About Sophia, Journal Notes

‘Sophia’ is one of the many names of wisdom uniting the whole planet and all creatures in a living body. She is sometimes imagined as the world soul living at the center of the earth. She is the pattern, the template, and the architect of life.

We often call our planet ‘Mother Earth.’ She gives, nourishes and sustains life. But what do we, as individuals and as the human species really know about our mother? Not what do scientists know or what does the Bible say. Rather, what does she say, what is her story? Where did she come from? What’s she really like in herself – who is she really? And who is she becoming?

At one time the greatest crime possible was matricide.

Sophia is a subtle spirit, Quintessence, or anima mundi, pervading the world. Quintessence = the Fifth Sacred Thing = Spirit! She is the spiritual DNA of the planet. When we are awakened to Quintessence, we are multidimensionally present. We know the body through the body, the emotions through, the emotions, and the mind through the mind. Quintessence is Spirit that orders the universe and gives it life and vitality.

Mary Daly: “Quintessence names the unifying living presence that is at the core of the integrity and elemental connectedness of the universe and that is the source of our power to realize a true future – an archaic future.” (Quintessence...Realizing the Archaic Future)

Sophia is the wisdom of the Goddess. In pre-patriarchal times, she was understood primarily through the body. The rituals that bound humankind to the to all-pervasive wisdom were enactments of sacred sexuality: the experience of oneness – not an abstract One but an all-at-once union with all that is.

Sophia is the wisdom of transitions. The pattern underlying all of life. Although Sophia has been claimed by many Christians and often identified with the Holy Spirit, she is not a divine being separate from the world; she is not a religious figure, or a transcendent being to be believed in on faith. Wisdom is known directly.

The planet earth is in transition. She is going through a big initiation, becoming someone she is not. It feels to humans from our place on the surface of this great being that everything is falling apart. There is a mad scramble to get control. The human ego wants control.

The ego has gotten a bad rap lately and although it may just be a matter of semantics I’d like to say something in defense of the ego. This whole patriarchal era that humanity has been going through has been, in part, about developing a strong ego-consciousness and a sense of individuality and control. Over thousands of years, humanbeings have succeeded in building strong egos and now teachers seem to be telling us to let go of the ego. But really what we need to do is put the ego in its place. We really need to let go of any sense of identity-with the ego. Instead we can learn to shift our sense of identity to the true self or soul, which has access to worlds unknown to ego. Ego allows us to function in modern day civilization. It gives us a sense of order and sanity. At one time people went off into the wilderness to contact cosmic consciousness and gain wisdom. But now, by shifting at will back and forth from ego-centered to soul-centered, many people are capable of living within society and at the sametime participating in the cosmic dance, enter the dream while awake, so to speak.