The credo of the Knighthood of Sophia, as referred to in my series of meditations and commentaries on Henry Corbin's Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth, were "May we be among those who will bring about the Transfiguration of the Earth".
Let me remark that you will find little support for environmental activism, or even tendencies towards pantheism as you would find with the Romantics of the 18th and 19th century, in this blog. That does not mean I am entirely disinterested with the conditions for continued life on this earth, now or for any unknown future. Neither am I very symphatetic with the corporate culture of mass consumption which has been going on as long as I have been alive in my part of the world, the "industrialized, developed West".
When I posted this series on one of the forums I participated in many years ago, I got a limited amount of feedback. This way around I got none. I am not disheartened at this, I am quite sure some of you have found the time to read and ponder upon what I have contributed.
Some of the feedback was questions. That was quite inspiring, since questions raised function as a signal that something is received.
One of the questions were: "What is your perspective on the mystery of restoration". I linked the concept of restoration with said Transfiguration intuitively, which is an unpardonable intellectual vice - but the result, I felt, answered the question. An additional observation before giving you my old answer to this challenge, the Book of Revelation, historically held to be written by John the Apostle while imprisoned on the island Patmos, gives us a vision of the old world, heavens and earth included, consumed and rolled up, devoured and entirely annihilated, to be replaced with a Paradisical new earth with some quite interesting features, such as the description of the "sea being no more". I have been unable to read this apocalyptical vision as anything an interior vision which draws upon the experiences the writer and the reader have with the phenomenal, physical world. The Transfiguration we may seek to participate in, involves a deeper understanding of everything which is - from a point of enquiry well beyond the finite and mortal realms of newborn stars and dying suns. This point coincides with the most interior, most hidden, yet most intimate of all: your starting point for every enquiry - your Self.
The restoration was mentioned, in fact, in the first paragraph of the 6th part of the series, and described as:
"Transfiguration of the world and the expulsion of the powers of darkness from the existencial sphere human,natural and angelic- restoring the "paradisical purity""
But what in the world would that might be?
Within the specific hermeneutic applied by Corbin in his treatment of this theme "the transfiguration of the earth", the task of the "Knighthood of Sophia" - there is a distinction between oppressive darkness,intervening with Being - which has a myriad names but constitute the same thing, which might be considered within a moment, or within a potentionality of eternities (which nevertheless is not eternal) - and a luminous darkness, which could be likened to the soil, or even earth, from which the sparks of light, the souls, the beings - hid inside it,can be retrieved.
Sophiology, as we might find it in the slightly heterodox thinkers Vladimir Solovyev and Nicolai Berdyaev, as well as the more orthodox oriented thinkers such as Sergei Bulgakov and Pavel Florensky - operates with Dual aspect of Sophia, or a dual expression of Sophia (Wisdom); a creaturely Sophia and a Divine Sophia - the might be considered the same "person" under different circumstances,conditions and predicaments, co-existing.
They are unified through the agent of Man who can "wed" the separate realms and dimensions of being in himself through the discipline which in this context is called a "Sophianity".
Achamoth (Echmoth) can be construed to be the substantiality which fills the galaxies of forms and potentional existence, she "leaks" life, or "bleeds" it - into all containers, and upon contact, participates in the natures, which is to say, in this "diminishing" of herself into a plurality
- she "creates", fashions or "gives birth to" ..worlds. Taking on the nature or participating in the life which is shaped by this union, a certain Wisdom accrues, while also it is subject to the mortality of the recipient forms, their fragility. Her presence fills up every form, every person, every globe - and those who experience, like she experiences, the exchanges between the outer and the inner, between the twilight and dawn, is informed of what Beauty is, what longing is (a very wise endeavour, but shut in, by itself.. Eros, according to the myth - is born of the union of such longing with industry (activity)) and what suffering means.
What lacks here, at the foundation of such existence, such being - galaxies and universes, is a connection with the initial identity, the initial integrity, and a resolve of will, of conscious participation - an active knowing.
"He that knows the All, yet lacking Self-Knowledge, lacks everything" -
to paraphrase the Gospel of Thomas.. but this "lacking" is an continuous condition of our "earth", and because of this condition the aforementioned powers, dark or evil we might say, have their say and influence on all that participates in the self-same "life".
I am trying to state something difficult: That your "god", your "consciousness" - everything elevated to some distance of value or integrity, all "powers", "angels" and "principalities" - not calling them demons,archons or tyrants as such, they might become this, just as we might become bitter men and women, corrupt, perverted, misanthropes, hating not only the world, our next, any "god" - but also oursleves, our lives etc. participating in the continuous "sin against the Holy Spirit" - is party to this condition, this predicament.. and subject to a Shadow, which enlivens the passive/active ignorance,arrogance,forgetting,uncharity. That Shadow is not Achamoth, but every "child" of Achamoth, like Herself, is born into a world which is dominated by the active pollution of the Shadow of every single particle or universal; they would not have been born into that particular predicament.. had not the flaw of their mother been reproduced in their own interior. So men, in a unconscious capacity, in amnesis, forgetting -and subservience to these powers - "create the world", as well as becoming products,charges,debtors to the selfsame.
Every child, again, contains a Dual aspect - they are as much the child of the Higher, redeemed,unfailing Divine Sophia, as they are a child of Achamoth, just as much are they the product of the union of Logos with Sophia, as they have become the bastard product of the union of Ialdabaoth with Achamoth; or as much from "Heaven" as they are from "the World"; and every child again, is not exclusively human, animal, angelic etc. but represents all that are emanated out of Sophia - whether into Her own, in the Pleroma - or into Achamoth, which becomes Kenoma (emptiness) continuously; this also represents a Dual Aspect, in origin it is One, but becomes many in the multiplicity both of Light and Dark, only in the struggle between the two, does it become divided.
From a Gnostic perspective - the redemption of identity through interior knowledge, Gnosis - is that predicament which is of greatest priority; without that, there is no true power in us to interfer,assist or parry - whatever powers,developements and events come our way, we can only do damage.. call that "sin" if you will, but at the very least there is lesser or greater damage being done.
Zoroastrianism being decidedly Monotheistic in cosmology (sic!) recognizes only one possible outcome for the All, but appreciates the nature of man as something a bit different than other monotheistic orthodoxies: Like Angels who are messengers, lighthouses of intent,information,wisdom..and power of intercession - Man is a redeemer and a repairer, who paradoxically is in the closest vicinity of that which needs redemption..
The Good is defined, not in the passive and docile enjoyment of a paradisical condition as such, but in the active participation in making things better, the Good is, very primitively put, Love..not the thought of Love, or sentiment, or ideal - but that transformative intercession. While most souls will travel to the Bridge of Chinvat with a very heavy baggage, and meet something resembling a gruesome parody of a man or a woman, once they arrive - some will participate in the work represented by the Advocate, like some parts of existence and reality will shine the brighter, reflecting the Light of the Divine, even if its present form and constitution..will be ruined at the end of the "last day" when all is accomplished.
Some traditions of Gnostic Christianity, as well as- certain traditions of the Esoteric or "hidden" aspect of so-called Orthodox Christianity, as well as with the Kabbalistical tradition of Isaac Luria (I cannot vouch for all the others) - teach an Apokatastasis Panthon - the restoration of all things into their origin; they will no more linger in a middle condition, being not exactly of this constitution or the other, not truelly fulfilling their natures or revealing their true identities, not really participating in a reality which is informed by their potentionality; what looses itself to darkness, is darkness, and what looses itself to light, is light - that which is born out of this process of purification, this distilling of the true light from the mixture - becomes a new, truer being, for they are children of redemption. Of Christ-Sophia.
So with Man, He either works upon "nature", or "nature" works upon him. If he takes no part, still he is a child of Sophia, but he has not "put on the robe of light", he has not "intervened on behalf of "his" soul, which is *not* his self" - he is no Knight, nor a page.. he is some uncharitable person who nevertheless profit by way of the redemption of the kingdom, for it will provide a sanctified spot for him to continue to be passive,uncharitable,cowardly and whatever else he desires, until he tires of it.. finally gravity itself will pull his roots up and land him right in the trouble which brought him here, and finally this trouble will be resolved.
"In Yasht XIX we hear celebrated the creatures
who are to come from the world of light and , in the
form of the Saoshyants, renew earthly existence,
making it an existence in the nature of Fire, when all
creatures will possess an incorruptible body of luminous
Fire. But that is an event toward which all creatures
of light are working now, in the present. This work
and this event were the very reason, from the beginning, for the choice and battle of the Fravartis. The creatures of light receive their capacity to fulfill or to anticipate this metamorphosis thanks to the victorial Fire whose radiance embodied in beings is called by the personal name of the Angel Arshtat."
Henry Corbin:Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth...pp.45
"This tranfiguring energy of which the Imago Gloriae is the source and organ, envelopes the whole soul. Perception of the Fire of earthly Flory proclaims the radiance of a spiritual Fire bringing the soul to incandescence, to the Light of saving knowledge (gnosis) introduces the soul to the Earth of Light, and to all the beings composing its own world, the world for which it
is answerable. That is why the figure of Daena, the light of knowledge and the Imago Animae, is sometimes
substituted for that of the Angel Arshtat.
And that is also why at the "judgement" which is the confrontation of
the soul with the celestial archetypes for which it had to answer on earth, the Angel Arshtat stands at the side of Zamyat, the Dea terrestris, at the
"weighing" of the soul, both of them assisting the archangel
Amertat.For this confrontation causes the soul to ask: with what "weight" did it weigh its own Xvarnah which was
for the transformation of being? To what degree was it itself a Saoshyant, thus fulfilling the vow of its own prayer: "May we be among those who are to bring about the Transfiguration of the
Earth".." Henry Corbin: Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth..pp.45-46
"Ashi Vanuhi is the Angel who radiates Xvarnah,the Light of Glory; but this radiation everlasting,
that is to say, the perdurable radiance thus restored
by vision,now becomes the Angel who is called by the
name Arshtat. In her person she is the Imago
Gloriae reflecting to the soul the Image of an Earth
transfigured into the image of the soul that transfigures
it."
Henry Corbin:Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth,pp.45.
I fear this text needs a preface. Some explanation.
I have spoken of the voluntary voyage in contrast to the natural course. The Magnum Opus is ever thus; it is necessary to become conscious while being in the world - to understand the difference. It is the Opus contra Natura. I mean, comprehend the distinction between the natural birth and a new birth. What is a new birth? Do we insist upon it as a cultural event, a rite of passage, to another aspect of the same life? If we do, we find ourselves very far from the fire. Necessarely each and every single one of you who pursue the path of Christ, are abnormal and unnatural. Each moment of conscious participation in the mysteries produce a transgression against formal religion. Not such transgressions you would profess to your Priest. Not such perturbations of conscience you would lecture upon to your Analyst.
Past generations of seekers, past generations of Gnostics knew this.
So some of them gathered in the desert. The desert is not a natural place for people to dwell. It is a place you pass through.
I believe that the desert is a perfect image for the situation each single Christian Gnostic finds himself or herself to be in - when I say this, I intend with the desert to indicate that there is an intense thirst, an intense stubborn intention in us - to seek water, to seek shelter, to seek a way out of this desert. It is also my belief that this situation were precisely what the disciples of Christ found themselves in first when Jesus died and disappeared, and then again when he ascended adn they were left to their own devices.
This is the precise moment the interior voice and the lightning flashes of vision occur in all the Gnostic accounts, that which were put down in writing so that future generations might read them.
It is my understanding that while there were indeed precursors, revealers and messengers before Christ, this moment where only the interior witness, alive in the disciples - a seed growing inside of them - is the beginning of the Christian Gnosis.
The eve of Pentecost is the archetypal shewbread, the Eucharist commemorated. Wherein all the events from the personal encounter with Jesus, which for each individual disciple were different, unique - to the unique suffering of sorrow,disorientation and perplexity which each of them went through differently - and were comforted differently, which we find examples of in many of the Acts of the Apostles we find in the Apocryphal literature. It is told that Jesus did not baptize his disciples, in the New Testament. The Gnostic testimonies, such as The Pistis Sophia and the Books of Ieou, contradicts this testimony. But when they contradict this testimony, we must remember that the Christ which indeed baptizes his disciples has, through this death, this resurrection and the triumphant ascension, through fulfilling both the descent of the Holy Spirit, the manifestation of the Comforter, the paraclete - and the interior witness in each of the disciples - has become a different Christ than the one which were promised by the prophets, who took the confidence and the hope of his disciples to himself and transformed it, and who was born one night to a woman named Mary and who had a father called Joseph, who was a carpenter. Yes, it was indeed a different Christ and a different baptism. Indeed, it was different disciples entirely.
The reason for this is quite simple - that which indeed happened, the true event, has not taken place in the world we knew, the world we were fed like milk by the generations that went before, to some of us it has not taken place, yet. To the majority of humankind it is not a past event, it is not history, ancient or recent - it is a universal non-event.
As such, the criticism that it is entirely unhistorical cannot be deflected. It is an unspeakable atrocity, a foolishness to the Greeks and an anathema to the Hebrews.
Friends, I am trying to speak of how the Gnosis is different. How the events of the journey of Yeshuah and the disciples is differently received by Gnostics. How we may profess with the Orthodox the same things, with good conscience, with the words we speak signifying a different, esoteric, unspoken meaning. This is not deceit. We know that some are able to partake of the same meal which we prepare. We know that some will hear the precise intention in our words, to see the sincerity in our actions; without being cued or having a lot of arcane boulderdash being explained to them. This is how we can participate in the same communion. And we do not need to insist upon a spectacular outward form for that which is internally unique and received. A Church Catholic is universal, it is not our flesh and our blood, it is neither martyrs or prophets, it is neither clergy nor laity, it is neither male nor female, it has no sexual orientation at all, it answers to no etnicity, culture or race. God is untranslateable to any known language, therefore we break this word that we may live.
Upon Pentecost, further still we go.
The journey goes onward.To the cross of dissolution, upon which Christ crucified this world.Whose mystery is expressed in the words "inasmuch as you have dissolved the world, and are not dissolved yourselves, you are lords over all generation and corruption."
(Fragments of Valentinus)
Facing West. The mystery of Good Friday greets us with ashes, a rain of blood and a raging wind. A total eclipse of the sun of biological life. A recognition of finitude which penetrate our flesh and takes habitation in the marrow of our bones.
Facing East. Easter Sunday. Here in distance between the men and the women, whose measure of passion is so unequal we speak of one as if she were borne up from a great depth in glory, while another sinks where he stands - the same play of light and dark occur before their eyes.
They receive each a measure according to the capacity he or she has to see beyond the vision of fleshly eyes and the intellect of the Psyche.
To the new birth, in baptism you have seen it coming towards you.
And having seen it, you took courage and entered the tomb with him.
You entered the place below the crypt, and you submitted unconditionally to this death, all the clothes you have received from the robbers on your way down to this place, and you have entered into the place of the resurrection so that you yourselves might be clothed in His glory.
Now it has become a living being which stands up and whose eyes
now has visions of the real, whose ears at every occasion it speaks it, and whose mouth is consecrated to song and to testimony.
You go to light and life in Him, He is in you, and You are in Him.
Heaven or Earth might see this countenance; upon seeing it, the entirety professes; It is You.
This one professes that before he was entirely an orphan.
No Father knew he. No Mother knew he. And he knew neither Father or Mother. You speak so proud of the generations before. But look into this night, this desolate place - where are your glorious past?
The heartbeat that insists upon it, is your own. They swear upon the end of the world. Since it will never come. But it has already happened.
Fear not, rather, do not be shy.
This is the glorious Cross. This is the continued life and breath of the Holy Spirit.