Learning to talk with GOD

Learning to Talk with GOD: Exercise Progression for Discursive Dialogue with GOD

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Initial note:

I am often asked what I mean by “just talk to GOD.” Usually the person asking the question cannot fathom how one can chat with GOD as you would with a spouse or a friend. This person has been taught that there is no circumstance where formality is not appropriate when addressing GOD. The practice of cultivating Gnosis is the process of increasing intimacy in your relationship with GOD.

That is not to say that formality never has a place. Just as with a friend or a spouse, there are times when revealing the intimacy of your relationship with GOD is inappropriate. To do so, in those circumstances, is simply offensive. For example, it is inappropriate to burst out “speaking in tongues” during Mass. Also, while the importance of formal exercises is beyond the scope of this paper, I must caution you that this approach does not eliminate the need or appropriateness of more formal spiritual exercises such as communal ritual, or formal meditation.

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Learning to talk with GOD is not as easy as it sounds. This is especially true for those who have been taught that there is no circumstance where intimacy with GOD is appropriate. GOD must only be approached through formal channels. To simply tell someone with such a background to, “Just chat with GOD,” is not only inappropriate, but it can be spiritually and psychologically damaging.

Discursive Dialogue is an exercise designed to address this issue. Notice it is not called “Discursive Prayer.” The term prayer will often elicit the knee-jerk response of pre-programed formality. This is dialogue. You talk to GOD, and you expect a response.

To start we will look at the term discursive. Discursive is defined in two primary ways – the first is randomly hopping from one topic to another without any discernible pattern – the second has to do with the process of analytical reasoning. Both of these primary definitions apply to this practice.

Here is a brief example:

If I were to simply mention “direct relationship with GOD,” what enters your mind? What is your first thought? Look at that first thought. For a variety of reasons, today, at this moment, the comment, “direct relationship with GOD,” brought that to your mind. Where did the thought come from? Is your thought a reaction to that statement, or does it point to a conscious decision? If it is a reaction, what does it tell you about your programming? Is this element of your programming going to hinder or help your growing relationship with GOD? If you don’t know, that’s okay. This is a constant process of discovery.

Now, we can’t forget the dialogue. A dialogue is a conversation between two or more individuals. The “other” for you is GOD. You might feel kind of foolish at first. It might feel like you are trying to construct an “imaginary friend,” and call it GOD. The truth is that in taking the first step in attempting to simply dialogue with GOD, you are putting action to your desire to personally know GOD.

A difficult side note: we must understand that we all have a variety of concepts of GOD, as well as personal concepts, we must work through each and every one. As we work through these concepts our ideas about both GOD and ourselves will change, often dramatically. These changes will sometimes seem as if we have hit on the “fact of the matter.” This means that we will sometimes believe that we have discovered THE definition of GOD and/or our Self. We are at our greatest danger during these periods. If we stop here; if we embrace a finite, concrete concept as a definition of GOD or our Self, we will stop growing. We will continue moving, but that movement will be lateral, rather than vertical. We must allow our-selves to embrace whatever concept of GOD and our Self that holds prominence at any given time, but we must never stop there. Remember, GOD may fully inhabit our current concept of GOD, without our current concept of GOD completely encompassing all that GOD is. This is often difficult and painful for the Gnostic. We encounter a wonderful, life fulfilling concept of GOD, and want to stop there. We cannot allow ourselves to do so.

Your desire to know GOD is usually tied up with a variety of concepts of GOD. These concepts of GOD will usually be built on the foundation of your programming, even when one or more of these concepts seem to be a reaction against your programming (remember: for our purposes, the reaction to something is a product of that thing). If you have rejected the concept of GOD as judgmental and harsh, for example, you will often construct a concept that is all good and gentle. But at some point, you will have to confront the judgmental concept of GOD, because it is a concept programmed into you. If you do not come to terms with it, reconcile it and the experiences and emotions associated with that image, it will always be there, holding you back, pulling you down.

A good way for most of us to connect with this practice is through scriptural interpretation. Take a scripture from whatever tradition you wish, meditate for a minute, just to calm yourself. Then say something like, “I want you to be there. I want to know you. I want to know who and what you are. I want a relationship with you. This is a step in that direction.” Simply be sincere. And if you are not sure that you are sincere simply say, “I want to be sincere, but I don’t know if I am. Help me to be sincere.” It really is that simple.

After you have prepared yourself, open your scripture and read. If you find passages that you do not understand, simply ask GOD, “I don’t understand this, help me understand this.” It is in this style of dialogue that most of us begin. Eventually the dialogue will become freer flowing over time. You will find yourself arguing with scripture, and maybe even debating with GOD in the same way you would with a particularly good friend.

Scripture is a good way to start, because most of have strong associations of GOD with scripture. Once you get started, and have established a habit of dialogue, turn your focus inward. You can begin by focusing on your habits, opinions, and behaviors. You and GOD, together, will analyze them.

Where did they come from? Are they reactionary? Do they serve your goal of getting to know GOD and knowing your Self? You will find that there are memories, images, and emotions associated with your habits. These may be difficult to face, but you must keep in mind that as a habit, these things are controlling you. Along with GOD, talk them out. Discover where they come from. You will find that not all of your habits can be dramatically changed. For those, you and GOD need to work out a series of coping mechanisms. For the habits that can be changed, you will find that as you face the sources of those habits, they begin to change on their own. You will also find gaps in your education, and discover the need to fill those gaps. Remember, Spiritual Growth is as much intellectual as it is intuitive. The impetus to fill the gaps in your education will arise naturally, and your approach to filling those gaps should be just as natural. Start with what is interesting in that subject area, and move from there. You will learn what sources to trust, and which ones not to trust. Simply trust in your growing relationship with GOD, and keep talking to Him.

Do not be surprised by how joyous and how painful this process can be. Learn to rely on GOD as you walk this path together with Him. As you go along, just talking with GOD will become natural. Oh, by the way, you probably don’t want to talk with GOD out load when you are in public. “Be as wise as the serpent and as gentle as the dove.”

As you address your habits, and the sources of those habits you will find that scripture helps. Not as “the inerrant world of GOD!” but as a doorway to deeper dialogue. You will find yourself considering theological issues, and naturally asking GOD about them. You will get answers, but the answers are also keys to deeper relationship with GOD, not necessarily cosmic fact.

Please take this to heart; it is unwise to take a new personal conviction or revelation and apply it to the whole world. That is nothing more than a mark of immaturity. It is normal to want the world to understand this new truth you have discovered. It is also normal to want the world to conform to your growing sense of compassion, and your changing convictions. Learn to resist the impulse-to-impose, and you will grow beyond this place without accumulating regrets along the way.

There will come a point in this practice, where you will naturally start looking outward again. You will begin analyzing systems in the external world. You will hop from topic to topic, finding relationships which you may never have seen before. Allow this to happen. It is the next step. You will analyze politics, your work environment, educational systems, always dialoguing with GOD. You will discover new gaps in your education, and the need to fill those gaps. Only by now it should have become habit. It should be fun to discover, and dialogue with GOD the whole way.

As you analyze your habits, scripture, politics, history, or whatever this journey leads you too, you will understand that you are viewing effects, and trying to discover the causes for those effects. Through dialogue with GOD, you will deepen your relationship with GOD, and learn a whole lot about yourself. You will fill gaps in your education, and you will grow in ways you cannot predict. It is an adventure! And a whole lot of fun. It is also just the first step. It gets better, richer, and deeper from here.

Neo-Sethian Mystical Structure Part One

The Aeonic Realms

Before there was anything, there was God beyond God, the Unknown Silent One, about whom no-thing is known nor can be known – from whom comes no-thing.

There arose in the Unknown Silent One a first limitation. This first limitation is the absolute, the invisible light, the God and Parent of all things, called the Father of the All, the Monad. All things come from it, because all things are in it as potential, yet it possesses no-thing, is defined by no-thing. No-thing is given to it, yet from it comes all things. It is silent, at rest, for is has neither motion nor change, even so, both motion and change arise from it. It is the sustainer of all things, and all things must return to it.

The First Limitation, the Father of the All gazes at It-self within Its invisible Light, which is the Streams of Living Waters, the Waters of the Spirit. Everywhere it looks, in Its watery Light, it sees It-self alone. Love and Thought arose in response to seeing Its Image in the Waters of the Spirit. And Its thinking became a thing.

She is the second limitation, Protennoia, the First Thought in the Light. She is the movement in the All, the motion in Silence, the Great Overflow of Living Waters. She became a Womb for the All; a Void in which all things come to be. She is invisible within the thought of the invisible One. She is incomprehensible, yet she is the motion in every creature. She is the life in the gift of her insight, her Epinoia. This is the insight which is within every power, every aeon, every heaven, within the invisible light as it manifests at every point, within the rulers, angels, and demons, within every soul in heaven, earth, and Hades. She is the life of the All. She is the virtue in power, the Barbelo, the aeon of Glory. She is the Mother-Father, Meirothea. She is the First Human, the Spiritual Human, the Complete Human. She is the Holy Spirit, the triple power, the androgynous – eternal – invisible aeon among the invisible ones; she is the first to come forth. She is all revelation, all insight, and all knowledge. She is the Waters of the Soul and the substance of the material, the Ground of Being.

Barbelo returns to the Father, the absolute, and requests the gift of Prior Gnosis. The Father assents through His gaze, and Prior Gnosis appears and he stands with Thought, who is Pronoia, she who is from the thought of the First Thought. Prior Gnosis and Pronoia glorifies the Invisible One and Barbelo for they continuously come to be through them.

Barbelo returns to the Father and requests the gift of Incorruption. The Father assents through His gaze, and Incorruption appears and she stands with Pronoia and Prior Gnosis, glorifying the Invisible Father and Barbelo from whom they continuously come to be.

And Barbelo returns to the Father and requests the gift of Eternal Life, and the Father assents through His gaze, and Eternal Life stands together with Pronoia, Prior Gnosis, and Incorruption. And they glorify the Invisible Father and Barbelo the Mother, through whom they continuously come to be.

And the Barbelo returns to the Father and requests the gift of Truth, and the Father assents and through His gaze, Truth is revealed. And they stood together at rest glorifying the Invisible Spirit and the Barbelo, through whom they continuously come to be.

This is the Pentad of the Aeons of the Father, which is in the Mother, the First Human Being, the image of the Invisible Spirit, which is the content of Pronoia, namely: Barbelo, Prior Gnosis, Incorruptibility, Eternal Life, and Truth. This is the androgynous pentad of the Aeons which is the Decad of Aeons of the Father.

And Barbelo and the Invisible Spirit gazed into each other. Barbelo turned towards the Invisible Spirit and Its Light, and she conceives from It. She gives birth to a Spark of Blessed Light, but it is not equal to her or the Father in greatness. It is the third limitation, the Only Begotten from the Father, who is called the divine Self Generated One, the Autogenes, the First Born of the All, the Spirit of Pure Light.

The Great Invisible Spirit rejoices over the Light which has come into being from the first Power of Its Pronoia, the Barbelo. And the Invisible Father Anoints the Only Begotten with Its Kindness, so that he becomes complete. Thus, there is no lack found within him because of the kindness of the Invisible Father. And the Only Begotten stands within the presence of the Invisible Spirit while it pours its kindness over him. And he glorifies the Father and the Mother through whom He comes to be.

And he asks the Invisible Father to be given Intellect as a fellow worker. The Invisible Spirit gazes and Intellect is revealed, and they stand together and glorify the Father and the Mother, through whom they come to be within Silence.

The Great Invisible Spirit wills to complete something through the Logos. And Its Will becomes action. Together, Will, Intellect, and Light glorify the Invisible Spirit and the Barbelo, through whom they continuously come to be. And the Logos follows after the Will, for through the Logos, the Autogenes creates all things.

They stand together, Eternal Life with Will, and Intellect with Prior Gnosis, and they continuously glorify the Father and the Mother, through whom they continuously come to be.

The Holy Spirit completes and perfects the Divine Autogenes which is the Only Begotten of the Invisible Father and Barbelo, the Mother. And the Divine Autogenes glorifies the Great Invisible Spirit with a great voice, and is shown forth by Forethought. The Great Invisible Spirit establishes the Divine Autogenes as the true God over all things, and He makes subordinate to the Anointed One all Authority and all Truth which is in Invisible Spirit, so that He may fully know the entirety: which is called by the Holy name which is superior to every name, and is uttered only by those who are worthy of it.

From the Light of the Christos and Incorruption, through the gift of the Invisible Spirit, the Four Luminaries appear to stand before Him. And the Three are Will, Thinking, and Life; and the Four Powers are Intelligence, Grace, Perception, and Prudence.

Grace dwells with Harmozel, who is the first angel, and who is over the first eternal realm – and with Harmozel dwell Grace, Truth, and Form. Oriael is the second Luminary, who is over the second eternal realm; with him dwell Insight, Perception, and Memory. The Third Luminary is Daueuthai, who is over the third eternal realm; with him dwell Intelligence, Love, and Archetypal Idea. The Fourth Luminary is Eleleth, who is over the fourth eternal realm; with him dwell Perfection in Wholeness), Peace, and Wisdom (which is Sophia).

These are the Four Luminaries which continually stand before the Divine Autogenes, the Christos, the Only Begotten Son of the Invisible Father and Barbelo; and the twelve Aeons which belong to Divine Autogenes and His Offspring, by the Will and Grace of the Great Invisible Spirit; and the All is continually established and strengthened by the Will of the Holy Spirit, and through the Autogenes.

Thus, the Pentad of the Child, and Duodecad of Aeons are established.

From Prior Gnosis and Intellect, empowered by the desire of the Great Invisible Spirit and the Divine Autogenes, who is the perfected Human Being, comes the first manifestation and true human being, who is named GerAdamas . He is appointed to the First Eternal Realm and stands beside Harmozel, and is given an invincible Intellect.

And over the Second eternal Realm, along with Oriael is established Seth, who is the son of GerAdamas.

And over the Third Eternal Realm, along with Dauethai, is established the Children of Seth and the Souls of the Righteous.

And over the Fourth Eternal Realm, along with Eleleth, is established the Souls of those who had no relationship with the Fullness, who had no opportunity to repent at once, but waited to Glorify the Great Invisible Spirit.

Thus, salvation – which is direct, personal relationship with the Fullness of the Divine, is given to all. And the souls of the righteous, who are the Children of Seth are those who continually return to make known the Fullness of the Divine, and to bring completion to the material Universe. And the souls of those who waited, who have not actively participated in the completion of them-selves and the material Universe, will return until they have established relationship with the Divine Fullness, and in that relationship, they will have participated in the completion of the material Universe.

The Aeonic Realms with Commentary

Before there was anything, there was God beyond God, the Unknown Silent One, about whom no-thing is known nor can be known – from whom comes no-thing.

Sethianism maintains that all concepts of God are limited, and because they are limited, they cannot encompass all that God is. For God to be God, it must be beyond all opinion and concept. Any concept which is taken as all that God is, is considered idolatrous. A concrete concept of God builds a wall between the individual and the direct, transcendent experience of God. However, fluid concepts of God can serve as a vehicle for our relationship with God. For this reason, the Neo-Sethian mystical structure is fluid in nature.

Because concepts of God illustrate our experiences of God these concepts tell us about us, not about God. We might be tempted to toss this away, but these concepts are very valuable for a variety of reasons. One of these reason is that traditional concepts of God represent the history of individuals struggling with experience of God and trying to understand life. This is what is meant by the term, “Wrestling with God.”

The title Unknown Silent One is borrowed from a Later Sethian Scripture called Marsanes. The essential concept of God means that because God is beyond concept, it cannot be fully known. In the Secret Gospel of John the Great Invisible Spirit is pictured as the highest aspect of God, however, because this is still a concept that can be defined, it is limited. The author of Marsanes solved this issue by proposing the Unknown Silent One which cannot be defined.

There arose in the Unknown Silent One a first limitation. This first limitation is the absolute, the invisible light, the God and Parent of all things, called the Father of the All, the Monad. All things come from it, because all things are in it as potential, yet it possesses no-thing, is defined by no-thing. No-thing is given to it, yet from it comes all things. It is silent, at rest, for is has neither motion nor change, even so, both motion and change arise from it. It is the sustainer of all things, and all things must return to it.

The First Limitation, the Father of the All gazes at It-self within Its invisible Light, which is the Streams of Living Waters, the Waters of the Spirit. Everywhere it looks, in Its watery Light, it sees It-self alone. Love and Thought arose in response to seeing Its Image in the Waters of the Spirit. And Its thinking became a thing.

The Great Invisible Spirit is the Invisible Light existing within the Unknown Silent One. This is Light without Shadow, which has no defining aspect, which makes it invisible. This is existence without differentiation, a Singularity rather than a Unity. This is a state of being where all potential exists, yet nothing manifests. In this state of Singularity, there is no defining “thing,” thus, this state of being is called, No-Thing. It is also called the Absolute, for all things come from this State of Being.

The Unknown Silent One defines and compresses a part of itself creating a Watery Void with a point of Undifferentiated Essence at its center. This Point of Undifferentiated Essence is the beginning of consciousness within the evolving Mind of God – this can be compared to the birth of the ego within God which learns about itself by projecting, and interpreting projections. This Undifferentiated Essence is what we call the Great Invisible Spirit, and the Surrounding Void is the Waters of the Spirit. Here we also have a representation of the potential for the complementary polarities of Fire and Water existing together as a primal potential for both duality and Unity.

Another name for the Great Invisible Spirit is the Monad, One, which is the base and content for all real numbers. The Great Invisible Spirit is the first concept bellow the Ultimate Abstraction of the Unknown Silent One. As the first concept, it is the first limitation. Even with its divinity, it is not the True God, or rather; this concept does not define the whole of God. It is the Concept of the Highest God within emanation / Creation not the transcendent God, and as we will see, this marks it as the Yud in the Tetragramaton.

Psychologically, the Unknown Silent One can be seen as the infantile psychological state where there is no differentiation between outer and inner modes of experience. In the Great Invisible Spirit we can see a move from an infantile consciousness to an adolescent consciousness. A beginning of the maturation of the ego through projection, and like most of us, the ego falls in love with this first projection. Thus, when the Mother is emanated, we have an example of the manifestation of the Anima, which, as we have seen, is the key to uncovering and experiencing the content of the collective unconsciousness. Maybe this is why the Barbelo is also considered a representation of the Collective Unconscious in which the archetypes reside.

She is the second limitation, Protennoia, the First Thought in the Light. She is the movement in the All, the motion in Silence, the Great Overflow of Living Waters. She became a Womb for the All; a Void in which all things come to be. She is invisible within the thought of the invisible One. She is incomprehensible, yet she is the motion in every creature. She is the life in the gift of her insight, her Epinoia. This is the insight which is within every power, every aeon, every heaven, within the invisible light as it manifests at every point, within the rulers, angels, and demons, within every soul in heaven, earth, and Hades. She is the life of the All. She is the virtue in power, the Barbelo, the aeon of Glory. She is the Mother-Father, Meirothea. She is the First Human, the Spiritual Human, the Complete Human. She is the Holy Spirit, the triple power, the androgynous – eternal – invisible aeon among the invisible ones; she is the first to come forth. She is all revelation, all insight, and all knowledge. She is the Waters of the Soul and the substance of the material, the Ground of Being.

Within the Unknown Silent One, the Void is filled with the Waters of the Spirit. The Light of the Father reflects within the Waters of the Spirit, and the reflection draws the Gaze of the Father. With the action of this Gaze arise Thought and Love. Because of the nature of the Father, the motion of the Gaze, the energy of Love, and the content of Thought become a Being. For this reason Protenoia (meaning Primal Thought) is the Movement of the Father within the All. The Being that came to be is the Waters of the Spirit in constant motion, thus she is called the Barbelo (which Bentley Layton speculates the meaning of this term as the “Great Overflow of Livings Waters”). She is also the Primal “Stuff” which will be used to craft the material Universe, thus she is called Prima Materia. She is the matrix where the Potential of the Father is manifest. She is the Womb, and is thus called the Mother. Since she is the motion of God, she is the Holy Spirit, and is the life of all things. Since she manifests the Pattern of the Great Invisible Spirit, she is the Primordial Spiritual Human Being.

Psychologically, the Barbelo represents the Collective Unconscious where the Archetypal contents of the Human Soul manifest. In her manifestation we can also see our Animal Nature prior to the development of a refined conscious Intellect. At this point, we operate on pure instinct, without the use of reason to decide our actions.

The emanation of Barbelo points to the eventual fall of Sophia since the Barbelo and the Invisible Spirit create a dyad. The Dyad is in opposition to the Monadic state of the Father in origin. It is limitation in balance causing evolution in God. Evolution eventually requires a movement out of balance since evolution is the process of solving problems through becoming. This means that the emanation of Barbelo represents the movement from Being into becoming. It also points to the fallen ego – the ego which, through the necessary process of inflation, has become alienated. Which is a normal and natural process that occurs as we grow.

Barbelo returns to the Father, the absolute, and requests the gift of Prior Gnosis. The Father assents through His gaze, and Prior Gnosis appears and he stands with Thought, who is Pronoia, she who is from the thought of the First Thought. Prior Gnosis and Pronoia glorifies the Invisible One and Barbelo for they continuously come to be through them.

Barbelo returns to the Father and requests the gift of Incorruption. The Father assents through His gaze, and Incorruption appears and she stands with Pronoia and Prior Gnosis, glorifying the Invisible Father and Barbelo from whom they continuously come to be.

Since the Barbelo can only manifest from the Father, she returns to the Father for the attributes that are necessary to emanate further differentiation. Prior Gnosis is the Primal Knowledge of the Father manifest through the relationship between the Father and the Mother. Together with Prior Gnosis is Pronoia. Pronoia is the opposite of Paranoia. Paranoia is the attitude that the Universe conspires for your detriment. Pronoia is the attitude that the Universe conspires for your benefit. This tells us that Sethianism views all of the cosmos, all of life (including the material Universe) as working together for your personal completion in balance, and the completion of your purpose in balance.

Psychologically, this points to the process of balanced spiritual and psychological growth – which can be seen as a process of active and purposeful engagement with and processing of the contents of the collective unconscious, which in the enlightened being derives from the Spirit in Man.

And Barbelo returns to the Father and requests the gift of Eternal Life, and the Father assents through His gaze, and Eternal Life stands together with Pronoia, Prior Gnosis, and Incorruption. And they glorify the Invisible Father and Barbelo the Mother, through whom they continuously come to be.

And the Barbelo returns to the Father and requests the gift of Truth, and the Father assents and through His gaze, Truth is revealed. And they stood together at rest glorifying the Invisible Spirit and the Barbelo, through whom they continuously come to be.

This is the Pentad of the Aeons of the Father, which is in the Mother, the First Human Being, the image of the Invisible Spirit, which is the content of Pronoia, namely: Barbelo, Prior Gnosis, Incorruptibility, Eternal Life, and Truth. This is the androgynous pentad of the Aeons which is the Decad of Aeons of the Father.

Barbelo then returns to the Father to gain the attributes of Incorruption, Eternal Life, and Truth. This forms the Pentad of the Father. The Pentad represent the marriage of opposites (3 is considered a female number, while 2 is considered male). It is also the first step in Unification through Glorification. Unity is a different state than Singularity; this is a major stage in evolution within God which is illustrated by the attribution of the Decad at this stage. The Decad is the number ten, and is representative of wholeness in Unity. Again, this is a transition from Singularity through differentiation to Unity, which a defining aspect of growth and evolution.

A note on Glorification:

Glorification is not worship of the image glorified. Only the Unknown Silent One is worthy of worship. Glorification is the worship of the Unknown Silent One through, or in the guise of an image or a concept. Idolatry is the worship of the image or concept instead of the source or essence of the image or concept. God is Barbelo without Barbelo being God. God is Barbelo indicates that all that Berbelo is, is God. However, Barbelo is not all that God is. This is the case in every aspect of creation through emanation, including the material Universe and everything in it. In this spirit, Neo-Sethianism can Glorify any and every image and concept of God, without worshiping that image or concept. Within Neo-Sethianism is the understanding that all images and concepts of God are manifestations of Man’s struggle to understand the divine. There is Wisdom to be found in every image and concept of the divine, and this Wisdom should be Glorified.

And Barbelo and the Invisible Spirit gazed into each other. Barbelo turned towards the Invisible Spirit and Its Light, and she conceives from It. She gives birth to a Spark of Blessed Light, but it is not equal to her or the Father in greatness. It is the third limitation, the Only Begotten from the Father, who is called the divine Self Generated One, the Autogenes, the First Born of the All, the Spirit of Pure Light.

Next we have Barbelo and the Father gazing into each other. This is different than a request that elicits the gaze of the Father. This is an act of Love (of desire for the object of Love) which attracts Barbello into returning to the Father. The act of prior evolution creates distance between Barbelo and the Invisible Spirit. This act of Love draws her back. She conceives. This conception is unintentional, which is attested to by the name Autogenes (self-generated One). In this way, the Autogenes is the Only Begotten Child of the Father. The essence of the Father finds manifestation in the Son, with the attribution of the “Spirit of Pure Light.” This is one reason why the Autogenes is considered the Nous (which is the Intellect of the Spirit) and the Archetypal Self (which the whole, and True Human Being).

In this act of Love driven returning to the Father, the most important aspect of our practice is modeled:

We must desire relationship with God above all things, in order to achieve that relationship. This desire is not only to be a companion and friend to God, but to become the Bride, the lover of God. It is this level of desire for intimacy with God that MUST drive our practice. It is only in our Unification with God, that we conceive and give birth to new life in the Spirit – it is only in Unification, marriage with God, that we can give birth to our own enlightenment. This requires all encompassing desire combined with a commitment to not define God.

This new life in the Spirit is represented by the Autogenes, who is the automatic product of the Union between the Father and the Mother. The Autogenes is a new Monad, a new Singularity from a Unification. This is why God the Father IS God the Son, and God the Son IS God the Father. Both of which are manifestations of the Unknown Silent One, who is the only God worthy of worship.

It is important to note that the Autogenes is recognized a product of Pronoia. Thus, the Autogenes is an action for the benefit for the All.

The Great Invisible Spirit rejoices over the Light which has come into being from the first Power of Its Pronoia, the Barbelo. And the Invisible Father Anoints the Only Begotten with Its Kindness, so that he becomes complete. Thus, there is no lack found within him because of the kindness of the Invisible Father. And the Only Begotten stands within the presence of the Invisible Spirit while it pours its kindness over him. And he glorifies the Father and the Mother through whom He comes to be.

And he asks the Invisible Father to be given Intellect as a fellow worker. The Invisible Spirit gazes and Intellect is revealed, and they stand together and glorify the Father and the Mother, through whom they come to be within Silence.

The Father rejoices over the Autogenes, and gives the Child the gift of the anointing of his kindness, his blessing, his good intension. In Greek, kindness is Krestotes, which is a word related to Krestos, or Chirst. This anointing completes or crowns the Autogenes. Then the Autogenes returns to the Father to gain the attribute of Intellect.

This is why, psychologically, the Autogenes is representative of the Nous, the Intellect of the Spirit. It is the realization of the Nous by consciousness awareness which causes Enlightenment within the Neo-Sethian structure.

The Great Invisible Spirit wills to complete something through the Logos. And Its Will becomes action. Together, Will, Intellect, and Light glorify the Invisible Spirit and the Barbelo, through whom they continuously come to be. And the Logos follows after the Will, for through the Logos, the Autogenes creates all things.

They stand together, Eternal Life with Will, and Intellect with Prior Gnosis, and they continuously glorify the Father and the Mother, through whom they continuously come to be.

Here we have the Will of the Father manifesting through the Son. The Will can be defined as fully focused intension. We see this fully focused intention invested in the Autogenes, and the Logos (which is reason, pattern, Word, and verbal expression) follows immediately after. This indicates that the development of the divine intellect through reason and language is the primary pattern of the Will of the Father. It is through the Logos that the Autogenes creates all things. This is the Autogenes acting as the Craftsman, or the Demiurge, to create all things in accordance with the Will of the Father, and through the pattern of the Logos of the Father. This is why, in Doing Gnosis, the Autogenes is considered the Primal, First, or Higher Demiurge.

This points us to the personal development of critical thinking and effective communication as an imperative in Sethian practice. This also points to the mystical structure of the languages of both Hebrew and Greek as a foundational element of our spiritual practice.

At this point, Eternal Life stands with the Fully Focused Intension of the Father, and Intellect stands with Primal Relational Knowledge. They stand together with Autogenes, glorifying the Father and the Mother with the Child. This tells us that Eternal Life is found coupled with the Will of the Father which is manifest through reason and language as the divine Law, or Primal Torah of the Universe. This pattern manifests in balance until the Fall of Sophia which shatters the balance of the Universe.

The Holy Spirit completes and perfects the Divine Autogenes which is the Only Begotten of the Invisible Father and Barbelo, the Mother. And the Divine Autogenes glorifies the Great Invisible Spirit with a great voice, and is shown forth by Forethought. The Great Invisible Spirit establishes the Divine Autogenes as the true God over all things, and He makes subordinate to the Anointed One all Authority and all Truth which is in Invisible Spirit, so that He may fully know the entirety: which is called by the Holy name which is superior to every name, and is uttered only by those who are worthy of it.

The Holy Spirit completes and perfects the Divine Autogenes (as we will see, the Manifest Voice that flows through the Child, is an expression of the Mother, or the Holy Spirit). When the Autogenes glorifies the Father and the Mother, he does so with a load voice; which is the manifestation of the gift of the Logos through verbal expression (thus, the gift of tongues or the use of Glossolalia as a manifestation of the infilling of the Holy Spirit). And this voice is the vehicle for the manifestation of the Will of the Father. In this way, Autogenes, the Christos, creates all things through the Logos, which is from the Father, with the Father, and is the Father.

After the Autogenes demonstrates the manifestation of the Logos and the Will with his Voice, the Father places Him in authority over the whole of existence. The Father also gives the Autogenes the Truth of the Father (which is the Holy Name of the Father), so that the Child will have Gnosis (relational, experiential knowledge) of the whole of existence. The whole of existence is known by the most sacred of Names – this is NOT the name Jesus… it is the Tetragrammaton – the four- letter Name of God – Yud Heh Vav Heh. As we saw above, the Great Invisible Spirit is the peak and source of the whole of existence and thus is the Yud, or the peak and source of the Tetragrammaton. When we meditate on the Holy Name of God, we bring our being in to communion with the whole of the entirety. The Mystery of the Name is something we will continuously explore in our practice.

From the Light of the Christos and Incorruption, through the gift of the Invisible Spirit, the Four Luminaries appear to stand before Him. And the Three are Will, Thinking, and Life; and the Four Powers are Intelligence, Grace, Perception, and Prudence.

As an action of the Light of the Christ, Incorruption from the Barbelo, and through a gift of the Invisible Spirit the Four Luminaries come to be. There is a list of what I call the Three Virtues (Will, Thinking, Life – Which can be seen as Being, Direction, and Action, or Space, Time, and Motion). The Three Virtues are invested, as qualities, into each of the Luminaries. There is also a list of Four Powers which are split up as Aeons among the Four Luminaries.

Grace dwells with Harmozel, who is the first angel, and who is over the first eternal realm – and with Harmozel dwell Grace, Truth, and Form. Oriael is the second Luminary, who is over the second eternal realm; with him dwell Insight, Perception, and Memory. The Third Luminary is Daueuthai, who is over the third eternal realm; with him dwell Intelligence, Love, and Archetypal Idea. The Fourth Luminary is Eleleth, who is over the fourth eternal realm; with him dwell Perfection in Wholeness), Peace, and Wisdom (which is Sophia).

These are the Four Luminaries which continually stand before the Divine Autogenes, the Christos, the Only Begotten Son of the Invisible Father and Barbelo; and the twelve Aeons which belong to Divine Autogenes and His Offspring, by the Will and Grace of the Great Invisible Spirit; and the All is continually established and strengthened by the Will of the Holy Spirit, and through the Autogenes.

Thus, the Pentad of the Child, and Duodecad of Aeons are established.

The Four Luminaries and the Autogenes give us the Pentad of the Child, and the Twelve Aeons within the Four Luminaries give us the Duodecad (group of twelve things) which correspond to the Zodiac in the Lower Archonic Realms (which we will go into more detail on later date).

From Prior Gnosis and Intellect, empowered by the desire of the Great Invisible Spirit and the Divine Autogenes, who is the perfected Human Being, comes the first manifestation and true human being, who is named GerAdamas . He is appointed to the First Eternal Realm and stands beside Harmozel, and is given an invincible Intellect.

And over the Second eternal Realm, along with Oriael is established Seth, who is the son of GerAdamas.

And over the Third Eternal Realm, along with Dauethai, is established the Children of Seth and the Souls of the Righteous.

And over the Fourth Eternal Realm, along with Eleleth, is established the Souls of those who had no relationship with the Fullness, who had no opportunity to repent at once, but waited to Glorify the Great Invisible Spirit.

Next we have a list of those who dwell in each of the Realms of the Luminaries. In the First Luminary is GerAdamas (which is a name that implies, “Holy Adam, who is hard and unyielding, like steel” – similar to the “diamond mind” of Zen) – who represents the archetypal Human Being. In the Second Luminary is Seth, who is the Son of GerAdamas, and as we will see in manifestation, he is the True Child of Adam, also called the Son of Man. In the Third Luminary are the Children of Seth and the Souls of the Righteous, which in Hebrew is called, Tzadik. In NeoSethianism the Tzadikim return (or are reincarnated) repeatedly to continue the work of bringing the material Universe into a place of balance and completion. In the Fourth Luminary are the Souls of everyone else. The goal of NeoSethianism is to become a Tzadik – a righteous one – which is seen as the state of being where the whole of one’s being is harmonized and balanced under the governorship of the Spirit in Man.

Thus, salvation – which is direct, personal relationship with the Fullness of the Divine, is given to all. And the souls of the righteous, who are the Children of Seth are those who continually return to make known the Fullness of the Divine, and to bring completion to the material Universe. And the souls of those who waited, who have not actively participated in the completion of them-selves and the material Universe, will return until they have established relationship with the Divine Fullness, and in that relationship, they will have participated in the completion of the material Universe.

NeoSethianism has a strong sense of both reincarnation and Universal Salvation. As to what is reincarnated in what way; that is a lesson for another time.