Gnostic Teachings What are ghosts?

Gnostic Teachings What are ghosts?

An opening reading from the Gospel of Truth

What, then, is that which he wants such a one to think? “I am like the shadows and phantoms of the night.” When morning comes, this one knows that the fear that had been experienced was nothing.

Thus they were ignorant of the father; he is the one whom they did not see. Since there had been fear and confusion and a lack of confidence and double-mindedness and division, there were many illusions that were conceived by them, as well as empty ignorance—as if they were fast asleep and found themselves a prey to troubled dreams.

Either they are fleeing somewhere, or they lack strength to escape when pursued. They are involved in inflicting blows, or they themselves receive bruises. They are falling from high places, or they fly through the air with no wings at all. Other times, it is as if certain people were trying to kill them, even though there is no one pursuing them; or they themselves are killing those beside them, and they are stained by their blood. Until the moment when they who are passing through all these things—I mean they who have experienced all these confusions—awaken, they see nothing because the dreams were nothing. It is thus that they who cast ignorance from them like sleep do not consider it to be anything, nor regard its properties to be something real, but they renounce them like a dream in the night and they consider the knowledge of the father to be the dawn. It is thus that each one has acted, as if asleep, during the time of ignorance, and thus a person comes to understand, as if awakening. And happy is the one who comes to himself and awakens. Indeed, blessings on one who has opened the eyes of the blind (the gospel of truth)

Metaphysical meaning of ghost (rw)

ghosts--Thoughts objectified. They are nothing except mind projections.

What explanation is there for the appearances of ghosts?

13. The term "ghosts" is a name that is applied to error thought forms, phantoms of an unenlightened mind, resulting from distorted and misguided imagination. The meaning of the word ghost shows us the thing that it is intended to designate — an indefinite, unstable, foggy specter floating about in the realm of man's mentality.

Beliefs in ghosts are illustrations of the unreliability of an uncontrolled imagination. When the imagination becomes active, it forms mental images that correspond to negative thoughts. These mental images become mind projections, sometimes appearing as ghosts. Ghosts are very real to some persons, and they are actually seen; or the imagination of the persons tells them that they are seen, but they have no reality or power and can be denied away with a word of Truth.

Holy Spirit not holy ghost 

 At the outset let us clarify whatever mystery or confusion may lie behind the word "Ghost" in the expression "Holy Ghost" in the King James (Authorized) version of the Bible. In Shakespeare's day "ghost" was a current word for "spirit" and a spiritual adviser was called a "ghostly confessor". Holy Ghost and Holy Spirit are translations of the same original words. The strange notions which now attach to our word "ghost" are not what the translators intended to convey. Later translations uniformly render the words, "Holy Spirit

The Greek word for ghost 

5326. phantasma ►

Strong's Concordance

phantasma: an appearance, apparition

Original Word: φάντασμα, ατος, τό

Thayer's Greek Lexicon

STRONGS NT 5326: φάντασμα

φάντασμα, φαντασματος, τό (φαντάζω), an appearance; specifically, an apparition, spectre: Matthew 14:26; Mark 6:49. (Aeschylus, Euripides, Plato, Dionysius Halicarnassus, Plutarch, others; Wis. 17:14 (15).)

4151 pneúma

phantasma not pneuma

When the Lord Jesus said, "a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have," he did not mean to say that a spiritual body had not; but a spirit such as they thought they saw. "They supposed they had seen a spirit."  The word rendered spirit is properly φάντασμα, a phantom or mere optical illusion; and not pneuma, spirit. When Jesus walked upon the sea both Matthew (Matt. 14:26) and Mark (Mk. 6:49) make use of the same phrase as Luke, and say that the disciples when they saw him, "supposed they had seen a spirit, and they cried out for fear." In both these places the word is phantasma, and not pneuma.

Spiritual body is corporeal

Among the disciples of Jesus, Thomas stood for the head, representing reason and intellectual perception. Jesus did not ignore Thomas's demand for physical evidence of His identity, but respected it. He convinced Thomas by corporeal evidence that there had been a body resurrection and that it was not a ghost body that he saw, but the same body that had been crucified, as was evidenced by the wounds that Thomas saw and felt.

The soul 

Now, if it be asked, what do the scriptures define "a living soul" to be?— the answer is, a living natural, or animal, body, whether of birds, beasts, fish, or men. The phrase living creature is the exact synonym of living soul. The Hebrew words nephesh chayiah are the signs of the ideas expressed by Moses. Nephesh signifies creature, also life, soul, or breathing frame from the verb to breathe: chayiah is of life — a noun from the verb to live. Nephesh chayiah is the genus which includes all species of living creatures; namely, Adam man, beme beast of the field, chitu wild beast, remesh reptile, and ouph fowl, &c. In the common version of the scriptures, it is rendered living soul; so that under this form of expression the scriptures speak of "all flesh" which breathes in air, earth, and sea.

Writing about body, the apostle says, "there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." But, he does not content himself with simply declaring this truth; he goes further, and proves it by quoting the words of Moses, saying, "for so it is written, the first man Adam was made into a living soul — εις ψυχην ζωσαν;" and then adds, "the last Adam into a spirit giving life, εις πνεύμα ζωοποιονν" (ICor. 15:44-45). Hence, in another place, speaking of the latter, he says of him, "now the Lord is the spirit — ο δε κύριος το πνεύμα εστίν. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into his image from glory into glory, as by the Lord the Spirit — απο κνριον πνεύματος (2Cor. 3:17-18).

The proof of the apostle's proposition that there is a natural body as distinct from a spiritual body, lies in the testimony, that "Adam was made into a living soul;"showing that he considered a natural, or animal body, and a living soul, as one and the same thing. If he did not, then there was no proof in the quotation, of what he affirmed.

A man then is a body of life in the sense of his being an animal, or living creature — nephesh chayiah adam. As a natural man, he has no other pre-eminence over the creatures God made, than what his peculiar organization confers upon him. Moses makes no distinction between him and them; for he styles them all living souls, breathing the breath of lives.

Thus, literally rendered he says, "the Elohim said, the waters shall produce abundantly sheretz chayiah nephesh the reptile living soul;" and again,

"kal nephesh chayiah erameshat every living soul creeping." In another verse, "let the earth bring forth nephesh chayiah the living soul after its kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth, &c;" and "lekol rumesh ol earetz asher bu nephesh chayiah to every thing creeping upon the earth which (has) in it living breath" (Gen. 1:20-21, 24, 30), that is, breath of lives. And lastly, "whatsoever Adam called nephesh chayiah the living soul that was the name thereof (Gen. 2:19).

Quadrupeds and men, however, are not only "living souls," but they are vivified by the same breath and spirit. In proof of this, I remark first, that the phrase ''breath of life" in the text of the common version is neshemet chayim in the Hebrew; and that, as chayim is in the plural, it should be rendered breath of lives. Secondly, this neshemet chayim is said to be in the inferior creatures as well as in man. Thus, God said, "I bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh, wherein is ruach chayim spirit of lives" (Gen. 6:17). And in another place, "they went in to Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, in which is ruach chayim spirit of lives." "And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing, and every man; all in whose nostrils was neshemet ruach chayim, BREATH OF SPIRIT OF LIVES" (Gen. 7:15, 21). Now, as I have said, it was the neshemet chayim with which Moses testifies God inflated the nostrils of Adam; if, therefore, this were divina particula aurae, a particle of the divine essence, as it is affirmed, which became the "immortal soul" in man, then all other animals have "immortal souls" likewise; for they all received "breath of spirit of lives" in common with man.

From these testimonies, I think, it must be obvious to the most unlearned, that the argument for the existence of an "immortal soul" in "sinful flesh," hereditarily derived from the first sinner, predicated on the inspiration of his nostrils with "the breath of lives" by the Lord God, and the consequent application to him of the phrase "living soul," if admitted as good logic, proves too much, and therefore nothing to the purpose. For if man be proved to be immortal in this sense, and upon such premises as these, then all quadrupeds are similarly immortal; which none, I suppose, but believers in the transmigration of souls, would be disposed to admit.

The original condition of the animal world was "very good."

Unperverted by the introduction of evil, all its constituents fulfilled the purposes of their existence. Begotten of the same power, and formed from the substance of a common mother, they were all animated by the same spirit, and lived in peace and harmony together. Formed to be living breathing frames, though of different species, in God they lived, and moved, and had their continued being; and displayed His wisdom, power, and handywork.

But, to return to the philology of our subject, I remark that by a metonomy, or figure of speech in which the container is put for the thing contained, and vice versa, nephesh "breathing frame," is put for neshemet ruach chayim, which, when in motion, the frame respires. Hence nephesh signifies "life," also "breath" and "soul" — Life or those mutually affective, positive and negative principles in all living creatures, whose closed circuits cause motion of and in their frames. These principles, or qualities, perhaps, of the same thing, are styled by Moses Ruach Elohim (Gen. 1:2), or Spirit of Him "who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see" (ITim. 6:16), and which, when the word was spoken by "the Holy Gods" (Dan. 4:8), first caused a motion upon the waters, and afterwards disengaged the light, evolved the expanse, aggregated the waters, produced vegetation, manifested the celestial universe, vitalized the breathing frames of the dry land, expanse, and seas; and formed man in their image and likeness. This ruach, or spirit, is neither the Uncreated One who dwells in light, the Lord God, nor the Elohim, His co-workers, who co-operated in the elaboration of the natural world. It was the instrumental principle by which they executed the commission of the glorious INCREATE to erect this earthly house, and furnish it with living souls of every species.

It is this ruach, or instrumentally formative power, together with the neshemeh or breath, which keeps them all from perishing, or returning to the dust. Thus, "if God set His heart against man, He will withdraw to Himself ruachu veneshemetu, i.e., His spirit and His breath; all flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again to dust" (Job 34:14). In another place, "by the neshemet el, or breath of God, frost is given" (Job 37:10).

Speaking of reptiles and beasts, David saith, "Thou withdrawest ruachem, i.e., their spirit — they die; and to their dust they return. Thou sendest forth ruhech, i.e., Thy spirit — they are created" (Psa. 104:30). And again, "whither shall I fly, meruhech, from Thy spirit" (Psa. 139:7).

From these testimonies it is manifest, that the ruach or spirit is all pervading. It is in heaven, in sheol, or the dust of the deepest hollow, in the uttermost depths of the sea, in the darkness, in the light, and in all things animate, and without life. It is an universal principle in the broadest, or rather, in an illimitable sense. It is the substratum of all  motion, whether manifested in the diurnal and ellipsoidal revolutions of the planets, in the flux and reflux of the sea, in the storms and tempests of the expanse, or in the organism of reptiles, cattle, beasts, fish, fowls, vegetables, or men. The atmosphere expanse is charged with it; but it is not the air: plants and animals of all species breathe it; but it is not their breath: yet without it, though filled with air, they would die.

GOD'S SPIRIT AND BREATH

The atmosphere, which extends some forty-five miles in altitude, and encircles the globe, is styled the expanse, by Moses; and the breath of God, in Job. It is a compound body, consisting when pure of nitrogen and oxygen, in the proportion of 79 of the former to 21 of the latter, in 100 parts. These are considered as simple bodies, because they have not yet been decomposed; though it is probable they have a base, which may be the ruach. This may exist free or combined with the elementary constituents of the neshemeh. Uncombined, it is that wonderful fluid, whose explosions are heard in the thunder, whose fiery bolts overthrow the loftiest towers, and rive the sturdy monarch of the woods; and in less intensity gives polarity to light, the needle, and the brain. These three together, the oxygen, nitrogen, and electricity, constitute "the breath" and "spirit" of the lives of all God's living souls.

Thus, from the centre of the earth, and extending throughout all space in every direction, is the Ruach Elohim, the existence of which is demonstrable from the phenomena of the natural system of things. It penetrates where the neshemet el, or atmospheric air, cannot. When speaking, however, of the motivity and sustentation of organized dust, or souls, they are co-existent within them. In this case, the ruach Elohim becomes the ruach chayim, or "spirit of lives;" and the neshemet el, the neshemet chayim, or "breath of lives;" and both combined in the elaboration and support of life, the neshemet ruach chayim, or "breath of the spirit of lives." Living creatures, or souls, are not animated, as physiologists and speculative "divines" erroneously imagine, by "a vital principle," capable of disembodied existence as the ghost of a man, or the

transmigrating spectres of other animal species; — ghostly things, the laws and functions of which in the animal economy physiologists are unable to discover; and theologists are non-plussed to prove the existence of from the word of God. On the contrary, "souls " are "made living " by the coetaneous operation of the ruach chayim and the neshemet chayim upon their organized tissues according to certain fixed laws. When the as yet occult laws of the all-pervading ruach, or spirit, shall be known, this subject will be understood; and men will then be as astonished at the ignorance of the "divines," and physiologists of this "cloudy and dark day," respecting "living souls," as we are at the notion of the ancients, that their "immortal gods" resided in the stocks and stones they so stupidly adored. This, however, is quite as reasonable a theory as that of "immortal souls" dwelling in the sinners of Adam's race.

The ruach chayim and neshemet chayim are lent to the creatures of the natural world for the appointed period of their living existence. But, though lent to them, they are still God's breath, and God's spirit; nevertheless, to distinguish them from the expanse of air and spirit in their totality, they are sometimes styled, "the spirit of man," and "the spirit of the beast;" or collectively, "the spirits of all flesh," and "their breath."

Thus it is written, "they have all one ruach, or spirit; so that man hath no pre-eminence over a beast; for all is vanity or vapour." "All go to one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again" (Ecc. 3:19-20). And in the sense of supplying to every living creature, or soul, "spirit" and "breath," Jehovah is styled by Moses, "God of the spirits of all flesh'' (Num. 27:16).

We have shown that the spirit of man refers to the breath/life force within him, which returns to God when he dies (Ecc. 12:7). This means that his spirit is not moving around as a ‘ghost’, nor is it free to possess another person or animal so that the man’s personality is continued through them. We will each be judged for our own works (2 Cor. 5:10). If our actions and characteristics are a function of a previous person’s character, then this concept of God judging and rewarding us according to our works (Rev. 22:12) is made a nonsense.

The spirit returns to God at death, and all consciousness ceases. Any attempt to contact the dead therefore shows a serious misunderstanding of the ample Bible teaching concerning this (see Is. 8:19,20; Lev. 19:31, 20:6). The Bible is quite plain that people do not return to their previous houses or towns in any way after they are dead; there can be no such thing as a ‘spirit’ or ‘ghost’ haunting such a place after the person has died. A humble acceptance of this will lead us to discount all claims to have seen the ‘ghosts’ of dead people, haunting their old houses. Such experiences must at best be tricks of the imagination

The Hermetic Museum

The Hermetic Museum 

 

creatio ex deo vs creatio ex nihilo

**Creatio ex Deo vs. Creatio ex Nihilo**

*Creation Out of God's Own Substance vs. Creation From Nothing*

The doctrine of *creatio ex nihilo*, or creation out of nothing, has long dominated Christian theology. It proposes that when God created the heavens and the earth, He did not use any pre-existing material but brought everything into being from non-being—pure nothingness. While this might seem like a theological safeguard of God’s omnipotence and transcendence, it is a position that lacks biblical foundation and philosophical coherence.

The Scriptures are largely silent on *how* God created. They tell us *what* God created—"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1), and "By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God" (Hebrews 11:3)—but they do not specify the medium or substance through which this act of creation occurred. *Creatio ex nihilo*, then, is not a biblical doctrine, but one constructed later in response to competing cosmologies—particularly Gnostic dualism and various Platonic philosophies. As such, it became a reactionary doctrine rather than one organically derived from revelation.

If not out of nothing, then what? The alternative—often dismissed as heretical—is *creatio ex deo*: creation out of the very being, the corporeal spirit-substance, of God Himself. This does not mean that creation is God, nor that the universe is identical to God (pantheism), but that God emanated the world from His own essence—thus allowing for a distinction between Creator and creation while affirming their ontological connection. This view is better classified as panentheism: all things exist *in* God, though God is not reducible to them.

Scriptural testimony supports this. In Genesis 2:7, we read that “the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” The breath of God—the *ruach* or Spirit—is what animated man. This divine breath is not a metaphor for oxygen; it is God’s own emanation. Jesus reenacts this process in John 20:22: “He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” This parallel is not coincidental—it is revelatory. The Spirit comes from within God’s own being and enters into humanity.

Further support comes from the Apostle Paul. In Acts 17:28, Paul proclaims, “In him we live and move and have our being,” quoting a Greek poet yet affirming it as true theology. Ephesians 4:6 declares that there is “One God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” Colossians 3:11 states of Christ that he “is all, and in all.” These are not vague spiritual generalities; they are ontological claims. They affirm the immanence of God in creation and creation’s ongoing dependence upon Him.

If *creatio ex deo* is true, it means that creation was not an act of sheer externalization but of internal emanation—God drawing forth from Himself, forming creation out of His own spiritual-corporeal substance. This fits more coherently with how Genesis depicts creation: “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” But what is the word of God? According to John 1:1-3, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… Through him all things were made.” This Word is not some detached command—it is the mind, intention, and substance of God Himself, later “made flesh” in Jesus (John 1:14). The Word, then, is the divine pattern or blueprint emanating from within the being of God.

This concept helps us explain not only spiritual truths but physical ones. The first atoms of creation were not conjured from void, but issued from God’s own spirit-matter, giving rise to all subsequent matter. The Genesis narrative affirms that humanity was formed from *pre-existing* material: “the dust of the ground.” This is not insignificant. It reinforces that mankind is not created *ex nihilo*, but from created elements, which themselves ultimately came from the divine.

Scientifically, we understand that matter cannot be created from nothing. Even the Big Bang theory presupposes an initial singularity—something. The principle of conservation of energy asserts that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it can only be transformed. If that is the case, and if God is the primal source of all that is, then the universe is a transformation, an emanation of God's own power and being into ordered complexity. The divine substance became the matrix from which time, space, matter, and life emerged.

Colossians 1:17 says of Christ, “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” The Word is the binding agent of reality—not just spiritually, but materially. God's presence is what sustains atomic cohesion, gravitational laws, and biological processes. The visible world is a continuous emanation of divine force, a structured outflow of God's own corporeal reality. Creation, then, is not something God *once* did but is something God continually upholds.

To summarize: *creatio ex deo* challenges the abstraction of *creatio ex nihilo* by grounding creation in the corporeal, spirit-substance of God. It finds stronger support in Scripture, aligns more closely with the scientific understanding of matter and energy, and deepens our sense of reverence for the material world—not as a detached other, but as something birthed from within God Himself. This worldview affirms the holiness of creation without collapsing Creator and creation into one and the same. It invites us to see the universe as sacred space—matter suffused with Spirit, atoms born from glory.

Valentinian Cosmology in the Tripartite Tractate

The text known as the Tripartite Tractate presents one of the most systematic surviving descriptions of Valentinian cosmology. It outlines a complete theological vision beginning with the ultimate source of reality, describing the emanation of the aeons, the disruption that occurred within the divine order, and the restoration that ultimately reunites all things. The tractate describes a structured divine order centered on the Father, the Son (Logos), and the Church, from whom the aeons emerge and through whom the final restoration of the cosmos takes place.

The Father: The Absolute Source

At the beginning of all things stands the Father, the ultimate source and foundation of existence. The tractate describes the Father as the one who exists before all things and who contains within himself the potential of all reality. He is beyond limitation, beyond form as understood in created beings, and beyond complete comprehension by those who proceed from him.

The Father is described as the perfect fullness from which everything originates. Nothing exists outside his will or beyond the reach of his thought. All realities that later appear in the cosmos first exist within the Father’s intention and knowledge.

The text emphasizes that the Father is the origin of the entire pleromic order. All the aeons, all divine attributes, and the entire spiritual community come forth from him. His nature is characterized by goodness, completeness, and generosity, since he brings forth beings capable of knowing him and sharing in his fullness.

Within the Father’s thought the aeons initially exist in potential form. They are not separate or independent realities but exist within the Father as thoughts that will later emerge into distinct existence.

The Son: The Revealer and Perfect Image

The first and most perfect manifestation of the Father is the Son, often identified with the Logos. The Son is the direct expression of the Father’s nature and serves as the image through which the Father becomes known.

The tractate portrays the Son as the one who reveals the Father to the other aeons. Through him the hidden depth of the Father becomes intelligible to those who originate from him. The Son possesses fullness, completeness, and perfect harmony with the Father.

Because the Father is ultimately beyond comprehension, the Son functions as the mediator of knowledge. The aeons perceive the Father through the Son and glorify him through the Son’s revelation.

The Son therefore occupies a central place in the cosmological order. He stands at the boundary between the unknowable depth of the Father and the multiplicity of beings that arise from him. Through the Son the divine nature becomes communicable, and through him the aeons gain awareness of their source.

The Church: The Collective of the Aeons

A distinctive feature of the Tripartite Tractate is the role of the Church as a divine reality within the highest order of existence. The Church is not merely a historical institution but a primordial spiritual community composed of the aeons themselves.

The Church represents the unity and harmony of the pleromic realm. It is the collective life of the aeons as they exist in relationship with the Father and the Son. The aeons together form a living community whose purpose is to know the Father and express praise toward him.

Within this community each aeon possesses its own characteristics and functions, yet all remain united within the shared life of the Church. Their harmony reflects the perfection of the Father from whom they originate.

The Church therefore represents the structure of divine society within the pleroma. It is the environment in which the aeons exist and the framework that preserves their unity.

The Emanation of the Aeons

The aeons originate through a process often described as emanation. Rather than being created out of nothing, they proceed from the Father’s inner thought and gradually come into manifest existence.

The tractate describes this process using biological imagery. The aeons initially exist within the Father like seeds or embryos. They are present in potential form until the Father grants them distinct existence.

As the aeons come into being they gain awareness of the Father and learn to recognize him as their source. The Father reveals himself to them gradually so that they may grow in knowledge and understanding.

Each aeon reflects an aspect of the Father’s character. Some express wisdom, others truth, others life, and others various virtues. Together they constitute the fullness of divine attributes.

Despite their individuality, the aeons remain united in harmony. Their existence is cooperative rather than competitive. They exist within the shared life of the Church and continually glorify the Father.

This harmonious order constitutes the pleroma, the realm of fullness where divine knowledge and unity prevail.

The Fall of the Logos

The cosmological drama begins when the Logos moves beyond the established harmony of the pleroma. Motivated by a desire to comprehend the depth of the Father fully, the Logos attempts to reach beyond the limits assigned within the divine order.

This attempt results in disturbance within the cosmic structure. The Logos becomes separated from the perfect harmony of the aeons and enters a state of confusion.

The tractate describes how the Logos, unable to grasp the Father’s infinite depth, becomes divided in thought and action. This internal conflict produces a series of imperfect emanations.

These emanations lack the clarity and harmony that characterize the beings of the pleroma. They emerge as shadows or images rather than true reflections of divine reality.

From these flawed emanations arise the lower cosmic powers that eventually form the visible universe. The Logos’ error therefore becomes the origin of the imperfect world that exists outside the pleroma.

The Formation of the Lower Cosmos

Once separated from the harmony of the aeons, the Logos generates a series of beings that lack full knowledge of the Father. These beings form the lower hierarchy of cosmic rulers.

The tractate describes them as copies or imitations of the higher realities. They possess power and authority but do not possess the fullness of knowledge found in the pleroma.

These powers organize the material cosmos and govern the visible world. Their actions give rise to the structure of the heavens, the earth, and the human condition.

Human beings emerge within this lower order as composite beings containing multiple elements. They possess bodily existence within the material world, yet they also possess higher elements that originate from the divine realm.

This mixed nature creates the human struggle between ignorance and knowledge, between earthly limitations and the potential for spiritual understanding.

The Descent of the Savior

Seeing the confusion and suffering produced by the fall of the Logos, the aeons act to restore the cosmic order. The Son descends into the lower realms as the Savior.

The mission of the Savior is to bring knowledge to those who are capable of receiving it. Through revelation he reminds them of their origin in the Father and their connection to the pleroma.

The Savior awakens the spiritual element within humanity. Those who receive his message gain understanding of the true structure of the cosmos and their place within it.

This knowledge enables them to overcome ignorance and align themselves once again with the divine order.

The Restoration of the Cosmos

The final goal of the cosmological process is restoration. The Savior’s work gradually reverses the effects of the Logos’ fall.

Those who attain knowledge become reintegrated with the divine community represented by the Church. They return to the pleroma and participate once again in the life of the aeons.

The Logos himself is also restored through repentance and reconciliation with the higher realms. The disturbance that once divided the cosmos is ultimately healed.

In the final restoration the entire structure of existence returns to harmony. The pleroma is completed, and all beings capable of receiving the divine knowledge participate in the unity of the Father, the Son, and the Church.

Conclusion

The cosmology of the Tripartite Tractate presents a complex vision of the universe as a living system of emanations originating from the Father. The Son reveals the Father to the aeons, while the Church represents the collective unity of these divine beings.

The fall of the Logos introduces division and imperfection into the cosmic structure, giving rise to the lower world and its governing powers. Yet the descent of the Savior initiates a process of restoration that ultimately reunites the fragmented cosmos.

Through knowledge and reconciliation the aeons and humanity are restored to their original harmony within the fullness of the divine realm. This vision of emanation, fall, and restoration forms one of the most detailed expressions of Valentinian cosmology preserved in the writings of the Nag Hammadi library.

Original article 

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# The Cosmology of the Tripartite Tractate

The cosmology presented in the Tripartite Tractate is one of the most sophisticated and distinctive theological systems preserved in the Nag Hammadi texts. Although it belongs broadly to the Valentinian tradition, its cosmology differs in several important respects from other Valentinian writings. Most notably, it lacks the familiar doctrine of the emanation of thirty aeons and replaces the traditional fall of Sophia with the fall of the Logos.

The cosmology presented in the text is deeply influenced by the prologue of the Gospel of John and builds its metaphysical framework around the relationship between the Father and the Logos. The aeons are described not merely as divine beings but as emanations of the divine mind itself. Creation unfolds as a process occurring within the thought of the Father and becomes manifest through successive levels of expression and embodiment.

## The Head of Days: The Father

At the summit of reality stands the Father, the ultimate and unbegotten source of all existence. In the *Tripartite Tractate*, the Father is described in language emphasizing absolute unity, transcendence, and incomprehensibility. The text declares:

> “He existed before anything other than himself came into being. The Father is a single one, like a number, for he is the first one and the one who is only himself. Yet he is not like a solitary individual. Otherwise, how could he be a father? For whenever there is a ‘father,’ the name ‘son’ follows. But the single one, who alone is the Father, is like a root, with tree, branches and fruit. It is said of him that he is a father in the proper sense, since he is inimitable and immutable. Because of this, he is single in the proper sense, and is a god, because no one is a god for him nor is anyone a father to him.”

The Father is therefore not merely the beginning of the cosmos but the foundation of all being and thought. The text describes his nature in profoundly apophatic terms:

> “This is the nature of the unbegotten one, which does not touch anything else; nor is it joined (to anything) in the manner of something which is limited. Rather, he possesses this constitution, without having a face or a form, things which are understood through perception… If he is incomprehensible, then it follows that he is unknowable, that he is the one who is inconceivable by any thought, invisible by any thing, ineffable by any word, untouchable by any hand.”

The Father alone knows himself completely:

> “He alone is the one who knows himself as he is, along with his form and his greatness and his magnitude.”

In this sense the Father is described as **the Head of Days**, the ultimate source and head of the cosmic body.

## The Son: The Mind of the Father

Immediately following the Father is the Son, who functions as the manifestation of the Father’s inner thought. The *Tripartite Tractate* states:

> “Just as the Father exists in the proper sense, the one before whom there was no one else… so too the Son exists in the proper sense, the one before whom there was no other, and after whom no other son exists.”

The Son is therefore the **firstborn expression of the Father’s thought**. He is described as:

> “firstborn because no one exists before him and only Son because no one is after him.”

The Son functions as the **mind of the Father**, the form through which the Father becomes intelligible. The text poetically describes the Son as:

> “the sole first one, the man of the Father…

> the form of the formless,

> the body of the bodiless,

> the face of the invisible,

> the word of the unutterable,

> the mind of the inconceivable.”

This identification of the Son with the divine mind resonates strongly with the theology of the Gospel of John, particularly the declaration that **“Theos was the Logos.”**

In this framework, the Logos is both the thought and expression of God. As later explained by the theologian John Thomas:

> “Theos is the Brain, Logos is the Mind or thought.”

The *Tripartite Tractate* therefore interprets the Johannine Logos as the **mental activity of the Father**, the outward expression of divine reason.

The Son is also the source of all later emanations. As another Valentinian text explains:

> “God came forth: the Son, Mind of the All, that is, it is from the Root of the All that even his Thought stems, since he had this one (the Son) in Mind.”

## The Church and the Aeons

One of the most distinctive elements of the *Tripartite Tractate* is its conception of the Church as a primordial spiritual reality that exists before the aeons. The text states:

> “Those which exist have come forth from the Son and the Father like kisses, because of the multitude of some who kiss one another with a good, insatiable thought… This is to say, it is the Church consisting of many men that existed before the aeons, which is called, in the proper sense, ‘the aeons of the aeons.’”

The aeons are not simply divine beings but expressions of the Father’s attributes:

> “For each of the aeons is a name corresponding to each of the Father's qualities and powers.”

In this cosmology, the aeons exist first within the thought of the Father before they become distinct realities:

> “They were forever in thought, for the Father was like a thought and a place for them.”

Before their manifestation they existed only as potentialities:

> “They only had existence in the manner of a seed… it has been discovered that they existed like a fetus.”

Thus the aeons are **emanations of the divine mind as well as divine beings**.

The Father brings them into existence through thought:

> “Sowed a thought like a spermatic seed.”

This metaphor illustrates that the entire cosmos originates within the **mind of the Father**.

## Creation in the Divine Mind

The cosmology of the *Tripartite Tractate* closely follows the prologue of the Gospel of John. The text interprets John 1:4 in a symbolic manner:

> “But furthermore (he says), ‘That which came into being in it was Life.’ [Jn 1:4] Here he discloses a pair… ‘and Life was the light of human beings’… For from the Word and Life, the Human Being and the Church came into being.”

Thus the primordial pairs of Word and Life produce Humanity and the Church.

The entire structure of creation unfolds within the divine intellect. The cosmos is therefore not initially material but mental or spiritual in nature.

## The Fall of the Logos

In most Valentinian systems, the disruption of the cosmic order occurs through the fall of Sophia. However, the *Tripartite Tractate* presents a different narrative. Here it is **the Logos himself who falls**.

Of all the aeons, only the first pair fully comprehended the Father. The Logos, however, sought to produce a perfect being independently:

> “The intent, then, of this one who is the Logos, was good… since he had wanted to bring forth one who is perfect… without having the command.”

Acting without the knowledge of his counterpart Sophia, the Logos produced an imperfect emanation.

This flawed creation gave rise to inferior beings, lacking the clarity of the higher aeons:

> “mere shadows and phantoms… lacking reason and light, dwelling in ignorance.”

These beings multiply and generate further defective creatures.

Thus the fall of the Logos becomes the origin of the lower cosmos.

## The Demiurge and the Archons

From the Logos’ defective emanations arises a hierarchy of cosmic rulers. The highest among them is the Demiurge.

The text describes him as:

> “the lord of all of them… the countenance which the Logos brought forth in his thought as a representation of the Father of the Totalities.”

He therefore reflects the divine image imperfectly.

The Logos governs creation through him:

> “The Logos uses him as a hand, to beautify and work on the things below, and he uses him as a mouth, to say the things which will be prophesied.”

Thus the Demiurge becomes the **agent of creation**, forming the physical universe and governing the archons.

The Demiurge possesses many titles:

> “father… god… demiurge… king… judge… place… dwelling… law.”

Yet he remains subordinate to the Logos who produced him.

## The Body as Cosmic Expression

An important concept in the cosmology of the *Tripartite Tractate* is the idea that higher beings interact with lower levels of reality through bodies.

A body is defined as:

> “The outward expression of consciousness; the manifestation of the thinking part of man.”

This concept extends upward through the cosmic hierarchy.

Bodies are not limited to material existence:

> “Bodies are not exclusively connected to the material world at the lowest level. The Father and the Son at the uppermost level of depth above the Pleroma can have bodies.”

Each level of reality serves as the **body of a higher level**.

Thus the Logos uses the Demiurge as his body in order to interact with the material cosmos.

## The Cosmic Body Politic

The interaction between the Father, Son, Logos, Demiurge, and archons can be understood as a hierarchical system resembling a cosmic organism or political structure.

Each level acts as the body through which the higher level expresses its will.

The *Tripartite Tractate* therefore describes a form of divine administration or corporate structure.

This idea resembles the concept of the body politic described by the philosopher Thomas Hobbes in his work Leviathan.

Just as Hobbes described the state as a unified organism composed of many members, the *Tripartite Tractate* presents the cosmos as a structured hierarchy of divine agents.

The Father is the head, the Son the mind, the Logos the reasoning activity, the Demiurge the operative body, and the archons the subordinate powers governing the material realm.

## Restoration

Despite the fall of the Logos and the flawed nature of the material cosmos, the system ultimately moves toward restoration.

The higher Logos within the pleroma intercedes on behalf of the fallen Logos and guides the cosmic order toward reconciliation.

Through revelation and knowledge the spiritual elements within humanity can return to their original unity with the divine realm.

Thus the cosmology of the *Tripartite Tractate* presents a grand vision of the universe as an unfolding process within the mind of God: emanation, error, manifestation, and ultimately restoration.

The tenth heaven

The tenth heaven

In the tenth Heaven, Aravoth, I saw the vision of the face of the Lord, like iron burnt in the fire, and brought forth and emitting sparks, and it burns. So I saw the face of the Lord; but the face of the Lord cannot be told. It is wonderful and awful, and very terrible.

- 2 Enoch, Chapter XXII

This passage was translated into English from the Slavonic "Book of Enoch" in 1892. The word Aravoth is from the hebrew word "ערבות", which can be transliterated as "oraboth". This struck me as similiar to "Boraoth", one of the hidden names on the circumference of the Sigillum Dei, the letter B is in the middle of the word instead of the beginning. The enochian names have weird things around the use of the letter "B".

Aravoth is the 10th heaven were the throne of God resides, the Seraphim and Cherubim do serve the Almighty Lord shouting great praises to Him. They sing Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts, the world is full of His grace.

There is alot more need to know what happens on the 9th, 8th,7th up to the 1st heavens. 

Each level of heaven is designed for a purpose and it speaks God's glory.

And then the <seventh> heaven opened and we went up to the Ogdoad. And I saw the twelve apostles. They greeted me, and we went up to the ninth heaven. I greeted all those who were in the ninth heaven, and we went up to the tenth heaven. And I greeted my fellow spirits. The Nag Hammadi Library The Apocalypse of Paul

there are 14 levels, and Paul reached the tenth according to Apocalypse of Paul. Jesus/Osiris will be the 13th, and the 14th is the Father himself. Horemheb was he who built the tenth pylon/pillar at the Tempel of Karnak. It is still missing the 11th-13th pillar there.

I can before that time give you the information about the 1st to the 14th as a quote from NHL :)

The Apocalypse of Paul should be read as well to see what he thought abouth the 10th.

Now, the first kingdom says of the illuminator that he came from . . . a spirit . . . to heaven. He was nourished in the heavens. He received the glory of that one and the power. He came to the bosom of his mother, and in this way he came to the water.

And the second kingdom says of him that he came from a great prophet. And a bird came, took the child who was born, and brought him onto a high mountain. And he was nourished by the bird of heaven. An angel came forth there. He said to him, “Rise! God has given you glory.” He received glory and strength, and in this way he came to the water

The third kingdom says of him that he came from a virgin womb. He was cast out of his city, he and his mother; he was brought to a desert place. He was nourished there. He came and received glory and power, and in this way he came to the water.

The fourth kingdom says of him that he came from a virgin. . . . Solomon sought her, he and Phersalo and Sauel and his armies, which had been sent out. Solomon himself sent his army of demons to seek out the virgin. And they did not find the one whom they sought, but the virgin who was given to them. It was she whom they fetched. Solomon took her. The virgin became pregnant and gave birth to the child there. She nourished him on a border of the desert. When he was nourished, he received glory and power from the seed from which he was conceived, and in this way he came to the water.

And the fifth kingdom says of him that he came from a drop from heaven. He was thrown into the sea. The abyss received him, gave birth to him, and brought him to heaven. He received glory and power, and in this way he came to the water.

And the sixth kingdom says that one . . . came down to the realm that is below in order to gather flowers. She became pregnant from the desire of the flowers. She gave birth to him in that place. The angels of the flower garden nourished him. He received glory and power there, and in this way he came to the water.

And the seventh kingdom says of him that he is a drop and came from heaven to earth. Dragons brought him down to caves, and he became a child. A spirit came over him and raised him to the place from where the drop had come. He received glory and power there, and in this way he came to the water.

And the eighth kingdom says of him that a cloud came over the earth and enveloped a rock. He came from it. The angels above the cloud nourished him. He received glory and power there, and in this way he came to the water.

And the ninth kingdom says of him that from the nine muses one separated. She came to a high mountain and spent some time seated there, so that she desired her own body in order to become androgynous. She fulfilled her desire and became pregnant from her desire. He was born. The angels who were over the desire nourished him. And he received glory there and power, and in this way he came to the water.

The tenth kingdom says of him that his god loved a cloud of desire. He fathered him in his hand and cast upon the cloud above him some of the drop, and he was born. He received glory and power there, and in this way he came to the water.

And the eleventh kingdom says of him that the father desired his own daughter. She was pregnant from her father. She cast her child . . . tomb out in the desert. The angel nourished him there, and in this way he came to the water.

The twelfth kingdom says of him that he came from two luminaries. He was nourished there. He received glory and power, and in this way he came to the water.

And the thirteenth kingdom says of him that every birth of their ruler is a word. And this word received a mandate there. He received glory and power, and in this way he came to the water, that the desire of those powers might be satisfied.

But the generation without a king says that god chose him from all the eternal realms. He caused knowledge of the one of truth, who is undefiled, to reside in him. He said, “Out of a foreign air, from a huge eternal realm, the great illuminator appeared. And he made the generation of those people whom he had chosen for himself shine, so that they should shine on the whole eternal realm

The 12 Aeons Revelation 7

The 12 Aeons Revelation 7

7 After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” 4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:
5 of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were [a]sealed;
of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed;
6 of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed;
7 of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand were sealed;
8 of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.




Then look at verse four. He says, “And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000 sealed.” Some religious groups have picked up on this 144,000 and have attempted to say that this is the exact number that are going to be saved and going to be living in the kingdom of God and so forth, and folks, it just doesn’t make any sense. It isn’t logical. That’s what happens when you take things literally out of the scripture.

The 144,000 is simply symbolic. It means a wide number of people. It’s going to refer to both Jews and gentiles. Both Jewish Christians and gentile Christians. “A great multitude from every nation,” is what he says down here in verse nine. Go down to verse nine. “After this, I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands.”

Peoples from all tribes and peoples and tongues. This includes the 144,000 as a reference to all the faithful who are going to be saved. And the symbology has to do with 12 times 12. The 12 tribes and the 12 apostles. 12 carries with it the idea of spiritual completeness. Spiritual completeness. The number of seven sort of carries the same idea; spiritual fulfillment or completion. But the number 12 really means completion in a broader sense, I suppose. Spiritual completion. And it’s simply a symbolic number.

If you take it literally, then we’re all in a lot of trouble, because there are a lot of souls running around on this plain and on other plains. If we say only 144,000 are going to make it, then that’s not very encouraging, is it? When we say that, we miss the whole point. He’s dealing with symbology here. The elect; the 144,000, okay? We see here a form of divine recognition for both the Jews and the gentiles.
The Aions are a symbol of the 12 followers of Jesus and the 12 tribes of Israel a symbol of the 12 Aions which emanated from the Deity Hebrews 11:1-4 cp 2tim 3:16 god breathed the Aions into existence from his substance heb 1:3 emanating forth from him

The Twelve Aions or 12 spiritual attributes of Consciousness

The names of the twelve sons of Jacob form a sentence, conveying an important message. Throughout the Scriptures they are set forth in various orders, changing the message of the names as this is done

The names of the tribes (vv. 5-8) form a sentence as follows:

Judah — Praise; praise Jehovah; meta. prayer and praise faculty.

Reuben — See a son; behold a vision of a son; meta. understanding through seeing.

Gad — Company pertaining to good fortune; meta. power on.the physical plane.

Asher — Blessed; straight forward; faculty of understanding.

Naphthali — Wrestling; wrestling; meta. elimination or renunciation.

Manasseh — Forgetting; out of the forgotten;

Simeon —Hearing; harkening, obeying; meta. understanding through hearing.

Levi — Joining; joining, clinging; meta. the love faculty in human consciousness.

Issachar —Reward; he will bring reward, he who brings recompense; meta. activated zeal.

Zebulun — Dwelling; habitation, dwelling; meta. order faculty.

Joseph —Adding; Joseph - Jehovah shall bring increase; meta. imagination.

Benjamin — Son of the right hand. son of good fortune; meta. active accomplishing faith.