| Sophia (gnosticism) |
Article Index for Sophia |
Website Links For Sophia |
Information AboutSophia (gnosticism) |
|
In Gnostic tradition, the term ''Sophia'' (Σoφíα, Greek for "wisdom") refers to the final and lowest emanation of God. In most if not all versions of the gnostic myth, Sophia brings about an instability in the '' Pleroma '', in turn bringing about the creation of materiality. The positive or negative depiction of materiality thus resides a great deal on mythic depictions of Sophia's actions. She is occasionally referred to by the Hebrew equivalent of '''Achamoth''' (this is a feature of Ptolemy 's version of the Valentinian gnostic myth). Almost all gnostic systems of the Syrian or Egyptian type taught that the universe began with an original, unknowable God , referred to as the Parent or Bythos , as the Monad by Monoimus , or the first Aeon by still other traditions. From this initial unitary beginning the One spontaneously Emanated further Aeon s, pairs of progressively 'lesser' beings in sequence. The lowest of these pairs were Sophia and Christ . The Aeons together made up the Pleroma, or fullness, of God, and thus should not be seen as distinct from the divine, but symbolic abstractions of the divine nature. The word Sufism is also derived from word Sophia. And suifs like Mansoor Hallaj and Ibn e Arabi's were inspired by gnostics. THE FALL OF SOPHIA Sophia's fear and anguish of losing her life, (just as she lost the light of the One) caused confusion and longing to return to it. Because of these longings the , Water , Earth , and Air . The creation of the lion-faced Demiurge is also a mistake made during this exile, according to some Gnostic sources a result of Sophia trying to emanate on her own, without her male counterpart. The Demiurge proceeds to create the physical world in which we live, ignorant of Sophia, who nevertheless managed to infuse some spiritual spark into the creation of the Demiurge; that is the '' Pneuma ''. After this the savior (Christ) returns and lets her see the light again, bringing her knowledge of the to give men the Gnosis needed to rescue themselves from the physical world and return to the Spiritual World . In Valentinian cosmology, the three sensations experienced by Sophia create three correspondent types of humans:
|
|
|