“Softening the Hardened Heart.”
Closely related canonical parallels: Gospel of Mark 9:43–48 (the sayings about the hand, foot, and eye that cause one to stumble) and Gospel of Matthew 19:3–9 (Jesus’ teaching on divorce and adultery).
Gnostic gospels that speak most directly to the same themes
Gospel of Thomas (especially Logia 22, 37, 79, and 114); on transcending the dualities of the flesh, the eye that looks with desire, and becoming “one” beyond male/female and outer/inner.
Gospel of Philip: the most explicit Gnostic treatment of adultery, marriage, and the “bridal chamber.” It reinterprets physical adultery as the mixing of the pure light with the counterfeit spirit, and true union as the restoration of the divine image.
Gospel of Mary (especially the section on the passions); the teaching that desire, anger, and ignorance are the archonic powers that bind the soul, and that liberation comes through gnosis rather than external law.
These are the gospels (canonical and Gnostic) which most fully pertain to the themes of the lust of the heart, the cutting away of the offending member, the hardness of heart, and the path of inner redemption through knowledge of the Living One.
Softening the Hardened Heart
(A Gnostic reading of the words of the Living One, according to the hidden tradition)
You have heard it said by those of the old covenant, bound under the Demiurge’s law: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”
But I say unto you who have ears to hear the inner voice: Whoever gazes upon another with the eye of the animal soul, desiring to possess the flesh as if it were one’s own domain, has already committed adultery within the heart, for in that moment the divine spark is yoked again to the archons of desire, and the light is darkened by the shadow of matter. If your right eye, the eye that looks outward into the illusions of this world, causes you to stumble into the prison of passion, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better that one member of the psychic body perish than that the entire vessel of light be cast into the outer darkness where the rulers of this age hold dominion.
Likewise, if your right hand, the hand that reaches to grasp and claim what belongs to the transient realm offends the spirit, cut it off and cast it away. It is profitable that a portion of the lower self be sacrificed, rather than the whole of the inner man be delivered unto the abyss of forgetfulness.
It has been said: “Whoever puts away his wife let him give her a writing of divorcement.”
But I say unto you: Whoever severs the bond in the name of the ego, save for the cause of spiritual fornication (the mixing of the spiritually pure with the spiritually impure), causes the other to fall again under the power of the counterfeit spirit; and whoever joins himself to one thus cast away without discernment commits adultery against the true Bride, the Sophia who waits within.
We who practice Gnosis acknowledge both by the outer scriptures and by the witness of the divine spark within us that acts of betrayal, the soul-diminishing fire of lust, and the refusal to forgive the forgetfulness of the true Self are themselves forms of bondage. Deep in the fabric of our being we know these things are alien to the Pleroma, yet the great majority of souls, still asleep in the body of death, fall prey to them through weakness. Our chief barrier to remaining in the living faith is the mortal hold of lustfulness, the archonic power that keeps most every person chained to the cycle of generation and corruption. Only through gnosis and the redeeming knowledge of the Christ within do we escape these carnal calamities.
Indeed, we transgress in thought, word, and deed, and the struggle to master the urges of the Hylics self is one of our constant battles. We strive to avoid the fall, yet we fail again and again, often miserably. It is easy to sink into the mire of the flesh; in that sinking we discover ourselves aimless and weak. Giving way to the desires of the lower nature has been the human condition throughout the long exile from the Fullness. As the apostle of the outer church wrote, all have fallen short of the glory; yet we know that glory is not the glory of Yaldabaoth the Demiurge, but the radiance of the unknown Father.
The true Father, the ineffable One beyond all names, fully comprehends the frailties of the sparks imprisoned in matter. He knows the hardness of the heart and the self-centeredness of the psychic man. He perceives every thought and motivation. In humility, when we turn inward and ask for the awakening, the light forgives and restores. In the face of our human fragility, Yehoshua the Living Anointed One remains the perfect model of the liberated man, yet a model no one can attain by the strength of the flesh alone. Who can walk righteously in this realm of shadows?
The answer is given in the person of the Christ (Anointed One) himself: With the psychic man it is impossible, but not with the Spirit of the Pleroma. Therefore He calls us to abide in Him, for apart from the living Gnostic Wisdom, we can do nothing.
The Living One invites us to pursue the holiness of the spirit with relentless intensity. In our weakness we do not always consummate every lustful impulse of the body, yet neither do we remain in bitter disappointment over our failure to keep mind, body, and spirit pure. Instead we enter the silence of prayer, calling upon the strength of the Holy Spirit, the Mother of Life, to fortify us against temptation. We may fall, yet by the grace that flows from the Fullness we rise again with renewed commitment, seeking the forgiveness that is already given to those who remember, and we try once more.
The True Father knows our battles; through even the smallest victory over the archons of desire we are renewed before the Light. Trusting in the Anointed One through the Holy Spirit, we are reformed in gnosis and go forth to share the love of Yehoshua and the promise of the hidden gospel: that the spark within is already free, and needs only to awaken.
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