The Ineffable

They who have received the mystery of the Light, if they come out of the body of the matter of the rulers, then will every one be in his order according to the mystery which he hath received. Those who have received the higher mysteries, will abide in the higher order; those who have received the lower mysteries will be in the lower orders.

In a word, up to what region every one hath received mysteries, there will he abide in his order in the Inheritance of the Light. For which cause I have said unto you aforetime: ‘Where your heart is, there will your treasure be,’–that is up to what region every one hath received mysteries, there shall he be.

And that mystery knoweth why the stars of the heaven and the disks of the light-givers have arisen and why the firmament with all its veils hath arisen.

And it is the mystery which is in them all, and it is the one only mystery of the Ineffable and the gnosis of all these of whom I have spoken unto you, and of whom I will speak unto you, and of whom I have not spoken. Of these will I speak unto you at the expansion of the universe and of their total gnosis one with another, wherefor they have arisen. It is the one and only word of the Ineffable.

And the soul which receiveth the mystery of the Ineffable, will soar into the height, being a great light-stream, and the receivers will not be able to seize it and will not know how the way is fashioned upon which it will go. For it becometh a great light-stream and soareth into the height, and no power is able to hold it down at all, nor will they be able to come nigh it at all.

But it will pass through all the regions of the rulers and all the regions of the emanations of the Light, and it will not give answers in any region, nor giveth it any apologies, nor giveth it any tokens; neither will any power of the rulers nor any power of the emanations of the Light be able to come nigh that soul.

But all the regions of the rulers and all the regions of the emanations of the Light, every one singeth unto it praises in their regions, in fear of the light of the stream which envelopeth that soul, until it passeth through them all, and goeth to the region of the inheritance of the mystery which it hath received, that is to the mystery of the One and Only, the Ineffable, and until it becometh one with its Limbs. Amēn, I say unto you: It will be in all the regions in the time a man shooteth an arrow.

Pistis Sophia

The Fairy Ship Sails Upstream

It is not the purpose of this book to trace the subsequent history of Christianity, especially the later history of Christianity; which involves controversies of which I hope to write more fully elsewhere. It is devoted only to the suggestion that Christianity, appearing amid heathen humanity, had all the character of a unique thing and even of a supernatural thing. It was not like any of the other things; and the more we study it the less it looks like any of them

I have said that Asia and the ancient world had an air of being too old to die. Christendom has had the very opposite fate. Christendom has had a series of revolutions and in each one of them Christianity has died. Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a god who knew the way out of the grave. It is so true that three or four times at least in the history of Christendom the whole soul seemed to have gone out of Christianity; and almost every man in his heart expected its end.

The Church in the West was not in a world where things were too old to die; but in one in which they were always young enough to get killed

At least five times, with the Arian and the Albigensian, with the Humanist sceptic, after Voltaire and after Darwin, the Faith has to all appearance gone to the dogs. In each of these five cases it was the dog that died. How complete was the collapse and how strange the reversal, we cars only see in detail in the case nearest to our own time.

A thousand things have been said about the Oxford Movement and the parallel French Catholic revival; but few have made us feel the simplest fact about it; that it was a surprise. It was a puzzle as well as a surprise; because it seemed to most people like a river turning backwards from the sea and trying to climb back into the mountains.

In short, the whole world being divided about whether the stream was going slower or faster, became conscious of something vague but vast that was going against the stream. Both in fact and figure there is something deeply disturbing about this, and that for an essential reason. A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it. A dead dog can be lifted on the leaping water with all the swiftness of a leaping hound; but only a live dog can swim backwards. A paper boat can ride the rising deluge with all the airy arrogance of a fairy ship; but if the fairy ship sails upstream it is really rowed by the fairies.

G K Chesterton, The Everlasting Man, The Five Deaths of the Faith

Love

A man must have gazed long at the face of incarnate, crucified Love and pondered deeply on Love’s actions if, when it comes to the point, he can speak of his own failing love in thise terms: “love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all thigns.” (1 Cor 13.7).

In such love, however, contemplation comes to blossom in the truth of a human life; it shows whether he has really acted so as to allow God’s word to be paramount in his life, God’s truth and love to triumph over his untruth and egoism.

That is what is meant by worshipping in spirit and truth; it also involves renouncing “ultimate knowledge” for the sake of “ultimate love”. For as knowledge, it will pass away…but love never ends.” (1 Cor 13.8).

The love which “surpasses knowledge” can only be “known” (Eph 3.19) in something more-than knowledge, which is in fact love itself, a loving together with God and from God, just as God’s truth is one with his life of love which pours forth in a threefold stream.

Hans Urs von Balthasar, Prayer

Statue of Brahma

A short moment later and I was back in the dark void of space, looking down this time upon two golden wheels, of similar size and decoration. The first along with a second. It seemed clear that this second would roll back from the mouth of the cave as had the first and indeed, this is what happened as I approached it.

The scene that next transpired was, initially, virtually identical with what I had seen previously at the mouth of the first cave and I repeated the procedure. I stood at the entrance, taking care not to set even an inch of my toe over this threshold, and called inside for whom or whatsoever lay within to emerge from the darkness. Here the similarity ended.

Almost at once the mouth of the cave became so enlarged and distended that it appeared to encompass the whole side of the mountain. If the last had been an orderly stream, it was a wild and powerful river that emerged from within; golden, blue and multi-coloured beings were mingled with a teeming mass of devotees and even their animals, all pouring out together in a chaotic, impulsive rush of life and energy.

I was curious to note that from the far left of the cave came a very large being that looked just like a solid gold Buddha or statue of Brahma seated in the lotus position. The being seemed immobile of its own accord and I deduced that it was either floating forwards on the tide of its worshippers, or was being pushed on wheels positioned beneath it.

As I was observing this being and its many worshippers, my focus changed imperceptibly to myself until I was looking straight ahead at another being of unusual appearance. This being, which was mobile and animated of its own right, seemed to metamorphosise before my eyes. Its skin was very soft looking and predominantly pale blue, or a blue-grey, although there were other colours to its human but non-human seeming form. This was a male – or predominantly male – being, or so it seemed, and it looked into my eyes with an expression that I was not able to fathom, tinged with a kind of cool humour and bright with a light that was not like the light of other eyes.

I had not been looking for long at this being when suddenly – at lightening speed – an electrifying, dark blue female figure emanated from it like a breathtaking whirligig, with limbs flailing like knives in all directions. This enormous energy rushed straight towards me – shrieking silently – in what may have been perceived as a threatening manner, but I did not feel afraid. It seemed to skim past or through the right side of my body and where this – or I –went next, I could not say for I do not remember.

The Song of Wandering Aengus

I went out to the hazelwood,

Because a fire was in my head,

And cut and peeled a hazel wand,

And hooked a berry to a thread.

And when white moths were on the wing

And moth-like stars were flickering out,

I dropped the berry in a stream

And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor

I went to blow the fire aflame,

But something rustled on the floor,

And someone called me by my name.

It had become a glimmering girl

With apple blossom in her hair

Who called me by my name and ran

And faded through the brightening air.

Though I am old with wandering

Through hollow lands and hilly lands,

I will find out where she has gone,

And kiss her lips and take her hands;

And walk amongst dappled grass,

And pluck till time and times are done

The silver apples of the moon,

The golden apples of the sun.

William Butler Yeats, The Song of Wandering Aegnus

Omnipotent One

When we landed, we fell to extolling these master touches of the Creator’s hand, for, indeed, the place was, at it were, born of fragrant musk – so fresh and beautiful and full of all delights not made by man.

Selecting a rare spot on the bank of a stream, I sat apart, meditating upon the wonderful works of the Omnipotent One. There the soft zephyrs singing in the trees, and the stream murmuring at my feet, lulled me to slumber; and when I awoke later, I looked forth upon the sea and lo, the ship was far out on the wall of the ocean sloping to the sky.

They had forgotten me and I was left alone upon the island.

The Second Voyage of Sindbad the Sailor, The Arabian Nights