Pleroma

To continue the discussion started in the last few posts, 

I thought I would discuss briefly another word you will 

probably encounter in

the Gnostic scriptures: the "Pleroma." 

This can be a bit confusing since it seems sometimes 

to be used almost interchangeably with Aeon. 

My understanding of what the Pleroma represents is the

spiritual realm as a whole, in which the spiritual beings 

of Gnostic cosmogony move and have their being. 

In this sense, it is a bit more inclusive and can 

include the modes of existence of the archon

entities as well as the aeonic entities.

Pleroma may also be seen as a kind of 

communion of spirit, linking

all spirit together in a basic unity. 

The implication of this, of

course, is that insofar as we are 

spiritual beings, we are linked to

the Pleroma in that spirit; 

however, as we are simultaneously

limited by physicality, 

we are unable to fully and immediately

actualize that Pleromic existence in the 

way that we will be able to

once we acheive gnosis.

What is perhaps more interesting, 

however, is this theology of the

Pleroma with regard to how it affects 

the Gnostic perception of

Christ and Sophia. 

When we say Christ was the full incarnation of

the divine spirit into the world, 

what we are really saying is that

he was unique among all human beings 

in being able to really

actualize his Pleromic identity 

even while he was physically

contained within his human nature. 

We see this idea reflected in

Gnostic writings, for example the so-called 

"Second Apocalypse of

James," where Jesus remarks that he 

himself has received "revelation

from the Pleroma of Imperishability." 

In the Apocalypse of Peter,

Jesus actually declares that the Pleroma 

was like a being "coming to

me" who provided him with the divine 

revelation that makes him the

great mediator between God and human beings, 

and the power that even

conquered death, as, again in the words of 

the Apocalypse of Peter,

Christ is seen 

"on the tree, glad and laughing." Or, as the Apoc.

Pet. continues, the nature of Jesus 

"into whose hands and feet they

drive nails is his fleshly part," 

but it is Christ's spiritual

connection with the Pleroma that ensures 

that mere physical death

will not prevent his continued life and 

his continuing revelation of

the divine spirit. 

In this light, we can better understand the

event of the Ascension, which 

represented Christ more or less

shifting back from the physical 

existence begun by his incarnation,

drawing this physical phase to a close 

and reentering the realm of

the Pleroma fully. In this way, the ascent of 

the combined physical-

spiritual Christ to the Pleromic Christ 

means indeed that Christ is

the "firstfruits of those who believe" 

-- in other words, he has

laid out the same path that we will follow in 

the process of gnosis,

as beings who now are a kind of 

amalgamation of physicality,

intellect, and spirit, but will eventually 

find the true fulfillment

of our human identity in the end 

state of the Pleroma.

Similarly with Sophia, who, 

although she is not made incarnate in

the same sense as Christ, 

does in a different way "descend" as the

manifestation of the "holy spirit" 

that Christ promised to send to

his disciples after his Ascension 

back into the Pleroma -- the

descent of Sophia that we will soon 

be celebrating with the Feast of

Pentecost. Just as Christ manifested 

in the world a fully realized

Pleromic identity, so Sophia, who 

descends into the world (though

not physically) but retains her full 

Pleromic identity. We can see

this theological orientation in the 

Nag Hammadi "Authoritative

Teaching," where Sophia's nature is 

described: "Whether she is in

the descent or is in the Pleroma, 

she is not separated from them,

but they see her and she looks at 

them in the invisible world." In

other words, Sophia, who is simultaneously 

in descent and in the

Pleroma, remains the eternal bridge 

(along with Christ) between our

identity in the visible physical world 

and our identity in the

invisible spiritual world. 

Where we cannot immediately "see" the

Pleroma in its true spiritual manifestation, 

we can however directly

see as it were the bridges to the Pleroma, 

Christ and Sophia, who

both more or less bring the Pleroma 

down into the world in which we

inhabit in order to raise us up through 

the progress of gnosis in

our own lives.

One last thing I would like to emphasize, 

particularly because some

of these posts have emphasized the 

individual's process of gnosis,

is that the theology of the Pleroma 

and the Aeon is profoundly

communitarian and collective. 

Gnosis is indeed a deeply individual

process, but Gnosticism is not an 

egotistical and individualistic

movement in the sense of 

mainstream Christianity, where the whole

religion is directed toward MY salvation, 

MY relationship with

Christ, MY experience of conversion 

or being saved. As beings who

participate in part in the Pleroma now 

and who eventually will

participate fully in the Pleromic life, 

we are intimately and

inextricably linked to all other 

human beings, indeed to the rest of

the natural cosmos, due to the suffusion 

of Pleromic identity --

i.e. the spirit -- in the midst of the 

physical world, as it were.

Therefore, while the process of gnosis 

is extremely personal in one

sense, the direction in which it moves us is 

deeply communitarian

and brings us toward a connectedness 

with the spiritual brothers and

sisters that surround us. 

I will be discussing some major themes of

a modern Gnostic morality in the next few weeks, 

but for now, let us

suffice it to say that this profound 

connection must inform our

moral judgements, our actions, 

and our thoughts, because to hurt or

damage another spiritual being 

(either a person or the natural world

and the environment, for example) 

is to diminish our own spirit

because of its mutuality and 

interdependence with all other spirit

in the cosmos.

This is what forms the basis for one 

of the three major principles I

propose in articulating a modern Gnostic morality 

-- the doctrine of non-harm, which is reflected as 

well in many types of modern

paganism and in Eastern religions as well. 

As the poet John Donne

wrote, "No man is an island, entire of itself; 

all are a part of the

Contninent, a part of the Main." 

The process of gnosis is

inevitably a process that fulfills both our 

identities as

individuals and at one and the same time 

our identities as beings in

the community of the spirit. 

I think that this is part of why

Gnosticism is so attractive, 

because it at least attempts to answer

the whole breadth of the so-called 

"existential problem," the

communitarian question as well 

as the egoic one.

I hope this will help you consider 

the previous posts on "What is

an 'Aeon'" and "What is an 'Archon,'" 

and also provide you with some

of the theoretical theological basis 

for the more practical

discussions of how we construct a 

Gnostic morality or ethical

framework that is meaningful to modern life 

at the same time it

reflects the profundity of our 

Gnostic traditions that reach back

almost 2000 years.

Again, I would like to invite you all 

to begin posting your

questions, reactions, or thoughts about 

Gnosticism or the process of

gnosis, since this group is meant to be a 

forum for your discussions

and not simply a means of 

propagating my own opinions; I hope that

what I write will spark you to think 

about linkages, practical

meanings, and indeed even 

points on which you disagree 

with me and

think I have missed the boat, so to speak.

In Christ and Sophia,

+Matthew