South African Sophian Gnostic Circle
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Contemplations on Perfection
posted Monday, 8 October 2007
Recently during one of our meeting subject of the Cathars were brought up. This brought an opportune time to discuss "Perfection" in light of the Sophian traditions.
Cathari, the Perfect
The Cathars or Cathari, the Perfect, is the name of a specific sect of Gnosticism which thrived in France until around the 12th Century when it fell victim to the oppression of the Roman Church. However, this name is drawn from the sacred texts of Gnosticism in which the initiates who acquire gnosis are called "perfect" or the "perfect ones." The idea of the perfect is at the heart of Gnosticism, thus we must inquire into the meaning of this idea, for on the level of our personality and life-display we certainly appear to be less than perfect.
In the Gospel of St. Thomas there are many hints as to what this perfection might mean. Perhaps one of the most revealing is what Jesus says to his disciples regarding the kingdom of heaven. He says, "...the kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it." (saying 113) The implication is that the kingdom exists here and now, in the same space as this world, but in another more subtle dimension.
In the Sophian teachings we are taught about our soul of Light, that in reality we are person of Light who come from the Light-continuum. Within and behind this teaching is another more subtle and sublime truth - we are, indeed, persons of Light and, in fact, we have never left the Light-kingdom! In other words, though we are incarnate in the physical or material world, at the same "time" on an inner level we exist in the World of Supernal Light - we are metadimensional beings whose existence spans countless inner dimensions.
Gnosis, by nature, is an awareness of the inner or metaphysical dimensions of space-time-consciousness and, specifically, an awareness of the inmost part of ourselves which transcends space-time-consciousness and exists in unity with our Source (God and Gohead). This inmost part of ourselves is bornless and is perfect - thus one who is aware of this Divine Spark (Yechidah) may rightly be called "perfect." It is the awareness of this innate perfection - this true and bornless being, which is the aim of all Gnosticism.
Quite naturally, one who experiences this inmost part of the soul of Light will experience the World of Supernal Light within and around him or herself, here below as above, and will know the Light-kingdom "spread out upon the earth." Though he or she may be in the world, such a holy person is not of the world, but is a person of the Light-kingdom and is among the perfect.
This may at first sound fanciful, or as though it is a distant attainment. Yet, it is the present truth of our Inner and Higher Self (the Christ Self in us) and we may experience this Light-presence at any time - in any moment the necessary conditions are present. In truth, in our inmost part, we are already perfect, we merely need to remember this Light which is our Source and True Being.
Universally, Gnostic schools speak of this world as an "alien realm," and Gnostics speak of themselves as "strangers" or "aliens" in this world. This is a natural result of the Gnostic experience and acqusition of gnosis, for the person of Light in us is, indeed, "alien" to this world. The person of Light is not dependent upon this world, and although this world may serve as a matrix for the realization of the person of Light it does not generate the person of Light - the person of Light comes from "above" and thus transcends the physical or material world. The message of Gnosticism is that it is quite possible for us to experience and "know" this transcendence while in this world, and thus to completely realize our transcendence when the time comes for us to depart this world.
Some might hear Gnostics speak of feeling like "strangers" or "aliens" and believe that it is unhealthy. However, that is not the case at all. It simply means that they know the transitory nature of this life and world, and that they are not so strongly identified with the finite name and form. Instead, they are centered within and live within, and self-identify with the person of Light and Light-continuum: they live with an awareness of their perfection and labor to embody that perfection to the largest possible extent.
Some might hear the term "the perfect" and believe that Gnostics are espousing an elitist philosophy, however that is also not the case. From a Gnostic perspective, everyone and everything is inwardly perfect, and this is true of each and every person, whether or not he or she is conscious of it. From a Gnostic Christian persepctive it is this perfection Jesus Christ taught and revealed. In this context one might consider the saying of Jesus from the Gospel of St. John: "Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect" - Live as the person of Light, who is perfect. Obviously we must actually recognize and realize this innate perfection in order to embody it and actually experience it - yet it is the present truth of our Inmost Being.
We may proclaim the Gnostic message in a very simple way: Today you exist in the Light-kingdom; remember the Light in you and you will experience it - remember your perfection!
In the Gospel of St. Thomas there are many hints as to what this perfection might mean. Perhaps one of the most revealing is what Jesus says to his disciples regarding the kingdom of heaven. He says, "...the kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it." (saying 113) The implication is that the kingdom exists here and now, in the same space as this world, but in another more subtle dimension.
In the Sophian teachings we are taught about our soul of Light, that in reality we are person of Light who come from the Light-continuum. Within and behind this teaching is another more subtle and sublime truth - we are, indeed, persons of Light and, in fact, we have never left the Light-kingdom! In other words, though we are incarnate in the physical or material world, at the same "time" on an inner level we exist in the World of Supernal Light - we are metadimensional beings whose existence spans countless inner dimensions.
Gnosis, by nature, is an awareness of the inner or metaphysical dimensions of space-time-consciousness and, specifically, an awareness of the inmost part of ourselves which transcends space-time-consciousness and exists in unity with our Source (God and Gohead). This inmost part of ourselves is bornless and is perfect - thus one who is aware of this Divine Spark (Yechidah) may rightly be called "perfect." It is the awareness of this innate perfection - this true and bornless being, which is the aim of all Gnosticism.
Quite naturally, one who experiences this inmost part of the soul of Light will experience the World of Supernal Light within and around him or herself, here below as above, and will know the Light-kingdom "spread out upon the earth." Though he or she may be in the world, such a holy person is not of the world, but is a person of the Light-kingdom and is among the perfect.
This may at first sound fanciful, or as though it is a distant attainment. Yet, it is the present truth of our Inner and Higher Self (the Christ Self in us) and we may experience this Light-presence at any time - in any moment the necessary conditions are present. In truth, in our inmost part, we are already perfect, we merely need to remember this Light which is our Source and True Being.
Universally, Gnostic schools speak of this world as an "alien realm," and Gnostics speak of themselves as "strangers" or "aliens" in this world. This is a natural result of the Gnostic experience and acqusition of gnosis, for the person of Light in us is, indeed, "alien" to this world. The person of Light is not dependent upon this world, and although this world may serve as a matrix for the realization of the person of Light it does not generate the person of Light - the person of Light comes from "above" and thus transcends the physical or material world. The message of Gnosticism is that it is quite possible for us to experience and "know" this transcendence while in this world, and thus to completely realize our transcendence when the time comes for us to depart this world.
Some might hear Gnostics speak of feeling like "strangers" or "aliens" and believe that it is unhealthy. However, that is not the case at all. It simply means that they know the transitory nature of this life and world, and that they are not so strongly identified with the finite name and form. Instead, they are centered within and live within, and self-identify with the person of Light and Light-continuum: they live with an awareness of their perfection and labor to embody that perfection to the largest possible extent.
Some might hear the term "the perfect" and believe that Gnostics are espousing an elitist philosophy, however that is also not the case. From a Gnostic perspective, everyone and everything is inwardly perfect, and this is true of each and every person, whether or not he or she is conscious of it. From a Gnostic Christian persepctive it is this perfection Jesus Christ taught and revealed. In this context one might consider the saying of Jesus from the Gospel of St. John: "Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect" - Live as the person of Light, who is perfect. Obviously we must actually recognize and realize this innate perfection in order to embody it and actually experience it - yet it is the present truth of our Inmost Being.
We may proclaim the Gnostic message in a very simple way: Today you exist in the Light-kingdom; remember the Light in you and you will experience it - remember your perfection!
Perfect Success
There is a striving, a struggle and work to be done – we are here for the work and in the work our innate good shines forth and we glorifying God; the noble ideal, of course, is liberation from self-grasping, attachment and aversion – the “doer,” which is what produces the delusion of lack and false concepts of perfection.
In the ignorance, in karmic vision, we think there is some sort of fixed or static self, we believe we have a substantial and independent self-existence apart from the whole of creation and God; in truth, however, we are completely interdependent, interconnected, interrelated and interacting with all, and completely inseparable from the Source of Being, God, and rather than anything fixed or static, the self is fluid and flowing, a stream of being-consciousness-force, existing in the continual state of flux or change – hence a radiant display of being in becoming, coming into being.
The metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly is often used as an example reflected in nature of the radical possibility of Adonai Yeshua into Hayyah Yeshua, the Risen Messiah – if in nature such radical transformations occur, then it is not unreasonable to believe in a radical transformation of a physical or material body into a spiritual body, a body of pure energy or light.
In this same example we have an analogy of the true nature of self, as well as our innate perfection – the stream of consciousness or soul that is the caterpillar, fluid and flowing, becomes the chrysalis, and in turn it becomes the winged butterfly in all is glory; it is the same stream of being-consciousness-force embodied in all three states, though we must imagine that the experience of consciousness radically transforms as the appearance of body of this creature passes through its metamorphosis – the consciousness of a many legged earthbound creature and that of the winged sky-soaring creature must necessarily be very different. Yet, in the caterpillar there is innate perfection, in the chrysalis there is innate perfection, and in the butterfly there is innate perfection – while there is a radical evolution, a radical transformation, at every stage there is an innate perfection of the being in the moment of becoming. Nevertheless, inwardly it is the very nature of the caterpillar to strive towards its future self as the butterfly, to struggle and work towards its manifest destiny, and so it eats and labors to grow, and eventually forms the chrysalis to pass through its metamorphosis – in a similar way, by an inward impulse called “faith,” we are driven to the spiritual life and practice in an effort to become fully human, and to become more than human, to become divine and supernal, Christ. We are destined to this struggle, this effort, this work, as surely as is the caterpillar – an evolution and refinement of the form and operations consciousness assumes, a development and evolution towards the Highest of Life, the Holy One of Being.
Do I take up this work in the delusion of lack, or in the awareness of emptiness, which is fullness; do I take up this work as though an individual separate and apart from the universal, or awareness of myself as an individual inseparable from the universal, a part, if you will, inseparable from the whole, and therefore perfect and complete in the whole and as the whole, while yet being a part?
In other words, in the midst of the play of becoming – the development and evolution of the soul-being, what’s my view and attitude, what’s my vision, and how do I take up that spiritual labor based upon the view?
Essentially, view and attitude is a great power, like faith itself – it seems Adonai Yeshua teaches us this in the Sermon on the Mount when he speaks the Beatitudes; they outline a view, an attitude, in the Way.
The very first Beatitude is this: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 3:3). This may, indeed, speak of poverty, which may lead a person to look to heaven or enlightenment, and to God, as the source of happiness, rather than to the vanities of the world and worldly things; but on a more subtle esoteric level it indicates the awareness of the emptiness of self and all, which is also the fullness of self and all, and which is the very essence of the enlightenment and liberation of the soul, and the power of radical transformation, creative freedom.
If, indeed, the nature of the self I am is nothing fixed or static, but is a stream of consciousness ever changing, transforming, then where is the sinner or the saint, or rather what is the sinner or the saint, and what is sin and death? These are an appearance of consciousness ever changing – an it is wonderful, for I am never stuck as this or that, but rather as no-thingness (not this or that) I am free to transform in every instant, and aware of this I may begin to consciously direct that flow of change or transformation I am, I shall be; it is freedom, it is liberation, the illumination and empowerment of being!
If I know the self is no self, and know that is my True Self (Christ Self), *spacious radiant awareness*, then in the midst of doing the work there is no doer, but rather the “work,” the “doing,” is a natural and spontaneous expression of being in becoming – the entire process of becoming is Divine Play, and it is Pure Joy, Pure Delight, the *Bliss of Being in Becoming*.
There is, indeed, a “steadiness” in this – no longer unconscious, fitful and inconsistent; the sleeper who is dreaming has awakened, and so the dream is transformed.
We do, indeed, strive to be Christ-like, “Christian,” and yet more we strive to be and become Christ. At the outset, there is a doer, and we set that doer to work for Adonai, the Lord; through the struggle, the work, we serve the Lord in all activities, but in the midst of this service we offer all up to the Lord and rely upon the Lord, and we cleave to the Lord, binding our soul to Adonai, the Divine Presence. Offering up, relying, cleaving and binding-uniting, more and more we are no longer the doer, but the Lord, Adonai, the Divine Presence, is the doer.
In the end we recognize that the whole is acting as every part, the universal is acting through every individual – all the while is was the Lord, Adonai, the Holy Shekinah, that was the doer; even in the initial earliest stages of the development and evolution of life in nescience, it was the Holy Shekinah and Holy Spirit manifest as Nature accomplishing everything. So it has been said that the Human One is Nature becoming conscious of Herself; Nature becoming aware of Herself as God and Godhead, the Divine.
Essentially, this “becoming conscious” is the Divine Nature (neshamah) shining from within creatures and creation, actualized and realized, expressed and embodied, as we witness of Yeshua Messiah, the Divine brought down into the Human One, the Divine drawn out of the Human One.
In all of this, of course, is the teaching and practice of *Perfect Success*.
What is the view of Perfect Success? That any apparent failure is the working out of our eventual and ultimate success – that there is no “failure,” but only the working out of our success in a wave-like motion through regress and progress, even moving forwards. In terms of our evolution into Christ, the Human One of Light, we are destined to succeed, for the Christ is our True Nature, our True Being, our Innate Perfection, and it cannot help but shine from within us in the scheme of things, it is only a matter of time and the delightful play of the Being in Becoming.
Perhaps we may speak of all of this in another way: Instead of a view of work, can we take up the view of play?
Work is, typically, for the sake of some goal – but play is for its own sake, for the delight of playing; and in this we might contemplate the teaching of Adonai Yeshua when he said, “Unless you become as little children, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
*When it is all the play of a child in the lap of the Divine Mother, then it is all a delight and we live in the kingdom of heaven here and now – it is all a play of the Light Realm, within and all around us.
We live and move and have our being in the Holy Mother – may we awaken and remember, and so delight in the Divine Play; amen.
In the ignorance, in karmic vision, we think there is some sort of fixed or static self, we believe we have a substantial and independent self-existence apart from the whole of creation and God; in truth, however, we are completely interdependent, interconnected, interrelated and interacting with all, and completely inseparable from the Source of Being, God, and rather than anything fixed or static, the self is fluid and flowing, a stream of being-consciousness-force, existing in the continual state of flux or change – hence a radiant display of being in becoming, coming into being.
The metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly is often used as an example reflected in nature of the radical possibility of Adonai Yeshua into Hayyah Yeshua, the Risen Messiah – if in nature such radical transformations occur, then it is not unreasonable to believe in a radical transformation of a physical or material body into a spiritual body, a body of pure energy or light.
In this same example we have an analogy of the true nature of self, as well as our innate perfection – the stream of consciousness or soul that is the caterpillar, fluid and flowing, becomes the chrysalis, and in turn it becomes the winged butterfly in all is glory; it is the same stream of being-consciousness-force embodied in all three states, though we must imagine that the experience of consciousness radically transforms as the appearance of body of this creature passes through its metamorphosis – the consciousness of a many legged earthbound creature and that of the winged sky-soaring creature must necessarily be very different. Yet, in the caterpillar there is innate perfection, in the chrysalis there is innate perfection, and in the butterfly there is innate perfection – while there is a radical evolution, a radical transformation, at every stage there is an innate perfection of the being in the moment of becoming. Nevertheless, inwardly it is the very nature of the caterpillar to strive towards its future self as the butterfly, to struggle and work towards its manifest destiny, and so it eats and labors to grow, and eventually forms the chrysalis to pass through its metamorphosis – in a similar way, by an inward impulse called “faith,” we are driven to the spiritual life and practice in an effort to become fully human, and to become more than human, to become divine and supernal, Christ. We are destined to this struggle, this effort, this work, as surely as is the caterpillar – an evolution and refinement of the form and operations consciousness assumes, a development and evolution towards the Highest of Life, the Holy One of Being.
Do I take up this work in the delusion of lack, or in the awareness of emptiness, which is fullness; do I take up this work as though an individual separate and apart from the universal, or awareness of myself as an individual inseparable from the universal, a part, if you will, inseparable from the whole, and therefore perfect and complete in the whole and as the whole, while yet being a part?
In other words, in the midst of the play of becoming – the development and evolution of the soul-being, what’s my view and attitude, what’s my vision, and how do I take up that spiritual labor based upon the view?
Essentially, view and attitude is a great power, like faith itself – it seems Adonai Yeshua teaches us this in the Sermon on the Mount when he speaks the Beatitudes; they outline a view, an attitude, in the Way.
The very first Beatitude is this: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 3:3). This may, indeed, speak of poverty, which may lead a person to look to heaven or enlightenment, and to God, as the source of happiness, rather than to the vanities of the world and worldly things; but on a more subtle esoteric level it indicates the awareness of the emptiness of self and all, which is also the fullness of self and all, and which is the very essence of the enlightenment and liberation of the soul, and the power of radical transformation, creative freedom.
If, indeed, the nature of the self I am is nothing fixed or static, but is a stream of consciousness ever changing, transforming, then where is the sinner or the saint, or rather what is the sinner or the saint, and what is sin and death? These are an appearance of consciousness ever changing – an it is wonderful, for I am never stuck as this or that, but rather as no-thingness (not this or that) I am free to transform in every instant, and aware of this I may begin to consciously direct that flow of change or transformation I am, I shall be; it is freedom, it is liberation, the illumination and empowerment of being!
If I know the self is no self, and know that is my True Self (Christ Self), *spacious radiant awareness*, then in the midst of doing the work there is no doer, but rather the “work,” the “doing,” is a natural and spontaneous expression of being in becoming – the entire process of becoming is Divine Play, and it is Pure Joy, Pure Delight, the *Bliss of Being in Becoming*.
There is, indeed, a “steadiness” in this – no longer unconscious, fitful and inconsistent; the sleeper who is dreaming has awakened, and so the dream is transformed.
We do, indeed, strive to be Christ-like, “Christian,” and yet more we strive to be and become Christ. At the outset, there is a doer, and we set that doer to work for Adonai, the Lord; through the struggle, the work, we serve the Lord in all activities, but in the midst of this service we offer all up to the Lord and rely upon the Lord, and we cleave to the Lord, binding our soul to Adonai, the Divine Presence. Offering up, relying, cleaving and binding-uniting, more and more we are no longer the doer, but the Lord, Adonai, the Divine Presence, is the doer.
In the end we recognize that the whole is acting as every part, the universal is acting through every individual – all the while is was the Lord, Adonai, the Holy Shekinah, that was the doer; even in the initial earliest stages of the development and evolution of life in nescience, it was the Holy Shekinah and Holy Spirit manifest as Nature accomplishing everything. So it has been said that the Human One is Nature becoming conscious of Herself; Nature becoming aware of Herself as God and Godhead, the Divine.
Essentially, this “becoming conscious” is the Divine Nature (neshamah) shining from within creatures and creation, actualized and realized, expressed and embodied, as we witness of Yeshua Messiah, the Divine brought down into the Human One, the Divine drawn out of the Human One.
In all of this, of course, is the teaching and practice of *Perfect Success*.
What is the view of Perfect Success? That any apparent failure is the working out of our eventual and ultimate success – that there is no “failure,” but only the working out of our success in a wave-like motion through regress and progress, even moving forwards. In terms of our evolution into Christ, the Human One of Light, we are destined to succeed, for the Christ is our True Nature, our True Being, our Innate Perfection, and it cannot help but shine from within us in the scheme of things, it is only a matter of time and the delightful play of the Being in Becoming.
Perhaps we may speak of all of this in another way: Instead of a view of work, can we take up the view of play?
Work is, typically, for the sake of some goal – but play is for its own sake, for the delight of playing; and in this we might contemplate the teaching of Adonai Yeshua when he said, “Unless you become as little children, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
*When it is all the play of a child in the lap of the Divine Mother, then it is all a delight and we live in the kingdom of heaven here and now – it is all a play of the Light Realm, within and all around us.
We live and move and have our being in the Holy Mother – may we awaken and remember, and so delight in the Divine Play; amen.
“Perfect Aeon”
The term, “Perfect Aeon” occurs in the Sophian Gospel of St. Mary Magdalene and oral tradition of the Sophian lineage frequently, and is, in fact, a subtle term that indicates the union of timeless-eternity and time-eternity; hence, the subtle threshold through which space-time-consciousness arises from within the eternal realm. Specifically, it indicates the simultaneous experience of timelessness or eternity and time in the state of Non-dual Gnostic Awareness that occurs in Supernal or Messianic Consciousness. In this state of consciousness there is an awareness of oneness and multiplicity without any contradiction, and likewise an awareness of timeless-eternity and time-eternity without any contradiction – the awareness of Reality as It Is.
In Gnostic thought “aeon” indicates an age or period of time, yet it may also indicate a trend of thought or philosophy that is prevalent during a certain age or period of time. These two meanings placed together suggest time as a product of the mind and thought, an experience within the mind and thought, which is shaped and colored, as it were, by the state of mind and nature of the thoughts arising in it. Aeons are spoken of as cosmic or spiritual forces, but are also spoken of as spiritual beings or entities in the metaphysical dimensions of creation.
Within Sophian teachings there are Upper and Lower Aeons. The Upper Aeons representing pure and luminous aeons – the Divine Potential of the Ages and of Ideals they may represent and that may be actualized in them; the Lower Aeons are impure and admixed – they represent the partial and imperfect actualization of the Ages and Ideals represented by the Upper Aeons, the Aeons as the occur under the dominion of the demiurge and archons (Cosmic Ignorance). Thus, the Lower Aeons are dim and shadowy reflections of the Upper Aeons – the actual never exactly matching the Divine Ideal.
We may gain insight into this phenomenon in consciousness in terms of diverse human ideals versus their actuality. For example, we may consider the ideal of democracy, versus the “democracy” of our actual government, or consider the ideal of pure socialism, versus “communism.” The ideal of democracy or socialism, or any other ideology, is one thing, but the actuality is another – whether in politics, religion or any other field of human thought and endeavor. This is the play of the Upper and Lower Aeons in Gnosticism.
In the Kabbalah the Aeons are called “Ages,” per the common term in canonized Scriptures, and have their Supernal Root in Hokmah of Atzilut – thus, the Aeons play out through the manifestation of Hokmah-Netzach on the Great Tree of Life as they occur in the four Olamot. The Perfect Aeon (Eternal Age) would represent the Supernal Ideal of the Aeons in Hokmah at the level of Atzilut – the Age of ages and Ideal of ideals. The Upper Aeons would occur at the level of Hokmah of Beriyah, and the Lower Aeons would occur at the level of Hokmah of Yetzirah – the movement of the sun, moon, planets and stars serving to transmit the influences of the Aeons (among other spiritual influences) at the level of Asiyah.
In the Sophian teachings we speak of thirteen Upper and Lower Aeons, the thirteenth being akin to an axle that joins two wheels – these being founded upon the Ages indicated by the zodiacal signs, coupled with the sun, and representing Great Cosmic Aeons. Within these are all manner of levels of Aeons – periods of time and ideals, so that, in truth, the number of Aeons is countless. All, however, are contained in the Perfect Aeon of timeless-eternity.
At times in the oral tradition the term “Perfect Aeon” is used synonymous with the Age of the Holy Spirit and the Second Coming of Christ – indicating that the awareness of the Perfect Aeon is integral to the fruition of Christ Consciousness; hence the perception of the Ages or Aeons, and all Ideals, from the perspective of Christ Consciousness.
The subject of aeons can swiftly become very subtle and sublime, and quite complex, especially as it becomes interrelated with the subject of the greater play of cosmic forces, such as archangels, angels, and the demiurge, archons and demons. Likewise, there is always some irony in any discussion of the “Perfect Aeon,” since, in truth, whatever we can say of it is partial and imperfect; yet it is integral to our Noble Ideal – Christ.
In closing we can say this: The Perfect Aeon is revealed in the Resurrection and Ascension, and is the Reality of the Risen Christ.
May the Mother Spirit leads us in the Way, Truth and Light of the Perfect Aeon, amen.
In Gnostic thought “aeon” indicates an age or period of time, yet it may also indicate a trend of thought or philosophy that is prevalent during a certain age or period of time. These two meanings placed together suggest time as a product of the mind and thought, an experience within the mind and thought, which is shaped and colored, as it were, by the state of mind and nature of the thoughts arising in it. Aeons are spoken of as cosmic or spiritual forces, but are also spoken of as spiritual beings or entities in the metaphysical dimensions of creation.
Within Sophian teachings there are Upper and Lower Aeons. The Upper Aeons representing pure and luminous aeons – the Divine Potential of the Ages and of Ideals they may represent and that may be actualized in them; the Lower Aeons are impure and admixed – they represent the partial and imperfect actualization of the Ages and Ideals represented by the Upper Aeons, the Aeons as the occur under the dominion of the demiurge and archons (Cosmic Ignorance). Thus, the Lower Aeons are dim and shadowy reflections of the Upper Aeons – the actual never exactly matching the Divine Ideal.
We may gain insight into this phenomenon in consciousness in terms of diverse human ideals versus their actuality. For example, we may consider the ideal of democracy, versus the “democracy” of our actual government, or consider the ideal of pure socialism, versus “communism.” The ideal of democracy or socialism, or any other ideology, is one thing, but the actuality is another – whether in politics, religion or any other field of human thought and endeavor. This is the play of the Upper and Lower Aeons in Gnosticism.
In the Kabbalah the Aeons are called “Ages,” per the common term in canonized Scriptures, and have their Supernal Root in Hokmah of Atzilut – thus, the Aeons play out through the manifestation of Hokmah-Netzach on the Great Tree of Life as they occur in the four Olamot. The Perfect Aeon (Eternal Age) would represent the Supernal Ideal of the Aeons in Hokmah at the level of Atzilut – the Age of ages and Ideal of ideals. The Upper Aeons would occur at the level of Hokmah of Beriyah, and the Lower Aeons would occur at the level of Hokmah of Yetzirah – the movement of the sun, moon, planets and stars serving to transmit the influences of the Aeons (among other spiritual influences) at the level of Asiyah.
In the Sophian teachings we speak of thirteen Upper and Lower Aeons, the thirteenth being akin to an axle that joins two wheels – these being founded upon the Ages indicated by the zodiacal signs, coupled with the sun, and representing Great Cosmic Aeons. Within these are all manner of levels of Aeons – periods of time and ideals, so that, in truth, the number of Aeons is countless. All, however, are contained in the Perfect Aeon of timeless-eternity.
At times in the oral tradition the term “Perfect Aeon” is used synonymous with the Age of the Holy Spirit and the Second Coming of Christ – indicating that the awareness of the Perfect Aeon is integral to the fruition of Christ Consciousness; hence the perception of the Ages or Aeons, and all Ideals, from the perspective of Christ Consciousness.
The subject of aeons can swiftly become very subtle and sublime, and quite complex, especially as it becomes interrelated with the subject of the greater play of cosmic forces, such as archangels, angels, and the demiurge, archons and demons. Likewise, there is always some irony in any discussion of the “Perfect Aeon,” since, in truth, whatever we can say of it is partial and imperfect; yet it is integral to our Noble Ideal – Christ.
In closing we can say this: The Perfect Aeon is revealed in the Resurrection and Ascension, and is the Reality of the Risen Christ.
May the Mother Spirit leads us in the Way, Truth and Light of the Perfect Aeon, amen.