Mysteries of the Pistis Sophia, reflection 3, approaching the mysteries
There is a luminous reality in the pleroma where the creator, the Ineffable, can directly reveal himself to Adam of light, as the ancients called this humanity. They also spoke of the pre-existent Christ, who is eternally existent, in contrast to our reality, which is defined by the experience of space and time.
Humanity that turns away from the pleroma loses its garments of light, as many of the Nag Hammadi scriptures relate. Only a spark of the pleroma remains , without a life field in which to express itself. The God-Mother, the Pistis Sophia, carries these sparks in her womb to envelop them with her love-wisdom.
The sparks themselves, however, experience nothing of this, because they are sunk in a dreamless sleep. We carry these sleeping sparks within us. This is the situation of modern humanity: born into a world of space and time, the world of sensory experience, but with access to the pleroma in their heart.
In the Gospel of Pistis Sophia, this human being is the starting point, the subject of attention. Numerous spiritual forces are active, seeking to cultivate the spiritual principle within humanity, the spark of pleroma. However, these spiritual forces of the pleroma reach humanity through the veils that exist between pleroma and chaos. They are hidden behind these veils and are therefore referred to as mysteries.
In ancient times, the myth was known that humanity lost its garment of light upon its fall from the pleroma. It left it behind in the first realm beyond the worlds that emerged from chaos.
At the beginning of the Gospel of Pistis Sophia, a threefold light envelops Jesus and then lifts him up to the treasury of light. There, Jesus finds the garments of light he has left behind. The garments of light contain all the mysteries, and thus, as we now know, they contain all the spiritual powers to make humanity aware of its own place in creation.
If we view this entirely as an inner process, then a person of light has been born from the light in our hearts, who has received the garments of light with the spiritual powers of the pleroma. The disciples are the new recipients of these spiritual powers, the new faculty of thought.
Distinguishing between all the various mysteries, and thus spiritual powers, in the Gospel of Pistis Sophia is a challenge. It begins with the first mystery, which we can see as the spiritual power of Christ outside the pleroma. This creates two spaces outside the pleroma: the first and second spaces of the first mystery. In the second space of the first mystery lies the treasury of light.
For us, this treasury of light represents a higher state of consciousness, beyond thought. Therefore, the powers emanating from it are called the mysteries of the heights. Height means higher than the natural consciousness of man, with which he is born.
Seen from Christ, from the pleroma, the mysteries work from the outside in, because all emanated life forms develop “in Christ.”
From a human perspective, the light person is born from the spark in the heart and reveals himself in ever wider areas of consciousness: from within outwards.
These indications of the mysteries are important for navigating the various realms of consciousness that exist within the creation of the Unspeakable.
In the pleroma, the original human being lives from the twelve forces of the light aeons. These all have a companion, the original spirit, who connects them with the Creator. We can also call this a male and a female aspect, which together form a unity. These twenty-four spiritual forces, which emanate from the light aeons and their companions, reveal themselves outside the pleroma as the 24 mysteries.
At the beginning of the book, Jesus tells his disciples only in general terms about these 24 mysteries. Perhaps it is the same with us; we experience the activity of light within our being but cannot yet consciously see the world of the pleroma. Therefore, in the Gospel of Pistis Sophia, the light-aeons are referred to as the 24 invisibles , of which Pistis Sophia is one. She has turned away from the pleroma and wishes to reunite with the other 22 invisibles . She can only do this by reacquiring a companion: reunion with Jesus, the redeemer, in the treasury of light.
If we see the Pistis Sophia as our soul trapped in the darkness of chaos, then the companion in our being is the man of light, born from the spark of the pleroma.
The complex relationship we as humans have with original creation is expressed in the two garments of light that Jesus receives on the Mount of Olives. There reside all the realms and spiritual powers of the creation of the Unspeakable. A distinction is made between three types of mysteries based on different kinds of spiritual powers:
Forces at work within the pleroma
Forces at work within the realms of chaos
Forces that work from the pleroma in chaos to redeem man
From the pleroma, the redeemer has come to perfect the creation of the thirteenth aeon. Pistis Sophia carries this creation in her womb. As god-mother, she desires to regain her place in the temple. The inner temple where the powers of the pleroma can once again be active. There, the mysteries can reveal themselves to the observer who wishes to fathom them.
Quote from Pistis Sophia, a journey through the spaces of the Ineffable: Chapter 10 The mysteries of the garment of light
It happened when the sun rose in the East, that a great light-power came down, in which was my garment which I had left in the twenty-fourth mystery, as I have just told you. And I found a mystery in my garment, in the words of those who are of the height: zama zama ozza rachama ozai, which means: 'O mystery from beyond the world, because of which the All exists, this is the whole coming forth and the whole ascent, which has brought forth all emanations and all that is in them, and by which all mysteries and all their spheres came forth; come to us, for we are your fellow-members. We are wholly one with you; we are one and the same. You are the First Mystery, which from the beginning existed in the Ineffable before it revealed itself, and the name of that one is all of us. We then approach you at the last boundary, which is, at the last mystery from within, which is itself a part of us. Now we have sent you your garment, which belonged to you from the beginning and which you had left at the last boundary, which is the last mystery from within, until the appointed time according to the command of the First Mystery should be completed. Behold, the time has been completed. Put it on and come to us.