Sunday, January 09, 2011

Pleroma-rama


This guy Dr. John Lash, is as goofy as the rest of them, but its as good an intro to Gnosticism as any I supose. Think of all the people who actually knew what was up but realised how futile writing really was.
"Gnostics taught that the earth does not belong to the solar system, but is merely captured in it. As the Gaia theory of Lovelock and Margulis affirms, the earth differs from the rest of the planets by the strange equilibrium of its atmosphere, providing not only a space for life-forms to inhabit but an interactive medium in which life can evolve, adapt, and innovate. Such is the miracle of life on earth, including the human species as part of an open experiment overseen by the cosmic gods, the Aeons."
I would be hesitant to give forces beyond our human scope human-like qualities such as inquisitiveness. Any attempt at form to me, smacks of doodling akin to a fez driven runaway miniauture oldsmobile of our own synaptic circus.
more Lash -
"The earth is a special case (as Gaia theory asserts), because it is embodiment of a cosmo-god, the Aeon Sophia, whose name means wisdom. On this planet we see wisdom incarnate, living, evolving, sentient, and we are part of it. Sophia is one of the cosmo-gods of the galaxy we inhabit. She emerged from the core of the galaxy, the pleroma, to become immersed in a planetary body. This situation is unique to our world. Mythologically, it is called the Fall of Sophia. To us, Sophia is the one Aeon or cosmo-god who is directly, sensorially present. We live in her skin. Our cosmic mother is the Aeon Sophia, whom we now call Gaia."
This reminds me of the fictional character Crocodile Dundee demonstrating that, disputes over property were seen like two fleas fighting over a dog, according to aboriginal perspectives. This also brings to mind microscopic skin mites
Dr. Lash goes on to say: "But Sophia is also the mother of the Archons, the tricky pseudo-gods who want us to take them for Aeons. Gnostic mythology (extensively described on site and in my book, Not in His Image) taught that before Sopha morphed into the earth, she produced a kind of spatter in the realms of elementary matter (quantum foam), resulting in a weird species made of inorganic (silicon-based) elements: the Archons. These entities proceeded to fashion a world for themselves, the planetary system exclusive of the earth, which is Sophia’s body, and was formed somewhat later. The Archons are so named, from Greek archai, “prior, previous,” because they and their world were formed before Sophia morphed into the earth."

So this trickster element is a way to be at ease with ignorance and irony and belligerence and all the other words for phenomena we are unable to immediately digest. I think that laughter is where the sea foam comes from, its understanding without understanding, like drinking tea with the old shut-in from Mary Poppins. I think sometimes folks who write about this type of stuff are like bottles of glue that are labeled as especially made for preserving jigsaw puzzles. Over all I do like hearing the different stories and perspectives, especially if there is a good twist. The fact that this guys "Gnosticism" purports that 2.1 billion people have been snowed by spatter is poetic to say the least. Incidentally Dr. Lash asserts that the term Gnosticism was originally meant as an insult. It was an ancient way of calling someone a "smart ass". Evidently these that follow the wisdom goddess prefer to be called something like the ones who have been aimed.
-Dr. John Lash's website -

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love the way you think. "I think that laughter is where the sea foam comes from, its understanding without understanding, like drinking tea with the old shut-in from Mary Poppins. I think sometimes folks who write about this type of stuff are like bottles of glue that are labeled as especially made for preserving jigsaw puzzles. Over all I do like hearing the different stories and perspectives, especially if there is a good twist." Where did you come from, I don't remember making this, what wonderful serendipity.

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