Voidlight

The Mystery of Gnosis in Distance

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VoidlightThe Mystery of Gnosis in Distance

ByRadiatus

Introduction

Part One "The Wisdom Eternal" I ImpermanenceII DualismIII EmanationIV The Visible World and the DemiurgeV GnosisVI Liberation

Part Two "Distance" VII DistanceVIII On the Selection of the PoetsIX The Gnostic Element of Distance in BlakeX The Gnostic Element of Distance in Wordsworth

Epilogue

References

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INTRODUCTION

The most important thing for an individual to

do is not to figure out who they want to be, but rather to

remember who they really are. The fundamental

question in life is not where are we going, but rather

where did we come from?

The distance between where we are and where

we are going is an illusion; in terms of true evolution

we can take no further stride, we are in fact standing

still. But something moves about us.

The true distance lies between where we are

and where we originated. And it is this distance, along

with our own ignorance of it, which gives rise to every

wave of existential torment that crashes maddeningly,

incessantly upon the shores of our perception.

THE PURPOSE

The purpose of this text is two-fold: to remind

you that you are sleeping, and to offer you a source of

Light to guide you towards an Awakening. This is a

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work of Gnostic philosophy, presented in two parts: an

exegesis on the Gnostic creation myth, and a Gnostic

interpretation of the literary works of Blake and

Wordsworth concerning the notion of Distance. The

entire text is guided by this the theme of Distance, or

separation from one's source, which can be interpreted

both literally and symbolically. This Distance is at once

the fatal flaw of our Universe and the key to our

individual Redemption. In this work, the redemptive

act of Nostalgia or Recollection is used to bridge the

gap between Here and There, between Thesis and

Antithesis, in order to establish true Gnosis, or

Knowledge, of a primordial and absolute Unity. The

recollection of these origins is an act of Revelation and

Epiphany for those who have the Divine Light within

them, and merely a passing oddity for those who do not.

This recollection is the first step on the path of

Liberation, the path of Awakening, and is initiated by

the awareness of one's own alienation. Moreso,

recollection represents a shift in perspective from

looking forwards (or outwards) to looking backwards

(or inwards). Inward is the Way to Gnosis.

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ON THE STRUCTURE OF THIS WORK

This is a hermeneutic work of philosophy and

analysis which is essentially Gnostic in character - but

this only means that the guiding principle of the text is

the belief in Gnosis, a state of no-mind, or vacuity, in

which the human being may directly experience the

essence of Divinity which lies within themselves.

Though the various historical Gnostic sects were highly

individuated and syncretistic in their mythologies,

applying different names to similar ideas, they were all

founded on this same essential notion: that a piece of

the Divine lies within the individual, and direct

experience of this Spark is the only way to know Truth

in a world of Error and Illusion. However, not every

individual may be capable of unveiling this Truth.

Some sects believed in an Elect, or a group of

individuals pre-destined for Gnosis; in this case, the

Gnostic was an individual whose origins lay somewhere

far beyond Earth, where the souls of ordinary men are

bound. Other sects adhered to a tripartite division of

humanity into the Pneumatics, Psychics, and Hylics, or

those who had achieved Gnosis, those with the potential

to achieve Gnosis, and those of the Earth who would

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ultimately return to its dust, respectively.

This notion of Gnosis, without the attached

assumption of either Election or universal salvation, is

the only guiding principle behind the present work;

there is no underlying dogma, doctrine, or morality.

This work is influenced by various currents of Gnosis,

from Luciferian to Ophite, and beyond. However, it

would be inaccurate to place this text into any particular

category. Instead, the historical Gnostic sects and

traditions are cited in an effort to relate the general

weltanschauung of Gnosis.

The first section is an exegesis on the Myth of

Creation from a Gnostic/Neo-Platonic perspective, with

an emphasis on the process itself: Emanation. The

purpose of this exegesis on Gnostic cosmogony is to

illuminate the hidden history of the Universe and of

reality as we know it, in order to burn away the

darkness of Illusion and Error which holds dominion

over our understanding of existence. To understand the

concept of Emanation is to understand the laws of this

Universe (dualism and determinism). And with

knowledge of these Laws comes knowledge of how to

break free from them. This is the true passion which

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drives the Gnostic sensibility: Liberty. As Rudolph has

noted, even the very act of receiving the story of

Gnostic cosmogony can be seen as a salvific actioni. In

this exegesis, many references are drawn upon, and are

duly cited. The reader is urged to follow up with the

cited sources, as the texts selected offer a wealth of

information on the Gnostic path, across the genre

spectrum, from academic to esoteric.

The second part of this text focuses on

discovering traces and hints of this Gnosis in the

literary works and philosophies of William Wordsworth

and William Blake. The text will show that each of

these authors held a philosophical belief in a

supramundane consciousness which can be accessed or

energized via mystical experiences. Furthermore, each

author illustrates how the recognition of the Distance

between the solitary Man and his Divine Origin is the

catalyst for his Liberation.

The nature of Gnosis is personal and is focused

upon, and shaped by, the individual. This present text

may help to Illuminate the path for those who are Lost,

but true power lies within the consciousness of the

reader, not within these words.

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Those with eyes to see, will see.

A NOTE ON THE NOTION OF THE OCCULT

Often, texts which deal with religious or

mystical systems of thought are divided into specific

categories, such as Scholarly and Occult. Many books

which are written with a clear mystical theory and

practice in mind are considered Occult, whereas

objective, third-party observations of these systems are

called Scholarly. This text blurs these lines of

demarcation, as many other works of literature do.

For any work to be considered scholarly or

academic, it must meet certain criteria which are

established through empirical means. Following the

scientific method, academia requires scholarly texts and

ideas to provide adequate evidence in support of a

hypothesis to qualify said hypothesis as being “true” or

“valid”. However, the core assumption of the Gnostic

worldview is a fundamental devaluation of all concrete

objects and ideas, in opposition to an invisible world

which is prior to and superior to all things visible.

Thus, the very quality of an idea which qualifies it as

valid evidence in an empirical study (i.e. concreteness)

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is the same quality which disqualifies an idea as valid

evidence in a Gnostic system.

Our study draws upon scholarly sources and

uses established criteria to cite and attribute ideas to

their source text, particularly in the first section (the

exegesis). However, the subject which we are

exploring, for which these texts are consulted, is of a

supramundane, anti-empirical character and is guided

by assumptions and observations of an entirely different

character than what most readers may be used. A genre

is a label applied to, not derived from, a particular text.

Thus, it may be best to avoid the distinction of genre

altogether.

NOTHING WITHIN THESE PAGES IS TRUE

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PART ONE

The Wisdom Eternal

A Brief Exegesis on the Various Gnostic Creation

Myths

and

The Nature of Gnosis

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I

Impermanence

All good things must come to an end.

In our human lives, part of the social maturation

process involves coming to terms with, and accepting,

the notion that our happiness as well as our existence is

temporary. Facing the inevitability of death, the

certainty of decay, we find that the only solution is to

face these horrors stoically, aided in our plight by either

theological or philosophical systems of thought. And in

so doing, we feel that we have accomplished something,

as if the purpose of human life is coming to grips with

temporality, or putting on a happy face as we march

unceasingly towards doom.

Our cultures throughout history have wrestled

with the idea of mortality, the idea of time, and the

inexorable spectre of death. We have crafted

theological systems to extend our lives beyond death,

for those of us incapable of accepting our mortal

destinies. Some of us have turned to Art as a way to

survive the holocaust of time. Others are content to

write their name in wet concrete. All of our actions are

essentially of no cosmic consequence at all. As humans

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we have generally characterized the end of things as

“bad” and the beginning (or lasting) of things as

“good“. This is evidenced by the predominance of

notions of eternal life in the world’s various religions.

And because every single thing in this universe must

come to an end, there seems to be a predominance of

things bad, or malignant, or evil.

Most will argue that good and evil are

subjective terms. However, this is not entirely accurate.

We all agree on the definition of good, for example; it is

the opposite of evil, and vice versa. The meaning of

“evil” is static. What we do not agree on is which

particular objects or ideas should fall into which

category. What is subjective is the process of

categorizing something as being “good” or “evil”.

Regardless of our subjective valuations and

categorizations, the fact remains that our lives, as well

as everything else around us, is temporary. Despite

every “good” thing we can find in this world, despite

every reason to live that we can postulate, the fact

remains that we exist in a flawed universe haunted by

death and error. In response to this recognition, some

choose to believe that as humans, we expect too much

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of our cosmos, or of reality in general. Perhaps we are

foolish to judge the temperament of Nature and reality

in human terms (good or bad, happy or sad). If we

recognize the universe as an amoral, uninterested

system which exists independently of humanity and

human consciousness, we supposedly gain a clearer

view of the fundamental characteristics of cosmic

reality. In other words, the universe is cruel and flawed

because it is completely disinterested in the plight of

humanity; we are cogs in a machine who, blindly,

believe that the machine was created for our benefit.

Thus, this universe is not necessarily characterized by

an evil force, radiating sorrow and loss at humanity.

Rather, humanity has created a completely artificial

expectation of goodness in a universe of which

humanity plays only a small and totally insignificant

part. This notion is similar to the Existentialist idea of

Geworfenheit, or “having been thrown” - as in, having

been thrown into a system or cosmos which is totally

unrelated to or not cognizant of human desiresii. In such

a system, there is no need for gods.

There are others who perceive the presence of a

Creator, or the fingerprints of a cosmic Architect

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scattered across our universe. Many of these

individuals instinctively categorize the Creator, by

virtue of his creative power, as an omnipotent Entity

whose very essence is synonymous with “goodness",

particularly due to this Creator's assumed immortality.

In such a theological system, the problem of evil

revolves around an additional characteristic of

omnibenevolence, which argues that God is capable of

nothing but “good”. But how can a totally good Being

create things which are evil? Many are familiar with

this theological paradox.

Some individuals attack this paradox with the

claim that though we are governed in this cosmos by a

benevolent god, this deity is locked in eternal struggle

with a lesser malevolent god. The benevolent god is

given responsibility for our “higher” human emotions

(love, joy, forgiveness), but because we cannot

reconcile the nature of evil in the realm of a totally

beneficent god, we create a rival deity, one who is

secondary to the creation and power of the benevolent

creator, and assign to this Being the blame for all woe.

But this theological arrangement, in which a

"lesser" deity manages the currents of evil and woe,

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hardly serves to explain the predominance, the

oppressive prevalence of “evil” forces in our universe.

Some religious systems seek to solve this problem by

assigning the physical world, the world of flesh, to the

dominion of the evil god, which explains the flawed

nature of our existence and introduces rewards of joy

and eternal harmony in a fabled paradise following

death. The physical world is given less absolute value

than paradise, the latter being envisioned as a perfect

material reality, as opposed to our imperfect material

reality.

But perhaps the true reason for the

predominance of "evil" in our world is that the "true"

god, the one who is recognized as pure Good, is

actually non-existent in this universe. Perhaps the

"true" god is in fact an Alien God (in the strict sense of

being an "outsider") who did not have a direct hand in

the creation of our universe, despite being the source of

all creation. In such a scenario, the man of God finds

himself utterly alienated, not only in the world of men,

but in the entire cosmos. He finds himself imprisoned in

a universe not his own, governed by a tyrannical deity

who believes himself to be the absent, Alien God.

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This is the general worldview of the Gnostic.

And this worldview introduces the striking and

profound idea that the universe is not infested with evil;

rather, the universe itself is evil. And this is so because

the Universe was flawed from the moment of its

creation, irreparably divided and incomplete. Indeed, it

was not built by an Architect of expert knowledge, but

by a semi- or half-architect, or demiurgos. This

Architect is not the same entity as the Alien God; it is in

fact an entity which emanated from the Alien God and

which has no memory of this creation.

This initial fragmentation, this division, this

Error, manifests in our reality as the metaphysical

notion of Dualism.

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II

Dualism

Dualism Defined

The fundamental problem with all of our human

assessments of reality is that our perception is limited

by the system of Dualism, and because of this we are

unable to perceive Unity. Our bodies and our minds are

hardwired in such a way as to only view the universe

through a lens which divides everything into Subject

and Object, and this division simply cannot be

overcome.

Dualism describes the metaphysical system in

which each individual “thing” is defined by its

relationship to its opposite. Rudolph describes this

Dualism on the theological level as "the activity of two

more or less independent deities or principles which are

made responsible for the differing situations in the

world". One of the earliest systems of metaphysical

Dualism can be found in Iranian Zoroastrianism, which

Rudolph claims "sets a good and an evil god at the

beginning of world history and views this history as

dominated by the conflict between the two"iii. On a

philosophical level, the Dualism of Plato places the

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Intelligible World in opposition to the visible world.

On the mundane level, this current of Dualism

can be perceived in most of the world's languages,

which are composed of words which can only have

meaning when considered in relation to their opposite.

Light is defined as the absence of darkness; darkness is

defined as the absence of light. In other words, we are

unable to define one notion without referring to its

opposite (the term "fullness" has no meaning without

reference to "emptiness"). Thus, our perception is

limited to binary oppositions. By our very existence in

a Dualistic universe, seen from within a Dualistic mind,

our reality and perception is inexorably grounded in the

division between Subject and Object, Thesis and

Antithesis (we as individuals are subjects, and

everything we perceive is an object, separate from us).

Thus we cannot perceive Unity, and that which lies

prior to the Universe, the All, is Unity. Thus we are

seemingly doomed to suffer total separation and

alienation from the Divine source of all things. This is

the crucial, fatal Distance which, upon recognition,

creates existential distress in the human mind - the

feeling that one is alone in an absurd universe.

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Beneath these theological, philosophical, and

mundane observations of Dualism is a primordial pulse.

The observer is witnessing and interpreting the

fundamental motion of the universe divided into Thesis

and Antithesis. This divided motion becomes the twin,

opposing forces of Order and Chaos. These are the two

sides of the coin of cosmic inertia.

Order and Chaos

We have often misrepresented the two

fundamental currents of the cosmos, Order and Chaos,

by applying subjective notions of “good” and “evil” to

them. Generally speaking, to the average individual

order represents good (that which lasts, that which is

unchanging, eternal) and chaos represents evil (that

which is temporary, dynamic). This same anxiety can

be found in our notions of control, with Order

represented by law and Chaos represented by

lawlessness. Order and Chaos are also represented in

Alchemical literature as the twin processes of solve and

coagula. The solve force is the force of dissolution, or

Chaos, whereas the coagula is the force of cohesion, or

Orderiv.

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From our human perspective, the forces of

Chaos are seen as evil because in a universe of

coagulated, stagnated matter (order), chaos is

manifested as destructive forces. We are quick to see

the benefits of change on the microscopic level of our

individual lives, to understand that change can be either

good or bad, depending on the subjective situation. But

when we amplify this change, when we apply it on a

larger, more macro scale, it tends to elicit nothing but

fear and trepidation from us. Think of changes in the

earth’s crust, and the results. Changes in the weather,

changes in the make-up of ecosystems, changes in the

sun, the solar system, and on and on. Whenever a large

scale object or notion changes, it is viewed (through

human perception) as a dissolution, a violently

destructive act. A change in state, such as solid to gas,

is seen as destructive as well, as when fire turns wood

to smoke and ash (even though no matter is lost, we

perceive destruction). Due to our limited perspective,

we are incapable of extending our understanding of the

dual nature of change to a macro level. Indeed, the

unbridgeable Distance between the micro and macro

levels of observation leads to much confusion.

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But we face the same problem with our

perception of Order as well. On the micro scale, we are

able to see both the positive and negative effects of

order. Stuck in a dead-end job with little pay or

benefits, we are quick to understand that change is

necessary if we seek a more luxurious or leisurely

lifestyle. In this case we apply a term with negative

connotations, such as “stagnation”, to the situation.

However, we also see transcendent beauty in that which

is unchanging, that which lasts: the unbroken cycle of

Seasons, the cycle of Night and Day, traditions,

customs, values, the notion of wedded bliss and eternal

love, the idea of blood bonds and ancestry. These are

all things we see as unchanging and good because of

their static nature. We can even mitigate the negative

effects of change by slowing change down, such as

when we find majesty in the landscape around us, in the

mountains and forests and lakes and oceans. It is not

that these things are eternal, it is that, from our human

perspective, they might as well be. For in our lifetimes,

we will not see them change, and in juxtaposition to

ourselves, this is seen as a monument of beauty and

permanence. Though we seem to be able to put Order

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into perspective on the individual level, we seem to be

incapable of adding a negative value to Order on the

macro level, always identifying things larger than

ourselves as "good" based on their seeming

permanence. Once again, the Distance between the two

perspectives prevents us from achieving any sense of

balance or Unity.

Causal and Acausal

Another consequence of Dualism is the

necessity of the twin notions of cause and effect.

Again, our language (and thus to a large extent, our

thinking) is incapable of truly defining a cause without

referring to the effect. This is known as Determinism,

where history is defined as a more or less linear series

of causes and subsequent effects. However, a system of

pure Determinism should only exist in a reality

governed by the concept of Time, because the

measurement of Time is only the observation of a series

of causes and effects. Thus Time, and our individual

perception of it, is merely a measurement, an

observation; it is not a concrete force or metaphysical

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reality.

A universe governed by Determinism is said to

be “causal”. In opposition to this, we have the concept

of the acausal, which is a system of reality not governed

by Determinism. That which is acausal finds its source

in the current of Chaos, where all notions of order and

rigid pattern are dissolved.

Heaven and Hell

In most theological systems, the current of

Order is applied to Heaven, a realm governed by stasis

and form. Hell is often depicted as being governed by

Chaos, represented by constant destruction. However,

neither of these realms can be truly Superior to the

other, because they are both governed by Time. Hell

may feature destruction and rending, but this is a

process which continues for eternity, which implies

systematic re-ordering in an effort to re-destroy.

Heaven is defined as an eternal state of bliss, but still

must exist as the "opposite" of Hell. Thus, what most

individuals call Heaven is not free from Dualism.

Therefore, it cannot be superior to the material

Universe, which is governed in the very same manner

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and by the same laws. Heaven is still governed by

Time, only a different "kind" of Time - supposedly

unending Time.

The Gnostic individual sees the Judeo-Christian

“heaven” as the realm of the Architect of the material

Universe; it is his kingdom. Thus, to be seduced by

angels and led to the gates of Heaven can only lead to

another imperfect realm, another realm governed by the

same cruel Tyrant who enslaved the material universe.

This is so because there can be no perfection without

Unity, and the Demiurge is irreconcilably separated

from Divine Unity by his own ignorance (again, the

concept of Distance). Many Gnostic systems seek

Liberation from the material universe and from the

Kingdom of Heaven by an ascendance to the Pleroma,

which lies prior to all of these cosmic creations, prior to

Heaven, Hell, and the material world.

Thus, the object is not to join the Demiurge in

his self-created Paradise, but to actually ascend beyond

Heaven itself.

Conclusion

Recognizing the twin currents of Order and

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Chaos, we must now delve deeper in order to

understand how this pulse, how this cosmic Law, came

to be. The fact is that this current, this motion, is the

first effect in our causal universe. The first cause was

the actual moment of Creation, and the effect was the

pulse, or the Tzimtzum. And though this moment of

Creation is known to many scientists today as the "Big

Bang", and is often represented as an explosion, for our

purposes we must see the Creation not as an explosion

from a small point outward, but as an unraveling, or

unfolding; an Emanation. And models for the process

of Emanation may be found in the works of the

Hermetists, Neo-Platonists, and the Gnostics.

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III

Emanation: The Mechanics of Creation

Emanation is the process responsible for the

creation of the cosmos, and can be defined as a

successive unraveling or radiation of the original Divine

Essence into a void. It is crucial to approach this

process on a symbolic, rather than literal, level. There

is no purpose to this emanation, for the Divine Essence

(the All, or the "All the One") is not bound by the laws

of determinism; these laws are only valid within a

closed cosmic system, where cause must necessarily

precede effectv. Thus, one may find it difficult to posit

any type of "motive" for the first emanation. Some

individuals may find it difficult to envision the All, or

primordial Chaos, as anything other than an

anthropomorphic deity, or any other varied type of

sentient being; thus the motive for the creation of the

universe is often sought by said individuals. However,

even if we assume that the All is some form of entity or

god, our perception of this type of Being is distorted by

our flawed nature; we are incapable of truly Knowing

and perceiving this "god", thus we can only begin to

approach an understanding of its nature. We can never

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truly perceive or imagine this God, in the same sense

that Plato argued against our ability to truly perceive

perfect Forms; we are only capable of seeing, of

experiencing, shadows of the true Essence of things.

For now we will present the general idea of

Emanation as the unraveling of the All (or Alien God)

into two separate manifestations - the Pleroma and the

Visible World, in that order.

The All, The Alien God

At the beginning of the Emanation, from a

Gnostic perspective, is the unknowable God, who is

totally alien to this world. This is the True God, not to

be confused with the Judeo-Christian god, Jehova or

Yahweh, who is seen as the creator of the world. While

we will examine Gnostic theology in the next chapter,

we may find it sufficient to say, for now, that the creator

of this world is often seen as a malevolent, or ignorant,

god who due to his ignorance is incapable of

comprehending his own origins. From this ignorance,

or Error, the world is created and man is subjected to

the tyranny of this Demiurge.

In certain Alchemical and Hermetic traditions,

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the True God may be likened to the concept of the "All"

or "One the All". This All is defined as a state of

Chaotic potential, referred to by alchemists as the prima

materia and symbolized by the Sumerians as the black

dragon Tiamat. In Evola's words, it contains "the

undifferentiated potentiality of every development or

generation" and can be characterized as total Unity; not

unity in the sense of harmoniousness, but in the sense of

being whole. Evola further explains that "from it and

by means of it everything comes," it is the "Father and

Mother of itself"vi. It is self-sufficient, containing both

the thesis and the antithesis, both everything and

nothing; there is no division between subject and object.

The Pleroma

From this limitless potential, True God, or All,

comes an emanation, or a successive unraveling or

unfolding of the All into a void created within the

substance of Chaos. It is not that the All emanates into

an empty space (there is nothing which is not within the

All); rather the All creates a vacuum within itself which

is then filled with its radiating Light. This void, filled

with radiance and all of the individuated aspects of

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Divinity, represents what the Gnostics call the Pleroma.

The Pleroma is a realm inhabited by hypostases, or

abstractions and natures, of the True God, such as

Sophia (Wisdom). Each of these "natures" is composed

of two aspects - usually male and female which, rather

than referring to biological gender, applies to the

esoteric ideas of stasis and dynamism.

Though the above description views the

emanation as a radiant, concentric unveiling of light, it

may be just as helpful to envision this emanation as a

“fall”. The light falls from the highest point, gradually

becoming weighed down by and trapped within matter.

It is in this context that the Jewish mystics perceive the

cabbalistic Tree of Life, where divine vessels are

shattered and the sparks of light (“pneuma” in Gnostic

terms) fall to the realm of man (Malkuth, on the Tree of

Life). This notion of falling is a fundamental aspect of

the Emanation; as the Divine Light radiates, or falls,

further away from its source, it becomes weaker as it is

absorbed or obscured by its antithesis - solid matter. In

the particular theological system of Judaism, a moral

imperative is added to this scenario in which humanity

is charged with the task of reclaiming these divine

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sparks and repairing the broken vessels (sephira) from

which they fell. This process is known as tikkun olam,

or "repairing the world".

The crucial notion here, again, is Distance. The

Distance between the obscured Light and its source

creates imperfection, and the further the Distance, the

greater the corruption or distortion of the original

essence.

The Visible World

Finally, after the creation of the Pleroma, an

event transpires which causes the creation of the

Cosmos, or the material universe. This event has been

interpreted by the Gnostics as an Error, but by others as

a Miracle. For now, it is sufficient to note that this

Cosmos is the final sequence of the Emanation, but is

inferior to all prior stages not only because of its

Distance from the All, but also because it is created and

fashioned by the Demiurge, not by the Alien God. It is

in this realm that the Divine Light, or Pneuma, is

obscured by and trapped within matter, and Illusion and

Darkness hold sway. Some Gnostic sects saw malicious

intent behind the imprisonment of this Divine Spark

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within human bodies (and according to others, within

all material objects to a certain degree), while other

systems view this "imprisonment" as a necessary trial,

as in the metaphysical model of reincarnation where the

soul reincarnates within flesh in order to be purified.

Still others consider it an "accident".

In the Visible World, the currents of Order and

Chaos correspond to the actions of the Demiurge and

the Alien God (via Sophia), respectively. The Demiurge

and his Archons wish to trap the Divine Sparks in

matter, because to ultimately return all of the lost Light

to the Pleroma would lead to the dissolution of the

cosmos. Thus, the Archons jealously seek to hold the

pneumatic fire in the Visible World, continually re-

inserting the Sparks back into fleshly vehicles (the

human body, the creation of the Demiurge). This is the

process of Reincarnation, re-imagined from a Gnostic

point of view. The Divine Spark, loosed by the trauma

of organic death, seeks escape from the universe but is

held back and returned to flesh by the Archons. These

Archons are imagined as lieutenants of a sort to the

Demiurge, usually assigned to govern one of the seven

celestial spheres (or planets). In order for the Sparks to

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escape, they must remember their origins and

understand their True Nature via Gnosis. From Gnosis

are received the "instructions" on how to escape the

grasp of the Demiurge, so to speak.

On the other hand, Sophia (or the lower aspect

of Sophia, or Lucifer, or the Serpent - depending on the

particular system) seeks to reclaim those lost Sparks so

that she may be made "light" enough again to ascend

back to the Pleroma. Sophia is the hypostasis from the

Pleroma who is responsible for the creation of the

Demiurge, thus a part of her descends into the visible

world to reclaim the light which was lost, and which the

Demiurge jealously holds. We will delve much more

deeply into the Myth of Sophia in the next chapter.

In many Gnostic writings, particularly those of

the so-called Christian sects, this reclamation of the

Divine Sparks is symbolized by the crucifixion of

Christ. Though not all of the various sects or thinkers

were in general agreement, many saw the figure of

Jesus as a fleshly vessel, inhabited (at the time of his

Baptism) by the Christ, or the Logos of the True God.

It is then believed that, just prior to the crucifixion of

Jesus, the Christ left the body, his material counterpart,

33

so that only the body would suffer the passion of the

crucifixion. In this sense, Christ himself (the Son of

Man, the Logos) did not suffer, only his earthly vessel

suffered. And this is crucial because the earthly body is

the creation of the Demiurge, and thus the creator of the

world only punishes his own creation (the body), rather

than the actual desired object: the Logos.

Conclusion

Now that we have broadly diagrammed the

Emanation in three (an arbitrary number, simply for

convenience) general stages, it may be of use to us in

our present study to consider the Creation of the Visible

World in more detail. What is particularly important

about this stage of the Emanation is that, for the

Gnostic, the creation of the Visible World is the creation

of a monstrous prison, and life inside this universe is

life inside of a cell. And from a Gnostic analysis of this

creation, one is able to arrive at what might be called

Gnostic anthropology; in other words, an understanding

of the nature of creation leads to an understanding of

the nature of humanity.

The idea that this entire universe is nothing

34

more than a prison into which we've been either forced

or tricked is a notion so radical, that it necessitates a

radical shift in worldview: the Anti-Cosmic perspective.

35

IV

The Visible World and the Demiurge

The Anti-Cosmic Perspective

The Gnostic sects shared a common

weltanschauung of "anti-cosmic world rejection" based

on the idea that the world is the result of a "primordial

error" on the part of a "supra-cosmic, supremely divine

being, usually called Sophia (wisdom) or simply the

Logos"vii. The various Gnostic systems featured

stylistic and nominal variations on this myth, but the

general themes are evident enough that we can speak of

a general myth narrative which relates the creation of

the Visible World to a primordial Error.

Sophia is seen as the "final emanation of a

divine hierarchy", existing at the furthermost frontier of

the Pleroma, and it is Sophia's desire to Know the

transcendent God (All) which causes the primordial

error. Sophia is incapable of truly knowing the All,

because even though she exists in the Pleroma, those

Beings within the Pleroma are incapable of seeing back

into the All. Many Gnostics refer to a halo of light

which existed at the boundary closest to the Alien God,

36

blinding those who attempt to see back towards True

Divinity.

Each of the Natures, or beings of Light, which

inhabit the Pleroma are divided into two, usually male-

female, aspects. In the various myths, Sophia desires to

Know the Alien God, and this act of Will takes place

without the assistance of her other aspect, which

because it is devoid of the original Unity of the Nature,

causes an Error. This Error is described in the

anonymous work "On the Origin of the World", from

the Nag Hammadi Scriptures, as a "curtain" which

hangs between the beings of Light and the future

Visible World belowviii. Sophia sought to create an

image of the True Heaven (the Alien God, beyond the

halo of light), and the curtain is symbolically

understood as the palette upon which she created her

Work. However, this action necessarily divides the

Pleroma, or the "void" created within the All, thus

creating two separate chambers, or aspects: upper and

lower.

The Pleroma, or the upper (or inward) part of

the newly divided Emanation, is completely filled with

the Alien Light and thus has no shadowsix. However, on

37

the other side of the curtain, or palette, there is nothing

but Shadow, or darkness. This darkness is what is

referred to as "chaos", "the boundless chaos" from

which everything in the Visible World apparently

camex. This is not the same "chaos" which is

synonymous with the All (unfettered, unlimited

potential), or that which corresponds to the destructive

current discussed earlier. This is what the ancients saw

as the Primordial darkness, the fertile waters from

which all creation sprang forth.

To rule over this newly created Aeon (region)

of darkness, Sophia further augments her Error through

the creation of the Being who would come to represent

the ultimate Tyrant to the Gnostics: the Demiurge.

The Demiurge

The Gnostics saw the Demiurge as the true

identity of the Christian and Jewish God, either an

ignorant or deliberately malevolent being who believes

himself to be the Supreme Divinity. The Demiurge is,

in most extant Gnostic texts, named Jaldabaoth.

Regarding the origins of this name, Rudolph relates one

version of the creation myth in which Sophia, looking

38

down upon the waters (chaos) where the Demiurge was

created, calls out "'Young man, pass over to this place',

for which the interpretation is 'Jaldabaoth'". But the

Demiurge was not aware of Sophia, or of the Pleroma.

All he could hear was her voice in the waters and

darkness (Chaos), so he named himself after what he

had heardxi.

Sophia creates the Demiurge out of the

darkness, which is also called Chaos and matter itself,

because she felt that it was necessary for something to

rule over and wield the powers of darknessxii. The

Demiurge is unaware of the Pleroma and of the Alien

God, and feels that he himself is the creator of the

Universe (the shadowed aspect of the Creation). He

creates, in many myths, seven Archons, or rulers, to rule

over the seven heavens (represented by the seven

planets). These Archons are usually seen as a sequence

of seven powers which the Gnostic must bypass in

order to ascend to the realm of the Demiurge, and

ultimately beyond that realm, through the curtain

(chaos) and into the Pleroma.

The Demiurge rules over all of the Archons and

the Visible World because he retains a small part of the

39

Divine breath, or pneuma, from his mother Sophia

(though he is only half-Divine, created mostly from the

darkness or chaos). Jaldabaoth gave the Archons fire,

but not the gift of the pure Lightxiii. He also creates a

kingdom of Heaven for himself, which is described as a

lavish, extraordinary place truly befitting a despot.

Continuing the general narrative, the Demiurge

is eventually made aware of the presence of Sophia,

who tells Jaldabaoth about the Pleroma and the Alien

God. However, the Demiurge is defiant, and issues a

challenge to the Alien God: if you really are there, let us

behold your Light. In order to fix her Error, and in

response to the Demiurge's challenge, Sophia's male

aspect descends to her, bringing her a small piece of the

Divine Spark. The Light enters the visible world

(usually in the form of Christ) and leaves shortly

thereafter. This only serves to further enrage the

Demiurge, who remains defiant despite receiving the

"proof" that he needed.

Once Sophia sees the true nature of Jaldabaoth,

governed by selfishness and greed, she weeps bitterly.

Because of her Error, she finds herself trapped in a

realm between the Pleroma and the realm of the

40

Demiurge; she is unable to ascend into the realm of

Light because of the weight of her actions and must

remain below the curtain, in the world of shadows, until

she is able to reclaim the Sparks. The Demiurge

jealously seeks to hold the Divine Sparks within the

confines of his universe. It is this evil Act which

imposes tyranny upon the entire universe, and which

justifies the Anti-Cosmic perspective as a rebellion

against oppression and tyranny.

From the anonymous treatise "On the Origin of

the World", we learn that the Demiurge and his Archons

behold the image of a Light-Adam (or Christ), and they

are thus made aware of the pre-existence of a Light

before the Demiurge. The Demiurge creates a Man,

modeled after the Light-Adam or Man of Light, with

the belief that the True God would have no choice but

to love a creature created as a reflection of Himself,

making this “creature” the perfect bait with which to

lure the Alien God down from upon High. The Archons

leave their creature forty days on its own, hoping to lure

the Divine Spark.

And as expected, Sophia acts and breathes the

"breath of life" into the Man, thus making Man more

41

powerful than his creators (since this "breath" is the

Divine Spark, a piece of the Alien God who exists

before the Demiurge and his legions). The Archons are

pleased to find the breath of Life within Adam, because

in their ignorance, they believe that the bodily vessel

(created in their deficient image) will serve as an

inescapable prison for the Divine pneumaxiv. However,

those who truly Know understand that this apparent

triumph for the Demiurge is actually the very Key to his

undoing.

Insight

What is crucial about Emanation in our study is

the fact that it explains the cause and nature of our

disassociation (or Distance) from our Divine origins.

Indeed, Rudolph asserts that the mere act of learning

about the Gnostic creation myth, or cosmogony, has a

redeeming value as a "revelation"xv. It is for this

purpose that the current text seeks to present the

Gnostic worldview via an exegesis on the common

elements of its varied creation myths. From this ancient

model of cosmogenesis we can more clearly understand

our place in the universe, the nature of Immanence, and

42

most importantly, the necessity of accessing that piece

of the Divine which exists within us. In other words,

understanding the mechanics of Creation and of cosmic

sustenance may indeed help us to understand how to

escape from that very same Creation.

The process of Emanation is indeed represented

as a "process", but Evola mentions that it is necessary

"to abandon the idea of the Creation as a historical fact

over and done with in the spatial and temporal past"xvi.

Instead, creation may be viewed as an eternal process,

not in a temporal sense of being everlasting, but in the

more abstract sense of existing beyond time.

Having begun to remember our origins, and

having remembered our place in this Universe, it is now

necessary for us to discover a way to turn away from

this universe of illusion, to regain our true Sight, as it

were. We must find a way to experience our True

Selves, and this is accomplished through gnosis. The

following chapter will define Gnosis, in an effort to

further illuminate the purpose of Divine Consciousness

within the cosmos.

43

V

Gnosis

Gnosis Defined

There is only one way to perceive Truth in this

fallen universe, and that is to directly experience the

Truth. This experience is not of a sensory nature, it is

not something which can be perceived with biological

organs. Our sensory organs are products of duality and

are incapable of truly understanding anything prior to or

beyond this notion. Thus, the only way to directly

experience the Truth, or Unity or synthesis, is to

completely bypass the human organism, to silence the

human mind completely. This is the only way to truly

Know, and this state of no-mind is called gnosis (from

the Greek, meaning “to know”).

If the human organism is totally bypassed, and

we as individuals are human organisms, how can we

still perceive things without our faculties and senses?

The answer is to access and experience our one True

sense: consciousness. There must be a vital distinction

made here between consciousness and the human ego;

consciousness is suprahuman (or prehuman) and

precedes our ego-generated consciousness. We can

44

refer to the true consciousness as our True Self, whereas

biological consciousness (our state of being “awake”

and “aware”) is a product of our biological organism, of

the electrical current of our brain and nervous system;

this lesser consciousness we can call the “ego”.

The ego is who we think we are. Throughout

our lives, the biological organism which is our body and

mind has created an image of itself, defined by a

person’s name and social relations, ancestry, socio-

economic condition, class, language, nationality, ad

infinitum. This is Rousseau’s tabula rasa - the blank

slate of a human organism being shaped, behaviorally

and socially, by the physical conditions around them.

But the individual which we identify ourselves with is

nothing more than an animal, a cosmic illusion bound,

inexorably, to the physical world. This is the “self”

which religions promise to keep intact during the

transition from life to death.

On the other hand, the True Self is who we

truly are, regardless of our biological condition,

regardless of our environment (Jung called this the

“pure consciousness”). The Self is unshaped by this

universe and in fact exists prior to and beyond the

45

cosmos. The True Self is like a television signal

beamed into a human body; it is processed and reshaped

by our body before being transmitted to the world. The

human vessel is only capable of understanding this

signal to a degree, and can only interpret things which

can be perceived by and identified with the human

senses. And while those of the Light experience this

"signal" once "turning their television off", it may be

that certain individuals instead come face to face with

Oblivion.

The fundamental distinction between these two

gradations of consciousness is that we experience Ego-

consciousness as the state of being aware of our

surroundings, but we experience our True

Consciousness as the state of being aware of being

aware. This is the only manifestation of our Divine

consciousness within our cosmic reality, itself merely a

distorted hint of a greater Truth processed imperfectly

by our human mind. In order to more fully experience

this True Consciousness, the rest of the human

organism’s mental apparatus must be paralyzed or

otherwise circumvented, so that the veil of Ego-

consciousness (and its visceral underpinnings) can be

46

removed.

Two Major Currents of Gnosticism

Rudolph describes two primal currents of

historical Gnosticism which are defined by their

specific interpretation of the pre-existent principle, the

Prime Mover or the True Godxvii. The Syrian-Egyptian

branch of Gnosticism interprets the True God as a

monad, a seed, which contains everything and from

which everything will eventually come. The Iranian-

Zoroastrian branch of Gnosticism, on the other hand,

recognizes two unique, independent, and diametrically

opposed principles, namely Light and Darkness. It is as

a result of the interaction between these two forces that

the visible universe comes into existence. Both of these

currents adhere to the belief in Gnosis, but vary in other,

external ways as each line branches off over and over

again into the myriad specialized sects and systems of

later history. Indeed, the Distance created by Time

gradually unravels or weakens the current of Truth.

The Gnostic Sects in History

Historically speaking, the Gnostics are often

47

seen as a product of the Christian world, because much

of what we know about them is gleaned from the

heresies of the orthodox Church fathers. However,

Gnostic sects are believed to have been active far before

the advent of Christianity. The Gnostics often

syncretistically fused elements of various mythologies

together to form their own unique, hybrid mythology.

And during the first few centuries of the common era,

these sects drew heavily from Hebrew and Christian

scriptures, reinterpreting those narratives in light of the

True Wisdom. Naturally, the idea that the Divine lies

within, and the notion that Divinity can be experienced

directly without the need for mediation, renders the

Church and its clergy obsolete; nobody needs a priest to

mediate between themselves and God. Furthermore, the

Gnostics were prolific writers, transcribing their own

Divine experiences into books which challenged the

hegemony of the orthodox canon. Thus the Gnostics

were seen as a critical threat to the hegemony and

necessity of the Church, and were roundly criticized in

a wealth of polemics written by the early Church

fathers. It is from these one-sided, pejorative accounts

that we gain most of our historical knowledge of the

48

Gnostic sects.

However, the philosophical current of

Gnosticism was not born with Christianity, nor with the

Hebrew scriptures. It may not have existed as a

codified system prior to the time of Christ, but one may

convincingly argue that it has never been a “codified”

system and that any attempt to trace its origins must be

informed by this fact. Instead, we can look at the

primary elements of the philosophy (dualism,

emanation, an inner Divine connection) and trace these

particular ideas back through time.

Through this lens, we can find the origins of

Gnosticism in earlier systems such as Hermetism, a

syncretistic Hellenic-Egyptian esoteric philosophy

based on the Corpus Hermeticum, a collection of

writings from Hellenic Egypt attributed to Hermes

Trismegistus, or “Thrice-Greatest Hermes”. Though the

true identity of the author is unknown, it is thought that

this “Hermes” is a hybridization of the Hellenic Hermes

and Egyptian Thoth, god of Wisdomxviii. Scholars

continue to debate the origins of this work, with some

offering a creation date which vastly precedes

Christianity, and others locating it at around the same

49

time as Christ. But elements of Gnostic philosophy can

also be found in the works of Plato (dualism and

emanation especially), and it is generally believed that

the current of Gnosticism is exceedingly ancient,

though it is highly fluid, dynamic, and chameleonic. It

is also generally believed that Hermetism came into

existence as a result of the conflation of Western and

Eastern mysticism.

LaCarriere, in his book The Gnostics, argues

that to try to narrow down the definition of Gnosticism

to a single dogmatic doctrine is an "absurd method

which might, perhaps, suit the traditional religions

based on a clearly established dogma, on canonical

texts, and orthodox interpretations, but which,

specifically, cannot be applied to Gnosticism, whose

most incontestable aim is to break down the arbitrary

frontiers established by dogma". He further claims that

one of the purposes of Gnostic study is to “call upon the

most diverse sources and teachings...to promote an open

synthesis, new channels of reflection, an original mode

of thinking”xix. Thus, relying too heavily on an accurate

historical portrayal of the Gnostic sects may effectively

obscure the true nature of Gnosticism, which is not

50

simply historical but metaphysical. The plural, varied

nature of the sects is a reflection of the primordial Error

on Earth; that is, the more one relies on someone else’s

interpretation, the more distant one finds themselves

from the Truth.

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VI

Liberation

Lucifer

The figure of Sophia has been, in certain sects

and systems, referred to by different names. Her desire

to know the Transcendent God was an act of Rebellion,

of Evolution, of the desire to Know. Thus she has been

seen as Lucifer, the Roman God whose name, rather

than his particular mythology, is important to our study.

Lucifer is derived from the Latin lucem fero, or “I bring

the light”. Some traditions, particularly some modern

esoteric currents, see Lucifer as a function of Sophia, or

as her male aspect. In other words, in pursuit of her

redemption, she acts as the Light-Bringer, as Lucifer,

the one who “brings the Light”.

Some Gnostics viewed Sophia as having fallen

into the outer Darkness, and in order to destroy the

realm of the Demiurge, she relies upon her male aspect

Lucifer, who remains above in the Pleroma, to deliver

the Divine Light through the curtain of the firmament.

Also, in a general sense, many Ophite gnostics (who

took their name from the Greek word for “serpent”,

52

ophis) saw the Edenic figure of the Serpent as the ideal

symbol of this function of Sophia - bringing the

knowledge of Good and Evil to mankind, knowledge

which was jealously withheld by Jaldabaoth.

Thus, the Light-Bringer is the one who seeks to

bring the light (pneuma) not only into the Visible World

(in order to aid Sophia), but also back to the Pleroma in

order to destroy the Demiurge. Sophia is often

represented as being caught between the kingdom of

Heaven and the Pleroma, in a place known as the

Ogdoad (the "eighth" sphere, beyond the seven celestial

spheres); her redemption back to the Pleroma is

accomplished by re-collecting all of the Divine Sparks

stolen (or lost as a result of the transgressions of

Sophia) and jealously held by the Demiurge. In Greek

mythology a comparison can be made with the figure of

Prometheus, who stole the secret of Fire (pneuma) from

the Gods (Demiurge). True to their syncretistic

inclinations, the various Gnostic sects used various

elements of various mythologies and mysteries to

represent the fundamental truths of Gnosis.

53

The Ascent of the Soul

Salvation is central to Gnosticism. The very act

of achieving Gnosis, of experiencing the Divine, is the

reception of Salvation. By experiencing Gnosis, one is

saved. However, similar to schools of orthodox

Christianity, the Gnostic systems differ in their

interpretation of who is capable of being saved.

Some Gnostic systems featured the belief in

Election, also found in Calvinism, in which each

individual possessed a pre-ordained destiny, either to be

saved or not, and wielded no control over this destiny

whatsoever. For instance, in the Gospel of Thomas, a

Gnostic text from the Nag Hammadi scriptures, Christ

uses an analogy of seeds being cast from a tree to

illustrate the fate of souls. Each seed is viable, but it is

where the seed lands which determines whether or not it

is able to take root and blossom. If the seed lands on

fertile soil, it has the opportunity to grow. However, if

no rain falls, or if too much shade obscures the light of

the Sun, these seeds may yet lie dormant. Others may

fall on infertile soil, and others still may fall across a

paved walkway; these seeds shall never come to

fruitionxx.

54

However, in response to the question of

Election many Gnostic systems possessed a three-fold

distinction between individuals, based on a person's

innate connection with the Divine. These three classes

were the Hylic Man, the Psychic Man, and the

Pneumatic (or Spiritual) Manxxi. The Hylic individual

does not possess a Divine Spark or pneuma - they are

entirely creatures of the Earth, of the Demiurge. The

Psychic individual contains the Divine Spark, but they

have not been able to release it from its captivity.

Finally, the Pneumatic is an individual who not only

possesses the Divine Spark but has also set it free,

allowing themselves to become like a god among men.

The Gnostic teacher Simon Magus, as well as his

partner Helen, were both said to be Pneumatics who

were already saved, and thus could not be afflicted or

punished by the Demiurge for anything that they did.

This mirrors many of the concerns which go along with

Calvinism and the belief in pure freedom by virtue of

pre-destined Salvation.

Depending on the system, the Hylic individual

is either forever doomed to vanish into Oblivion along

with the rest of the visible world and the Demiurge, or

55

is capable of hearing the call of Gnosis and eventually

evolving first into a Psychic, and then into a Pneumatic,

usually by the intercession of Sophia. The Hylic

individual is a creation of the Demiurge, devoid of

Divine Light, and thus does not necessarily experience

the malaise, or existential angst, caused by separation or

Distance from one's origins. Indeed, the Hylic is not at

all distant from his source; he is at home in the

Universe and on the Earth.

Many Gnostics saw their orthodox Christian

contemporaries as Psychics whose belief in Christianity

proved that they were capable of receiving the True

Wisdom, but their lack of Gnosis caused them to be

drawn in by the snares of the Church. In the Psychic

individual, an awareness exists of metaphysical

Distance and alienation, and it is the recognition of this

situation which allows the Psychic the possibility of

achieving gnosis and salvation.

The specific details of each Gnostic sect's

interpretation of Salvation are plentiful and varying, but

the one core element which does not change throughout

the systems is the belief in Gnosis as the only method of

Salvation. There can be no meaningful or effective

56

intercession by another individual on one's behalf, thus

it is that all human institutions are deficient and corrupt.

Churches are merely manifestations of the desires of

man (and by extension, of man's creator - the

Demiurge), and to the Gnostic represent the strongholds

of the dogma of the Demiurge, a doctrine which seeks

to enslave man by coercing him through fear and

tyranny to submit to the authority of Jaldabaoth, to

believe that Power and Eternity are in his hands rather

than in their own. In this way, the Demiurge renders

those of the Light blind to their True Selves, and

ignorant of their True Nature. And when they shed their

mortal husk these Souls will blindly follow the will of

Jaldabaoth to return once again to a fleshly prison, or to

a heavenly prison, where they will live as unwitting

strangers who bow eternally to Jaldabaoth the Tyrant.

Left Hand and Right Hand Paths

In the Western occult tradition, two “pathways”

represent the two opposing purposes of Initiation and

Enlightenment: the left and right hand paths (these

"paths" can also be found in the exceedingly ancient

57

Tantra schools, where the Left Hand denotes a path of

action, and the Right Hand represents a path of

meditation). Though the meaning of each “path” is rife

with nuance and subject to debate, the distinction

between the two essentially boils down to a decision

between unity with (and dissolution within) the Divine,

or, on the other hand, Self-Deification. The Right Hand

path is said to be the path followed by occultists who

seek a final union with the Divine; the identity and

nature of the Divine is open to interpretation. The Left

Hand Path, however, seeks to ascend to a level of equal

footing with the Divine. In other words, this path

involves the transmutation of the human into a god,

who will thus exist independent of the existing Divinity.

Most Anti-Cosmic Gnostic systems would be, if

arbitrarily placed into one or another of these occult

categories, found on the so-called Left Hand Path. And

this is so because for the Gnostic, generally speaking,

the existing measurement of Divinity within the cosmos

is the Demiurge. Thus, a follower of the Right Hand

Path would sometimes be seen as an individual who has

been tricked and deluded by the Demiurge and all of the

minions of the visible world to seek comfort in his

58

kingdom, rather than in the kingdom of the True God.

The Gnostic initiate seeks, as a result of the realization

of his True Origins, ascendancy back to the realm of the

True God, higher than and beyond the Kingdom of

Heaven. This is accomplished via the ordeals

associated with the "Ascension of the Soul", or the trials

of the Archons, where the Initiate must pass through

each Archon's gate with the help of secret names, signs,

and seals.

However, the act of making this particular

distinction (between Left and Right Hand Path) seems

to repeat itself and grow even more complex, because

the very same distinction must be made once the Initiate

ascends beyond the world of the Demiurge and enters

the World of Light (the Pleroma). In other words, one

might argue that once an Initiate has transcended the

cosmos and the Demiurge’s grasp, said Initiate will then

be “dissolved within”, or unified with, the True God,

thus ultimately fulfilling the desire of the Right Hand

Path. And again, one could argue that the purpose is not

unity with the True God, but simply a return to the

realm of the True God (or World of Light), where the

Initiate would wield the power of their True Self: the

59

very same power of the True God, a "Being of Light".

Indeed, one may become an Architect of their own

realities.

60

PART TWO

Distance

The Gnostic Notion of Distance

in the Literary Works of Blake and Wordsworth

61

VII

Distance

In the previous section of our current study we

have shown the fundamental importance of Distance to

the idea of Gnosis. Our flawed human condition is

created as a result of our Distance from Truth and from

our Divine Origins. In order to eliminate this Distance

one must achieve Gnosis, essentially re-connecting our

True Self with our distant, subjective self and

subordinating the latter to the former's Divine Will.

The vast gulf between our current condition and

our original state of Being is a void of immense

Distance, and Man himself is an imperfect recreation of

the image of the Light-Adam seen from afar. Distance

distorts our perception of reality just as metaphysical

distance distorts our perception of a hyper-reality, but

even though we live in a flawed universe perceived

through flawed senses, Gnosis gives one the power to

see beyond all of these limitations, to receive and to

perceive with absolute clarity. Gnosis is not simply a

bridge which spans the great, vast Distance; it is rather

like a wormhole in that it brings two points together

62

simultaneously.

In order for the Gnostic individual to overcome

or eliminate their alienation, they must necessarily

possess a supramundane element of Self which, at all

times, holds the true Knowledge and Experience of

Divinity. For without the pre-existent element of Self,

the individual would be unable to access memories, or

Knowledge, which is tied to the Experience of that Self.

In other words, if there are those among us who are not

of the Light, they will not "feel" the Distance. They

will not recognize, nor could they ever empathize with,

the Gnostic's sense of almost complete and utter

isolation in this universe.

In the following pages, we will explore the

importance of Distance, in a particularly Gnostic sense,

in the poesy of William Wordsworth and William Blake.

The reason for examining Poetry in particular is that,

especially in the theories of these two authors, the Art

of Poetry involves direct communication with either a

component part of the human mind which is, to some

degree, absent from "normal" human consciousness, or

with a supramundane, mystical Consciousness. Neither

poet necessarily considered himself to be a Gnostic.

63

However, the insight of Gnosis is hinted at within their

works, along with an emphasis on the theme of

Distance, and thus warrants our investigation.

Things Fall Apart

Decay is a product of the universe's alienation

from Truth, an alienation which is illustrated by the

Distance between the cosmos and the Pleroma. This

notion of decay is central to the current study because

most of us spend our lives thinking and moving

"forward", that is, seeking "progress". This notion of a

fundamental chronological progression from

primitivism to a superior modernism dominates Western

thought. All things begin in a state of simplicity, and

gradually move towards a preferable complexity which

is usually synonymous with prosperity.

However, the true nature of Time and existence

is that things actually begin in a state of wholeness (or

near-wholeness) and gradually deteriorate and

fragment. This process is illustrated by the mechanics

of Emanation: as the Light falls progressively farther

and farther away from its source, it becomes weakened

(or weighed down by and sublimated within matter).

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Whether falling or radiating, distance (or Time) implies

a weakening of the original condition of a Thing. In the

human embryo we see all the cells necessary for the

manifestation, at a later time, of a fully grown adult

human being. As this organism grows in size and

complexity, Time is always leading the whole organism

toward an eventual dispersion or disintegration. When

death claims the human being, the process of true

physical disintegration begins.

This same notion of Decay is found in the

Hindu doctrine of the Four Ages, and has been

reinvigorated and refined by Rene Guenon and Julius

Evola, among others, as a central theme of the system

of Traditionalism. While not exceedingly similar to

Gnosticism (Traditionalism is intimately intertwined

with the history of modern fascism, for example), the

doctrine of Traditionalism does share this particular

worldview where progress is seen as illusory.

According to Traditionalism (and other spiritual

systems), all great civilizations begin in a Golden Age,

a period in which the civilization in metaphysically and

spiritually "attached" to a Higher Truth. As Time

progresses, this "center" is lost, and society crumbles

65

until a final Apocalypse wipes everything out, allowing

a new Age to begin. Each progressive Age features a

diminishment of the original Divine force which was

once literally present within the physical world. This

explains, among other things, the ineffectual nature of

ancient religious customs and/or rituals in the modern

Age (the Kali Yuga, or "Dark Age"), as well as the

general existential state of philosophy and dreariness of

modern life.

For our purposes, by shifting our perspective

from forward to backward (or more specifically,

inward) we can begin to understand that we should not

be concerned, necessarily, with where we are going; we

ought to be concerned with where we came from. As

we advance technologically, we continually dig

ourselves deeper beneath a sea of matter, of increasing

complexity and efficiency, which gradually obscures the

Light that burns deep within.

The act of releasing one's Light, of removing

these burdens and Illusions, will always manifest in our

reality as Chaos, or destruction. This creates a key

tension between our living organism, which seeks

above all to live and to continue to live, and our True

66

Self, which can only be freed through Destruction.

Such is our unfortunate fate as we dwell within these

bodies, torn halfway between two worlds.

There is a Distance between our understanding

of the fundamental nature of Existence and the Truth of

the matter. Manifestation is not driven by the

progression from Chaos to Order, but rather by the

progression from Order to Chaos.

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VIII

On the Selection of the Poets

The selection of these particular poets rather

than others is only arbitrary in that our current study

must necessarily be limited and narrow in focus. Thus,

the author has made the subjective decision to limit the

present work to a study of the Gnostic notion of

Distance in certain works of Blake and Wordsworth, not

only because of each author's individual Gnostic

character but also because of the general artistic

zeitgeist of which their works became a part.

Though both authors supposedly pre-date the

beginning of the Romantic movement in English

literature, they are both seen as being instrumental in

the formulation and expression of the Romantic ethos.

It should be sufficient to note, for our purposes, a few of

the overriding characteristics given to the literature

which issued forth during the Romantic period. Among

these themes and ideas are the elevation of the

individual over the masses, the importance of

subjectivity over objectivity, a democratic interest in the

"common man", and perhaps most importantly, an

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obsession with Liberty. All of these ideals are quite

interesting to the Gnostic observer, given the

importance of Liberty and Rebellion in the Gnostic

weltanschauung. The elevation of the individual over

the masses, both as the subject of Art and in terms of

spiritual primacy, is particularly striking when applied

to the Gnostic idea of direct, personal Divine experience

taking precedence over all dogma and all religious

institutions.

The above information is provided only to place

these particular authors into a general thematic context.

It is not the purpose of this text to engage in literary

criticism or in an historical analysis of the Romantic

period in Britain; the purpose is to identify the element

of Distance in certain inspired works, in order to more

fully examine the theme itself in light of its manifold

representations and inner Gnostic character. Thus, we

must be careful not to confuse the true subject of our

investigation (the reality of metaphysical alienation)

with the objects from which we derive our observations.

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Why Literature?

We have chosen to explore the notion of

Distance in the literary works of two authors, as

opposed to the works of two painters or sculptors or

other artists, for two reasons.

Firstly, because those who tell stories also have

the power to awaken individuals from a state of

spiritual somnolence. For example, hearing the

Creation Myth for the first time, hearing that "story",

has the power to awaken an individual to the presence

of a Higher Truth, just as hearing a particularly moving

story of any genre or subject matter has the power to

greatly affect the imagination. Thus, the power to tell a

story is also the power to affect spiritual awakening.

Literature is an evolution of storytelling in that it allows

stories to outlive those that tell them; we speak not only

of the first one to tell the story, but also all those who

will eventually follow. Literature is the Art of freezing

stories in time, of extracting them from the human

consciousness.

Secondly, both Blake and Wordsworth believed

that the notion of Poetry itself was somewhat mystical,

or at least based deeply within the intuition of the Poet

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(the intuition being a preternatural or mystical sense).

Indeed, Wordsworth described the creation of poetry as

the "spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions". The

key here is spontaneity, which is the antithesis of pre-

meditation, and represents the action of the

subconscious mind, versus the highly organized and

ordered action of the conscious mind. Thus,

spontaneous creations seem to reflect a closer

connection to our original Nature than those objects of

artifice which are heavily shaped by our ego and

personal tendencies.

On the Structure of This Section

In the following pages we shall explore, first in

Blake and then in Wordsworth, two notions: the

author’s belief in and description of a supramundane

consciousness, and the way in which each author places

emphasis on the element of Distance in relation to the

recognition of the nature of said Distance. What we are

searching for is the first step in the process of Gnostic

redemption - the realization of our own alien-ness.

Each author approaches this theme in their own unique

way, but it is our purpose to see this element as a

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representation of a universal Principle.

We will limit our discussion of each author's

biography to the element of their philosophy which

corresponds to our notion of a supramundane

consciousness. Though each author's individual history

is deeply intertwined with the formulation and

application of their respective theories, as well as with

the creation of their poetic works, we will not devote

much time to this subject as our study emphasizes the

essence as opposed to the appearance of things. Thus,

if we are looking for the suprahuman element of the

works of these two individuals, it may be fitting that we

try to separate their metaphysical values from their ego-

consciousness.

Furthermore, it should be noted that exhaustive

work has already been done by many individuals to

place Blake, in particular, into a Gnostic context, with

varying degrees of success. The reader is encouraged to

seek out these works, and to keep in mind that our

purpose within these pages is to extract a certain

Gnostic principle from the works themselves, rather

than drawing from the author’s biography or from an

exhaustive survey of each writer’s entire corpus.

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IX

The Gnostic Element of Distance in Blake

The Supramundane: Poetic Genius

William Blake's cosmogony was closely related

to that of Gnosticism in general, complete with a

metaphysical Monism reminiscent of the Syrian-

Egyptian branch of Gnosis. He held a belief in the

direct experience of the Divine, achieved through

angelic visions, a power of Insight which originated in a

poet's Genius, a higher form of intuition and Wisdom or

what we may call the individual's True Self.

Blake's cosmogony interprets the Demiurge as

an entity named Urizen (or "reason") or Los, who is the

creator of the visible world. In the first chapter of

Blake's First Book of Urizen, the speaker seeks to know

the identity of whoever "form'd this abominable void /

This soul-shudd'ring vacuum"xxii. The speaker tells us

that some say it is Urizen, a creature who is described

as "the dark power", who is "hid" and "unknown"xxiii. In

the third chapter, the speaker describes the Demiurge as

being hounded by “fierce anguish” and “quenchless

flames”, sources of antagonism from which he furiously

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tries to escapexxiv. As he struggles to escape these

“flames of Eternal fury” the Demiurge builds the World

as a place of shelter away from these ravenous fires,

which could easily be seen as the Light, or awareness

of, the True God, which manifests as Destruction in the

Visible World because it is antithetical to the ordered

cosmos. The speaker even notes that an entity called

Los “round the dark globe of Urizen, kept watch for

Eternals to confine”xxv. This is the very same notion of

the Demiurge trapping the scattered Divine Sparks

within his visible world, as a reaction against the

Revelation of the One before him.

Blake was a visionary poet, who spoke of

receiving “angelic visions” and of communicating with

otherworldly entities. However, when asked about the

place in which he saw these angelic visions, Blake

would simply gesture towards his head. His poetry was

mostly self-published with his own illustrations, using

his own method of engraving and inking copper plates

which were used to make prints, and all of his artistic

output was said to be inspired by his mystical

experiences. Particularly relevant to our study is his

description of the nature of poetry, which is very much

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a Holy Art, and which is derived not from the human

being, but from something called the “Poetic Genius”.

This “Genius” has been interpreted in many

ways, most often becoming synonymous with the

imagination itself. In All Religions Are One, Blake

claims that the “Poetic Genius is the true man, and that

the body or outward form of man is derived from the

Poetic Genius”. This “true man” can be seen, from a

Gnostic perspective, as the Divine pneuma, or the Self

behind the self. The “outward form of man” is derived

from this Genius in the same way that the image of Man

created by the Demiurge was an imitation of the form of

the original Light-Adam, which was an image of the

True God. Blake sought to prove the existence of this

Poetic Genius in this way:

“As none by traveling over known lands can find out

the unknown. So from already acquired knowledge Man could

not acquire more. Therefore an universal Poetic Genius exists”.xxvi

In other words, man must have access, in whatever

qualified way, to supramundane Knowledge in order to

even conceive of or approach the examination of this

Knowledge. This ties in with our notion of Gnosis, in

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which we propose that it is the pre-existent principle in

the Pneumatic which allows for experiences of

metaphysical Recollection and Gnosis, an Insight which

due to its supramundane nature could never be

ascertained from the mundane world of the senses.

Distance: Innocence and Experience

The theme of Distance is central to Blake’s

ideas of innocence and experience. This notion is

derived from the collection Songs of Innocence and of

Experience, which were published with Blake’s own

illustrations as individual volumes in 1789 and 1793,

respectively, and as one collected volume in 1794. The

central motif is best described as an opposition between

the notions of innocence (associated with childhood or

nature) and experience (associated with adulthood and a

distance from nature). A greater virtue is given to the

idea of innocence, whereas the world of experience is

seen as being corrupt and limiting.

These two notions can be interpreted, for our

purposes, as representing temporal states of being

(childhood and adulthood) which are symbolically

representative of the original Self and the Ego-

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Consciousness, respectively. The Distance between

these two states of Being is measured in Time, which

grinds on inexorably and works to obscure and conceal

the True Nature of reality. Indeed, Blake sees the

human experience as a process of corruption which,

over time, not only destroys the notion of innocence but

also brings attention to its weaknesses as well. These

weaknesses are a result of this "innocence" being a

worldly and imperfect reflection of a higher Innocence,

yet another example of two notions separated, and

alienated, by Distance.

In a Gnostic context, we can imagine the

process of experience as a process of gradual accretion,

where the Divine Spark is increasingly obscured by

layers of material experience and existence. For Blake,

the individual became increasingly corrupted by the

world around him through the experience of its

institutions and its restrictions. The human spirit

seemed to blossom in a state of freedom, which is

symbolized by childhood, but decay under the influence

of rules and restrictive doctrines. The distrust of

institutions is important because it illustrates a

recognition of the importance of personal experience,

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particularly in relation to the Divine. Just as the

Christian Gnostics understood that God was within and

that no priest could intercede on their behalf, Blake

understood that institutions and doctrines only served to

introduce Error, and to oppress the individual.

Despite all of the problems associated with

Experience, it proves inescapable to each and every one

of us; we are afflicted by the Error of the world more

with every breath we take. And as time goes on we find

ourselves alienated from the freedoms of our youth,

separated from our Divine origins. However, our

Innocence is not eternally lost, for we have the power to

experience that state again through the Poetic Genius.

In other words, through the mystical Art of

Poesy, if it is truly inspired and authentic, the individual

is able to experience No-Mind, the total lapse of ego-

consciousness which allows the Genius to commune

freely with our world via the medium of poetry. And

though we have been oppressed, and though we have

suffered, we can use this Genius, which is beyond Time

and its corrupting effects, to find our way back again.

Indeed, the Genius allows the individual to roll back

time. It is as though poetry is the voice of our Divinity

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- illuminating the darkness around us and showing us

the true nature of all things, past and future.

By re-experiencing lost memories and feelings

which are derived from our years of Innocence through

glimpses of Gnosis, we are reminded of the connection

we had with the Divine; though we never saw the Light,

we felt its warmth. We finally come to see and to feel

the Distance which separates us from Truth. But though

we were closer to Truth in the past, we were also naive -

we were unable to comprehend the nature of our

universe or to question the nature of our own existence.

Without the key of Experience, we would find ourselves

as children again, doomed to walk again headlong into a

tempest of utter alienation and darkness, a tunnel which

grows longer and deeper with time. Thus, we must use

this Key to free ourselves from this dialectic of

Innocence and Experience, the dual process of Solve

and Coagula, the very breath of the Cosmos.

To illustrate these notions we can juxtapose two

poems, one drawn from the collection entitled Songs of

Innocence and one from the collection called Songs of

Experience. These two volumes were published

together and were meant to be interpreted in light of one

79

another. Certain poems are painted in a lighter shade in

the former collection while featuring a much darker

counterpart work in the latter. An important thing to

note, for the purposes of our study, is that the reader is

able to interpret the two collections of poems in light of

one another, a task which is made possible by the

figurative Distance between the reader and the text. But

the crucial Distance here is that between the two

individual collections of poetry.

From the former collection comes the poem

"The Lamb", which begins with the question "Little

Lamb who made thee / Dost thou know who made thee"

and goes on to equate the lamb with the figure of

Christxxvii. The lamb is seen as a benevolent creature,

symbolic of the Christ in its goodness. The lamb is

seen as a reflection of its Creator (think of man created

in the image of a benevolent god). This theme of

creation is continued, albeit in a much darker shade of

insight, in "The Tyger", the counterpart to “The Lamb”

which is found in Songs of Experience. The poem

begins: "Tyger Tyger, burning bright, / In the forests of

the night; / What immortal hand or eye, / Could frame

thy fearful symmetry?" In this second poem, the

80

speaker has the benefit of viewing a particular creature

through a lens of "experience" rather than innocence.

And because of this, the speaker is not content to

marvel at the beauty of the Tyger as was done with the

Lamb; rather the speaker thinks beyond the superficial

Beauty of the creature and delves deeper into its Nature.

The speaker ponders the wild nature of the beast, of its

potential for violence and for death and destruction (this

is the Tyger's "fearful symmetry")xxviii.

Thus the speaker begins to wonder how a

benevolent Creator could craft a beast of both profound

beauty and profound cruelty. The speaker goes on to

wonder: "When the stars threw down their spears / And

water'd heaven with their tears: / Did he smile his work

to see? / Did he who made the Lamb make thee?"xxix.

These two poems were deliberately made to

"match up" with one another in Blake's collection,

featuring similar style and construction as well as

subject matter. What is crucial for our study is the fact

that via the passage of Time, and the accretion of what

Blake calls experience, the speaker comes to see that

those creatures which he had revered as beautiful works

of the Creator are actually possessed of as much, if not

81

more, hideousness than docile Beauty. This Epiphany

was only made possible by the Distance between

Innocence and Experience, by the passage of Time.

The speaker uses the Art of poesy, which is

Divinely inspired, to both separate and combine the two

periods of childhood and adulthood in order to see them

as they are, and to learn about each in light of the other.

And though the Distance, the passage of Time, is

ultimately corrupting, for the Gnostic it also allows for

redemption because it allows for Recollection.

The speaker in “The Tyger” sees the hand of the

Demiurge in the form of the Tyger, and becomes alive

to the destructive potential of that Demiurge by thinking

of the destructive nature of his creation. This is the

speaker’s recognition of the Distance between the

Demiurge and the True God; this is the moment at

which the speaker realizes that the two distinct gods

exist. Thus, the recognition of Distance leads the

Gnostic to an awareness of the Nature of this world’s

Creator and the Nature of the Gnostic himself. As we

will see, the notion of Distance is just as important, if

not moreso, to the works of William Wordsworth.

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X

The Gnostic Element of Distance in Wordsworth

"Here must thou be, O Man!

Strength to thyself; no Helper hast thou here;

Here keepest thou thy individual state:

No other can divide with thee this work,

No secondary hand can intervene

To fashion this ability. 'Tis thine,

The prime and vital principle is thine

In the recesses of thy nature..."

The Prelude, Book XIII, 188-96

The Supramundane: Organic Sensibility

Scholars often debate the extent to which

Wordsworth either conflated or separated the ideas of

"sense" and "imagination". Many have argued that the

author believed that all knowledge issued from the

senses; this idea is challenged by those who believe that

Wordsworth also felt that the imagination, or the inner

workings of the mind, were, inherently, creative.

Indeed, if all Knowledge comes from our senses, how

could the imagination (which we have chosen to

acknowledge as a so-called "sixth sense") be

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independently creative? Where does this creative

potential originate from, if not from the senses?

According to F. Christensen, Wordsworth's

poetry "seems to claim at certain rare moments the

power of direct intuition"xxx. This "direct intuition" may

be understood as Gnosis itself, the direct experience of

the Divine. And it is this intuition, or the imagination

itself, which is the subject of Wordsworth's theory of

"creative sensibility". Though Wordsworth was

certainly a unique figure in the pre-Romantic era, the

notion of "creative sensibility" shares similar

philosophical elements with Blake’s notion of the

“Poetic Genius”.

The idea of "creative sensibility", generally

speaking, is symbolized in most of Wordsworth's poetry

as a closeness to Nature, which is present most

abundantly and most directly at birth. As time wears

on, this sensibility is progressively deadened by the

figurative and/or literal "weight of the world". Similar

to Blake's binary of Innocence and Experience, once

one comes to adulthood, the individual is able to

recollect those moments of youth which were imbued

with the creative essence via the medium of what he

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termed "spots of time". These moments of Nostalgia, or

"spots of time", will be addressed shortly. For now, we

can look to a specific example the notion of creative

sensibility in Wordsworth's poetic work.

In Book II of Wordsworth's The Prelude, the

speaker recalls a certain feeling, or essence, which

seemed to be abundant within him during his youth, but

had seemed to fade away with age:

"...But let this at least

Be not forgotten, that I still retained

My first creative sensibility,

That by the regular action of the world

My soul was unsubdued. A plastic power

Abode with me, a forming hand, at times

Rebellious, acting in a devious mood,

A local spirit of its own, at war

With general tendency..."xxxi

The mechanism by which the world "subdues" the soul

is called here the "regular action". From our particular

perspective, and in our own unique interpretation, we

can see that the "regular action" of the world

corresponds to the proper functioning of the cosmic

system; in other words, the process by which the soul is

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ensnared by the machinery of the Demiurge. It is,

indeed, "regular" because it corresponds directly to a

well-functioning cosmos. The notion of childhood is

addressed in the few lines preceding our selection

above; the speaker is telling his audience not to forget

the creative sensibility which he once retained in his

youth.

Distance: Spots of Time

There are moments in our lifetimes when a

certain sensory stimulus, such as the smelling of a

familiar fragrance, leads our mind directly back in time

to a moment frozen in the past. A man smells a familiar

perfume, and immediately his mind is filled with

memories of a former lover. But the recollection is not

so general: he remembers a specific moment in time,

and everything about it, re-experienced through his

current, older ego-consciousness. Anything associated

with that moment is re-experienced through nostalgia:

tastes, smells, visions, feelings. All of the senses can

potentially play a part in re-broadcasting that moment in

time to the conscious mind; each sense becomes a

tentacle of the moment. The ultimate effect is the

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bridging of the gap between the Past and the Present.

This is the fundamental Distance which Wordsworth is

concerned with, and as we shall see, it is almost

identical to the distance between Blake’s Innocence and

Experience.

This is, generally speaking, what Wordsworth

would call a "spot in time". It is almost like two

quantum-entangled objects, the fusion of past and

present, separated spatially in time yet perceived as one

moment. Key to Wordsworth's notion of the "spots of

time" is the notion that each moment that can

potentially be experienced (the moment frozen in the

past) is highly significant to the individual, and only by

recalling that moment in perfect mental clarity can the

person understand why that moment in the past was so

profound.

For a far more succinct and direct definition, we

can look to the words of Wordsworth himself: "There

are in our existence spots of time / Which with distinct

pre-eminence retain / A renovating Virtue"xxxii. This

"renovating Virtue" is the power by which "our Minds /

Are nourished and invisibly repaired"xxxiii. These

"spots" are created in our minds whenever a

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transformative revelation occurs during our lifetime,

and through the experience of recollection, later in life,

we are able to not only remember the event in perfect

clarity but also to add a further, newer level of meaning

to it. This notion of hindsight and its reparative

properties is strikingly similar to Blake's system of

Innocence and Experience in its recognition of

Distance.

The particular Spot of Time which we will

focus on in our study is found in The Prelude. The

Prelude is an autobiographical poem which grew

throughout the years from two volumes to thirteen,

serving as a record of the poet's intellectual and

personal growth throughout the years. Though we will

not delve too much into his autobiography, it is crucial

to at least understand the significance of the French

Revolution in Wordsworth's intellectual development.

In the early stages of the revolution, Wordsworth

emphatically supported the cause of liberty and was

consumed with a profound idealism concerning the

rebellion. But as the revolution turned more and more

bloody, Wordsworth became more and more

disillusioned with the cause, and this remarkable event

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became a crucial turning point in his thinking. Idealism

began to give way, and a strong emphasis on the

individual (rather than any mass of people) emerged in

the poet's work. This is yet another example of

Distance: the gulf between Wordsworth’s expectations

and the reality of the revolution.

One particular Spot of Time which Wordsworth

recalls in The Prelude resonates strongly within a

Gnostic interpretation. A young William, a schoolboy

on holiday, comes upon a boat tethered inside of a cave.

"...No sooner had I sight of this small Skiff,

Discovered thus by unexpected chance,

Than I unloosed her tether and embarked."xxxiv

The young William rows out onto a lake, and becomes

mesmerized by the sight of a majestic cliff high above

in the distance, a rocky summit which served as the

horizon line and beyond which young William could

see a starry sky."...I fixed a steady view

Upon the top of that same craggy ridge,

The bound of the horizon, for behind

Was nothing but the stars and the grey sky."xxxv

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But as William draws nearer and nearer to the object of

his journey, the feeling of wonder within him turns to

dread, as he is awestruck by the awesome size of the

Cliff. More strikingly, William begins to feel that it is

not he who is approaching the Cliff, but the Cliff which

is approaching him.

"...I struck, and struck again,

And, growing still in stature, the huge Cliff

Rose up between me and the stars, and still,

With measured motion, like a living thing,

Strode after me.”xxxvi

After this experience, William's mood and his thoughts

seemed to darken.

"...in my thoughts

There was a darkness, call it solitude,

Or blank desertion, no familiar shapes

Of hourly objects, images of trees,

Of sea or sky, no colours of green fields..."

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And then the truly profound closing lines of the stanza:

"But huge and mighty Forms that do not live

Like living men moved slowly through my mind

By day and were the trouble of my dreams."xxxvii

The young William had, on some level, felt

guilty about stealing the boat, and when he caught sight

of the majestic Cliff, he imagined that Nature was

punishing him for his transgression. However, as an

adult Wordsworth looks back on this memory and sees a

greater Truth in the experience; in other words he

understands why this particular memory became so

important to him and why it became a Spot of Time.

The real significance of this event, as informed by

Experience and hindsight, is that this was the first time

that William learned that there was something greater

than himself. He would go on to think of this "thing" as

Nature itself, and his affinity for unfettered Nature was

often expressed in his poetry as an emphasis on images

of rural, as opposed to city, life.

But we shall take our interpretation further and

place it into a Gnostic context. Yes, this Spot of Time

served the revelatory purpose of communicating to

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William the existence of something greater than or

beyond himself. However, whereas Wordsworth

identifies this as a desirable Force (the force of Nature),

perhaps it is none other than the Demiurge. And the

terror which struck the poet as he paddled madly back

the way he came was the Fear with which the Demiurge

governs all of existence, an emotional manifestation of

a reaction to limitations, to Divine Laws. It is the terror

felt at the edge of the Abyss as one gazes into oblivion.

And as a young man, the poet flees in fright from this

force, because as one who is closer to Innocence (in the

sense of Blake) he is more capable of perceiving the

true essence of the Demiurge: authoritative and

punitive. William feels as though he is being singled

out and punished by God for his theft, the recourse of a

vengeful god.

On a symbolic level we might consider the

journey towards the Cliff as the poet's journey towards

Knowledge, the passage across a vast Distance. And

just as the Cliff rises up to scare him away, the

Demiurge rises up to blind the poet to Knowledge. And

as the Cliff partially obscures the starry sky, the

Demiurge partially obscures the Alien God.

92

Perhaps what Wordsworth may not have

realized, due to the intercession of malevolent Forces, is

that his own Creative Sensibility, his own Poetic

Genius, was who he truly was and that nothing was

larger, or greater, than that.

93

EPILOGUE

This brief study is wholly incapable of

capturing either the magnitude or the minutiae of

Gnosticism in sufficient detail, and the reader is

encouraged to consult the books referenced in this work

for a broader understanding.

The crucial notion of our study is Distance:

between Essence and Existence, between Reality and

Illusion, between the self and the Self. The recognition

of this Distance explains the flawed mechanics of

existence, and implies that all outward manifestations in

the physical universe are either purely illusory or their

inner Essence is buried beneath layer after layer of

obscurity. The notion of the Divine Element radiating

outward, or falling downward, necessitates a gradual

loss of Divinity throughout Space and Time. Thus, the

idea of "progress" becomes abhorrent. One must

imagine the possibility that it is actually the modern

man who is most primitive, in terms of his relation to

his Divine perfection. There is a reason that the

youngest of Ages is always the "Golden" Age.

Every plight of man is doomed to failure. Our

94

successes are merely mistakes masquerading as

solutions. Thomas Jefferson once noted that if man

were able to live without government, he would have

never found the need to construct one. All of our efforts

to tame the wild nature of man are essentially utilitarian

because no society has ever eliminated its problems

completely (hunger, violence, poverty, blasphemy), we

have only managed to statistically reduce the number of

problems. Eventually we arrive at a ratio of more

people saved than people lost; yet still there are those

who are lost. This can only be justified as the greatest

good for the greatest number of people, and is itself

proof that society is incapable of completely taming the

nature of man.

Thus one may come to understand that neither

Man nor society can ever be perfected, and this is

because both are products of a flawed Architect, a

flawed programmer. All things fall apart, and all things

must eventually pass away.

And then the process begins anew. A new

Golden Age dawns, only to disappear amidst the heavy

shadows of yet another great Dusk. And this is how the

Architect of our universe prolongs his reign, prolongs

95

his very existence. The Divine Light remains trapped

within the Outer Darkness, alienated from the Living

Light of the Pleroma. And this universe of ceaseless

birth and gruesome death will live on for as long as the

Divine Sparks remain within the Outer Darkness,

beyond the Pleroma.

Only by remembering, only by turning one's

Self completely around can one hope to return those

vital Sparks back to the womb of resplendent Light and

Truth. And only then, robbed of his false dominion, will

the Tyrant fall screaming beneath the black tides of utter

Oblivion whence he emerged.

This is the Call to the Light.

You must Remember who you Are,

And where you came from.

You must

Consume the Void.

96

97

References:

98

i Rudolph, Kurt. Gnosis: The Nature and History of Gnosticism. San Francisco: Harper, 1977. 70-71.

ii Jonas, Hans. The Gnostic Religion. 3rd Edition. Beacon Press, 2001. 336.

iii Rudolph. 59.

iv Evola, Julius. The Hermetic Tradition. Vermont: Inner Traditions, 1995. 31-32.

v Ibid. 20-21.

vi Ibid. 21-22.

vii Moore, Edward. “Gnosticism.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. iep.utm.edu. 2001.

viii Rudolph. 72.

ix Ibid.

x Ibid. 72-73.

xi Ibid. 74.

xii Ibid. 74-75.

xiii Ibid. 78.

xiv Ibid. 96.

xv Ibid. 70.

xvi Evola. 28.

xvii Rudolph. 59.

xviii Evola. 6.

xix LaCarriere, Jacques. The Gnostics. San Francisco: City Lights, 1989. 45.

xx The Nag Hammadi Library. Ed. James M. Robinson. New York: Harper, 1990. 126-138.

xxi Rudolph. 91-92.

xxii The Complete Poetry & Prose of William Blake. Ed. David. V. Erdman. New York: Anchor, 1988. 70.

xxiii Ibid.

xxiv Ibid. 73.

xxv Ibid.

xxvi Ibid. 1-2.

xxvii Ibid. 8-9.

xxviii Ibid. 24-25.

xxix Ibid.

xxx Christensen, Francis. “Creative Sensibility in Wordsworth.” The Journal of English and Germanic Philology. 45.4 (Oct. 1946): 361.

xxxi Wordsworth, William. “The Prelude, Book II.” The Major Works. Ed. Stephen Gill. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Lines 377-385.

xxxii Ibid. Lines 258-260.

xxxiii Ibid. Lines 264-265.

xxxiv Ibid. Lines 380-382.

xxxv Ibid. Lines 397-400.

xxxvi Ibid. Lines 408-412.

xxxvii Ibid. Lines 420-427.