Copyright © 2008-2016 True Gnostic Church (a non-prophet organization). All rights reserved. Terms and Conditions
Copyright © True Gnostic Church. All rights reserved. Terms and Conditions
TOPICS
SPIRIT
(References are not exhaustive.)
For this mystery will I make known in you; that unto every male spirit who is made in the express image of the Heavenly Father, there is given a portion of the Mother also; and unto every female spirit who is fashioned in the image of her Heavenly Mother, is there granted a portion of the Father.
22. Come now, and to the affairs of this life give heed. For the wise grieve not for the living or the dead.
23. For in the beginning did your spirit dwell in the Paradise of the Father, from everlasting to everlasting. Fear not, therefore, those which are able to kill the body, for the spirit of man lives forever.
24. For the spirit of a man cannot be pierced by sword or burned by the fire; neither can deep waters drown it, nor strong winds carry it away.
25. For you are spirit, being eternal, everlasting, and infinite; ever standing and not cast down, being firmly rooted in the heart of the Father which loves you.
26. For the glory of the spirit have few beheld; for the spirit which dwells within you is eternal and cannot be harmed.
27. Therefore, grieve not for the body, what men shall do unto it; for death is appointed unto all the living, and life is apportioned unto all the dead.
28. For as a man will cast away an old garment so that he might attain unto a new one, even so does the spirit within cast away the body which is old and broken, that it might attain unto a new body wherein to dwell.
29. Be not, therefore, overwrought because of such changes as shall come upon you, for when you were children, then was the body strong and filled with life.
30. But when you are old, then shall the body be filled with death, being made weak and feeble. But fear not these things when they are come upon you, for you shall live again, even as you see me live again.
31. For that which is of the flesh, being weak and perishable, is given no reality; for reality is found in the eternal. Therefore, if you would lay hold upon that reality which is come from God, seek you always the eternal.
32. I tell you truly that the body is mortal indeed, but the spirit which dwells within you is immortal and cannot be measured. Therefore, be wise and fear not death any longer.
18. For this I would have you know most surely, that there is a spirit deep in the midst of you; being in every hand and foot and eye; moving and unmoved, pushing here and touching there; seeking by most subtle means to reveal itself without.
19. For you are not the body which is seen, but rather the spirit which is unseen within you; for the flesh of the body is made the veil which covers the spirit of your truer self, which spirit does stir and move most constantly within you;
20. Seeking through the passions of your flesh to reveal itself again and again; being ever hopeful that you might be awakened to that light which burns most brightly within you.
21. For the spirit which breathes most subtly within has had elsewhere its beginning; having come from above, it does seek to touch again the light that comes from afar.
22. And unto every man and every woman wherein the spirit is made to abide, even it does seek some fair embrace through the passions of your flesh; hoping that in the joining together of the man and the woman, might the spirit within find some commingling of the light which comes from God.
23. Causing that there should cleave through the flesh the spirits of both the man and the woman; being entwined through gentle words and tender kisses the only true self within; fusing in most fiery passions the spirits of both the man and the woman.
24. For it is the spirit within that would dress the passions of the body with such gifts of wisdom as would add meaning and purpose to the whole of all your life;
25. Edifying through the rhythms of the flesh the spirit and body combined; aligning both the man and the woman in the folds of harmony and love; filling the whole of all your being with indescribable joy and light.
36. Consider then with what intelligence both body and spirit are bound together, for there is no part within a man which is not wrapped round about by that intelligence which is come from the Father above.
37. For there is an intelligence within the spirit of man which is greater than the knowledge of learned men, being bounded on every side by powers, dominions, and wonders.
38. Whosoever among you would be wise concerning these things, stand you forth and ponder.
39. For the intelligence with which you are fashioned is greater than the substances of the body altogether.
40. For without the intelligence of the spirit is the body left formless and filled with all manner of chaos and darkness, being undirected by the power which is come from God above.
41. Consider with wonder the power of the intelligence within you, for it gives shape to the whole body without and builds of you a temple unto God.
42. And except there be some intelligence within, consider what form the body is become.
43. Behold, I tell you truly, that it is become as a pile of brick and stone only, being neither built up nor laid down.
44. For the intelligence by which you are made is ever alive and filled with an abundance of goodly things, quickening and restoring the whole body together.
For there is made to dwell within you the spirit which comes from God; that you, being both body and spirit together, might stand as one before the mirror of your mind; being made most complete in all things spiritual and physical;
Containing in your visible form, the invisible which comes from above; causing to stir and blend within you the mysteries which await the awakening of both body and spirit together.
19. Unto what then shall I compare the body in which you dwell? Behold, it is like unto a field made ready to both plant and harvest.
20. And I, which am come again from the dead to walk among you, am the knower of the field in every man.
21. Come then and I will tell you the nature of the field, what it is like unto: for unto the field is there given the five senses of the body, which senses are: hearing, seeing, touching, tasting, and smelling.
22. Through these arise the perceptions of the body, revealing in you a great many oppositions;
23. For in this life are you made to know both pleasure and pain, sickness and health, joy and sorrow, life and death, knowledge and ignorance, peace and anger, love and hate, hope and despair, and many others beside.
24. But there dwells within and without the field, the spirit which is come from God, which spirit all men possess; and unto this spirit is there given a power which is greater than any other.
25. For the spirit dwells in all and through all, being in every hand, and foot, and eye, and ear, and tongue.
26. Being born of God, it shines through the senses of the body; being both near and far, both within and without, it moves and is unmoving.
27. In its subtlety it is beyond comprehension, being indivisible and eternal it is become in all men the creator, the preserver, and the destroyer.
28. Dwelling in every heart, it is beyond darkness; being called the light of lights, it is the object and goal of all spiritual wisdom.
29. For even as the sun cast down its light upon the whole world, even so does the spirit within cast forth its light upon the whole field, revealing always the light and shadow of the greater and lesser portions.
37. Ponder in your mind, therefore, the illusion of the self; for you are not the image which others see, being yourselves far greater than the outward likeness; having within your flesh a height and breadth and depth far beyond the image which others see.
38. Which spirit would seek most earnestly to be revealed through the flesh which others see, to make known before their eyes the light of heavenly things; not out of boastful pride and vain deceits filled with pretenses, but out of joy instead.
39. Yet are you deceived through subtle speech and outward customs, causing that you should speak of your flesh as the only true self, while the spirit within, you would put forth as a dream not yet real in a world of physical things.
40. Paying to your spiritual self a ready lip service, but in your daily actions tending always to the flesh instead, causing within your own selves a conflict and confusion regarding the person you truly are.
41. Come then and I will tell you the means by which so great an illusion is made to fall upon you, for in the moment when you are born and in the flesh most fully clothed within the senses of the body, then do many others, from that day forth, speak to you the thing you are.
42. Drawing for you the image which they would have you fill, being yourself shaped and fashioned by the demands and expectations of those you most regard, becoming yourself the image and likeness which others would demand of you.
43. Becoming yourself as one compelled through subtle words, conforming yourself to the opinion of others; always seeking for yourself the approval of those you love, surrendering to others beyond yourself the nature and disposition of your inward likeness causing that they should exercise some dominion over you.
44. For this I tell you for your learning, that there is made of every man and every woman two portraits within the self; and of the outer portrait which all men see, even others would draw the likeness which they would demand of you, while of the inner portrait would God desire that you yourself determine only.
45. Thus are you made disconcerted and confused, being divided within your mind between the person you see in the outward image, and the likeness of the spirit which dwells within you.
46. Being yourself deceived by that which is temporal and quickly passing, while yet the spirit of your truer self would seek to spring forth alive in the living of your days, revealing the depth of many wonders through the body of your flesh, to fill you up with joy and light.
47. If then you would know the true likeness of the spirit within, to make it manifest in the person which others see, then be you as one detached from the expectations of others; becoming yourself as one unmoved midst blame or praise.
48. Becoming yourself in every likeness a true child of God while yet in mortal flesh, holding firm to the things which are born of spirit and Heaven together, becoming as one made wide awake and not deceived, knowing with a good resolve your truer self, being yourself, in God, the author and master of who you are, filled with confidence and eager joy.
49. Why, therefore, will you become as a stranger to yourself, not knowing truly the thing you are? Why will you seek beyond yourself, hoping to find yourself in the eyes of others?
50. For you are made a part of God, even every one of you, whether male or female, and even God the Father and the Mother are made a part of you; becoming as one in the flesh which others see; yet being first and last both spirit and soul together fashioned and gently placed in the flesh of mortal life.
51. Let this then be first and foremost within you, that you are the sons and daughters of God, becoming yourselves through righteousness as one eternal and everlasting, bearing in your truer self the seeds of endless life, becoming to those which see as one ineffable and filled with joyous wonder.
52. Be not deceived by the illusion of identity, but know yourself most fully; for it is the thing you know which comes alive before the eyes, and if you know only the flesh of the body, then are you become as someone thin and filled with troubles; becoming yourself as one deceived by fleeting shadows, being yourself without substance and filled with many fears.
53. Embrace, therefore, the spirit within you, and this most firmly be; taming well the words you speak whereby you might set free the spirit within you; causing that you should fear no longer, but find instead that inward peace which no man can take from you.
54. And fear not such scorn and ridicule as others might cast upon you, for it is the flesh of your body only which others see, believing that you are the body and nothing more, and it is against this alone which they would wound.
55. But if you should give yourself to the spirit within, to become yourself as spirit only, then are you untouched by such scorn as others might cast against you; having become by your own choosing as spirit and not flesh, being yourself unseen and dwelling beyond the baseness of common men; being made in yourself and God together as one harmonious and filled with life, even in the midst of great and sudden storms.
56. Know then the spirit within you and of that spirit be, for it is permitted that you, alone, should draw the portrait of your truer self, being fashioned by your own hands into the man or woman which you would be, bearing in your likeness and image the similitude of things eternal and divine.
57. Being yourself far greater than the body which others see, having within your depths a treasury filled with many wonders; and if you should so elect, to be yourself as spirit above all other things, then shall the richness of your truer self flow out into the world in a never ending stream.
58. Revealing yourself before the whole world as someone good and deeply holy, filled with light and joy together, causing that others should see in you the harmony which comes from God; causing that they themselves should lay down the heavy burden and come to God instead, and this because of you, for you have chosen the spirit of your truer self above all other things.”