Toward Spiritual Character

Character Reflections based upon the Apocryphon of John, Ptolemy's teachings on Valentinian Aeons, and a selection from the Gospel of Truth

Re: The Apocryphon of John

Glimpses of the Fullness of Spirit

Barbelo

The Barbelo gazes toward the Hidden Great Invisible Spirit, basking in its light. May we do likewise! The Barbelo praises and glorifies the Hidden Great Invisible Spirit, because it is the cause of the good things that come forth from it. May we know of such glories, and may we praise whatever is good and spiritual, and the source of such goodness and spirituality.

The Barbelo ASKS for good things to be disclosed and given to it, and so we should ASK for a taste of forethought that we may have enough insight to know how to avoid error and ignorance, prior knowledge so that we may be aware of who and what we are and where we will return; incorruptibility so that our nature partakes more of the nature of Divine Fullness; Eternal Life so that we may identify less with this temporary worldly condition and be nurtured by realities above and beyond this world; and Truth, that we may know what is spiritual and good, intimately.

The Barbelo is described as Father-Mother-Child, as thrice-male, as divine womb, as thrice-androgynous. May we be guided, blessed, and shaped so that our relationships are so wholesome, ideal, and spiritually full. May we be spiritually seeded, spiritually nurtured in the Divine Womb, and brought forth with Spiritual Fruit. May we plant seed, may we nurture, may we grow and develop and produce fruit. May our core radiate powerfully, may our nurturing and shaping be blessed, may our fruit be wholesome. May we be shown forth as we are, brought forth and grown into ourselves, on all levels of our being. May our manifestation be blessed.

Christ

The Barbelo brings forth in its womb a luminous spark from the gaze of the Hidden Great Invisible Spirit, and that luminous spark is anointed (Christ) with kindness (Chrestos). And so we should ask for anointing with kindness, and recognize the wondrous luminous beauty of being shaped by such anointing, and thereby act in such a manner that is in accord with such kindness, blessing, anointing. May we follow this example and bestow blessing and kindness.

Fullness

Gnostic texts speak of a beautiful Sweetness, Grace, and Loveliness that bestows Goodness, Insight, and Mercy. May we know of such things and participate in their beauty, and reflect such beauty and goodness in our lives! May we draw closer to Divine Fullness! May the loveliness, love, perfection, and wisdom associated with the light-sources of the spark anointed with kindness, be with us, shine upon us, permeate us, and work through us! May we express such ideal, healthy, loving relationship; may we glimpse the Divine Totality of Aeons in Spiritual Fullness; may we understand, know, and come to more fully resemble the spiritual archetypal Human, and may this Humanity shape the essence of the Assembled Invisible Church.

Rising Above This World

Knowing something of the state of rest deep within, something of undisturbed perception, something of what it is to be free of the agitations of the distortions and passions of ignorance and error -- may we no longer cling to ways of life that after all are only temporary, lest they hold us to earthly bondage -- let us allow our perceptions and passions and senses return to their source, the destruction of ignorance that is at their root -- thereby may we allow for the possibility of a higher understanding.

May the Power of Kindness help us deal with the pressures of the herd, the increase and decrease of mortal experience on earth beneath the moon.

May the Power of Forethought help us be free from the traps and fetters of asininity and stubbornness of this world and its powers, that we may be un-ensnared by the enchantments of the devices of evils that seduce the unprepared in such a mercurial, shifting, ever changing and unstable world of chaos.

May the Power of Divinity help us rise above the crude bawdy mocking laugh of the flesh, may we see through the deceptions of desire that reflect off venusian mirrors.

May the Power of Lordship, self-Mastery, allow us to face the myriad hydra faces of the powers that be and the controlling authority of this world under the sun, that we are no longer bound by domineering arrogance nor enchanted by it.

May the Power of Kingship, Nobility of character, allow us to reign-in the dragon of unholy daring and the rashness of audacity, leaving the martial monster de-energized.

May the Power of Zeal/Fire, sincere enthusiasm, effort, and discipline, give us the patience, fortitude, perseverance, and composure to deal with the monkey-madness that strives for wealth by evil means, so that such Jupiterian vices, such non-sensicalness, such joviality in the most evil sorts of greed and power, is deprived of its aggrandizement.

May the Power of Intelligence open us to Wisdom that can see through the dull and foolish shining face of fire, the Saturnine ensnarer of falsehood.

May our souls be purified, our spirits empowered, and all these traps of Archons be dis-empowered, de-energized, that we may be freed and rise above.

Re: Valentinian Aeons as a Path

Product of Spiritual Humanity in Assembly
Moving Towards Fullness

The Essence of Wisdom Shaped in the Form that is Spiritually Desired-For – let us not desire folly, let us not be distracted by non-spiritual wisdom – let our wisdom be spiritually desirable!

The Essence of Blessedness Shaped by the Form of Spiritual Assembly/Community – let us not assemble in curses and cursedness, let us not be blessed only in isolation – let our essence be a blessing and let it be in the form of a harmoniously assembled spiritual community!

The Essence of Understanding Shaped by the Form of Ever-Mindfulness – let us not be ever-mindful yet without understanding, let us not be understanding yet without mindfulness – let our essence reach out for understanding and let such understanding show forth mindfulness that is oriented towards the Praise-worthy and eternal!

The Essence of Agape Love Shaped by the Form that is Spiritually Motherly – let us not be motherly but without love, and let us not be loving but without fruitful nurturing – let our love be profound on all levels and let it be brought forth with healthy fruit from a Spiritual womb!

The Essence of Hope Shaped by the Form that is Spiritually Fatherly – let us not be like fathers without hope, and let our hope not be fatherless without the planting of spiritual seed – let our hope be a spiritual beginning!

The Essence of Faith/Trustworthiness Shaped by the Form that is The Comforter – do not let our comforting be without faith or trustworthiness, and do not let our faith and trust be without comfort – let our faith and trustworthiness be in a form that spiritually comforts!

Receptivity to Grace
May Spirit shine upon us!

May the Essence of the Fullness of The Comforter's Faithfulness, the Fatherly Hope, the Motherly Agape Love, the Ever-Mindful Understanding, the Spiritual Assembly's Blessedness, the Desired-For Wisdom flow through us and may the Form of such Fullness Shape us! May we know and participate in such glorious Grace! May our Essence be Faith, Hope, Agape Love, Understanding, Blessedness, and Wisdom. May we increasingly resemble the Comforter, Fatherly, Motherly, Ever-Mindful in Praise of Spiritual Goodness, the Totality of the Invisible Spiritual Assembly, the Desired-for Fullness of Spirit and Goodness, Amen!

From The Gospel of Truth:

“Speak concerning the truth to those who seek it and of knowledge to those who, in their error, have committed sin. Make sure-footed those who stumble and stretch forth your hands to the sick. Nourish the hungry and set at ease those who are troubled. Foster men who love. Raise up and awaken those who sleep. For you are this understanding which encourages. If the strong follow this course, they are even stronger. Turn your attention to yourselves. Do not be concerned with other things, namely, that which you have cast forth from yourselves, that which you have dismissed. Do not return to them to eat them. Do not be moth-eaten. Do not be worm-eaten, for you have already shaken it off. Do not be a place of the devil, for you have already destroyed him. Do not strengthen your last obstacles, because that is reprehensible. For the lawless one is nothing. He harms himself more than the law. For that one does his works because he is a lawless person. But this one, because he is a righteous person, does his works among others. Do the will of the Father, then, for you are from him.

For the Father is sweet and his will is good. He knows the things that are yours, so that you may rest yourselves in them. For by the fruits one knows the things that are yours, that they are the children of the Father, and one knows his aroma, that you originate from the grace of his countenance.”

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The reader is directed to the Apocryphon of John and to section 24-26 of Poimandres which is relevant for comparative purposes though it comes from a different tradition (the Hermetic Corpus contains material that bears some similarities to the classic Gnostic texts, though there are differences.) The reader is also directed to the report on Valentinus and his student Ptolemy in Irenaeus' Against All Heresies, and also to the Gospel of Truth. Bentley Layton's excellent translations, commentaries, and introductions of all of these texts in his edition of the Gnostic Scriptures, is highly recommended. Previous related posts on Gnostic Path include: The Great Holy Invisible Spirit, Gnostic Prayers, and Problems with Character.