“If you bring forth what is inside you, what you bring forth will save you. If you don’t bring forth what is inside you, what you bring forth can destroy you.” Jesus — The Gospel of Thomas.
The soul is a dark cavern. Its depths so deep many dare not take the plunge into the dark, cold and swirling waters that fill the cavernous ruin. This unwelcoming abode is filled with masks, personae, which have served in our daily interactions with others throughout our lives. These masks have been created from the day we were brought into existence. Masks serve to create an illusion. We attach meaning to things based on our experiences in life, these masks are then tailored to suit each given situation; a meeting with an employer, a family dinner, a night out with friends and acquaintances. With each new interaction, a mask is adapted to suit that particular situation. Thus, during a lifetime there can be an innumerable amount of masks in one’s life. The extent to which the person is no longer “a person”; but a multitude of different persons embedded within a material body.
It can be easy to think that we know who we are. This is a common deception created by the constructs of the mind. One of the most famous Delphic maxims is the Greek aphorism “know thyself”. How are we to truly know ourselves? Also, what does the above quote in the title even mean? I reflect upon these questions daily. My short descriptive account of the soul is how I have experienced the quest to “know myself”; this quest starts just like it does for dear Bilbo in The Hobbit. The spiritual guide (Gandalf) appears at your door one day. The door to your secure home, the house adorned with the many masks you have become comfortable with. A cosy hobbit hole is a secure place, it is home, and home is where the heart is. But this is the problem. The heart is material, it is tangible, and no matter how hard we try to hold onto this reality we call home; it will soon decay and become a worm-ridden tomb.
This can all sound deeply depressing and futile. However, this is exactly how the ominous archons want us to think. The spiritual guide is knocking… will you answer? Let in the guide and listen to what he/she/it has to say. The time is here, an adventure is on the horizon. You look outside the window, darkness is shrouding the land as the sun slowly sets. The chill from outside raises the hairs on your body. An uncomfortable feeling when one is relaxed by the glowing hearth. This is the most difficult step. Do you grab your coat, pack your bag and venture out into the unknown? Or will you thank the guide for the offer but respectfully decline?
The above quote from the Gospel of Thomas gives us an ultimatum. Do we take the plunge and head out onto the adventure of discovery; to discover who we really are, which, when found, will save us? Or do we decline and allow the inevitable to happen? A life undiscovered, a soul too attached to a reality of smoke and mirrors that it is destroyed by its own illusionary existence. Does the adventure, however, lead to discovery? Or is it a delusional journey toward an imagined telos? I would argue that if one remains true to the task then the adventure will in fact lead to the source of who we really are. Alan Watts once spoke about the Supreme Reality as playing a game of “hide and seek” with itself. This game has gone on for so long that the Reality itself has forgotten what or who it is looking for. The awakened one is the person who realizes that we are the Supreme Reality.
The Gnostics (a generic term that is broadly brushed over several Christian traditions during the movement’s formative years.) created a rich mythological tapestry that depicts a world created by a lesser god. There was a fall from the highest aeons, which set in motion the creation of our very existence. The view of most gnostic schools was that humanity shares a deeply embedded shard of light that comes from above. A light that originates from the source of the One: The Supreme Reality. The goal of a gnostic is to find out the hidden knowledge revealed by a saviour figure sent from a spiritual realm that exists outside of created time, space and matter; the acquisition of this knowledge will remove the scales from our material eyes. Once the scales fall off, the pnematikon (spirit) will see the illusion for what it is; the realization that we originate from an uncorrupted source that exists outside the confines of this entropic cosmos.
To know thyself is to understand that what you are seeking is hidden behind the many masks hanging upon the walls of the cavern of your soul. It is to find out that what you have been seeking all along is where it has always been; Take the plunge, dive into the dark, cold, and swirling waters of your soul, seek what is within. Grab your coat, pack your bag, and walk out your door, and find that which is without. Bring forth what is within you, as what is within you will save you.
Much love,
The Lucid Heretic