in every scripture in the world, unheard of, unspoken of by any prophet until He/She was introduced to the world by the story of Christ who pointed out that divine spark which exists even in those rejected by others.

We reject the Old Testament views of God that portray Him/Her as bloodthirsty, demanding of human and animal sacrifice, theft and slaughter.  We reject the view that God created mankind as an unwilling slave, but a willing slave to Love, exemplified by serving others.  We accept those views in the Old Testament that portray a Loving Father.

We use a modern interpretation of an alternate teaching that was hidden for many centuries, and has once again seen the light of day.

No SECRET Traditions?

No.  The traditions that we use are not, and probably were never “Secret”.   There are some things that we just don’t get around to talking about with an absolute beginner, because it takes some time to absorb the basics, but they are not secret.

Opening the toolbox…remember we talked about the toolbox?

We will each have varying levels of what we know, but we follow the same belief as a group effort, to lead us deeper and deeper into sure knowledge.

Here are some of the things we believe expressed as simple terms:

Heaven
God the Father
Christ the Son
Sophia
Holy Spirit
a false creator god

Now, here is our mythology, in capsulized form:

In the “beginning” there was only God. When I say beginning here, time had not been invented yet, and we believe in an emanations cosmology.    This cosmology is not incompatible  with the theory of evolution.

God had his first thought. When an infinite being has thoughts, his thoughts are powerful thoughts.  So powerful, that not only are they capable of having thoughts of their own, but their thoughts are also powerful, though not as powerful and perfect as their own.

One of Gods first thoughts was the “Logos”. “Logos” in this context, is both a noun and a verb.   It is the Male/Female dyad of Love and Wisdom, expressed as Christ and Sophia.

Wisdom was young. Everybody should know, hopefully, that wisdom is dependent on experience.   So far, the only experience that Sophia had, was coming into existence from a higher thought.

Sophia tried to create something on her own. This is where the mythology begins to parallel the journey of those who seek God.   Sophia tried to create without her counterpart “Love” or “Christ”.   She fell into error.

What Sophia created was an imperfect thought. Now Sophia is not dependent on power from experience….in fact at this point she desperately needs it….so Her thought is pretty powerful in his own right, though imperfect.

Sophia’s thought we call the demiurge This crazy god, is very jealous because he is a product of wisdom alone, untempered by love.   Not quite omnipresent or omniscient, but very nearly so, he started to organize the chaos of his own afterbirth, (matter) into stars and suns, planets and moons.  and then………..

The demiurge wanted to create slaves to worship him . He is very jealous, and didn’t even want his slaves to know right from wrong!  (he is also the mad god who gave us such things as tsunami’s and Ebola.  He creates fair winds to send ships to port, and gales to sink them before they get there!)

A VERY repentant Sophia, who learned from Her mistake (She is wisdom after all, and that’s what wisdom does), called for her consort, Christ, to help save the slaves of the demiurge from slavery, and the two of them, called on the Father of all for help.

The Father sent Sophia, in the form of the symbol of Wisdom, to instill in the slaves the seeds of Divine Potential, and they became human.    After a while, and when the human race was fertile ground……

The Father sent Christ, to teach the humans of their Divine potential and to lead them home.

But many others, who oppose the truth and are the messengers of error, will set up their error and their law against these pure thoughts of mine, as looking out from one (perspective) thinking that good and evil are from one source

~Apocalypse of Peter

Jesus said “I and my Father are one”. What did he really mean? Some peoples, past and present, have assumed that He meant He was God. But did He? When He prayed “Thy will be done”, it was acknowledging a power greater than his own. “My Father” is not “Myself”. Thus there is an inherent duality in the statement “My Father and I are one”.

How to explain it? If my father sent me to bid on supplies, and gave me authority within a budget, the dealer would know, that myself having that authority, would be acting as Proxy for my Father. “If you have seen me you have seen the Father”; I have the authority to speak in his name.

Now we come to the NHL texts….the Apocalypse of Peter gives a clear admonishment against non-duality, probably a direct admonishment against Isaiah 45:7. This seems to fly in the face of the Gospel of Philip “Light and Darkness, life and death, right and left, are brothers of one another. They are inseparable.”

Some have pointed to this verse as a sign of nonduality. They skip the rest of the paragraph that reads “Because of this neither are the good good, nor evil evil, nor is life life, nor death death. For this reason each one will dissolve into its earliest origin. But those who are exalted above the world are indissoluble, eternal.”

Each one will dissolve into it’s earliest origin. Each. Obviously the collective quantity here is divided both in origin and destination.

Another popular verse to quote, and I apologize if I offend my dear friends, is from the Valentinian expositions, wherein everything is contained in the all. This is correct in as far as it goes, but it leaves out the clear Valentinian delineation that the all” had been inside of him, that illimitable, inconceivable one, who is better than every thought. “, and that the “All” itself is less because “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.”

Studying the Valentinian text very carefully, there is God and what he thinks. His thoughts are alive and capable of producing independent living thought also. The operative word here is independence, though they are in fact being dependent of being thought in the first place!

So far, the “everything is one” sentiment is giving way to “everything is connected”.

Now we come to the matter of practicality; If good and evil are from one source and there is no difference between them, a person should be able to stand by and watch their sister being raped without experiencing any outrage. Personally, I will be reaching for the nearest heavy object.

But that is not what is written; good and evil are brothers of one another. That might suggest one divine father, but does it? Good and evil, we know starts with intention; a good intention, alas, is no proof against an evil outcome. So we might say they are brothers whose father is intention.

When put into action, that deed may be absolute good, absolute evil, or anywhere in between, depending BOTH on result, and perception. A sliding scale, if you wish, but it all starts with intention, and I dare say, human intention in most cases.

³And this is eternal life: [it means] to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God, and [likewise] to know Him, Jesus [as the] Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent.

As you read this, you are possibly going to detect a difference between Christian Gnostic beliefs about Gnosis, and other Gnostic groups.   Now, some may be offended by what we maintain is true,   but please bear in mind, that this is not written to offend but to inform.

Gnosis is salvation

The Gospel of John is unique in the way that salvation is portrayed.   It’s not a “have faith and be saved” doctrine, but “have faith and learn what it takes to be saved”;   Gnosis means to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand, God.   Not that God is fathomable;  but rather His Nature, what He wants from us, what he expects from us.   This Nature will not be incompatible with what Jesus has been credited with saying about him.

Gnosis is adoptive by nature.

³You show and make obvious that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, not written with ink but with [the] Spirit of [the] living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.^{(A)~ II Corinthians 3}

Gnosis is consistent

God will never ask you to betray a friend or harm a child. I’m sure you are familiar with the Gospels, both in the famous verses about “forbid not the children to come unto me”, and the story of Judas.

God will never ask you to compromise His righteousness. What this means, is that you personally are never going to be asked to rationalize or perform an unrighteous act .

Gnosis will highlight your imperfections, so that you might correct them.

²³Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives.~ Romans 3:23

We do not believe that we are God….but we are gods!

Jesus answered, Is it not written in your Law, I said, You are gods? ~John 10:34

A horse naturally begets a horse, a human begets a human, a god begets a god.~  Gospel of Philip

We may be Gods in training, but we aren’t ready yet

What the father possesses belongs to the son, and the son himself, so long as he is small, is not entrusted with what is his. But when he becomes a man, his father gives him all that he possesses.~ Gospel of Philip

I hope this list has been helpful, although it is by no means complete nor definitive.   I do hope it sets the mind to thinking and the heart to yearning.