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I. THE CATEGORIES OF
EXISTENCE AND
THE WORK OF THE CREATOR
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PLATO (429-327 BCE), TIMAEUS
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HEBREW BIBLE:
GENESIS (ca. 500 BCE), PROVERBS (ca. 300
BCE)
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THE REALITY OF THE RULERS or HypArch (Nag
Hammadi, ca. 180 CE).
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29d) We must begin by distinguishing between:
that which always is
and never becomes (to on)
and that which is always becoming but never is (to
gignomenon).
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1:1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the
earth,
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HypArch 94,5-9: Within limitless realms dwells
incorruptibility. Sophia, who is called Pistis (Faith),
wanted to create something, alone without her consort, and
her product was a celestial thing.
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29d) To On - That Which Is
- apprehensible only by intellect with the aid of
reasoning
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94,9- A veil exists between the world above and the
realms that are below;
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To Gignomenon - that which is always becoming but
never is; object of opinion and irrational sensation. Never
fully real.
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and shadow came into being beneath the veil; and that
shadow became matter; and that shadow was projected apart.
And what she had created became a product in the matter,
like an aborted fetus.
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If a creator keeps his eye on the unchanging and uses it
as his pattern, the result must be good. The cosmos -
visible, tangible, corporeal.
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29d) What pattern did he use?
Clearly he had his eye on the eternal. The cosmos is the
fairest of all things that have come into being and he (the
craftsman, demiurge) is the best of causes. It must have
been constructed on the pattern of what is apprehensible by
reason and understanding and eternally unchanging (i.e.,
to on).
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Prov. 8:22 God created me (Wisdom) at the beginning of
his work, the first of his acts of long ago. Ages ago I was
set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there
were no spring abounding with water.
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94,35-95,14. This ruler, being androgynous, made himself
a vast realm, an extent without limit. And he contemplated
creating offspring for himself, and created for himself
seven offspring, androgynous just like their
parent.......
96,11-15. But it was by the will of the Parent of the
entirety that they all came into being after the pattern of
all the things above - so that the sum of chaos might be
attained.
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29d) The Model - the highest and most completely perfect
of intelligble things. ...he created a single visible living
being containing within itself all living beings of the same
natural order. Our world is a copy of the being which
comprised all intelligible beings. Our universe is his only
creation.
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Prov. 8:27. When He established the heavens, I (Wisdom)
was there, when He drew a circle on the face of the deep,
when He made firm the skies above...I was beside Him, like a
master worker; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing before
him always.
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87,8-11. And she (Faith Wisdom) easblished each of his
offspring in conformity with its power--after the pattern of
the realms above, for by starting from the invisible world
the visible world was invented.
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30c) The world was made without jealousy (envy). The
creator was good...and being free of jealousy, he wished all
things to be as like himself as possible.
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Now when Yaldabaoth saw him in this great splendor and at
this height (Sabaoth in seventh heaven), he envied him; and
the envy became an androgynous product; and this was the
origin of envy.
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The craftsman found the visible universe in a state of
inharmonious and disorderly motion. He reduced it to
order.
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Gen. 1:2: The earth was a formless void and darkness
covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept
over the face of the waters.
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And envy engendered death; and death engendered his
offspring and gave each of them charge of its heaven; and
all the heavens of chaos became full of their
multitudes.
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31a-b) In fashioning the universe he implanted reason
(logismos) in the soul (psyche) and the soul in the body
(soma), so this world came to be through god’s
providence (pronoia) a living being with soul and
intelligence.
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Gen. 1:3- Then God said,
"Let there be light" and there was light. And God saw
that the light was good; and God separated the light from
the darkness....And there was evening and there was morning,
the first day.
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87,11-14
As Incorruptibility looked down into the regions of the
waters, her image appeared in the waters; and the
authorities of darkness became enamored of her. ....This is
the reason why incorruptibility looked down into the region
of waters, so that by the Parent’s will, she might
bring the entirety into union with the light.
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37c) He fashioned the whole corporeal world within the
whole structure of soul. Soul provided a divine source of
unending and rational life.
38b) Model - eternal living being; Copy - a moving image
of eternity - time. The 7 moving spheres
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87,15-20. They (the authorities) could not lay hold of
that image which had appeared to them in the waters, because
of their weakness--since being that merely possess a soul
(psychikos) cannot lay hold of those that possess a
spirit (pneumatikos) - for they were from below,
while it was from above.
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There exist first:
1) the unchanging Form, uncreated and indestrucible;
2) that which bears same name and resembles it, but is
sensible; has come into existence, is in motion
(Becoming);
3) Space - eternal and indestructible.
See ch. 18 in which these are compared to Father,
Offspring, Mother.
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Day 2) Sky. "Let there be a dome in the midst of the
waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters."
Day 3) Earth. "Let the waters under the sky be gathered
together into one place, and let the dry land appear...Let
the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and
fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the
seed in it.
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70) ) Things were in disorder until god introduced
measurable relations. ...The Demiurge reduced them to
order...
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Day 4) Stars, Sun, Moon.. "Let there be lights in the
dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let
them be signs and for seasons and for days and years, and
let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon
the earth."
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40d) Living creatures: gods, birds, water animals, land
animals. [focus on two types of gods and human beings of
land animals].
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Day 5) Let the waters bring forth swarms of living
creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome
of the sky."
Day 6) "Let the earth bring forth living creatures of
every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of
the earth of every kind."
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Two categories of gods: 1) heavenly bodies of fire -
fixed stars; 2) gods of traditional mythology.
[Threefold distinction: the Demiurge, the fixed
stars; the traditional gods].
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41d) When all the gods were born,...the Father of the
universe addressed them: "Ye Gods, those gods whose maker I
am and those works whose father I am,...turn your hands, as
is natural to you, to the making of living things, taking as
your model my own activity in creating you....weave mortal
and immortal together and create living creatures. Bring
them to birth, give them food and growth, and when they
perish receive them again.
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Gen. 1:26-27: And God said, "Let us make humankind
(ha-adam; anthropos) in our image, according
to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of
the sea..." So God created humankind in his image, in the
image of God he created them, male and female he created
them.
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87,20-27
Because of this, Incorruptibility looked down into the
regions so that by the will of the Father, she might conjoin
the entirety with the light. The rulers conspired and said,
"Come, let us create a human being of some soil from the
earth." They modeled their creature as one wholly of the
earth.
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II. CREATION OF THE
FIRST HUMANS
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PLATO, TIMAEUS
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GENESIS, PROVERBS
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REALITY OF THE RULERS
(HypArch)
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41d-42e) The Father of the universe addressed them (the
gods) as follows: "Ye Gods...since you have been created,
you are not entirely immortal and indissoluble; but you will
never be dissolved nor taste death...There are three kinds
of mortal creature yet uncreated...If these were created and
given life by me, they would be equal to gods. In order
therefore that there may be mortal creatures and that the
whole may be truly a whole, turn your hands, as is natural
to you, to the making of living things, taking as your model
my own activity in creating you."
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87,11-33. As incorruptibility looked down into the region
of the waters, her image appeared in the waters; and the
authorities of the darkness became enamored of her. But they
could not lay hold of that image...... The rulers conspired
and said, "Come, let us create a human being of some soil
from the earth." They modeled their creature as one wholly
of the earth. They had taken [some soil] from the
earth and modeled their [human being], according to
their body and [according to the image] of
the god that had appeared [to them] in the
waters.
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42e)"And in so far as there ought to be something in them
that can be named immortal, something called divine, I will
begin by sowing the seed (speiras) of it and then
hand it on to you;
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Gen. 1:26-27: And God said, "Let us make humankind
(Hebrew: adam; Greek: anthropos) in our image,
according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea...".So God created humankind in his
image, in the image of God he created them, male and female
he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be
fruitful and multiply..."
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it remains for you to weave mortal and immortal together
and create living creatures."
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Gen. 2:7 Then the Lord God formed a human being (hebrew:
adam; Greek: anthropos) from the dust of the
ground,
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87,23- The rulers laid plans and said, "Come, let us
create a human that will be soil from the earth."
They modelled their creature as one wholly of the earth.
Now the rulers...body..they have ...female..is...with the
face of a beast. They had taken [some soil] from the
earth and modelled their [human], after their body
and [after the image] of God that had appeared
[to them] in the waters.
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Human soul (psyche) mixed with other elements and
divided up among the stars. 1..Embodying soul in mortal body
- confusion. disturbance. These motions "were transmitted
through the body and impinged on the soul"
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and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and
the human became a living being (Greek: a living soul -
psyche zosan).
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88,3-5. And he breathed into his face; and the human came
to have a soul (psychikos) and remained upon the
ground many days.
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70) They took over from an immortal principle of soul;
encased it in a mortal physical globe - the body as vehicle.
Another part: Feelings - pleasure, pain, confidence, fear,
passion, hope, irrational sensation, desire.
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88,12-16. Afterwards, the spirit saw the soul-endowed
(psychikos) human upon the ground. And the spirit
came forth from the Adamantine Land; it descended and came
to dwell within him, and that human became a living soul
(psyche).
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) They copied the shape of the universe and fastened the
two divine orbits of the soul into a spherical bodfy, which
we now call the head , the divinest part of us which
controls all the rest; then they put together the body as a
whole to serve the head...the seat of our divinest and
holiest part."
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70d) They didn’t want to pollute the divine element
with mortal feelings, so they made the neck the isthmus or
boundary between the head and the breast.
Higher part of the soul: courage, passion, ambition are
nearer the head.
Lower - appetites, etc. - from midriff to navel.
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90a-e) There are housed in us three forms of soul, each
having its own motions...We should think of the most
authoritative part as a guardian spirit (daemon)
given by God, living in the summit of the body, which can
properly be said to lift us from the earth towards our home
in heaven.
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96,19-25: Eleleth said: "You, together with your
offspring, belong to the primeval parent; from above, out of
the incorruptible light, their souls are come. Thus the
authorities cannot approach them because of the spirit of
truth present within them; and all who have come to have
gnosis with this way exist immortal in the midst of dying
humankind."
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90e-91d) "Our divine part attaches us by the head to
heaven, like a plant by its roots, and keeps our body
upright....A man who has given his heart to learning and
true wisdom and exercised that part of himself is surely
bound, if he attains to truth, to have immortal and divine
thoughts, and cannot fail to achieve immortality as fully as
is permitted to human nature...and because he has always
looked after the divine element in himself and kept his
daemon in good order he must be happy above all humans.
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88,11-23. Afterward, the spirit saw the psychikos
human being upon the ground. And the spirit came forth from
the Adamantine Realm; it descended and came to dwell with
him, and that human became a living soul....A voice came
forth from incorruptibility for the assistance of Adam; and
the rulers gathered together all the animals of the earth
and all the birds of heaven and brought them in to Adam to
see what Adam would call them.
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III. DIFFERENTIATION OF
MALE AND FEMALE
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PLATO, TIMAEUS
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GENESIS, PROVERBS
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REALITY OF THE RULERS
(HypArch)
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43) Humankind being of two sexes; the better of the two
was that which in the future would be called man (aner).
...Anyone who failed to live well, would be changed into a
woman at his second birth....or worse, animal.
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Gen. 1:27 So God created humankind (adam;
anthropos) in his image, in the image of God he
created them, male and female he created them. God blessed
them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and
multiply..."
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91) The men (andres) of the first generation who
lived cowardly or immoral lives were reborn as women. So..
Gods produced sexual love, desire for sexual
reproduction.
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Gen. 2: 18 Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that
the human should be alone; I will make him a helper as his
partner....So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon
the human, and he slept, then he took one of his ribs and
closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord
God had taken from the human he made into a woman and
brought her to the man.
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89,3-11. The Rulers took counsel with one another and
said, "Come, let us cause a deep sleep to fall upon Adam."
And he slept. Now the deep sleep that they caused to fall
upon and he slept is ignorance. They opened his side like a
living woman. And they built up his side with some flesh in
place of her, and Adam came to be endowed only with soul
(psychikos).
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Gen. 2:23. Then the man H & Gk: adam) said,
"This at last is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called woman (Hebrew: ishshah;
Greek: gyne), for out of man (Hebrew: ish; Gk:
aner) this one was taken."
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And the spirit-endowed (pneumatike) woman came to
him and spoke with him, saying, "Arise, Adam." And when he
saw her, he said, "It is you who have given me life; you
will be called ‘mother of the living.’ For it is
she who is my mother. It is who is the physician, and the
woman, and she who has given birth.
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91d): Male and Female
A man’s genitals are naturally disobedient and
self-willed, like a creature that will not listen to reason,
and will do anything in their mad lust for possession.
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Gen. 2:24-25: Therefore a man leaves his father and his
mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.
And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not
ashamed.
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87,11-17: As incorruptibility gaxed down into the waters,
its image was shown forth in the waters; and the authorities
of darkness became enamored of it. But they could not lay
hold of that image...because of their weakness.
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89,17-30: When they saw his (Adam’s) female
counterpart speaking him, they became agitated with great
agitation: and they became enamored of her. They said to one
another, "Come, let us sow our seed in her," and they
pursued her...And they defiled the seal of her voice, so
that by their modeled form, together with their own image,
they made themselves liable to condemnation.
92,18-10: The rulers went to meet her (Norea) intending
to lead her astray. Their supreme chief said to her, "Your
mother Eve came to us."
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91d-92) Much the same is true of the matrix or womb
(hystera) in women which is a living creature within
them that longs to bear children. And if it is left
unfertilized long before the normal time, it causes extreme
unrest; strays around the body , blocks the channels of the
breath and causes acute distress and disorders of all kinds
["hysteria"].
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92) This goes on until the woman’s longing and
man’s desire meet and pick the fruit from the tree,
sowing the ploughland of the womb with seeds as yet unformed
and too small to be seen, which take shape and grow big -
until they are born as a complete living creature. This is
how women and the female sex generally came into being.
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Gen. 3:16-19. On expulsion from the garden: To the woman
God said, "I will greatly increase your pangs in
childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet
your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule
over you." And to the man God said, "Because you have
listened to your wife, and have eaten of the tree about
which I commanded you,...in toil you shall eat of it all the
days of your life...By the sweat of your face you shall eat
bread until you return to the ground: for out of it you were
taken; you are dust and to dush you shall return."
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From opening frame of text, 86,20-27: "Our struggle is
not against flesh and [blood]; but against the
authorities of the cosmos and the spiritual (forces) of
evil." [I have] sent (you) this because you inquire
about the reality [of the] authorities.
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