5. The Gnostic Valentinus

Wisdom traditions are ancient teachings which spring from many
mystical sources such as Egyptian Hermeticism, the Jewish Apocrypha and
Greek philosophy. The term "gnosticism" refers to a Wisdom or mystery
tradition which sprang up in the Middle East and spread throughout the Roman
Empire during the first three centuries after Christ. Two other terms that
need clarification are "gnosis" and "gnostics".

"Gnosis" was a word in the ancient Greek language that was
defined as to being personally acquainted with something or someone. Hence,
they believed if one were acquainted or familiar with god, then one would be
on the right path to returning to god.15

The term "gnostics" (gnostikoi in Greek) was, historically, a
self-given name of an ancient Christian sect.16 The term can be found as
far back as the time of Plato.17 According to Bentley Layton in The
Gnostic Scriptures, this sect shared four features that made them uniquely
gnostic.

"1) A complex and distinctive myth of origins, 2) a strong
sense of group identity, 3) the use of special jargon or in-group language
and 4) the practice of a specific ritual of baptism."18

Through the efforts of a gnostic theologian, Valentinus (A.D.
ca. 100 - ca. 175), the gnostics became prominent throughout the early
Christian world. Educated in Alexandria, Valentinus was influenced by many
diverse intellectual traditions such as Greek, Jewish, Egyptian, and
Platonic philosophy and the Hermetic writings. He was also influenced by
an early well known gnostic named, Basilides.

Valentinus created a network of schools that encouraged
"speculation"19, and spanned the great Empire from Rome to the Euphrates
River. It is recorded that Valentinus taught with the authority of having
received an academic instruction from a certain Theudas20 who was a student
of St. Paul and that an important interpretation of the new testament was
being discussed.

Valentinus came close to being elected Bishop of Rome (136-140
A.D) but, at the peak of his influence, he became the object of increased
attacks from a consolidated Romanized Christianity and he died mysteriously
in 165 A.D. In A.D. 306, Constantine the Great established Christianity as
the official religion of the Roman imperial government.21 Shortly
thereafter, gnosticism became outlawed.

My rendition of the Myth of Sophia is largely derived from the
writings and teachings of Valentinus.

6. The Myth of Sophia and The Four Paths Of Creation Spirituality

There is such a natural fit between the four paths and the
gnostic creation mythology that I wonder if there is not some historical
link between the two. In Bentley Layton's book, The Gnostic Scriptures,
he assesses in four stages the myth's theme of theft, loss and ultimate
recovery of the divine in humanity.

Act I(via positiva) is the bursting forth of divine power to
fill the spiritual universe. Act II (via negativa) is the loss of of some
of that power into the hands of a non-spiritual being ("Ialdabaoth"). Act
III (via creativa) the spark of Sophia is placed in humanity by deceiving
the thief. Act IV (via transformativa) is the gradual recovery of the
missing divine power in humanity.22

To best describe how the myth fits into the four fold model of
Creation Spirituality, I am including a diagram in the the appendix to help
illustrate how these four stages of the myth fit into the four paths of
Creation Spirituality. (see Appendix A)

This four stage model has helped me to better understand the
process of soul development that is being described by the Sophia myth. A
movement through the via negativa through the experience of core negative
emotions is crucial for an escape from the depths. Equally important in
the task of arising to the light of the creativa, is the presence of someone
who holds us with compassion and unconditional acceptance for our process as
was modeled by the incarnated Christ.

7.

Transcript of my bardic presentation of

the Myth of Sophia

Presented May 1, 1998 at University of Creation Spirituality

A. Introduction

[This is a transcript of an oral presentation which has been
edited slightly to make the text more easily readable.]

Why are we here? What are we doing? What is this all about? I
will be telling a myth, an old myth that is lost but not forgotten. It has
survived many ravages in its attempts to be told throughout the last couple
of millenia, at least.

The story of Sophia, probably does go back before Christ, but it
became active around the time of Christ. And the people, called the
Gnostics, were the people who were speculators and practitioners of ritual
and carriers of a certain body of understanding that probably was an
esoteric teaching that oriented around the esoteric teachings of Christ. As
history unfolded, the gnostic practices and philosophies did not make it
into the mainstream where they were in fact considered heretical and they
were persecuted.

I think that it is actually an honor to bring this story to you
because I don't know how many people know this story. In fact, I would
like to ask you a question. How many people know the story of the myth of
Sophia?

[I mention that Robert Rice got a preview of this story.]

It is astounding. Essentially one person who is not connected
with me in the development of this performance piece knows of this story and
yet it is a profound story of which I think one could argue (and it has been
argued) that the Christian traditions and teachings and stories as we know
them are, perhaps, an offshoot from these gnostics teachings.23

Allow me to briefly describe this person called Valentinus who
was a prominent gnostic in the second century AD who really was setting the
rhythm or carrying the story out into the greater Roman Empire at the time.
He set up a number of schools and he also attempted to set up a bridge
between the gnostic teachings and the coalescing Roman Catholic teachings.
It
didn't work. He came close to being Bishop of Rome but they sort of pushed
him aside and gradually his teachings and the gnostic traditions went
further and further underground. One could argue, I guess, that the world
was not quite ready for a spirituality that is really oriented around the
story of a Goddess, a beautiful being of light who fell into the here and
now.

B. The Deep

(Begin with a steady pulse on the Taos Drum.)

Many many aeons ago, before aeons even existed, there was the
Great All. Magnificently vast, there was only this one Great Mystery.
Nothing
was known beyond Its immense reach and all was known within the
boundlessness of this Great Being. This being was known as The Deep. After
a period of eternity, The Deep found Itself in a dilemma. It was invisible.
It was in a state of non-being, or at least, It had no way of expressing
itself beyond Itself. And so It thought, "I will create. I will create!"
And so It imagined a brilliant light. It imagined symphonies of cosmic
sound, spiraling universes and wind beings dancing over a blue-green, aqua
blue planet. But still, these imaginings were not real. They were trapped
in Its imagination . It had a strong desire to bring them to life but It did
not know how. These dreams were still bound within It and It was very,
very desiring of them to come into being. There was a burning, a need, an
agony. It had to bring them to life!

Until finally, it had a realization. And that was that It had
to let them go. It had to let these dreams go into their own free
will. Because
they themselves had a desire to have a life of their own. "And so with love
and longing, it let go of itself [the Deep let go of itself] and these
dreams were free. And the psychic energy exploded in a flash of
creation."24

C. Barbelo

(Open tuned svar mandal or zither)

What a beautiful light came from within the abyss of The Deep. Out
flowed an incredible emanation. Beautiful. Exquisitely beautiful. Vast. And
The Deep looked out and saw this light and was so relieved and so warmed, he
fell in love with her beauty. Though androgynous, The Emanation was more a
"she", perhaps, as The Deep was, maybe more, at this point, a "he". She
looked back at him and "took great delight."

Her name was Barbelo in the old gnostic texts though she is
really the grand umbrella of the Sophia figure. The Barbelo and The Deep,
in their vast cosmic love set out, to bring in new beings, as lovers
do. These
new beings came out in pairs and these pairs were called Aeons. And the
first two came out and stood in their corner of what became known as the
heaven (the Pleroma). And then two more came out and they were brother and
sister or consorts and they held their place, fulfilling their role in
holding this Aeon, this eternity or this location in the great cosmos in
balance. And two by two they unfolded across the heavens and there were
twenty four of them or twelve pairs.

But there was one more. And she was the youngest and she was
the fiestiest, perhaps, but she was also very beautiful and her name was
Sophia.

D. Sophia

(Hammered dulcimer)

Sophia, the Light Filled One. Sophia was the essence of youth
because she had unlimited potential. She thought she could do anything. She
thought she could do everything and there was nothing that was going to hold
her back and she didn't even wait for her consort. She just went right out
there and she wanted to have fun.

But out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of a light
and the light caught her attention and she was drawn by it and she saw it
and she had a tremendous desire for it. The closer she looked at it the
more she thought or realized that this was an important light and she
decided to move towards it. And she moved closer and as she moved closer
she saw that it was no ordinary light. It was the Source. It was the great
Emanation coming from The Deep. It was The Deep! It was the all and she
needed it. She wanted it. She went for it and nothing was going to hold
her back. She picked up and she was gone, out of there, past her other
brothers and sisters, the other Aeons. And they said, "Sophia, you can't
go there. No, you can't go there! If you go to The Deep he will swallow
you. You are too small for his magnitude."

But Sophia went anyway. She did not even hear, she did not
even stop to listen. And things were very disturbed. Her brothers and
sisters were all in a state because Sophia needed to be in her spot in the
corner of the universe to keep the balance.

Sophia went closer and closer to the light and faster and faster
and more furiously and she was going for The Deep and the light and she was
going further into it and Oh my God...

E. The Fall of Sophia

(loud roll and bang on a low conga drum)

Stopped. There was something that stopped her. There was a
wall. There was a big wall that she ran into. She did not know what it
was. But in her daze, in her hangover from the terrifying amazement, she
turned and started looking back towards the heavens at her brothers and
sisters and she saw that they were slipping away. She saw that she was
falling. Falling, falling, falling, falling into the abyss; into the
unformed. She looked up and saw the beauty and the order and the harmony of
the heavens slipping further and further away from her.

(mournful guitar sound)

And yet she [still] had other plans for she barely took a breath
before she was back at it, for she was filled with a kind of delusion,
filled with an illusion of grandeur even though she was out in the abyss, in
the blackness of the unformed world.

And she said, "I will create my own being. I will create my own
God. If I cannot have The Deep, if I cannot have my father, I will create a
son."

F. Ialdabaoth

(Begin dumbec with wah way base sound)

And so, with such a power that could only come forth from an
unusual woman (for their was no man to help bring this person to life), she
created a being; a kind of a misshapen being, a being that had a lion's
face and a serpent's body and he was kind of ugly.

Sophia saw this being and she was taken aback because she did
not anticipate that this would happen and as she looked at him, this being
called Ialdabaoth. Ialdabaoth, "son of shame."25

As Sophia looked at him, Ialdabaoth looked at her, caught a
glimpse of her and when he looked at her, he did not want to see her because
he did not want to know that he came from anybody because he was jealous of
Sophia. He was jealous of Sophia, the woman of the light. So he reached
out and grabbed the light from her. He stole it from her and took it into
his own possession and threw Sophia down further into the chaos.

Ialdabaoth, now sitting on his throne in the midst of all
matter, said, "It is I who am god and there is no other God before
me." Sophia,
from her place in the abyss, heard this and wept.

G. Sophia's Passion

Sophia was overcome with grief for she had lost her light and
lost her place in the heavens. And who was this creature, Ialdabaoth?

She was overcome with loss for the light that was within her
that was gone and she missed it. When she thought of the light she laughed
and she remembered the light. It made her happy, remembering the beauty
and the power and the brilliance. But when she remembered that she was lost
down in the chaos, she became sad again.

She was scared because without her light she could not live. She
thought she might die.

She was overcome with confusion. She did not know what to do,
where to turn to and where to go.

And she had another emotion, (within the scheme of Sophia's
passion) and this last emotion was so overwhelming and so impossible to
sustain and experience that she had to move in order to sway; to appease the
pain of the feeling of shame. So ashamed was she that she was broken and
she sat and she looked at the water and she sang away her pain, in her own
way. (I sing with guitar accompaniment)

"Where have I been, where is my home. Please come to me and
rescue me. My heart is broken and I don't know where I'm going. Home.
Please."

Sophia saw out of the corner of her eye somebody walking towards
her. She noticed that this being was somebody that was beautiful and she
realized as she saw him, that it was her consort!

H. Sophia's Consort, Jesus Christ

(Conga drums)

It was the Christ who came to her in the form of Jesus, to meet
her on the material plane. She saw him and at first she was ashamed and
she put a veil over her face to hide. But then, when she saw his warmth
and the love that he had for her, she ran to him and they embraced.

And she looked into his eyes and she knew that he was there to
help her. She cried again because of the pain that she had carried for so
long and there he was to help hold it for her. She was moved. Her
emotions moved in a way that she was no longer bound or weighted by them;
because this lover of hers could penetrate through all the shame and the
terror.

Then Jesus brought a light from way out, from somewhere way
beyond, and brought it back to Sophia and she flew up with him into the 8th
heaven, the 8th aeon, out of the reach of Ialadabaoth where she found her
place not in the heavens, not in the place where she came from. She was not
fully returned but she was safe and she had a light back that she had
received. But it was not her light fully, for Ialdabaoth still possessed
her light. She sat there and looked down, gratefully relieved for the help
that was brought her.