Welcome back to Gnostic Insights. Last week we finished up our four-part series on David Bentley Hart’s book, That All Shall Be Saved, and I skipped over the Free Will chapter because we just ran out of time. But this week I’m going to re-record an episode that was first aired on April 29th of 2023, and this time I’ll include the transcript with the audio post so that you can read it as well as hear it.
This week’s episode is called Free Will is Essential, and essential means necessary. It’s baseline, it’s foundational, it’s a must-have. All of us Second-Order Powers have free will. The Aeons have free will. That’s how it is that Logos was able to choose to fall. We’re not helpless puppets. We do become helpless puppets when we sign up with the Demiurge, rather than with the Father in the Fullness. The Fullness and the Father allow us free will because that is essential to God’s nature, and we are direct emanations as fractals of that nature. We are made in the image of God.
The Demiurge does not want you to have free will. That’s what causes all the troubles with the Demiurge and these pesky humans in particular, because we have free will, and the Demiurge hates free will.
The original economy was that of the hierarchy of the Fullness, where every Aeon knew its place, position, and duties for cooperative overall functioning.
Each of the Fullnesses lived in a state of joy, benevolence, and harmonious agreement, giving glory to the Father and never to each other or to themselves, according to the Tripartite Tractate in verse 86. The Second Order of Powers was created in order to bring life and love into what is called the new economy or new organization. This new economy was in the mind of the Father all along, even before the Fall.
It is a unique feature of the Tripartite Tractate that the book does not describe the Fall in terms of sin and blame, but rather as an event that was destined to come about in order to usher in a new economy that differed from the ethereal pleroma where the Aeons dwell. The Tripartite Tractate says,
The free will which was begotten with the totalities was a cause for this one, such as to make him do what he desired, with no one to restrain him. The intent then of the Logos, who is this one, was good, and before he begot anything else for the glory of the will and in agreement with the totalities, he acted magnanimously from an abundant love and set out toward that which surrounds the perfect glory.
Thomason translates the word magnanimously in the scripture above as presumptuously. Yet the intention of the Logos was good. The Tripartite Tractate is unique in its gentle assessment of not blaming Logos for the Fall. The Tripartite Tractate says that this act of disobedience by Logos was within the will of the Father after all, and it was necessary to usher in an organization that needed to come forth for the revelation of the Fullness. The Tripartite Tractate says,
For it was not without the will of the Father that the Logos was produced, which is to say, not without the will will he go forth. But he, the Father, had brought him forth for those about whom he knew that it was fitting that they should come into being.
The Father knew what would happen, and the Father found it fitting that Logos should be conceived as he was and take the action that he did.
The Father knew that this was the path that would lead to material creation, the economy that was to come, “So that the things which have come to be might become an organization which would come into being.”
After the Fall, the Self of Logos rejoined his fellow Aeons above in the Fullness. Logos and the Totalities joined together to create a new fruit from their union that would bring life, love, and consciousness to the Deficiency below. Logos and the Fullness brought forth these little ones of the Second Order out of his newly restored pleroma, so that they could receive the life-giving light born from the thought of brotherly love of the preexistent Fullness, in contrast to the phantoms that had arisen from the Fall.
These powers of remembrance resembled the Aeons whose likenesses they were, and they were in harmony with themselves and with others of their kind. And, as you know by now, the Second Order of Powers manifests as every living thing that is on this planet Earth, from the cells on up through the humans.
The new economy of the Second Order of Powers reflected a different method of doing business from their images in the Fullness. In the new economy, the powers vied for position and authority within a limited space known as the Boundary. Here, those of the imitation who continued to wholeheartedly embrace the shadows left over from the Fall actively fought against those of the remembrance. For their part, those of the remembrance forgot all about the values of the Fullness due to the law of mutual combat that they were enacting against the Deficiency.
The new Powers—that’s us—acquired the same lust for domination and all of the other passions of this sort, and wound up acting against itself on account of its rage. It was during this endless war that a myriad of various kinds of matter and all sorts of powers were mixed with one another, and in great number. Clearly another solution was required if peace were to enter the Deficiency.
The endless war reflects our battle with the hylic or material nature of our universe and our material bodies. The life within us does battle against the non-living material created by the Demiurge. As our Self descends into this economy, the first spark unites with the material of the molecules to make up the fertilized egg. And it is the Self, replicating the patterns of the Fullness of God, that directs each organism’s growth. It is also the overall plan that directs evolution. As the myriad of various kinds of matter and all sorts of powers become mixed with one another, and in great number, remember that none of this was due to an error of planning. Rather, these steps were all necessary to bring about an economy still to come.
For this reason, then, it is wrong to condemn the movement of Logos as the cause that made an ordained economy come to pass. The Aeons of the Fullness took upon themselves the Fall that had happened, as if it were their own, with concern, goodness, and great kindness. For the one who had become deficient could be made perfect in no other way except by the Fullness of the Father.
Free will is the core of our being. It was the free will of Logos that caused him to leave the Fullness in the Fall. It was the free will of the restored Logos and the Totalities that created us Second-Order Powers.
And it is the free will of the Powers, by way of our aeonic inheritance, that directs our lives here below. It is our own free will that causes us to forget about the Father and the Fullness of God from which we come. It is our own free will that allows us to bow to the rule of the Demiurge and dig our own graves.
Because of the nature of free will, we turn to an outside source to assist us in our remembrance and salvation. This Aeon is known as the Christ. And so the Aeons of the Fullness, everyone individually and all of them collectively, gave glory in unison to their Father while praying for help for the Deficiency. They brought forth one that combined every attribute of the All, manifested in the image of the Father of whom they had been thinking while they gave glory and prayed for help. This one was called the Son of His Will and Of the Good Pleasure of the All. It is the knowledge of the Father who wished to become known.
It is also described as holding authority vested in Him from the beginning and the power needed to execute it. The Aeons not only produced a singular fruit reflecting the Father, but that fruit, which is the Christ, also reflected their own individual countenances and aspects from their positions in the hierarchy of the Fullness. In other words, we each have a one-to-one relationship with a fruit that comes in the image of each one of us. We are able to recognize the Savior because it fits us and has our face.
In this manner they went forth in a form that consisted of many forms, so that the one whom they were going to help should see those to whom he had prayed for help as well as the one who brought it to him. Those redeemed by the Light were made whole and complete.
Those who were now enlightened felt the power of the Redeemer inside themselves being together with Him, sharing His suffering, relieving Him little by little, making Him grow, raising Him up. The redeemed were produced as an army for Him, as for a king in which those who belong to this thought share the command and are united in agreement. He also sowed in them invisibly a word designed for understanding and gave Him the power to detach and dispel from Himself those who were disobedient to Him.
Those of the imitation, on the other hand, were unprepared for the Light, for they had come into being out of darkness and could not comprehend it. To them the Light came as a brief and terrifying flash, a leap and a blow that drove them deeper into the shadows of the abyss. To them this utter darkness was home. [That was from verse 89 of the Tripartite Tractate.]
Going into verse 91,
The Logos who had fallen and then abandoned the Deficiency he created, decided to pray that the fixed economy might attain all those who had gone forth from him, including those still clinging to the imitation. In this manner Logos was also made right from the Fall, as those of the Deficiency attained the economy of the All, and the Second-Order Powers united with the knowledge that had been given to them. So those of the Deficiency were found worthy of becoming rulers over the unspeakable darkness as their own property and the lot that fell to them.
This is what he granted them, so that they too might become useful for the economy that was to be, and of which they were oblivious. And so it came to pass that every grace and food was contemplated through prayer, and they all came to be, for the Word greatly increased mutual cooperation and expectant hope, and they all experienced happiness, deep rest, and undefiled pleasures to the extent each was able to embrace them.
Now, what all of this is saying in Simple Explanation terms is that the fruit of the All and the Father becomes another fractal iteration of the Universal Unit of Consciousness. But this iteration is not a fractal deriving from us Second-Order Powers. The Christ principle would be a perfect fractal iteration of the original Son and His pleroma, the hierarchy of the Fullness of God, taking into account the new information brought to it by the redeemed Logos concerning the goings-on in our bounded space.
You could say that Logos and the Fullness have now amended the primary algorithm of this universe to include up-to-date data specific to each individual unit of consciousness in our space-time continuum. This new code represents patches to the fragmentary error code of the Deficiency in order to end the stalemate and re-establish harmony and proper functioning of the economy. When the Tripartite Tractate speaks of forms consisting of many forms, this refers to the nested fractal hierarchies of our space that make up all of the normal matter of our universe. Our Universal Unit of Consciousness, the Holy Spirit of the Fullness of God, is continually pouring in information, values, love, and coherence.
The Christ came into the world to redeem all of creation through His Body and His Blood literally, because His Body and His Blood instantiate the entire Fullness of the All. Redemption comes not only to those of us on Earth, but also to the Fullness above, and to Logos in particular, the Aeon whose fall brought creation into existence. Each redeemed Second-Order Power is unshackled from the ties that bind it to the material world. And in this manner, the creation of the Demiurge loses power to the Fullness.
The face of the revealed Christ possessed the Word of the Son together with His essence, His power, and His form. He was the one He desired and delighted in. He was the one who had been prayed for in love. This Aeon was light and a desire to set right, an openness for instruction and an eye designed for vision, qualities that it had from those above. Moreover, it was wisdom for His thought against the ones who were placed lower in the economy, a word for speech and other perfecting things of this kind. [That comes from verses 93 and 94 of the Tripartite Tractate.]
Those who come along as the army of the Christ are unshackled from the chains that bind the material and psychical orders, or emotional parts of ourselves, to this world, and so much so, in fact, that they form a new Third Order of Powers, the spiritual ones. The Third Order are also known as the Assembly of Salvation, the Bride, the Church, and the Elect.
The Tripartite Tractate mentions the name of Jesus only a couple of times, and the Savior and the Christ many more times than that. And, of course, the entire book begins with long discourses concerning the nature of the Father and the Son, but with no mention of Jesus, who comes later as an instantiation of the Christ. Here’s what it says about Jesus at this point in the story, from verse 117,
Because the seed of the promise about Jesus Christ had been deposited, whose revelation and unification we have ministered to, this promise now enabled instruction and a return to that which they had been from the beginning, that of which they possessed a drop, inciting them to return to it, which is what is called redemption.
And that means to be released from captivity and to obtain freedom.
Freedom is the knowledge of the truth, which existed before the ignorance was ruling, forever without beginning and without end, being something good and a salvation of things and a release from the servile nature in which they have suffered.
Here the Gnostic gospel claims that we humans and all of creation are children or fruit of the spiritual realm, the Fullness, and we are redeemed by the body and the blood of Christ in the form of a drop of remembrance, a seed of the promise that now enables instruction and a return to that which we were from the beginning.
Humans were endowed with reason so that they could remember their true inheritance and repent of their tenacious claim to this material life. This redemption comes easier to some than to others. The Tripartite Tractate describes humanity as coming to exist as three types of people—a reflection of their readiness to accept the redemption of the Savior: a spiritual type, a psychological type, and a material type, reproducing the fractal pattern of the three kinds of dispositions of the Logos before, during, and after the Fall.
These three dispositions of Logos are his original Self, which contained the fractal images of the Totality, his egoic thought that propelled the fall away from the Self and the Fullness, and his fallen bits and shadows that form the body of the Demiurge—this material world.
The spiritual kind of human is like light from light and like spirit from spirit. It received knowledge straight away from the revelation when he remembered that which is superior and prayed for salvation. He has salvation without any uncertainty. [That’s verses 118 and 119.]
The Tripartite Tractate identifies these types as, “the prophets, the evangelists, the teachers of the Word, whose job it is to help their brothers and sisters to remember the Father above.”
Next comes the psychological type, the psychical kind, who,
hesitated to accept the knowledge of him who appeared to it. It hesitated even more to run to him in faith.
This type of person is content to have a pledge of assurance of things to come. They are satisfied to have a promise of a future heaven, although they are in no hurry to get there. These are most of us folks who feel we’re doing just fine, leading mostly moral and comparatively upright lives—good family people, good citizens, realizing nobody’s perfect. We try to enact the Simple Golden Rule by being helpful to our neighbors when needed.
The material kind, on the other hand, is alien in every respect. The Tripartite Tractate describes them as being,
like darkness that avoids the shining light because it is dissolved by its manifestation, for it did not accept his coming, and is even filled with hatred against the Lord because he revealed himself. Those who arrogantly pride themselves in their vainglorious lust, who love temporary glory, who are oblivious to the fact that the power that has been entrusted to them is only for a limited time and period, and for that reason have not acknowledged that the Son of God is the Lord of the All and the Savior, and who have failed to rid themselves either of their fury or of their way of imitating those who are evil. They will receive judgment for their ignorance and their senselessness, and that judgment is suffering. [That’s verses 120 and 121.]
It is important to note that this verse describes the hylic humans as imitating those who are evil. It does not describe them as evil themselves. This is because every human being is a Second-Order Power that comes from above. Therefore, every person contains the fractal patterns of the Fullness of God, and we can’t call that fractal evil. Despite their lack of reason, which comes from ignorance arising out of their forgetfulness, they are essentially children of God. And as children of God, they will return to the paradisiacal realm eventually, but not until they remember and relinquish their egoic narcissism.
I would describe these people as prideful materialists with no fear of God because they reject sober contemplation of God. Some proudly call themselves scientists, still others academics. Some may be politicians, industrialists, tech giants, entertainers, or philandering priests and clerics. They are successful materialists who have no inclination to dethrone their narcissistic egos in favor of their one Self or the God above all gods. They mock believers, believing themselves superior to these poor, deluded fools. On the national and world stages, they seek to dismantle all religions and replace them with a secular government and elitist ruling class, falsely believing that this will lead to paradise on Earth.
Yet even these materialists, who have been given temporary power and authority through the Demiurge, will eventually recognize their need for the Savior, either through their experiences after death or within increasingly less satisfying reincarnations. The Tripartite Tractate says of their redemption that the church of the elect will pray for them especially. It says,
As for the servants of the evil one, though evil is worthy of destruction, they are in—and then there’s a missing word—but because of the Fullness which is above all the worlds, which is their good thought and the fellowship, the Church will remember them as good friends and faithful servants once she has received redemption from the one who gives requital.
She will give them requital for all that which the Aeons will think about. He is an emanation from them, so that, just as Christ did his will, which he brought forth and exalted the greatnesses of the Church and gave them to her, so will she be a thought for these. And to men he gives their eternal dwelling places in which they will dwell, leaving behind the attraction toward the defect, while the power of the pleroma pulls them up in the greatness of the generosity and the sweetness of the Aeon which pre-exists.
The Tripartite Tractate is a Christian book in that it names Jesus of Nazareth as the incarnation of the Christ. Jesus taught about the kingdom of God and instructed his followers in the ways of virtue. Jesus did not ask to be worshipped or glorified, rather he continually redirected attention and praise to the Father. Jesus was both fully human, with human DNA inherited from his earthly mother, and fully God, entwined at conception with DNA inherited from his spiritual Father. Within the body and blood of Jesus flowed the perfect genomic instantiation of the Fullness of God and the Paradise dreamed by the Fullness. As do we all. We all instantiate the Fullness of God in our Second-Order bodies. Through the Christ, restoration comes to the Deficiency below, one fractal iteration at a time.
I hope this explains about free will and the different types of humans. You may want to listen to this episode again or read the transcript. If you were only listening, go to gnosticinsights.com.
And may I ask you to please contribute to this effort. Expenses are arising and I need your help in order to put out a children’s book. It’s already written. I’m just waiting for an illustrator, looking for an illustrator, needing the money to pay for an illustrator. Unless you yourself are an artist who would like to make that your contribution, that would be so appreciated. I would also like to promote the new book and this podcast. And I’m finally getting ready to put up a YouTube channel, so there will be visual YouTubes.
Pray for me. Pray for Gnostic Insights. Pray for each other.
God bless us all, and onward and upward!
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