The Story of Sophia

A Story To Guide The Species

"A myth is essentially a guide; it tells us what we must do in order to live more richly. If we do not apply it to our own situation and make the myth a reality in our own lives, it will remain an incomprehensible and remote as the rules of a board game, which often seem confusing and boring until we start to play." (Karen Armstrong, A Short History of Myth).

In his book, Not In His Image, and his writings on the website www.metahistory.com, John Lash shows how we have departed from the proper course of our evolution as a species. We have been torn out of a primal connection with Gaia, the living planet. He further points out that “our connection to the living earth is not merely a matter of survival, it is essential to our way of knowing ourselves, defining who we are as a species.”

The story of Sophia, preserved by the prechristian Gnostics, is a sacred story about the origins of humanity, how the earth evolved, and how we as a species are uniquely involved with the planetary intelligence. It is a story to inspire and guide us on our way to understanding our role in Gaia’s cosmic activities.

Sophia is central to the Gnostic Mystery Schools that were destroyed by the rise of Christianity (see previous blog 11/24). The Gnostics were not attempting to promote a belief system involving an off-planet higher power but taught techniques for experiencing our connection to the divine power that is here, fully earthbound and accessible to all.

The initiates of the Mysteries, after intensive training, learned to perceive a marvelous light, which they describe as pure opalescent currents of organic, life giving, light. This light was their teacher filling them with a primordial wisdom, which is Sophia.

As teachers of the Mysteries, the purpose of the Gnostics was to nurture and guide human potential one person at a time. Students of the mysteries are given a deep understanding of what it means to be instruments for co-evolution consecrated to Gaia/Sophia. Students need a narrative framework, a guiding story, a myth, in order to find their own direct line to the planetary intelligence. This is the story of Sophia. [Told here based mostly on Lash’s DVD Sophia Returning, www.sacredmysteries.com]

Before she became the Earth, Sophia lived at the Galactic Center, the source of life, with others like herself called Aeons. The Aeon’s create the worlds, not as a craftsperson, but they seed worlds like an over flowing fountain. Their power of creation comes from their imagination. They imagine or dream different worlds and project them into being.

One of the Aeons often takes the lead in imagining something new and it was Sophia who first imagined the human species. She imagined a playful species with a unique capacity for novelty and consequently the capacity for error.

With all the Aeons supporting her, Sophia projected a template of her imagined species into the Universe. All the other Aeons stepped back to watch, as was usual, but Sophia stepped to the edge of the Galactic perimeter, fascinated by her creation. Her love, passion, and interest in this new species caused an unusual event to happen.

Sophia was so passionate and fascinated by her creation that she desired to be involved with it and plunged out from the Galactic Center. She erupted as a plumb of opalescent light falling into the chaos of dead matter. This had never happened before, no Aeon had ever left the Center, Sophia’s fall was an anomalous event, a novelty in the universe, a singularity.

This surge of divine energy into the chaos of inorganic matter had fantastic repercussions which Sophia herself could not predict. One of the amazing things that happened was the creation of the world of an inorganic species called the Archons. This is one of the most confusing aspects of the story, a science fiction element, and I’m not sure what to make of it. I say more about the Archons below.

Next the story comes down to earth evolution. The plumb of organic opalescent light that was Sophia began to curl on itself. This is the involution of a divine consciousness made of pure light into sensory existence. Sophia turned into the planet earth bringing the template of human potential with her.

What makes this planet unique is that we inhabit the actual Dreaming of the goddess who invented us. This is an interactive myth. As long as we interact with her in her Dreaming this planet is our paradise, a place for us to play and learn, to experience love, to exchange wisdom, to experiment with technology, tools, our senses, our species interacting with the planet.

The story of Sophia is the ultimate ecofeminist myth and the ultimate healing myth for our species. Sophia got involved because of her intense attraction to us. She saw that it was a very big risk she was taking in inventing a species with as much latitude as we have with the ability to make mistakes and to deviate from the path of our evolution.

It could be said that Sophia herself deviated by leaving the Galactic Center and plunging into the chaos of inorganic matter creating a freak species of inorganic beings, the Archons, who interact with humanity.

The Archons, (what we call E.T.s) according to the Gnostics, are not a harmless side effect of Sophia’s plunge into the universe, they are a serious threat because they envy us, because we can play and they can’t. We have a living environment and they are a robotic, mechanical species. The Archons do not have the capacity of intention; they cannot create but only simulate reality.

The world we live in can be divided into 1) what human beings have made in association with Sophia and 2) What the Archons lead us to do by their simulations. The Archons use their ability to reproduce things so that we can’t tell the reproduction from the original thing. We also have the capacity to use simulation. If we use simulation in Sophia’s way we get bio-mimicry – we learn how to mimic nature and create “supernature” – sustainable systems and technology. But if we lose a sense of what the original thing copied was, we are lost.

In order to correct we have to go back to the original. Archons are external entities that invade our minds through suggestion and simulation. They slip in when we lose the distinction between the copy and the real thing.

Lash says this began as long ago as 4500 BCE with what we now call “channeling.” This is how the Archons first got into the human mind. Archons channeled false information the most damaging being idea of the male godhead – the patriarchal lie. This created a domino effect leading to maladaptive, non-sustainable behavior. The first really maladaptive behavior is male dominance.

The Archon component points out how the human species deviated – if we know how we deviated we can correct it. They really have no power over us but cause us to deviate by making us believe that what we desire is a replica, not the original.

Organic light is the substance body of Sophia. We will dance in her light when the simulation falls away. The Archons create a virtual world. If I live in this world I don’t know what I desire, I desire what others desire and go along with the status quo. We are self-generating cells within the body of Sophia.

The Archon or E.T. phenomenon is not independent of human imagination, it is the part of our imagination that we need to master and go beyond if we are going to get back on track with Sophia.

Women On The Edge Of Evolution

I am attending a free teleseminar called, “Women of the Edge of Evolution: Awakening to the power to co-create our lives and shape our collective future.” There are a total of fourteen sessions, one a week, which consist of a conversation with women described as “fourteen of the world’s leading female spiritual luminaries, thinkers and agents of change.” I am really inspired by the series, which is about half over now, but you can listen to all of the conversations and questions from participants on-line or download them to your mp3 player or ipod. Register at www.womenontheedgeofevolution.com

Here are some notes I took listening to the conversation with Barbara Marx Hubbard. Barbara, who is 80 years old, is an inspiration for me (I’m 71). She is a truly wise Crone who has been living on the edge of evolution for a long time and doesn’t seem to be slowing down a bit. She speaks from her own experience about the profound changes of aging, “After 50, when you have no more eggs, you become the egg. The egg of the authentic female self has not been fully expressed on this planet for many many thousands of years and never in an information rich society like the one we are now in. Women are at the edge of evolution wherever we step forward as a group and say ‘yes’ to our deeper potential, ‘yes’ to our life purpose.”

The “authentic female self” has not been fully expressed on the planet since before history and the development of patriarchy. In order to become evolutionary women, or co-creators, and participate in our own evolution and the evolution of our planet and society women are called to discover, remember, or invent our ancient authentic self and indigenous genius.

Barbara describes the evolutionary woman as one who is incarnating the cosmic creative impulsive, and when she gets awakened to that it feels like a spiritual awakening, which leads to creative action. Women who are living at the edge are finding a deeper life purpose or are yearning to find one. A co-creative woman as she awakens and says “yes” begins to grow in an unprecedented way.

When a woman expresses her true-self in the world through creative action, she is what Barbara calls “suprasexually creative and attractive. Suprasex is the sexual drive become a creative drive. This doesn’t exclude sex but expands it. A woman who is suprasexually aroused by her own creativity and the development of herself and her life is the most attractive force on earth. The co-creative woman attracts that which she sees within her that needs to be created.

In the Women’s Movement of the 60’s and 70’s women were waking up on mass to our true situation as women in patriarchy. We joined together in groups for a common purpose. First we tried to be equal to men in a dysfunctional world, then we woke up to the fact that we are facing a planetary crisis and we may not be able to make it, and then we started to wake up to the fact that inside the female is a passion for love, community, creativity, and coherence.

Discovering their passion, co-creative women fall in love with what they do, with their work, with the giving of themselves in service to others and the planet. Barbara, examining her own experience says, “I love the expression of the divine aspect of myself when it feels connected and in service with others. It feels so rewarding, self-rewarding in the doing.”

This lead into a discussion of the fact that many women become so passionate and involved in the work they love, generously giving of themselves, that they become overwhelmed and experience “burn out.” This topic has come up often in the series. I liked the perspective of Sofia Diaz in her teleseminar.

Sofia Diaz (www.sofiayoga.com), is a Hatha Yoga, sacred movement, and feminine spiritual practices teacher. She agrees that women have an important and unique role, “Women hold the key to the evolution of consciousness and culture because of our capacity for compassion, our sensitivity for others pain and suffering, and deep caring.” This capacity, Sofia calls “feminine genius” and says that it is “a source of deep power that we are holding to evolve our world.” Yet many of us are feeling overwhelmed, almost victimized by our capacity to care.

It is important to realize how profound it is to have the capacity of care and the ability to relinquish self and output for the sake of others. This “is the highest pinnacle in all spiritual traditions, sought after by mystics and spiritual seekers.” Problems arise when it is unconscious, when you don’t realize you are extending one of the most generous gestures in this human universe, if your motives are fear, not being loved, insufficiency, fear of loss, then this is the catastrophe we find our selves in feeling overwhelmed and victimized.

We need to stop and ask why am I extending myself? But instead of answering this question with mental discrimination, we ask our body. First you have to be able to feel the parts of your body and then the information you get is the truth. Rather than answering the question with criticism of your character look to the genius of the feminine body this is where you find the deepest answers and the refinement of great questions. “When I ask myself what is my motivation and I look for tensions in my body, I always get an answer – perhaps I felt weak or hurt by a particular interaction or I’m afraid to extend myself in a way that feels risky. The answers are really detailed and come directly from the body.”

If you ask a deep question and let yourself feel it viscerally there is a relief and in that relief your heart actually relaxes, and if you find a relaxation in your heart and you take a deep breath into it, the biggest relief and the biggest answer to self-care is that you are loved.

Sofia has much to say about the genius of the feminine body as well as instructions on how to access that genius. You can listen to her Women on the Edge of Evolution teleseminar by registering at www.womenontheedgeofevolution.com