4 of 38 | Sacred Sexuality, Whether asexual or sexual
"What a different world, on the contrary, meets us in our thirty-one
leaves! We find ourselves in the pure spheres of the highest Plêrôma;
we see, step by step, this world, so rich in heavenly beings, coming
into existence before our eyes; each individual space with all its
inmates is minutely described, so that we can form for ourselves a
living picture of the glory and splendour of this Gnôstic heaven. The
speculations are not so confused and fantastic as those of the Pistis
Sophia and our two Books of Jeu.... The author is imbued with the
Greek spirit, equipped with a full knowledge of Greek philosophy, full
of the doctrine of the Platonic ideas, an adherent of Plato's view of
the origin of evil--that is to say, Hyle.... We possess in these
leaves a magnificently conceived work by an old Gnôstic philosopher,
and we stand astonished, marvelling at the boldness of the
speculations, dazzled by the richness of the thought, touched by the
depth of soul of the author. This is not, like the Pistis Sophia, the
product of declining Gnôsticism, but dates from a period when Gnôstic
genius, like a mighty eagle, left the world behind it and soared in
wide and ever wider circles towards pure light, towards pure knowledge,
in which it lost itself in ecstasy.
"In one word, we possess in this Gnôstic work, as regards age and
contents, a work of the very highest importance, which takes us into a
period of Gnôsticism, and therefore of Christianity, of which very
little knowledge has been handed down to us."
Finally, I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to the scholarship of Mr
G. R. S. Mead, whose labours in the field of Hellenistic Theology have
to my mind received insufficient recognition, and whose admirable
translations I have often used in the notes.
The Body in Spiritual BDSM is Not to be confused with the "astral body" of modern theosophy.
The Mysteries of the Light Through Personal Experience
This is the Father of all Fathers, the God of all ... Gods, Lord of
all Lords, Sonship of all Sons, Saviour of all Saviours, Invisible of
all Invisibles, Infinity of all Infinities, Uncontainable of all
Uncontainables, Beyond-the-Deep of all Beyond-the-Deeps, Space of all
Spaces. This is the Spiritual Mind which existed before all Spiritual
Minds, the Holy Place comprehending all Holy Places, the Good
comprehending all Goods. This is the Seed of all good things. It is
He who has brought them all forth, this Autophues or Being who has
produced Himself, who existed before all the beings of the Plêrôma
which He Himself has brought forth, Who is in all time. This is that
Ingenerable and Eternal One who has no name and who has all names; who
was the first to know those of the Universe, who has looked upon those
of the Universe, who has heard those of the Universe. He is mightier
than all might, upon whose incomprehensible Face no one is able to
gaze. Beyond all mind does He exist in His own Form, Solitary and
Unknowable. The Universal Mystery is He, the Universal Wisdom, of all
things the Beginning. In Him are all Lights, all Life, and all Repose.
