Yaldabaoth a Political Understanding
On account of the reality of the authorities, (inspired) by the spirit of the father of truth, the great apostle – referring to the "authorities of the darkness" – told us that "our contest is not against flesh and blood; rather, the authorities of the universe and the spirits of wickedness." I have sent this (to you) because you inquire about the reality of the authorities. The Hypostasis of the Archons
Since that day, the heaven has been consolidated along with its earth by means of Sophia, the daughter of Yaldabaoth, who is beneath them all. After the heavens and their powers and all of their government set themselves aright, the chief creator exalted himself and was glorified by the whole army of angels. And all the gods and their angels gave him praise and glory. On the Origin of the World
Since the term myth is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrative as a myth can be highly political:
Myths reflect patterns in the mind and interpreted those patterns more as fixed mental structures, specifically pairs of opposites (good/evil, compassionate/callous), rather than unconscious feelings or urges.
Myths such as origin stories might provide a "mythic charter"—a legitimisation—for cultural norms and social institutions.
Myth is a form of understanding and telling stories that is connected to power, political structures, and political and economic interests.
Political myths simply deal with political topics and always use a group of people as the hero or protagonist
A myth is considered a political myth when the narrative provides an ideologically marked account of the past, present, and future of the political community.
One finds that most Gnostic scriptures take the forms of myths. The term “myth” should not here be taken to mean “stories that are not true”, but rather, that the truths embodied in these myths are of a different order from the dogmas of theology or the statements of philosophy.
Why myths?
Why would the Gnostic text use myths the answer is because of persecution
Gnostic Christians have been heavily persecuted, first by the Roman Empire and for centuries afterwards by orthodox Christian authorities
The Gnostic Christians rejected martyrdom
The Testimony of Truth They are blind guides, like the disciples. They boarded the ship; at about thirty stadies, they saw Jesus walking on the sea. These are empty martyrs, since they bear witness only to themselves. And yet they are sick, and they are not able to raise themselves.
But when they are "perfected" with a (martyr's) death, this is the thought that they have within them: "If we deliver ourselves over to death for the sake of the Name we will be saved." These matters are not settled in this way. But through the agency of the wandering stars they say they have "completed" their futile "course", and [...] say, [...]. But these [...] they have delivered themselves ...
... (7 lines unrecoverable)
How does one Interpret the Gnostic myths?
Interpretation should not take place in isolation, of the social, political, and economic factors which influenced how the writers wrote these texts.
The writers of the Gnostic texts were rejecting the legitimacy of all political order, ancient Gnosticism arose as a reaction of a politically marginalized intellectual elite in the eastern regions of the Roman Empire in the second and first centuries C.E.
The Gnostics were explicit revolt against the political structures of their age, and/or that they showed little or no interest in surrounding society, or had even somehow radically severed their connections with society or who were at least completely indifferent to the political well-being and future of society?
Gnostics never made any direct testimony about the political views or activity of these people, but rather in their myths about demiurges. In the mythic characters of tyrannical creator-archons. These demiurgical myths are veiled political protests, calling people who live under such power to rebellion.World-rejection was therefore equivalent to the rejection of the legitimacy of all political structures in the world or the political structure of the Roman Empire.
what if we are really supposed to read texts like the The Apocryphon of John allegorically of the Roman emperors who are also claim to be gods who claim to be saviors of the world who claim to have created the known world in their image and what if this was a major part of the story
for instance, the The Apocryphon of John describes Yaldabaoth political image of the Roman emperor
"Cosmocrator" was the title of the Roman emperor, meaning "lord or ruler of the world", and contemporary Greek thought was, that rulers and authorities, were controlled by demonic forces of evil. The apostle Paul declares that the evil machinations of the emperor and those in high authority can be overcome, by putting on the whole panoply of God, which is described in the verses that follow as: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, sandals of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit.
Ephesians 6:12&13 - "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood ['haimakai surka'], but against principalities ['archas', 'rulers'], against powers ['exousias', 'authorities'], against the rulers ['tous kosmokratoras'. 'world rulers'] of the darkness of the world, against spiritual wickedness in high places ['ta pneumatika tes ponerias en tois epouraniois', 'the spiritual hosts of evil in the heavenlies']. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God ['ten panoplian tou theou'], that you may be able to stand in the evil day ['te hemera te ponera'], and having done all, to stand."
The Apocryphon of John Now this weak ruler has three names. The first name is Yaltabaoth. The second is Saklas. The third is Samael. He is impious in his Madness, she who dwells in him. For he said, am God and no other god exists except me,' since he is ignorant of the place from which his strength had come.
Interestingly Samael is the name of the angel of Rome. ancient Jewish texts from this time period as well you get this idea of having the angels that are fighting at heaven that that correspond to the nations on the earth which is why then Samael is equated with the angel of Rome
In the ancient world politics and religiosity are not two separate things they're part and parcel of one another an inner woven with one another and what what might it mean instead of saying you know instead of saying this this horrible material world where these divine sparks are trapped what if this was was about the Roman emperors in particular.
And what if one of the ways to look at Yaldabaoth is this idea of an arrogant ruler God who traps people through the structures of the political system and what does that do and and still asking this question what does that do to us spiritually what might be going on with this and how might it change the ways in which we look at what's going on the text if we don't bifurcate the religious and the political the material and mists and the material and spiritual but really look at the very complicated ways that these these aspects of human life are woven together really in the human person in who we get Adam and Eve in these particular texts
To escape this disorder of the world one can transcend it by extraordinary insight, learning, or knowledge, called a gnosis
Ialdabaoth Greek Ιαλνταμπαόθ Yaldabaoth Hebrew ילדאבהות (Literally "Children of the Void," or Children of the Abyss (depth of the waters) from ילדה = yalda= child; בהו = bohu = void; אבהות = abbott = fatherhood, parentage, paternity).
Yaltabaoth
And when she saw (the consequences of) her desire, it changed into a form of a lion-faced serpent. And its eyes were like lightning fires which flash. She cast it away from her, outside that place, that no one of the immortal ones might see it, for she had created it in ignorance. And she surrounded it with a luminous cloud, and she placed a throne in the middle of the cloud that no one might see it except the holy Spirit who is called the mother of the living. And she called his name Yaltabaoth.
The Apocryphon of John
And when Pistis Sophia desired to cause the thing that had no spirit to be formed into a likeness and to rule over matter and over all her forces, there appeared for the first time a ruler, out of the waters, lion-like in appearance, androgynous, having great authority within him, and ignorant of whence he had come into being. Now when Pistis Sophia saw him moving about in the depth of the waters, she said to him, "Child, pass through to here," whose equivalent is 'yalda baoth'.
On the Origin of the World
Since that day, there appeared the principle of verbal expression, which reached the gods and the angels and mankind. And what came into being as a result of verbal expression, the gods and the angels and mankind finished. Now as for the ruler Yaltabaoth, he is ignorant of the force of Pistis: he did not see her face, rather he saw in the water the likeness that spoke with him. And because of that voice, he called himself 'Yaldabaoth'. But 'Ariael' is what the perfect call him, for he was like a lion. Now when he had come to have authority over matter, Pistis Sophia withdrew up to her light.
On the Origin of the World
In the Gnostic scriptures Yaldabaoth is described as a lion or a lion-faced serpent these are symbols of kings rulers and empires
O Ialdabaoth, who art the ruler of the world, Yaldabaoth is a personification of the human ego manifested in the political heavens
Yaldabaoth (ignorance via the ego) is created when reason follows the emotions or outward senses
The Gnostics held that Yaldabaoth was the lord of this world and dominates the human condition. Yaldabaoth defines human psychological existence. humans are of necessity ego-bound in the sense of being required to develop an individual ego for the gnostics the figure of Yaldabaoth is the shadow of ego development. Yaldabaoth is the archetype that creates and sustains an inevitable development within human consciousness toward the formation of the focal narcissistic ego.
Yaldabaoth represents in us the human will and intellect; this brings about human judgment. A ruler always represents some function of the will. The will intrenched in intellectual learning, giving its full attention to material subjects, is very powerful up to a certain point. The world is full of these Yaldabaoth people.
They are loath to stand on their own judgment in any matter. When decision is required of them they fly to some oracle. It may be a friend whose good advice they ask, or a medium, or they may even resort to the tossing of a coin or the cutting of a deck of cards. They are willful and they rule arbitrarily. Refusing to bring forth their own good judgment, they become mendacious and tyrannical. The ultimate of this sort of action is a return to the animal-instinct plane of consciousness, as described in Daniel 5:21.
Mankind has observed the characteristics and habits of animals and has applied them in a figurative or symbolic sense to persons, peoples, governments, and organizations. Thus Yaldabaoth is a symbol of human consciousness individually and organised collectively (that is politically) in opposition to God
The lion-faced serpent The "serpent" represents the civil, or military power of the Roman Empire. The word is also rendered leviathan (Isa. 27:1; Ezek, 29:3; Jer. 51:34; Job 41:1), and is used as representing the flesh in political manifestation.
Finally, when Constantine transferred his civil and military headguarters from Rome to Constantinople (previously the very centre of pagan resistance), the "serpent" became identified with the civil and military power of a so-called Christianised Empire.
In the Bible wicked people and nations are described has a lion
.Because of the lion’s fierce and predatory characteristics, the animal was also used to represent wicked ones (Ps 10:9), persons who oppose God and his people (Ps 22:13; 35:17; 57:4; Jer 12:8), false prophets (Eze 22:25), wicked rulers and princes (Pr 28:15; Zep 3:3), the Babylonian World Power (Da 7:4). And the seven-headed, ten-horned wild beast out of the sea, which gets its authority from the dragon , was depicted as having a lion’s mouth. (Re 13:2) At Psalm 91:13 the lion and the cobra seem to denote the power of the enemy, the lion being representative of open attack and the cobra of underhanded scheming, or attacks from a concealed place.—Compare Lu 10:19; 2Co 11
The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.
Rev 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
Like the Beast in Rev 13:1 Yaldabaoth is described as ascending out of the sea there appeared for the first time a ruler, out of the waters, lion-like in appearance the beast of the sea
And when she saw (the consequences of) her desire, it changed into a form of a lion-faced serpent.
And when Pistis Sophia desired to cause the thing that had no spirit to be formed into a likeness and to rule over matter and over all her forces, there appeared for the first time a ruler, out of the waters, lion-like in appearance,
The "Seas" Sea is symbolic of nations empires (Isa. 57:20; Jer. 51:13 Rev. 17:15 ). it is
international in its influence; it dominates "the waters," or nations. To rise out of the waters, is to exercise power over them
Yaldabaoth is not Yahweh but represents the carnal mind or the ego
Yaldabaoth is a personification of human nature
Yaldabaoth describes human psychological existence
the figure of Yaldabaoth is the shadow of ego development Yaldabaoth is the archetype that creates and sustains an inevitable development within human consciousness toward the formation of the focal narcissistic ego
On account of the reality of the authorities, (inspired) by the spirit of the father of truth, the great apostle – referring to the "authorities of the darkness" – told us that "our contest is not against flesh and blood; rather, the authorities of the universe and the spirits of wickedness." I have sent this (to you) because you inquire about the reality of the authorities. The Hypostasis of the Archons
Since that day, the heaven has been consolidated along with its earth by means of Sophia, the daughter of Yaldabaoth, who is beneath them all. After the heavens and their powers and all of their government set themselves aright, the chief creator exalted himself and was glorified by the whole army of angels. And all the gods and their angels gave him praise and glory. On the Origin of the World
Since the term myth is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrative as a myth can be highly political:
Myths reflect patterns in the mind and interpreted those patterns more as fixed mental structures, specifically pairs of opposites (good/evil, compassionate/callous), rather than unconscious feelings or urges.
Myths such as origin stories might provide a "mythic charter"—a legitimisation—for cultural norms and social institutions.
Myth is a form of understanding and telling stories that is connected to power, political structures, and political and economic interests.
Political myths simply deal with political topics and always use a group of people as the hero or protagonist
A myth is considered a political myth when the narrative provides an ideologically marked account of the past, present, and future of the political community.
One finds that most Gnostic scriptures take the forms of myths. The term “myth” should not here be taken to mean “stories that are not true”, but rather, that the truths embodied in these myths are of a different order from the dogmas of theology or the statements of philosophy.
Why myths?
Why would the Gnostic text use myths the answer is because of persecution
Gnostic Christians have been heavily persecuted, first by the Roman Empire and for centuries afterwards by orthodox Christian authorities
The Gnostic Christians rejected martyrdom
The Testimony of Truth They are blind guides, like the disciples. They boarded the ship; at about thirty stadies, they saw Jesus walking on the sea. These are empty martyrs, since they bear witness only to themselves. And yet they are sick, and they are not able to raise themselves.
But when they are "perfected" with a (martyr's) death, this is the thought that they have within them: "If we deliver ourselves over to death for the sake of the Name we will be saved." These matters are not settled in this way. But through the agency of the wandering stars they say they have "completed" their futile "course", and [...] say, [...]. But these [...] they have delivered themselves ...
... (7 lines unrecoverable)
How does one Interpret the Gnostic myths?
Interpretation should not take place in isolation, of the social, political, and economic factors which influenced how the writers wrote these texts.
The writers of the Gnostic texts were rejecting the legitimacy of all political order, ancient Gnosticism arose as a reaction of a politically marginalized intellectual elite in the eastern regions of the Roman Empire in the second and first centuries C.E.
The Gnostics were explicit revolt against the political structures of their age, and/or that they showed little or no interest in surrounding society, or had even somehow radically severed their connections with society or who were at least completely indifferent to the political well-being and future of society?
Gnostics never made any direct testimony about the political views or activity of these people, but rather in their myths about demiurges. In the mythic characters of tyrannical creator-archons. These demiurgical myths are veiled political protests, calling people who live under such power to rebellion.World-rejection was therefore equivalent to the rejection of the legitimacy of all political structures in the world or the political structure of the Roman Empire.
what if we are really supposed to read texts like the The Apocryphon of John allegorically of the Roman emperors who are also claim to be gods who claim to be saviors of the world who claim to have created the known world in their image and what if this was a major part of the story
for instance, the The Apocryphon of John describes Yaldabaoth political image of the Roman emperor
"Cosmocrator" was the title of the Roman emperor, meaning "lord or ruler of the world", and contemporary Greek thought was, that rulers and authorities, were controlled by demonic forces of evil. The apostle Paul declares that the evil machinations of the emperor and those in high authority can be overcome, by putting on the whole panoply of God, which is described in the verses that follow as: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, sandals of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit.
Ephesians 6:12&13 - "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood ['haimakai surka'], but against principalities ['archas', 'rulers'], against powers ['exousias', 'authorities'], against the rulers ['tous kosmokratoras'. 'world rulers'] of the darkness of the world, against spiritual wickedness in high places ['ta pneumatika tes ponerias en tois epouraniois', 'the spiritual hosts of evil in the heavenlies']. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God ['ten panoplian tou theou'], that you may be able to stand in the evil day ['te hemera te ponera'], and having done all, to stand."
The Apocryphon of John Now this weak ruler has three names. The first name is Yaltabaoth. The second is Saklas. The third is Samael. He is impious in his Madness, she who dwells in him. For he said, am God and no other god exists except me,' since he is ignorant of the place from which his strength had come.
Interestingly Samael is the name of the angel of Rome. ancient Jewish texts from this time period as well you get this idea of having the angels that are fighting at heaven that that correspond to the nations on the earth which is why then Samael is equated with the angel of Rome
In the ancient world politics and religiosity are not two separate things they're part and parcel of one another an inner woven with one another and what what might it mean instead of saying you know instead of saying this this horrible material world where these divine sparks are trapped what if this was was about the Roman emperors in particular.
And what if one of the ways to look at Yaldabaoth is this idea of an arrogant ruler God who traps people through the structures of the political system and what does that do and and still asking this question what does that do to us spiritually what might be going on with this and how might it change the ways in which we look at what's going on the text if we don't bifurcate the religious and the political the material and mists and the material and spiritual but really look at the very complicated ways that these these aspects of human life are woven together really in the human person in who we get Adam and Eve in these particular texts
To escape this disorder of the world one can transcend it by extraordinary insight, learning, or knowledge, called a gnosis
Ialdabaoth Greek Ιαλνταμπαόθ Yaldabaoth Hebrew ילדאבהות (Literally "Children of the Void," or Children of the Abyss (depth of the waters) from ילדה = yalda= child; בהו = bohu = void; אבהות = abbott = fatherhood, parentage, paternity).
Yaltabaoth
And when she saw (the consequences of) her desire, it changed into a form of a lion-faced serpent. And its eyes were like lightning fires which flash. She cast it away from her, outside that place, that no one of the immortal ones might see it, for she had created it in ignorance. And she surrounded it with a luminous cloud, and she placed a throne in the middle of the cloud that no one might see it except the holy Spirit who is called the mother of the living. And she called his name Yaltabaoth.
The Apocryphon of John
And when Pistis Sophia desired to cause the thing that had no spirit to be formed into a likeness and to rule over matter and over all her forces, there appeared for the first time a ruler, out of the waters, lion-like in appearance, androgynous, having great authority within him, and ignorant of whence he had come into being. Now when Pistis Sophia saw him moving about in the depth of the waters, she said to him, "Child, pass through to here," whose equivalent is 'yalda baoth'.
On the Origin of the World
Since that day, there appeared the principle of verbal expression, which reached the gods and the angels and mankind. And what came into being as a result of verbal expression, the gods and the angels and mankind finished. Now as for the ruler Yaltabaoth, he is ignorant of the force of Pistis: he did not see her face, rather he saw in the water the likeness that spoke with him. And because of that voice, he called himself 'Yaldabaoth'. But 'Ariael' is what the perfect call him, for he was like a lion. Now when he had come to have authority over matter, Pistis Sophia withdrew up to her light.
On the Origin of the World
In the Gnostic scriptures Yaldabaoth is described as a lion or a lion-faced serpent these are symbols of kings rulers and empires
O Ialdabaoth, who art the ruler of the world, Yaldabaoth is a personification of the human ego manifested in the political heavens
Yaldabaoth (ignorance via the ego) is created when reason follows the emotions or outward senses
The Gnostics held that Yaldabaoth was the lord of this world and dominates the human condition. Yaldabaoth defines human psychological existence. humans are of necessity ego-bound in the sense of being required to develop an individual ego for the gnostics the figure of Yaldabaoth is the shadow of ego development. Yaldabaoth is the archetype that creates and sustains an inevitable development within human consciousness toward the formation of the focal narcissistic ego.
Yaldabaoth represents in us the human will and intellect; this brings about human judgment. A ruler always represents some function of the will. The will intrenched in intellectual learning, giving its full attention to material subjects, is very powerful up to a certain point. The world is full of these Yaldabaoth people.
They are loath to stand on their own judgment in any matter. When decision is required of them they fly to some oracle. It may be a friend whose good advice they ask, or a medium, or they may even resort to the tossing of a coin or the cutting of a deck of cards. They are willful and they rule arbitrarily. Refusing to bring forth their own good judgment, they become mendacious and tyrannical. The ultimate of this sort of action is a return to the animal-instinct plane of consciousness, as described in Daniel 5:21.
Mankind has observed the characteristics and habits of animals and has applied them in a figurative or symbolic sense to persons, peoples, governments, and organizations. Thus Yaldabaoth is a symbol of human consciousness individually and organised collectively (that is politically) in opposition to God
The lion-faced serpent The "serpent" represents the civil, or military power of the Roman Empire. The word is also rendered leviathan (Isa. 27:1; Ezek, 29:3; Jer. 51:34; Job 41:1), and is used as representing the flesh in political manifestation.
Finally, when Constantine transferred his civil and military headguarters from Rome to Constantinople (previously the very centre of pagan resistance), the "serpent" became identified with the civil and military power of a so-called Christianised Empire.
In the Bible wicked people and nations are described has a lion
.Because of the lion’s fierce and predatory characteristics, the animal was also used to represent wicked ones (Ps 10:9), persons who oppose God and his people (Ps 22:13; 35:17; 57:4; Jer 12:8), false prophets (Eze 22:25), wicked rulers and princes (Pr 28:15; Zep 3:3), the Babylonian World Power (Da 7:4). And the seven-headed, ten-horned wild beast out of the sea, which gets its authority from the dragon , was depicted as having a lion’s mouth. (Re 13:2) At Psalm 91:13 the lion and the cobra seem to denote the power of the enemy, the lion being representative of open attack and the cobra of underhanded scheming, or attacks from a concealed place.—Compare Lu 10:19; 2Co 11
The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.
Rev 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
Like the Beast in Rev 13:1 Yaldabaoth is described as ascending out of the sea there appeared for the first time a ruler, out of the waters, lion-like in appearance the beast of the sea
And when she saw (the consequences of) her desire, it changed into a form of a lion-faced serpent.
And when Pistis Sophia desired to cause the thing that had no spirit to be formed into a likeness and to rule over matter and over all her forces, there appeared for the first time a ruler, out of the waters, lion-like in appearance,
The "Seas" Sea is symbolic of nations empires (Isa. 57:20; Jer. 51:13 Rev. 17:15 ). it is
international in its influence; it dominates "the waters," or nations. To rise out of the waters, is to exercise power over them
Yaldabaoth is not Yahweh but represents the carnal mind or the ego
Yaldabaoth is a personification of human nature
Yaldabaoth describes human psychological existence
the figure of Yaldabaoth is the shadow of ego development Yaldabaoth is the archetype that creates and sustains an inevitable development within human consciousness toward the formation of the focal narcissistic ego
Yaldabaoth is a fictional name of a character to help get a visualization of what's going on. The Holy Spirit is Wisdom united with Christ within those who have received Jesus as Lord and saviour. If you're believing the lie you're with the father of lies and that's Yaldi, who thinks more highly of himself than he ought to taking the place of the Father he raped Wisdom his mother and she bore man like him on earth , this is ego in man who's being came forth from soul mingling with the instinctual spirit.
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