Gnostic Insights Cyd Ropp, Ph.D.

By Cyd Ropp, Ph. D.







Copyrighted. All rights reserved.







When I first conceived of my theory of everything named “A Simple Explanation of Absolutely Everything” back in 2008, I was unfamiliar with Gnosticism. A Simple Explanation is presented in secular terms, using common concepts from all fields of human endeavor from math and science on through religion, psychology, and sociology. In A Simple Explanation, God is usually referred to as Metaversal Consciousness, and we here on this plane carry that consciousness forward into this life as Units of Consciousness. A Simple Explanation was written to appeal to folks who usually don’t go in for religion but who, nonetheless, are seeking an overall structure for understanding the mysteries of life.







Had I been a philosophy major like my brother, Dr. Bill Puett, I would have known the names for various aspects of the Simple Explanation, like panpsychism and monadism. I would have been familiar with works such as Huxley’s Perennial Philosophy. But I wasn't a philosophy major. I am instead a psychologist with a Ph.D. in Classical Rhetoric. My field of deep study is ancient texts and ideologies, and these are what influenced the development of my theory, not modern philosophers such as Leibniz or Kant. So rather than kludge together other people's ideas, which is the normal way that scholars work, I built the Simple Explanation from the ground up using my own observation and logic.







And then around 2016, I read a copy of the Nag Hammadi Scriptures. At first I found the ideas shocking. These were the very heresies my conservative Christianity had warned me away from. According to Christians, these beliefs were excluded from our modern versions of the Bible to protect the church from theological misinformation. I discovered that radical repackaging had removed from the New Testament a type of spiritual belief that was well- known to Jesus and his followers. This belief system, commonly called Gnosticism, describes Christianity differently than does our modern Church. Gnosticism makes sense of most of the more mysterious aspects of Christianity, including humanity’s role in the great scheme of things, and common questions such as “why is there evil in the world?”







Many of these answers to longstanding theological problems were resurrected along with the Nag Hammadi scriptures when they were rediscovered and exhumed from the desert sands in 1945. I learned that the Nag Hammadi scriptures had been buried deep in the Egyptian desert around 350 AD, preserving them from the great Biblical purge conducted by the Council of Nicene at the behest of the Catholic Pope and the Emperor of Rome as they shaped and packaged Christianity to suit their needs. Keep in mind that these ancient teachings have been held back from almost 2000 years of formal study and Christian theology. So what you are about to learn from the Nag Hammadi scriptures is fresh, clean, and unsullied by centuries of scholastic and theological opinions.







Over the next couple of years I carefully picked up the Nag Hammadi and I set it back down numerous times, lest I be led astray by false beliefs. Eventually I narrowed my focus to one of the codices in particular that seemed to accord most closely with my understanding of the teachings of Jesus. This book is called The Tripartite Tractate, which simply means the 3-part book. The “3” also refers to the 3-part nature of humanity: spiritual, psychological, and material.







I spent time conducting a word study on the Tripartite Tractate, attempting to nail down some very confusing, archaic language. I also made diagrams and illustrations of the ideas presented in the book as I read. Then I put the material away for another year to let it rest and percolate. Finally, in 2019,

By Cyd Ropp, Ph.D.







Copyright 2022, All rights reserved







The instant the Aeons became self-aware, the ALL fell out of their unthinking, blissful union and arranged themselves into The Fullness. "Each one of the Aeons is a name, , each of the properties and powers of the Father, since he exists in many names, which are intermingled and harmonious with one another. … just as the Father is a single name, because he is a unity, yet is innumerable in his properties and names." 







By this point in the Tripartite Tractate, the Son comes to be referred to as the Father, because the Son is the Father of the Third Glory*—the Aeons of the Fullness. We see here that the Son, although a singular monad, is still a unity of many Aeons. The Son becomes knowable through the innumerable properties and names of the Aeons. What does it mean by names? I think that these names are the first appearance of what we would come to call ego. These disparate identities include names like flower, tree, dog, human, even parts of living bodies who themselves are alive, like kidney cells. They're not names like my name or like Frank or George. They are not those types of identities. These are functional identities. [*correction--I said the Father of the Second Glory but I should have said the the Father of the Third Glory]







The Aeons then arranged themselves into a hierarchy of “minds of minds, which are found to be words of words, elders of elders, degrees of degrees, which are exalted above one another. Each one of those who give glory has his place and his exaltation and his dwelling and his rest, which consists of the glory which he brings forth.”







The hierarchy of The Fullness prefigures the fractal patterns of our universe. "Minds over minds, words over words, superiors over superiors," as Thomassen’s translation puts it, refers to personalities and how they relate to one another. "Elders of elders and degrees of degrees" refers to the manner by which things are sorted, stacked, and ordered--first, second, third, superior, inferior, and so on. Each with its own place, exaltation, dwelling, and rest reflects the fact that each self-aware entity has its own unique place in the grand scheme, its own personal expression or exaltation, a location different than its neighbors, thus possessing its very own point of view. 







“It is he, the Father, who gave root impulses to the Aeons, since they are places on the path which leads toward him, as toward a school of behavior. He has extended to them faith in and prayer to him whom they do not see; and a firm hope in him of whom they do not conceive; and a fruitful love, which looks toward to that which it does not see; and an acceptable understanding of the eternal mind; and a blessing, which is riches and freedom; and a wisdom of the one who desires the glory of the Father for thought.”







The originating Father continually emanates a Holy Spirit out through the Son that entices its generations to seek out their source. The Tripartite Tractate says, "It is by virtue of his will that the Father, the one who is exalted, is known, that is, (by virtue of) the spirit which breathes in the Totalities and it gives them an idea of seeking after the unknown one,

By Cyd Ropp, Ph. D.







Copyright 2022, all rights reserved







Let’s review for a moment. In the last chapter, the Totalities of the ALL had  awakened to themselves in fulfillment of the Father's desire for innumerable points of view. Prior to their awakening, the Totalities of the ALL exist as unified facets of the Son. We can think of the shared consciousness of the Totalities of the ALL as the shared consciousness of the One Self of the Son. We refer to them as Totalities because they are parts of the One Totality of the monad we call the Son.







When the Totalities became conscious of themselves and their individuality they each became a singular monad with their own point of view. At this point we begin to refer to them as Aeons. The Aeons immediately sorted themselves into a hierarchy of names, places, powers, and duties based upon their unique points of view. This sorting is called the Hierarchy of the Fullness of God, also known as the Pleroma of the Fullness. The Tripartite Tractate says of these Aeons, “The aeons have brought themselves forth in accord with the Third Fruit by the freedom of the will and by the wisdom with which he favored them for their thought.” The First Fruit is the Son; the Second Fruit is the ALL; the Third Fruit is the Hierarchy of the Fullness.







It is important to note that at this stage of the Pleroma, each Aeon possesses a Self that reflects the full One consciousness of the Son. Its Self is identical to the Self of any other unit of consciousness. However, each Aeon now also possesses a newly-formed Ego that reflects its particular identity. This newly-minted Ego is a label that identifies a particular Aeon’s name, position, station and sphere of responsibility.







Ego is the designation of individual points of view. For Aeons, the Ego does not imply self-centeredness as we humans think of it, but simply the title for their names, stations, ranks, duties, and locations. Although the Aeons still dwelt within the single body of the Fullness, they were now each an independent Self with their own consciousness, identity, and will. Their variety required them to work together in order to remain in full agreement, for only through their union could they approach the Father's greatness. Here at Gnostic Insights and at  A Simple Explanation of Absolutely Everything blog and book, we call that cooperative spirit and pattern The Simple Golden Rule.







The Simple Golden Rule says that in order to build something greater than any of us can build on our own, we need to reach out to our neighbors with love, information, and assistance to work together on a common project for the betterment of all. This pattern of cooperation is part of the Aeonic order, and we here in this universe have inherited this ability as a fractal pattern from above. It is our common Self and the Holy Spirit of love that enables individual Egos to work together for the betterment of all.







In my mind I picture the location of this Aeonic Ego as the outside surface of the Aeon, because Ego's focus is outward looking, focusing as it does on the Aeon’s interaction with those outside of itself in the Hierarchy. Those outside of an Aeon’s Self would be its neighboring Aeons. The Ego does not come into play during introspection--that introspective awareness is toward the Self, not the Ego. So the Aeonic Ego’s focus is on its position, power, place, and sphere of responsibility relative to its Aeonic neighbors—not in order to lord it over them, but to discern their respective roles in cooperating with each other.







Egos are on the outside looking outward--the better to see how to relate and cooperate with neighbors. Everyone shares the same One Self that is a fractal of the Son.

By Cyd Ropp, Ph. D.







Copyright 2022; all rights reserved







So far in our unfolding of the Gnostic Gospel, we've discussed the origin and nature of the Father as the originating consciousness. We've discussed the Son, which was the first localization of the Father. We have discussed the Son manifesting his various attributes, known as the ALL. We've moved beyond the ALL and discussed how the Totalities of the ALL became the Hierarchy of the Fullness as they became self-aware individuals with their own points of view. Each Aeon of the Fullness was an individual who is also an integral part of the larger whole.







Logos was the final Aeon conceived by the Fullness, and this singular being possessed the blueprint of all of the personalities, proclivities, powers, and positions arrayed in the Fullness. Logos embodied all of these distinctions of the Fullness as smaller fractal iterations within himself.







It came to pass that the Aeon named Logos mistook himself for the original Pleroma of the Son of God, confusing the small, fractal copies within himself for the Totality of the Fullness. Feeling the fullness of glory within himself, Logos decided to give glory to the source of his awakening and launched himself from the Hierarchy in an attempt to reconnect with the Father. Logos believed his personal will was sufficient to reach the Father without adding the will of the united Fullness to his own.







The problem with Logos striking out on his own was that the Fullness always worked as one body, even though it consisted of an infinite number of individuals. Because Logos had been placed at the very tiptop of the hierarchy, he mistook his will for that of the Fullness and imagined he could, all by himself, build the Paradise that was being dreamt by the Fullness. Logos understood all of the plans and he possessed all of the necessary talents because he contained all of the blueprints of every one of the Aeons.







However, without the willing support of the Fullness, Logos was unable to give proper glory to the Father. We have previously discussed that giving glory means focused praise and wondrous adoration of the object of devotion. The Aeons were only supposed to give glory to the Father and not to themselves or each other. But Logos looked down and beheld his own identity and thought he was complete enough to ignore the rules and offer glory on his own.







The Tripartite Tractate says, “The Logos himself caused it to happen, being complete and unitary, for the glory of the Father, whom he desired, and (he did so) being content with it, but those whom he wished to take hold of firmly he begot in shadows and copies and likenesses. For, he was not able to bear the sight of the light, but he looked into the depth and he doubted.”







As Logos reached for the Father, Logos stumbled and fell, shattering himself to bits. We refer to this as the original Fall. It's not Eve handing Adam an apple in the garden of Eden. This is the Fall: Logos reaching for the Father, stumbling, and falling.







“His self-exaltation and his expectation of comprehending the incomprehensible became firm for him and was in him. But the sicknesses followed him when he went beyond himself, having come into being from self-doubt, namely from the fact that he did not the glories of the Father, the one whose exalted status is among things unlimited. This one did not attain him, for he did not receive him.”







Logos had not realized the impossibility of approaching the illimitable consciousness of the Father. Logos could “not attain him,” because the Father “did not receive him.” Because of his self-exaltation, another good synonym for Ego, Logos fully expected to reach the Father and to...

By Cyd Ropp, Ph. D.







Copyright 2022, all rights reserved







Welcome back to Gnostic Insights. As we delve deeper and deeper into gnostic cosmogony and cosmology I feel the need to remind you that this information is what gnosis is all about. This information represents the long-hidden knowledge that has been guarded from all but those specially designated the privilege of seeing it.  Here at Gnostic Insights we believe that gnosis is written on every person’s inner being, and therefore available to every person that seeks it out. The only sense in which this gnosis is hidden now is the limitation set upon each person’s readiness to receive. But whether or not you grasp these Gnostic Insights, you can take comfort in knowing that none of this is in any way essential to your redemption and resurrection. All you need to recognize is that the Father above is the source of your life and consciousness; that you come from the Father and to the Father you will return. Christian Gnostics recognize the essential role of the Christ in our return to the Fullness, because Christ is the correction that returns us all to full gnosis of the Fullness and the Father. So with that reminder, here is this week’s continuation of The Simple Explanation of Gnosticism.







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In our last episode, we heard about the Fall and the beginnings of our material universe. The Tripartite Tractate says the irrational things produced during the Fall, known as the imitations of the deficiency, were condemned by Logos. During the chaos and disorder immediately following the Fall, Logos battled against what came forth from him.







“Until the one who brought forth into the defect these things which were thus in need, until he judged those who came into being because of him contrary to reason - which is the judgment which became a condemnation - he struggled against them unto destruction..."   







This passage is saying that Logos had produced these deficiencies that were in need of reason and order. And because they were contrary to reason, Logos judged and condemned them. He initially tried to destroy them, but that didn’t work because the ones who opposed his condemnation and wrath would simply not obey, which is to say that reason and facts are powerless against egoic irrationality.







And so Logos gave up trying to cure the deficiency. Instead, what was perfect in Logos separated itself from its Ego and went upward to his own in the Fullness. 







“The Logos turned to another opinion and another thought. Having turned away from evil, he turned toward the good things. Following the conversion came the thought of the things which exist and the prayer for the one who converted himself to the good.”







This passage indicates that Logos changed his mind about the feasibility of destroying the deficiency. He came to a new understanding of the situation and he realized the hopelessness of correcting it on his own. Once he realized this, Logos was able to remember the Aeons of the Fullness—those things that exist—and he responded to a prayer for “the one who had converted himself to the good.” Since Logos is the one who had converted himself to the good, the prayer must have been offered by the Aeons of the Fullness on his behalf to bring their emanation home. It is referred to as “the prayer of the Agreement,” which is to say, the prayer of the Fullness.







Here is how the Tripartite Tractate describes it: “The one who is in the Pleroma was what he first prayed to and remembered; then (he remembered) his brothers individually and (yet) always with one another; then all of them together; but before all of them, the Father.”

By Cyd Ropp, Ph. D.







Copyright 2022; All rights reserved







In 2019, I wrote a book called The Gnostic Gospel Illuminated where I translated the Tripartite Tractate into modern English in a very, very simple way, with illustrations to facilitate understanding. As I say, The Gnostic Gospel Illuminated is very simply written, with none of the original quotes and arcane language contained in the ancient Tripartite Tractate. The purpose of the Gnostic Insights podcasts is to explore with you the gnosis that I continue to glean from my readings of the Nag Hammadi manuscripts.







What we are now doing here at Gnostic Insights is further polishing and condensing these podcast episodes into a single manuscript that I plan to call The Simple Explanation of the Gnostic Gospel. That title may seem oxymoronic, which means self-contradictory, because if you have listened for any time to Gnostic Insights you may be thinking that this gnosis is anything but simple. However, my goal here is to demystify the Gnostic Gospel by presenting it in a logical and straight-forward way so that any person who wants to understand it, can.







This gnosis is not an arbitrary fable. The Tripartite Tractate is more along the lines of a philosophy of science type of book rather than a book of myths. It proposes a certain starting hypothesis—that there is an original consciousness we call the Father—and it proceeds logically from that starting proposition through all the steps necessary to reach our observable universe. It is an inherently cogent argument that begins with the Father and winds up with us as living creatures in relationship with that consciousness. It “makes sense.” That is why understanding is more important here than memorization.







I believe that we all have this gnosis written within our Self that comes directly from the Father, the Son, and the Fullness of God, so awakening to this gnosis is more a matter of remembering rather than learning. Your willingness to listen with an open heart and mind is all that is required to achieve this remembrance because it is the will of the Father and the Fullness that you remember them. There is no other hidden knowledge to search out or genealogies to memorize, lodges to join, or secret rituals that must be performed; you only need to remember the gnosis that is inherent within you. It is my hope that, as you listen to this information and meditate upon it, you will come to understand the origins of our universe and our place in it. The gnostic faith is not blind faith but reasonable faith, and we were created as reasonable beings.







So far, we've talked about the Father, the Son, the ALL, and the Hierarchy of the Fullness. In Chapter 4—The Generation of the Aeons—we heard how the Aeons mingled with each other in the Fullness as they gave glory to the Father, and that this intermingling produced an infinite variety of Aeons within the Pleroma of the Fullness. Then in Chapter 5 we heard about the generation of Logos as the final Aeon produced by this intermingling of the Fullnesses and how the body or Pleroma of Logos contained a fractal copy of all the other Aeons. It was this original Pleroma of Logos that escaped his control as a result of the Fall.







The aeons name themselves and sort themselves into a hierarchy. Logos was the final Aeon produced by the intermingling of all the Aeons of the Fullness. Logos contains fractals of all the other Aeons.







We've also covered how the Ego of Logos overreached his position in the Hierarchy and how, instead of ascending to the heights of the Father, Logos fell out of the Fullness and lost the integrity of his Aeonic Pleroma.







If you have not heard the previous few episodes, I invite you to visit the gnosticinsights.