My Musical Sunday School Sessions - The Secret Book of John (The Apostle)
Okay, I know you all love me because of my Crypto & Finance stuff.
That is absolutely perfect, I love you guys (well I prefer girls) too!
But there is more to this Baby.
So for those who do not give a F about anything else, feel free to drop.
Because on the so-called Day Of The Lord, I will do Sunday School Sessions.
Not that I am a believer, but simply because I am curious.
So for the next months, I will be sharing my Sunday School Sessions with y´all.
It will be a mix of ancient texts, modern ideas, art, and music inspiring those who do not have time to join any other Sunday School
I have been looking for more interesting Gnostic tales that did not make the Biblical cut or were forbidden by the church as the Church felt that they would challenge their authority and could cause heresy as they do not fall in line with the Christian doctrine.
Did I make you curious already, just wait for what I found?
The Book
The Secret Book of John, also known as the Apocryphon of John, is part of the Nag Hammadi Library, a collection of Gnostic texts discovered in 1945 in Upper Egypt.
When I heard secret I was like yeah yeah yeah, but you probably guessed that already.
And no, I am not gonna go into all the details but I will pick out a very interesting find this week.
We all learned that God created the heart on Day 3:
Day 1: God creates light and separates it from darkness. He calls the light "day" and the darkness "night."
Day 2: God creates the firmament, separating the waters above from the waters below. He calls the firmament "heaven."
Day 3: God gathers the waters to form dry land, creating the Earth. He also causes vegetation to grow on the land.
Now here is where things got interesting.
BTW this book is written by John the Apostle, and not the John that wrote the Book of Revelations (John The Revaltor or John of Patmos). This John´s bestseller was included in the Bible as the book of John, but the sequel "The Secret Book of John" was not.
Now as per the next song, there are still plenty of people who think that Revelations was also written by John The Apostle....trust me it wasn't but it triggered a great song.
Who Created The Earth?
Well, I am not planning to battle over this question but in the secret book of John, there is this terrible annoying figure called Demiurge, a lower and ignorant deity also known as Yaldabaoth.
This cosmic, misguided deity is also known as "Son of Chaos" or "Child of Chaos." The book reveals how this deity is responsible for the creation of the material world.
In Gnostic thought, the Demiurge/Yaldabaoth is characterized by ignorance, arrogance, and a false sense of divinity. Gnostic texts describe how the Demiurge, unaware of the higher, transcendent God (referred to as the Monad or the One), creates the physical universe. This creation is often considered flawed and imperfect.
That little piece of text explains so freaking much. Does that trigger some thoughts, Dear Reader?
Because it explained so much in my mind.
Jesus loved his parables, and the book of John is said to be based on talks John had with Jesus. Now I am going out on a limb here but doesn´t this Yaldabaoth sound horribly much like today's humans?
I mean only a few days ago I mentioned that mankind was flawed:
And if I had to characterize why I think that it´s because mankind and womenkind alike can be considered ignorant, arrogant, with a false sense of divinity.
Yaldabaoth reflects the dualistic worldview we see today more than ever before. The chasm between the material world, and the spiritual world. Amid that chasm, we find the flawed humans, greedily hanging on to possessions to fill the emptiness inside.
These imperfect humans feel the hole in their soul because they have become detached from the spiritual realms. They fail to realize that the materials surrounding them are created by a deity as misguided as they are.
That Demiurge was disconnected from the ONE transcendent deity, the One that connects it all.
Does that not sound familiar?
The Secret Book of John outlines a process of cosmic redemption where enlightened souls ascend through various spiritual realms to reunite with the One.
Out of respect for all I do not want to label that One, it´s up to you to reconnect if that is what you feel is what you must do.
What I love is the idea of cosmic redemption.
Cosmic Redemption
I will not pause to look at the current Christian interpretation of redemption but rather explore the idea of cosmic redemption.
But before I get into my ideas about cosmid redemption there is one more thing I would like to bring up regarding this material world created by this Yaldabaoth. That is this entity is depicted also as the leader of the Archons.
So not only did he create this material world he also led those Archons, spiritual entities who were put in place to hinder the spiritual ascent of human souls.
The best, or worst part is the following: Archon is derived from the Greek word "archai," which generally means rulers or authorities. Their purpose is to oppose the soul's journey toward higher, spiritual knowledge (gnosis) and liberation.
Now how do you like them apples, authorities opposing souls to increase their spiritual knowledge? If that does not sound like the world today.... coming from a book that was supposed to be written 1800 years ago.
Archons' lack of spiritual understanding, are often associated with the deceptive nature of the material world, and obstruct the soul's recognition of its divine origin and the knowledge necessary for spiritual liberation.
Bikini Bottom Line
I can not tell you how close that comes to the teachings I received.
I have been taught that we will return to the flesh an infinite number of times. Maybe not infinite for all, only for those who remain lost.
We are chained to our mortal coil for as long as our learnings take. Life is a challenge to make us transcend beyond the limitations of this flawed being of flesh and blood.
Those challenges are thrown at us by those who do not want us to succeed, Archons?
Those who do not want us to succeed have had a lot of time on this material plain to organize themselves, authorities?
Cosmic Redemption is meant for souls battling their way through all obstacles encountered across different lives and realms.
Those realms are the lifetimes and the times between those lives. We have given ourselves the assignment to go through all the challenges to retrieve the non-misguided deity within ourselves.
These lessons learned will allow us back into what some might think of as heaven or the love of God. I prefer to say it allows us to reunite with the ONE.
Why this cycle of being disconnected, having to go through all physical pain and torment throughout many lifetimes to finally be absorbed back into the One we originated from?
Because the One is a collective, but not all-knowing. Our lifetimes of traveling will enlight us, and that enlightens the collective. Each of us will add a minuscule bit of wisdom gathered from the long journey to the collective.
Are we all NEO, are we all part of the One? That would explain the hole in our soul and that unrelenting search. That journey to become whole again.
Lifting the veil
Now I think that is enough for this week, but next time let me tell you another secret found in the book of John about what we were told about the Garden of Eden might have been a little white lie to make Satan look bad.
Previous Sunday School Sessions
My Musical Sunday School Sessions - The Ladies of Revelation
My Musical Sunday School Sessions - The Bad Boys from Revelations
My Musical Sunday School Sessions - He That Goes By Many Names
My Musical Sunday School Sessions - A Book That Was Left Out Of The Bible
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