The Bishop’s Vision

One of the things that Zostrianos makes clear is the need for us to “encounter the God of our fathers,” and the need for the material manifestation of the fruits of Gnosis. It is for both of these reasons that the UCoA is organized the way it is.

The vision of the UCoA is to be an organization that can support the individual’s growth in relationship with God at every step.

When the individual begins to mindfully pursue his relationship with God he will have to deal with the tradition he was raised with. This is true even if that tradition was not defined. He will encounter the essence of his past. Usually he will encounter this at the first stage of Gnostic cultivation. However, in order to complete the process of Gnostic realization, every stage of growth must be made manifest in the material world.

Because of the personal nature of the process of cultivating Gnosis the manner in which the individual manifests the fruits of Gnosis must be in harmony with the personal convictions of the individual. This expression will often be of a devotional nature; of a religious nature. There must be room in any Gnostic organization for the open manifestation of the fruits of Gnosis.

At the same time…. There are realities that will arise when one engages with the fullness directly. There are elements or forces of limitation. At one stage these forces of limitation must be transcended; the individual must gain freedom from these forces. Once these forces of limitation are transcended and the fullness is embraced, the individual manifests the fullness in the midst of these elements of limitation. At this stage the forces of limitation become elements of focus; they become aides in the manifestation of the fruits of Gnosis.

It is no mistake that it was the wisdom of God that was responsible for the state of imbalance that produced the maker of this world. Evolution requires limitation. Evolution requires need. Since God inherently needs nothing, he created an imbalance, a limitation which would create need.

Since God knows all things this limitation would have to include ignorance. The maker knew the truth, he comes from the truth, but he chose to ignore the truth and embrace ignorance. In doing so, he embraced madness. In embracing madness, and creating the universe out of madness and ignorance, he created need.

This need is the need for balance, and fullness. The fulfillment of this need continues the evolution of God. There is a point where the maker realizes his ignorance, where he comes out of his madness. He becomes an aide to his mother, to the wisdom of God. He works to fill the need. His efforts remain imperfect, as do ours.

But this then is the reason for our work to manifest the fruits of Gnosis. We act to aide in the evolution of God through the evolution of ourselves, and the universe.

This then is my simple synthesis of the spectrum of the Sethian myth. It does not remove the evils or suffering of the world, but it does offer hope; hope that is not dependant on our death to attain it.

It is in this synthesis and the spectrum it illustrates that all of us can find a place in the Sethian tradition and this tradition can find expression in all of our religious celebrations.