Sophia-My Heroine

[Kafiri]

In a letter to Freud, dated August 12, 1912, Jung mentioned the Gnostic myth of Sophia which he thought might be of interest in modern psychoanalysis. I may have missed it of course, but I have not come across one Jungian who has offered an interpretation of Sophia.   Of course, the myth of Sophia did appear recently, but in a book and movie; "The DaVinci Code."  Here is Stephan Hoeller's version of "The Myth of Sophia," as it appears in Jung and the Lost Gospels.  I have scanned this and tried to find all the errors and typos from the scanning; if you find something that appears odd or out of place please let me know.

The Myth of Sophia

High in the ineffable and transcendental world of light there existed a primal pair named Depth and Silence.

Together they brought forth a perfect realm of balance and creative power, consisting of thirty archetypal forms of consciousness called Aeons. The youngest and most adventurous of these, called Sophia (Wisdom), fell in love with her own royal progenitor, the great invisible king of the all, called Depth, and wished to fathom his perennially inscrutable nature. Confused by her love, she cast her glance in various directions from her aeonial seat in the fullness until in the distance she espied a magnificent light, shimmering with sublime grace. In her bewilderment brought about by love, she could no ,longer distinguish between the above and below and! thus came to assume that the seductive light, which was in reality below her, was none other than the royal effulgence of the great king, her father, who resided at the highest point of the heavens. Thus she descended into the abysmal void, where in a boundless and fathomless sea of glass the reflection of the, heavenly light beckoned to her. Her celestial consort, Christ, was unable to restrain her, and thus after a final painful embrace she plunged into the murky deep, only to discover how the reflected light had deceived her. Saddened and frightened, she found herself enclosed by emptiness, devoid of the quality and power of Gnosis to which she was accustomed in the fullness.  Desirous of having a kindred figure next to her, she brought forth in virginal fashion a being whose name  was Jesus. Although conceived mysteriously by her desire ~ for her original Gnosis, Jesus Was nevertheless joined ~ to a shadow of darkness, which attached itself to him because of the malefic influences of the dark void wherein he was born. Jesus soon freed himself from his troublesome, shadowy attachment and ascended into the fullness, leaving Sophia in a state of despondency.

Left outside ,the supernal spiritual universe, alone and comfortless, Sophia experienced every sort of psychic storm imaginable. Passion, sorrow, fear, despair, and ignorance exuded from her being like mighty clouds and condensed into the four elements of earth, water, fire, and air, as well as into a number of beings, which later were to be known under such names as the Demiurge and the rulers (archontes)-fierce and troublesome spirits, one and all. The mightiest of these, a lion-faced, being filled with pride and the will for power, marshaled his host of world-fashioning spirits, and out of the raw material of earth, water, fire, and air they built a world of impressive external appearance, yet replete with great flaws, having been created in the image of its creators.  Sorrow, fear, ignorance, and other painful and destructive passions were built into the fabric of this Imperfect world, inasmuch as the raw material used, by the fashioners originated in feelings like those experienced by Sophia.  Looking down at the flawed and troubled world pridefully fashioned by her own ignorant offspring,  Sophia was filled with pity for creation and resolved to assist in such ways as would be available to her. She thus became the spirit of the world, anxiously observing it like a mother is wont to do when watching over a feeble and misshapen child.

Meanwhile in the lofty height, Jesus was anxiously observing the sorrowful fate of his mother, Sophia. He joined himself to Sophia's twin aeon,. Christ, and thus became Jesus-Christ, the Messiah and messenger of God.  Around him rallied all the sublime and compassionate powers of the fullness, each contributing to him gifts and glories of their respective treasures. Thus in  the fullness and its powers came to be gathered together, readying him for the great act  of redemption the liberation of Sophia from her lamentable condition in the void.  Ceaselessly, Sophia's supplications ascended like clouds of bittersweet incense, penetrating the recesses of the fullness, arousing the compassion of all the splendid anal beings who perpetually  contemplate, their glory in their kingdom of perfection. Through the centuries and millennia of earthly history, Sophia prayed and sorrowed over her fate and the fate of the flawed world and the sparks of light enmeshed in the nets of the rulers, who like monstrous spiders continued to manifest webs of matter, emotion, and thought for the entrapment of humans-in essence not their creation but rather the sparks of Sophia's higher nature infused into bodies of clay.

Finally, the powers of the fullness were assembled and, having entered Jesus-Christ, descended to earth to free Sophia and thereby also to bring redemptlon to her spiritual children, the members of the human race. After undergoing vicissitudes visited upon him by the rulers and their deceived human minions, Jesus-Christ rose, triumphantly from earth, holding, Sophia by the hand. Joyously they ascended to the various heavenly mansions, knocking at the portals of the spiritual guardians and gaining passage to ever-higher and subtler legions of existence. At each of the gates Sophia uttered great songs of praise and gratitude to the light that had saved her from the chaos of the nether regions.

When the World-Spirit Sophia came to the borders that separated the nether worlds from the fullness, she looked down once again unto the flawed and troubled world, suspended in the void and chaos, and compassion filled her broken but now mended heart. No, she could not leave utterly behind this strange creation, to its less than adequate resources. Neither could she abandon her true children, the women and men who were more intimately related to her than any other beings outside of the fullness. Thus, she worked her magic and divided her nature in half: one to ascend into the aeons of fullness, there to dwell with Christ and Jesus, the other to remain in proximity to creation and continue to assist it with compassionate wisdom. Her second self, created by compassion, thus became known ..as Achamoth, the errant or lower one who is still in contact with humanity and the regions of this world.

It was thus that it came to pass that the universe constellated itself in three regions. The first of these is the sublunar or material world, ruled by a prince whom the ancients called Pan and whom others inaccurately call the devil. This prince rules over the earth, the plants, and all living creatures and like a patient shepherd sees to it that all of these manifestations of Sophia's life may one day reach the higher worlds, no matter how far they stray. Not privy to the realities and designs of the mighty aeons of light, the prince of this world merely turns the great wheel of birth, death, and rebirth, hoping that if he and flock are but able to remain within the motions of biological life, their hour of liberation will not find them past redemption.

Higher in immaterial space is the world of soul or mind, which is ruled by the chief archon, also called the Demimiurge and having numerous names, including Yaldobaoth (childish God) and Saclas (blind one). It is from this realm of this arrogant and power-hungry godling that many of the concepts and precepts originate that enthrall the minds and wills of humans. The blind god has a great liking for what he is pleased to call law. Rules, commandments, and regulations of all sorts are fashioned by him In order to diminish freedom, which is the birthright of the spirit. Philosophies and ideologies of diverse sorts are  also placed into human minds by the Demiurge, along with greed, power, and other obsessions that becloud and vitiate the spiritual purity of men and women.

Thirdly, in the world above planets, immediately below the portals of the mighty fullness itself, is a region where Sophia-Achamoth, the celestial mother, and wise helper of humankind, is enthroned. With her live countless hosts of angels of light and holy and righteous souls that once occupied human bodies. This is the world of spirit, where the twin angels of human personalities also reside and the celestial bride chamber is erected wherein the lesser selves of humans may meet and be wedded to their spiritual counterparts, the twin angels. When humans commune with whom they envision as the Goddess in her manifold aspects, it is none other than Sophia-Achamoth, their wise guardian, whom  they envision.  Unaware of these subtle mysteries, many well-intentioned followers of the Christian revelation have come to see this form of Sophia as Mary, Queen of Heaven. It is in this manner then that our Lady Wisdom, though redeemed and having assisted Jesus-Christ in the work of redemption, is not far from her children even to this day.

The three cosmic regions just spoken of have their corresponding portions within the nature of the children of men. Within every human there is the material part (hyle), derived from the kingdom of Pan and carrying the instincts, and urges of  material life with its intentionality of survival and physical continuity by way of offspring. There is also a portion embodying mind and emotion, referred to often as soul (psyche). This portion is derived from the realm of the Demiurge, and thus it contains more thanone dangerous feature. While  it is  the seat of ethical awareness and calculating reason it 'is also susceptible to the influences and blandishments of  the rulers with their obsessive commandments, fanatical ideologies, pride, and arrogance of soul. Third is the human spirit (pneuma), which belongs to., the fullness, although it is the gift of Sophia. In most humans this spiritual spark smolders and dreams, unconsciously awaiting the breath of the emissaries of the fullness to be fanned into effective action.  This spirit is of Sophia, and through and beyond her, it is .of the identical essence as the supreme King and Queen, Depth and Silence themselves.

In this embodied existence we find some humans who may be called hyletics;  who are ruled by instinct, urges, and sensations and live largely in the realm of Pan.  Others have been named psychics, and they usually worship the Demiurge as God, having no awareness of the spiritual world above.  Their pride and joy, are law and doctrine, and they imagine themselves as superior to other humans by virtue of their laws. So the spiritual history of humanity is largely a progression from primitive instinctuality and nature-worshiping pantheism (where Pan is Theos, i.e., God) ,to dogmatic religion and ethics, and from these to the true spiritual freedom of Gnosis. In order to reach the kingdom of light and become a pneumatic, the human being must have first renounced his servitude to physicality, and then, often with great difficulty, also renounce the thralldom of the Demiurge and his minions in the form of ideological servitude. Ideas enslave just as much as passions, and both are obstacles to the rule of the spirit.  Thus comes about the great renunciation (apolytrosis) wherein humans break the shackles affixed to their bodies and minds by the rulers. Following this there is but one great step to be taken: the bride chamber, or the transformative union of the lesser human with the overshadowing presence of the twin angel.

From the heights of the material world and the peak experiences of the mind,  men, and women lift up their eyes and behold the everlasting hills of Sophia-Achamoth's kingdom of spiritual light. The twin angel reaches down his shining arm to earth and bears the human soul aloft into the bride chamber where the spiritual union is sealed in a heavenly marriage. One by one, Sophia draws her spiritual children unto herself, bidding them to join the army of the elect. Such is the gift of Sophia, drawn from the endless treasury of the light and made available to humans by way of her compassion and wisdom. She who remained faithful to the true light entreats her children to do likewise. Faithfulness to the spirit dwelling in the deepest and highest recesses of their nature will thus lead them to the renunciation of  illusion and the embracing of the real. .

[Áæxilyn]

Hello,

Sophia denoted skill at play... Sophia originates in and refers to an animated archetypal background of the anima mundi, not merely a cognitive mental conception - as in spirit contradistinguished from matter - which is always going to be an opposition, split from the whole archetype and it's composite nexus as yoking syzgy if perceived through the dissociated ego-conscious subject. The matter of individuation is to relativize conscious one-sidedness, to tertially outgrow the opposites; a re-solving. It is the primordial archetype of the experience of the phenomenon of "depth," of deep and the breadth of vision/insighting, of digesting or creating meaning/knowledge/wisdom of the whole, or skill or craft, or design. In effect, Sophia portrays its own meaning, not as a specific sentiment or concept, rather the "mode of Sophia-awareness" of archetypal image/meaning as a skill in play, not divorced from the unconscious. Even as in Philosophy: from philos; with an implicit ontology vis-à-vis feelings/sentiments; sensitivities of love, of the divine aisthesis/concept/feeling-judgement/intuition of the image or object, of an aspect of desire, of intimate dearness of heart, and of the immediate, zoe/bios, cosmetic affinity/allure of Aphroditian great beauty and the frothy, immortal promise of the Cyprian goddess, the Latin word cuprum from the Greek, "Kyprus." The glowing hues of venusian green/red copper's ardency, a workable, delicate/soft, warming, resonanant, and pliable metal that needs to be alloyed with other metals, as in brass or bronze, for structure, aspecting the sensual persuasions, the arts of subjective intimacy.

Apprehension and understanding is just the way a love relationship is deepened -- through the delight of examining it with the senses and the heart's himma all at once. Emotion creates the luxurious understanding, and intellect frames a re-imagining of/in the primordial phenomena revealed. Love and longing communing with the depth of skillful means is a creation of greater consciousness.

Cauda Pavonis, Venus in Splendor Solis

Much gnostic lore speaks to Sophia in exile. What do you feel about that?
 
Áæxilyn

[Kafiri]

Much gnostic lore speaks to Sophia in exile. What do you feel about that?
 
Áæxilyn

Using Jung's concept of "feeling" it is tragic.  Western civilization continues to worship the Demiurge instead of acknowledging Sophia(Wisdom) who:

Proverbs
Chapter 8
1 Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?

2 She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths.

3 She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.

4 Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.

5 O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.

6 Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things.

7 For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.

9 They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.

10 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.

11 For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.

12 I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.

13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

14 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.

15 By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.

16 By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.

17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.

18 Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness.

19 My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver.

20 I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment:

21 That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.

22 The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.

23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.

24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.

25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:

26 While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.

27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:

28 When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:

29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:

30 Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;

31 Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.

32 Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways.

33 Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.

34 Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.

35 For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.

36 But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.

For your consideration I send a modest bit of mine from years gone by:

WIND

The breath of God
is now at my back,
my face to the east.
Sophia, more eternal
than God , is
the true guide star of
this Haji’s restless Soul.

Weary and worn
on this Pilgrim’s
road.  A respite. Resting there,
the wind whispers three
stunning revelations to
my ear there
at the roadside.

God reveals my true
pain; that it might be
relieved; my true wounds
that they might be
healed; my true death
that I might live til’
that time.

Sophia beckons once
again.  One foot follows
the other around the
next bend, over the next hill,
toward the ancient, ancestral
destination, which is always just
around the next bend, over the next hill.

The love of God would have it so.


 

[Áæxilyn]

Hi Kafiri, you wrote:

Western civilization continues to worship the Demiurge instead of acknowledging Sophia(Wisdom) who: [...snipped...read below...]

What I sense in your poem, and the Biblical stanza's @ he who "wrongeth his own soul...", Kafiri, if I may suggest, is that Sophia represents your own (all our) mediating Soul image's traumatic/dissociative suffering for wholeness, and the salvific love/trancendent function, ubiquitous and inherent in human experience, that implicates liminality, the unseen, transformational, initiatic movement of soul, that seeks a deeper meaning, a connective tissue between the seen and hidden, "mediating" source of spiritual longing @ Lumen Dei ~ the light proceeding from the "unmanifest Godhead," and Lumen Naturae, the creative massa confusa, prima materia ~ life-giving light hidden in matter and the forces of nature, all that inspires, as Jelalhuddin Rumi wrote in his "amor sagrado e profano" poem, 'Like This' as some frangrance on the breeze, as when lovers moan... "like this."

In the dim ages the animal, mineral, vegetative, elemental images expressed this "divinity," catalyst/mediatrix, as waters, or cave or cauldron of the nourishing/devouring/transformative goddess, in allusion to the Incarnation in the creaturely human, showing a confrontation of opposites and the goal of their successful antinomial reconciliation in a uniting symbol (See: M. Esther Harding's 'Psychic Energy: It's Sources and its Transformation', Pg. 416. ...a veritable treasure-trove of the facts and formulations of these actualities, recommended by Jung for where one has reached a pragmatic point admitting to where the god-image content exists psychically, where a greater spiritual independence is requisite.)     

In the mythogem of the Gnostic Archons or Aeons of the Hebdomas, Sophia (all-seeing celestial mother wisdom [mater coelestis]) was also known as Sophia Prunikos (lusty, celestial whore/dirty), connoting the psycho-physical mystery emanation of the divine world in this sub-lunar "dirty" world, the personified notion within the human personality's recesses of opposites that are paradoxically complementaries, a recognition of instinctual being's source and sublime spirit's hidden "sacred/profane," refined/crude link. Also it's a recognition that life is renewed by contact with and immersion in those instinctual sources... pointing to a yet larger and more universal opus in the depths that flow beyond consciousness; the unus mundus... Sophia's exile was, according to the Valentinian, "heretical" gnostic mythos, for the indiscretion of desiring direct, intimate connection with her aeonic mate (Aeon of light), for which she was grieviously abandoned/exiled to the wilderness, till delivered by the Logos:

Sophia was called the Mother, or All-Mother; Lady and Beginning, and Mother of all the æons in the Plērōma; Mother of the Living, or Shirting Mother; the Power Above; the Holy Spirit; again, She of the Left-hand as opposed to the Christos, Him of the Right-hand; the Man-woman; Prouneikos or Lustful one; the Matrix; Paradise; Eden; Achamōth; the Virgin; Barbēlō; Perfect Mysteries; Perfect Mercy; Revelant of the Mysteries of the whole Magnitude; Hidden Mother; She who knows the Mysteries of the Elect; the Holy Dove who has given birth to Twins; Ennœa; Ruler; and the Lost or Wandering Sheep, Helena, and many other names, also aspected everywhere in Alchemy by Mercurius Duplex.

These terms refer to Sophia or the "Soul"--using the term in its most general sense--in her cosmic or individual aspects, according as she is above in her perfect purity; or in the midst, as intermediary; or below, as fallen into matter.

Note, in considering religious statements in their totality @ intolerable contradictions in the nature of deity that the notional motif of the dark side of god appears again and again, as of a saviour, with a resolution in a union of opposites/sacred marriage; a symbol of a development to supplant the understanding of the god-image  ~ something that has much precedence in mythological lore. Archetypal, in that the characteristic of juxtaposition of the divine and the human forms a genuine psychological experience of an essential, numinous, unconscious content, aspecting elements in the evolution of consciousness. Also note that Sophia is something that is independent, identified with women/cthonic instinctuality, and thus may represent a feminine threat to the masculine, monotheistic world view. In gnostic myth, 'Man' was destined to become the Æon, the Body of the Æon. There was a wholeness in man hidden in partialness. The serpentine powers were to come to birth by the Æon Sophia-Zoe's fulfilled remediation through 'gnosis of the Serpent'... another name/image of Sophia.

The early church Father, Irenaeus spoke of this doctrine where it was taught that the serpent personified the numinous instinctual energy (tremendum) as the child of the divine Logos sent to raise man, and even so, in terms of the "incarnating," "Son of Man," Melchezidech Priesthood, or pre-Hebriac, pan-daemonic tradition/order/doctrine, of gnostic-sources referering to a differentiation of the primitive, not-yet-transformed Yhwh god-image's consciousness from unconsciousness:

"Adam fell again under the power of Ialdabaoth (Yaweh) and the Elohim; then Sophia or Wisdom sent the "serpent" (instinctual spirit of consciousness) into the paradise of Ialdabaoth, and Adam and Eve listened to its wise counsels, and so once more "man" was freed from the dominion of of the Creative Power, and transgressed the "ordinance of ignorance" of any power higher than himself imposed by Ialdabaoth. Whereupon Ialdabaoth drove them out of his Paradise together with the Serpent." --G. R. S. Mead, 'Fragments of a Faith Forgotten', pp 189f (George Robert Stow Mead's [1863-1933] 'Pistis Sophia' and Fragments of a Faith Forgotten' still remains of the best,  scholarly translations and commentary available of Gnostic Aeonology.)

The myth expresses psychologically that the unconscious (psychic nonego) is not recognized as functioning from within, and in the issue of the psyche's innate capacity of dissociation into complexes (parallel to egoic-discrimination's differentiation), split/ projected on a personified, unconscious, anthropomorphic god of great tyrannical/despotic authority (conscious self-determination still unseparated from the unconscious, yet needing contact with the instinctual unconscious, as implied where YHWH "consults" his omniscience), a god that "takes walks in the evening in his garden." The exiled separation/conflict is reconciled by contact with the feminine ground of love and wisdom's transformations of instinctual life, and a new thing is born, a living psychic individual (not rationally conceived solution), a transformed Self. That's the gist, anyway... greatly reduced from the theological tangles... 

Suggested reflective reading beyond the mythical topic: Jeffery C. Miller, 'The Transcendent Function: Jung's Model of Psychological Growth Through Dialogue With The Unconscious' and Eugene Pascal, 'Jung to Live By: A Guide to the Practical Application of Jungian Principles for Everyday Life'   

Áæxilyn

"...the spice melange. The spice extends life, the spice expands consciousness, the spice is vital..." Frank Herbert, 'Dune'

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'The Thunder, Perfect Mind' (Translated by George W. MacRae from fragmented scrolls of the Nag Hammadi Library)


I was sent forth from the power,

and I have come to those who reflect upon me,
and I have been found among those who seek after me.
Look upon me, you who reflect upon me,
and you hearers, hear me.
You who are waiting for me, take me to yourselves.
And do not banish me from your sight.
And do not make your voice hate me, nor your hearing.
Do not be ignorant of me anywhere or any time. Be on your guard!
Do not be ignorant of me.
For I am the first and the last.
I am the honored one and the scorned one.
I am the whore and the holy one.
I am the wife and the virgin.
I am <the mother> and the daughter.
I am the members of my mother.
I am the barren one
and many are her sons.
I am she whose wedding is great,
and I have not taken a husband.
I am the midwife and she who does not bear.
I am the solace of my labor pains.
I am the bride and the bridegroom,
and it is my husband who begot me.
I am the mother of my father
and the sister of my husband
and he is my offspring.
I am the slave of him who prepared me.
I am the ruler of my offspring.
But he is the one who begot me before the time on a birthday.
And he is my offspring in (due) time,
and my power is from him.
I am the staff of his power in his youth,
and he is the rod of my old age.
And whatever he wills happens to me.
I am the silence that is incomprehensible
and the idea whose remembrance is frequent.
I am the voice whose sound is manifold
and the word whose appearance is multiple.
I am the utterance of my name.
Why, you who hate me, do you love me,
and hate those who love me?
You who deny me, confess me,
and you who confess me, deny me.
You who tell the truth about me, lie about me,
and you who have lied about me, tell the truth about me.
You who know me, be ignorant of me,
and those who have not known me, let them know me.
For I am knowledge and ignorance.
I am shame and boldness.
I am shameless; I am ashamed.
I am strength and I am fear.
I am war and peace.
Give heed to me.
I am the one who is disgraced and the great one.
Give heed to my poverty and my wealth.
Do not be arrogant to me when I am cast out upon the earth,
and you will find me in those that are to come.
And do not look upon me on the dung-heap
nor go and leave me cast out,
and you will find me in the kingdoms.
And do not look upon me when I am cast out among those who
are disgraced and in the least places,
nor laugh at me.
And do not cast me out among those who are slain in violence.
But I, I am compassionate and I am cruel.
Be on your guard!
Do not hate my obedience
and do not love my self-control.
In my weakness, do not forsake me,
and do not be afraid of my power.
For why do you despise my fear
and curse my pride?
But I am she who exists in all fears
and strength in trembling.
I am she who is weak,
and I am well in a pleasant place.
I am senseless and I am wise.
Why have you hated me in your counsels?
For I shall be silent among those who are silent,
and I shall appear and speak,
Why then have you hated me, you Greeks?
Because I am a barbarian among the barbarians?
For I am the wisdom of the Greeks
and the knowledge of the barbarians.
I am the judgement of the Greeks and of the barbarians.
I am the one whose image is great in Egypt
and the one who has no image among the barbarians.
I am the one who has been hated everywhere
and who has been loved everywhere.
I am the one whom they call Life,
and you have called Death.
I am the one whom they call Law,
and you have called Lawlessness.
I am the one whom you have pursued,
and I am the one whom you have seized.
I am the one whom you have scattered,
and you have gathered me together.
I am the one before whom you have been ashamed,
and you have been shameless to me.
I am she who does not keep festival,
and I am she whose festivals are many.
I, I am godless,
and I am the one whose God is great.
I am the one whom you have reflected upon,
and you have scorned me.
I am unlearned,
and they learn from me.
I am the one that you have despised,
and you reflect upon me.
I am the one whom you have hidden from,
and you appear to me.
But whenever you hide yourselves,
I myself will appear.
For whenever you appear,
I myself will hide from you.
Those who have [...] to it [...] senselessly [...].
Take me [... understanding] from grief.
and take me to yourselves from understanding and grief.
And take me to yourselves from places that are ugly and in ruin,
and rob from those which are good even though in ugliness.
Out of shame, take me to yourselves shamelessly;
and out of shamelessness and shame,
upbraid my members in yourselves.
And come forward to me, you who know me
and you who know my members,
and establish the great ones among the small first creatures.
Come forward to childhood,
and do not despise it because it is small and it is little.
And do not turn away greatnesses in some parts from the smallnesses,
for the smallnesses are known from the greatnesses.
Why do you curse me and honor me?
You have wounded and you have had mercy.
Do not separate me from the first ones whom you have known.
And do not cast anyone out nor turn anyone away
[...] turn you away and [... know] him not.
[...].
What is mine [...].
I know the first ones and those after them know me.
But I am the mind of [...] and the rest of [...].
I am the knowledge of my inquiry,
and the finding of those who seek after me,
and the command of those who ask of me,
and the power of the powers in my knowledge
of the angels, who have been sent at my word,
and of gods in their seasons by my counsel,
and of spirits of every man who exists with me,
and of women who dwell within me.
I am the one who is honored, and who is praised,
and who is despised scornfully.
I am peace,
and war has come because of me.
And I am an alien and a citizen.
I am the substance and the one who has no substance.
Those who are without association with me are ignorant of me,
and those who are in my substance are the ones who know me.
Those who are close to me have been ignorant of me,
and those who are far away from me are the ones who have known me.
On the day when I am close to you, you are far away from me,
and on the day when I am far away from you, I am close to you.
[I am ...] within.
[I am ...] of the natures.
I am [...] of the creation of the spirits.
[...] request of the souls.
I am control and the uncontrollable.
I am the union and the dissolution.
I am the abiding and I am the dissolution.
I am the one below,
and they come up to me.
I am the judgment and the acquittal.
I, I am sinless,
and the root of sin derives from me.
I am lust in (outward) appearance,
and interior self-control exists within me.
I am the hearing which is attainable to everyone
and the speech which cannot be grasped.
I am a mute who does not speak,
and great is my multitude of words.
Hear me in gentleness, and learn of me in roughness.
I am she who cries out,
and I am cast forth upon the face of the earth.
I prepare the bread and my mind within.
I am the knowledge of my name.
I am the one who cries out,
and I listen.
I appear and [...] walk in [...] seal of my [...].
I am [...] the defense [...].
I am the one who is called Truth
and iniquity [...].
You honor me [...] and you whisper against me.
You who are vanquished, judge them (who vanquish you)
before they give judgment against you,
because the judge and partiality exist in you.
If you are condemned by this one, who will acquit you?
Or, if you are acquitted by him, who will be able to detain you?
For what is inside of you is what is outside of you,
and the one who fashions you on the outside
is the one who shaped the inside of you.
And what you see outside of you, you see inside of you;
it is visible and it is your garment.
Hear me, you hearers
and learn of my words, you who know me.
I am the hearing that is attainable to everything;
I am the speech that cannot be grasped.
I am the name of the sound
and the sound of the name.
I am the sign of the letter
and the designation of the division.
And I [...].
(3 lines missing)
[...] light [...].
[...] hearers [...] to you
[...] the great power.
And [...] will not move the name.
[...] to the one who created me.
And I will speak his name.
Look then at his words
and all the writings which have been completed.
Give heed then, you hearers
and you also, the angels and those who have been sent,
and you spirits who have arisen from the dead.
For I am the one who alone exists,
and I have no one who will judge me.
For many are the pleasant forms which exist in numerous sins,
and incontinencies,
and disgraceful passions,
and fleeting pleasures,
which (men) embrace until they become sober
and go up to their resting place.
And they will find me there,
and they will live,
and they will not die again.
 

Selection made from James M. Robinson, ed., 'The Nag Hammadi Library', revised edition. HarperCollins, San Francisco, 1990.           

Who and what is exiled from whom?