Spiritualist Circle of Light

Your guide to improved life satisfaction

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The Secret Book of John

The Gnostic Secret Book of John is a creation myth. Originally, the writing was intended for other than the early Christians. Sometime before 185 A.D., presumably someone copying the text added information to reflect the beliefs of the time. Our approach is from the esoteric stance, attempting to look beneath the obvious using symbols and early definitions. The principle one being Spirit is a representation of breath, which in turn suggests life.

Spirit is Unity

We begin our short study with this. ‘Spirit is a unity over which no one rules. It is the God of Truth, the Father of All, the Holy Spirit…’

Spirit is Imperfectible

The creative process of life is often described as an evolving process. We can look at history to confirm this, so it’s not the creative process that is not perfectible. Life, as an experience, occurs moment by moment, ever in the present. We can say it is a time component. Experience only occurs in the present. Thus, the experience is beyond perfection. Once we have experienced an event, there is little we can do. There is nothing we can do if we view time as being linear.

Spirit is Immeasurable

We’re speaking of Spirit. Not as if it were the departed, but of a different quality, a different time. Spirit, in its Latin form means breath. To breathe is to inhale and exhale, it is to live. More precisely, it is to experience life. Experience is information and information, in order to be useful, requires a level of intelligence. Thus, Spirit is light. It is the Divine light of the experience of life.

Spirit Seeks Only Itself

The Divine Light is the illumination of our experience. It is the awakening.

We have moved from Spirit being Life Experience to be Intelligence. In this exploration of The Secret Book of John, we explore the idea of Light seeking itself in the perfection of Light.

The Living Water of Light

Thus far, our discussion of the Secret Book of John has focused on Spirit, beginning with its unity, and slowly moving away. We are now adding a specific quality to Spirit. Remember, we are equating Spirit with the Life Experience.

We discover the 'Living Water' which is of the Spirit.

The Image of the Invisible

It [Spirit] understood its own image, when it saw it in the pure water of light, which surrounds it. And It’s thought became operative and revealed herself.

What is the Pure Water of Light? Is it awareness? What does it mean to be

the copy of light, the image of the Invisible? I've got some ideas.

Barbelo

And Barbelo asked It (Spirit) to give her First Knowledge. It consented, and when it consented, First Knowledge revealed herself and placed herself with Thought, Forethought, while they praised the Invisible One, and the Perfect Power, Barbelo, because they originated through her.

Barbelo is the first emanation of spirit and through her, Spirit became aware.

The Emanations, or Aeons

In our last encounter, we discovered Barbelo to be the perfect power, the perfect female. She also asked to be given First Knowledge. Knowledge is an attribute of male energy, for it initiates, it influences. Barbelo may have become the perfect male, the perfect being. We don’t know if First Knowledge is an attribute or another emanation of the Spirit.

Each of these emanations is a movement aware from Spirit. We remain unsure of what this means for us. They are also referred to as being male-female emanations. The union of these energies plays an important role in understanding them.

The Monogenes

We have spoken of the five emanations from Spirit and have discovered something is lacking. Is this because we are moving away from the unity of Spirit? Is there something we have yet to explore?

Where does Christ fit in? We shall make our discovery.

In Silence and a Thought

All came into existence in silence and a thought. All that we have discussed is abstract in nature and remains so. The two most important aspects will now be revealed.

We are exploring the Gnostic writing, The Secret Book of John.

Subjected to Truth

We discovered Christ is knowledge. Christ is information. Christ becomes wisdom. Christ is the

beginning of awareness or the awakening. Also, recall that all came into existence as a thought. We're not dealing with matter as of yet, and in this particular exploration we won't be dealing with substance. We are dealing with abstract concepts; religion is borne of abstract ideas. Our focus has been the life experience, which is of little value without a vehicle.

Through these bodies, through our body we are able to expand experience. We do this through a variety of ways, but what is learned is worthless without

experience. Experience comes through awareness,

and awareness exists on a variety of levels. It is this awareness that we are attempting to raise. It's not to raise our vibration, but to raise our level of awareness.

Ialdabaoth

Before continuing, we need a little background. Christ, through Spirit, created four great lights, grace, comprehension, perception, and prudence. Of these four lights, Sophia was of prudence. Sophia means Divine Wisdom. It is Sophia we focus our presentation on.

Our sister, Sophia, being an Aeon, conceived a thought from herself. Thinking of the Spirit and of First Knowledge, she willed to let a copy appear out of herself. The Spirit did not agree with her or consent with her, nor did her consort, the male Virginal Spirit, approve. She found no more her supporter, when she consented without the good pleasure of the Spirit and the knowledge of her supporter. Because of the Desire [Prunicos] that was in her, she emanated outward. Her thought could not remain unproductive, and her work came forth, imperfect and ugly in appearance, because she has made it without her Consort. It did not resemble its mother's appearance but was of another form.