01:15 Introduction
   
Gene: Hello Dave.
   
David: Hello Gene.
   
Gene: The last rodeo.
   
David: It is, but before we saddle up for one last ride, I want to remind everyone that Show Notes, Chapter Markers, and Transcripts for all of our episodes are available on our website - WayOfTheHermit.com. This is our last episode for this season, and what we’re going to do today is look back at the what we’ve covered, talk a bit about what we think it all means, and wrap it all up.
   
Gene: The second leg of our cosmic journey is complete.
   
01:48 Review
   
David: It is. So - we’re going to start off with a review of how we got here, basically what we’ve done this season. We decided to do this season on Gnosticism because it felt like this was the natural next step after our first season which covered the “Scottish Rite” system. Throughout those degrees. Freemasonry is often referred to as the “Key to the Mysteries.” So, after finishing it we felt that... if you’re handed a key, which we thought we were, it seems obvious to ask, what are the mysteries that it unlocks?
   
Gene: Or… you could put it on a ribbon, hang it around your neck, and take pictures with other people wearing keys and medals around their necks, too!
   
David: You could. And that was the topic of the first two episodes, which discussed the book “A Path to Providence.” We talked with the authors, Ben and Shaun, about the lack of philosophical or esoteric education in Freemasonry, and also just the lack of interest in it. They’ve done quite a bit to try to change that, but the reality is that - that’s not really what the people in the organization think it’s about… if they ever did.
   
Gene: And, it’s not that it’s a bad system. It’s actually really beautiful and complete, but people in it, from the top down, seem sort of ashamed of the mystical and esoteric elements. They want it to be just a direct analogy of the story of Christ, substituting Hiram for Jesus.
   
David: I think that's true, but it’s more than that. As you’re told throughout the degrees, what it teaches can actually deepen your experience and understanding, no matter what your religious affiliation. It’s a system of symbols and allegories, that point to an underlying truth, which is often referred to as the “Perennial Philosophy.” This philosophy is based on the idea that God, or whatever you want to call the ultimate reality, is a living, participatory process, in which we are not really separate from that process. We’re sort like thoughts in a Universal Mind.
   
Gene: And that’s the root concept, that behind all cultural expressions of religion and spirituality, there is a basic truth, about how reality operates. And we can come to know and consciously participate in that process by coming to know ourselves, and how our minds operate. Because our mind is “made in the image of God,” as it were, being a product of the same evolving process, and in reality, not separate.
   
David: So, coming to “know ourselves,” is remembering our ultimate unity with all things, which is called “Gnosis.”
   
Gene: And that awakening, through direct experience, allows you to consciously participate in the living process, the ongoing Genesis that the Gnostic texts call the “Kingdom of God.”
   
David: That’s right. And so, that’s how we came to focus on Gnosticism this season. It just seemed like the next logical step.
   
Gene: And, we were right. I mean, I won’t say it was easy to unlock the meaning of the texts we covered, or that we completely understand them, but speaking for me personally… it’s been an incredible enlightening experience.
   
David: It has for me, too. So, this season, we had three episodes in which we tried to get oriented. We talked about the history of Gnosticism, some of the Gnostic groups that were active, before their brutal suppression by the orthodox Church. But we started off by defining what we meant by “Gnosticism” - which we said, was the idea that there is a hidden meaning behind spiritual texts, and that they point toward the inner awaking, Gnosis.
   
Gene: And that’s really the key that unlocks the meaning. First, you accept that there is an underlying meaning, which is alluded to over an over in the texts themselves. Then you recognize that, yes it’s talking about the outside world, but first and foremost, it’s about you - your spiritual life, your mind and your stream of consciousness, what the texts call your “soul.”
   
David: So, then we applied that symbolic key to four Gnostic texts. We did a four-part series on “The Secret Gospel of John,” five episodes on “The Gospel of Thomas,” four on “The Trimorphic Protennoia,” and then, and we finished with a two-part series on “The Thunder, Perfect Mind.”
   
Gene: Before we discuss those texts, I just wanted to say that the impression that I was given, growing up in a Methodist church… and you said the same about growing up Baptist - that we were told that Gnosticism was an early form of Christianity that died out. What we didn’t hear about was the brutal suppression that took place. How even possessing some of these texts could get you executed. How the Gnostic ideas, their written texts, and any people who dared to express those ideas, were systematically suppressed, demonized or otherwise destroyed, for almost two thousand years.
   
David: Right. And the real reason is that the teachings in these texts do not align with what you might call “traditional Christianity.” Gnosticism is about a personal, direct experience of Divinity, not an experience mediated by a preacher or a priest, or one that all you have to do is believe a particular story and you’re good.
   
Gene: These teachings “cut out the middle man” and offer a direct path… which makes them a clear and present danger, to institutionalized religious control. And it’s still just as dangerous today.
   
David: It is, because it wakes people up. And then by being present you can more consciously participate in the creative process of life, as opposed to feeling that you have to answer to the “Thought Police” all the time…
   
Gene: Yeah.
   
David: … about what you believe.
   
Gene: You’re supposed to find your inner authority.
   
07:33 The Secret Gospel of John
   
David: You are. Alright. What we’re going to do first, is just quickly review the main concepts and ideas from each of the four texts that we covered, starting with “The Secret Gospel of John” - which was really a good place to start.
   
Gene: It was, because it’s a detailed top-down blueprint of the Gnostic cosmology. It seems sort of stitched together, and it probably was, but it tells all the important myths of the Monad, Barbelo, Sophia, the Demiurge, the Archons, and Adam and Eve.
   
David: And it culminates with the Luminous Protennoia, the indwelling “Holy Spirit,” awaking Adam (and mankind) from the sleep that the Demiurge created to dull his mind.
   
Gene: And in psychological terms, the Demiurge is the Ego, that believes itself separate, and dominates our view of reality, until through self-observation, we come to remember the truth of our unity.
   
David: We talked about the “The Secret Gospel of John” as being sort of like a circuit diagram that shows how consciousness first gets organized into a mind, and then evolves into a personality, the way we interface with the world. But in that process, that we’ve all gone through, we lose touch with a part of ourselves, and we feel it… like a wound.
   
Gene: But really, that pain of separation, is on two levels. It’s personal, and that’s symbolized in the mythology by the Demiurge’s psychic surgery, when he cuts Adam and Eve apart. But it’s also spiritual, which is symbolized by the Protennoia, the divine spark or seed, hidden inside humanity, that longs to return to Heaven, to her home in the Pleroma.
   
David: That’s the overall story in “The Secret Gospel of John.” But, it goes into great detail in defining what we called the “circuit diagram” of humanity. It maps out the flow of energy from the Monad, undifferentiated consciousness, through four lights, and twelve manifestations.
   
Gene: The “four lights” refer to our four subtle bodies - the Etheric, Astral, Mental and Spiritual - the four worlds that we live in. And the twelve manifestations are the expressions of the four bodies in their three modes which correspond to the zodiac.
   
David: It also tells the whole myth of Sophia, an aspect of Barbelo, giving birth to the Demiurge, who, as we’ve said represents our ego that creates an illusory world based on being the “only god” with no one to answer to.
   
Gene: But by creating the world of seven Archons, each ruling over a part of the psyche - using his mother’s power, he unknowingly planted a spark of divinity inside his creation. And it’s that seed of divinity, the “Luminous Protennoia,” which speaks to Adam and awakens him from his slumber, at the end of the “Secret Gospel of John.”
   
10:21 The Gospel of Thomas
   
David: And then, the next text we covered was one that many people have heard of, “The Gospel of Thomas,” which is a collection of 114 sayings, that are framed as the words of the resurrected Jesus Christ, to his spiritual brother, or “twin,” Thomas. Jesus tells Thomas that these are the secret teachings that he didn’t impart to his disciples while alive.
   
Gene: And… it’s just way more accessible than “The Secret Gospel of John,” which, as we just discussed, is this big, overarching cosmic myth. The “Gospel of Thomas,” doesn’t have a story, per se. It’s just wisdom sayings of Jesus, which are mostly independent… sort of bite-sized philosophy. You have to chew on each one for a while.
   
David: You do. But they represent the fruit of the seed planted by Sophia, that awakened Adam at the end of “The Secret Gospel of John.” They are the full expression, the spoken words, of that seed idea of unity.
   
Gene: “The Word made flesh.”
   
David: Yes. They are the voice of the awakened consciousness, teaching the “secret doctrine,” the “Perennial Philosophy,” about the underlying unity of things. They’re meant to short-circuit our normal dualistic, black and white, way of thinking.
   
Gene: And one of its most famous sayings, challenges our dualistic way of seeing the world -"The Kingdom of Heaven is spread out upon the earth and people do not see it". Which says that God and salvation isn’t something you need to chase after, it’s a present reality for those who can open their eyes, through Gnosis.
   
David: And the “Gospel of Thomas” ends with a really strange statement - “Every woman who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.” Which we interpreted to mean that you have to activate the normally passive, intuitive parts of consciousness so that they can be an active participant.
   
Gene: It’s spelling out a stage in the awakening process. You have to become “intuitively aware,” so that you can hear the “voice that speaks in silence.”
   
12:22 The Trimorphic Protennoia
   
David: And, that’s a perfect lead in to the third of the four texts that we covered, “The Trimorphic Protennoia,” which unlike “The Gospel of Thomas,” most people have never heard of.
   
Gene: I hadn’t before we started looking at it.
   
David: Me either, but now, having studied it, I think it’s the most important text that we covered. The name “Trimorphic” means “three forms,” and “Protennia” means “first thought.” So “Trimorphic Protennoia,” means “three forms of the first thought.” And it’s told from the perspective of consciousness itself. So it’s like a first-person autobiography of consciousness - the mind trying to grasp and describe itself, as an object.
   
Gene: And it identifies the speaker, the “Trimorphic Protennoia,” as Barbelo, who was introduced in “The Secret Gospel of John,” as being the “first thought,” the first reflection of the Monad, who is both male and female, and manifests in three forms - Father, Mother, and Son. So she is the three, who are also one - the Gnostic Trinity.
   
David: And the text is divided into three parts, which describe the “descent” of those three forms, as the divine pattern, the Protennoia, moving progressively toward manifestation. She begins as Thought, the Father, then becomes Voice, the Mother, the vehicle through which the Son, the Word, becomes Voiced, manifested.
   
Gene: In the first phase, she’s the reflection of the Monad, still part of a unity beyond language.
   
David: Again - the “Voice in the Silence.”
   
Gene: Right. And, the text is actually “performative,” it performs the actions it describes. It implants the seed idea of non-duality in your mind.
   
David: It does. And it’s trying to describe the deepest layers of consciousness - the processes that make comprehension possible, but can’t be comprehended themselves.
   
Gene: That’s right. In the second phase, she is the Mother, whose “thunderous voice” shakes the foundations of the Archons, the illusory world that the Demiurge built upon a foundation of separation.
   
David: The Demiurge, Yaldabaoth, presented himself to the Archons as the “only god,” with “no one above him.” Her Voice spoke to them “below their language,” but they understood that their days were numbered… the Apocalypse is coming - the end of the world of separation.
   
Gene: It’s the conception of Unity, the seed planted in the first descent, working its way through the mind. And it precipitates an existential crisis, a “Dark Night of the Soul,” brought on by the realization that basically, “you’ve been living in a dream world.”
   
David: And the final phase is associated with the birth of the Son, the manifested Word. This phase is really like the perspective of “The Gospel of Thomas,” it’s the teachings of the “Perennial Philosophy” expressed more directly.
   
Gene: And those teachings are set in the “Unchanging Age,” the “age to come” that follows the Apocalypse - in which there is now a stable Witness, that can observe the stream of consciousness, without being carried away by it.
   
David: It also frames personal Gnosis, as part of a larger cosmic process, of God coming to know him/herself, because reality, is organized like a mind, too - which ties back to the description of Barbelo in “The Secret Gospel of John.”
   
Gene: With Barbelo being the Mother-Father of all that exists. So, basically, everyone, everything and every process of nature, is her in disguise.
   
David: Because, she is a reflection of the Monad, pure consciousness organized like a mind. So she is the recursive, fractal pattern of everything that comes into existence.
   
Gene: She takes on all forms, but doesn’t have a form of her own. She’s the ultimate shapeshifter.
   
16:10 The Thunder, Perfect Mind
   
David: She is. Alright. The last text that we discussed was “The Thunder, Perfect Mind,” which was maybe the strangest one, because it was made up mostly of, what seem like, totally paradoxical statements. Here’s a short section - “I am knowledge and ignorance. I am shame and fearlessness. I am shameless and ashamed. I am strength and fear. I am war and peace. Hear what I say.”
   
Gene: The name of the text, helps to understand its purpose. “The Thunder,” indicates what it’s doing. It’s like the Voice of the Trimorphic Protennoia that shook the thrones of the Archons, bringing on their downfall, to make way for the “Unchanging Aeon,” the “Perfect Mind.”
   
David: There are seven Archons, which correspond to the seven Kings and seven seals in Revelation, and the statements in this text are targeted at each of those seven functions of consciousness. They’re supposed to systematically shatter all notions of duality.
   
Gene: Which include not only race, sex, education, nationality and religion, but also good and evil, and even inside and outside, or “you” and “not you”.
   
David: The main idea is that, the “Trimorphic Protennoia,” or Barbelo, represents, the underlying substratum of reality - which is an organized consciousness that acts like a mind. It’s saying that things, and beings, and all the processes of nature, are really, movements of this One Mind - nothing is really separate… from that perspective.
   
Gene: It’s Omniscient, because it’s looking out of the eyes of all sentient beings. Omnipresent, because there is nowhere that it is not. And Omnipotent, being the force behind all natural processes.
   
David: And so, when you first start to contemplate the paradoxes in “The Thunder, Perfect Mind,” it’s easy to see how this One Mind is all of those apparent opposites at the same time, but, after you think about the statements a little longer, it dawns on you that you’re like that, too.
   
Gene: You start to realize that you, like all human beings are living paradoxes. We’re really all sort of a bundle of opposites and contradictions. What we want, what mood we’re in, what we’re thinking, and how we’re feeling - change from moment to moment.
   
David: So, the question is who are you? The one who experiences things and identifies with the experience? Or the one who experiences all of it? The Witness or Observer, whatever you want to call it.
   
Gene: It’s through identification with that “Unchanging One” that we come to see ourselves as one with the “Universal Mind,” or One consciousness. And, from that perspective, we were not born, and we don’t die. It’s only the transient form, the part that believes itself separate that dies… but that can happen while you’re still alive. That’s initiation.
   
David: And that’s what it means to achieve the “Perfect Mind” - to see through the illusion of separation to the underlying wholeness.
   
Gene: To remember your true nature.
   
19:19 Gnosis Reborn
   
David: Because that is the ultimate reveal of the mysteries. Before we started into the texts, we talked a little about the Gnostic initiatory system, which is based around the idea of the three worlds - the physical, the mental and the spiritual.
   
Gene: So you can say that there are generally three types of people, depending on which of those they favor - which the Gnostics called Hylics, Psychics and Pneumatics. Hylic comes from the Greek word “hyle,” meaning “matter.” Hylic people are enmeshed in the material world, identified with their physical body, and are considered to be “spiritually asleep.”
   
David: And in the book “Jesus and the Lost Goddess,” they relate these three types of people to the symbol of a point within a circle. Hylics, are associated with the outer circle, the container, the outer shell, the sensory world.
   
Gene: The next type of person is the Psychic, from the Greek “psyche,” meaning “soul” or “mind.” Psychics identify with their mind, emotions and intellect. They might have faith or even philosophical understanding, but they lack direct experience.
   
David: In the “point within a circle” symbol, Psychics are associated with the unseen radius line, that forms the bridge between the outer circle, and the center point, between the body or physical world, and the source, the seed of the circle.
   
Gene: And the people who identify with this unmoving axis, this divine core, are “in the world, but not of it.” They are the ones who have achieved some level of Gnosis, and identify with the source of life, that isn’t born and doesn’t die.
   
David: So the point at the center, is pure consciousness, the spiritual center that we emerge from. Our mind, the radius line, forms the bridge that lets us act on, and in the world, the circle itself.
   
Gene: And the story is that in the process, we forget that the center exists, because now we’re fascinated with exploring the circumference of the circle, and we become separate, and spiritually lost.
   
David: But, the radius line is also the bridge back, to the center, and if we know how - we can use our mind to remember our true nature, and consciously commune and create with that source.
   
Gene: And - that’s the basic Gnostic myth. Gnosis is seeing where we are, and remembering that where we came from, is where we’re going.
   
21:41 Neophyte: Hylic
   
David: It is. So the path of Gnosis is from identification with the body and the physical world, the circle, to identification with the spiritual source, the point within the circle, using the mind to take us there. So, what we’re going to do next, is go back through the four texts that we covered this season, and discuss how they relate to the Gnostic initiatory system, and how they can help us make that journey, back to the source. And the first text that we covered, "The Secret Gospel of John," is a really good starting point.
   
Gene: It meets you where you are. It’s an objective story, told from the outside in, and from the top down. It defines the whole spiritual landscape and the players , their relationships and their functions. It maps out the big picture. It’s like finding all the straight pieces that frame a puzzle - then you can look for the pieces that fit into that framework. It does give you everything you need to fit the pieces that the other texts provide into place.
   
David: In the Gnostic initiatory framework we’re building, “The Secret Gospel of John” would be the textbook for the Hylic, the neophyte. And by contemplating the text, you’re supposed to come to the realization that it isn’t about a historical event, and it’s not just fiction, it relates to hidden processes, something spiritual.
   
Gene: It’s supposed to open a crack in your identification with just your body and the material world - to plant that seed.
   
David: And, toward the end of the story in “The Secret Gospel of John,” there’s a moment when Adam sees “the woman beside him” and the Luminous Epinoia appears to him and “lifts the veil that lay over his mind.”
   
Gene: That’s the moment when the crack appears in the circle, and we see the Luminous Epinoia lighting the path to the center.
   
23:44 Seeker: Psychic
   
David: And that path, the hidden radius line from the circle to the center, is the next stage of Gnostic initiation - the Psychic stage, which is addressed by the “Gospel of Thomas.” After breaking identification with the body, the next stage is to realize that your mind is a tool, but it’s not you. And that’s a difficult distinction to make.
   
Gene: The theme of the Psychic stage is “Free your Mind” - but as you said, it’s hard to not identify with your thoughts, your emotions… because, what else are you?
   
David: That’s the question in this stage. It’s what you might call a “Seeker,” someone who BELIEVES that there is something more, but doesn’t yet have KNOWLEDGE of it. This stage is exemplified in the "Gospel of Thomas," in which disciples keep asking Jesus for answers, instead of looking for the answers inside themselves.
   
Gene: They’re “on the path”, so to speak. Something else about “The Gospel of Thomas” is that it’s like a question and answer session with a guru. People looking to an external authority for the answers - again a Seeker. They believe in Jesus, but not yet in themselves.
   
David: And you know, in true guru fashion, the answers Jesus gives in the "Gospel of Thomas" are almost without exception, counterintuitive and confusing.
   
Gene: Which is the whole point. They’re supposed to short-circuit the normal dualistic of processing of things. They open another crack, but this time in the way you think.
   
David: That opening being that you have to EXPERIENCE to KNOW. Just knowing the right answers intellectually, doesn’t cut it here - to move on requires direct experience.
   
Gene: You may think you know what the sayings of Jesus mean intellectually, but that’s not the point. You have to become what he represents. And in the last saying he points the way toward that becoming - "When you make the female male... then you will enter the Kingdom.”
   
David: Which means activating your intuitive nature and becoming consciously like Barbelo, the divine pattern.
   
25:37 Knower: Pneumatic
   
Gene: That’s pointing toward a new type of awareness, which we’ve been calling - becoming “intuitively aware.” But basically, again, it’s like a seed thought that causes a crack in your reality. It’s planting the idea that there’s a level of awareness beyond your mind, and that’s what you have to use to find your way to the center.
   
David: And the center point of circle, in our Gnostic Initiation Diagram, is associated with the Pneumatic phase, which is addressed by “The Trimorphic Protennoia” text.
   
Gene: Pneumatic means “Spiritual,” from the Greek word “pneuma” meaning “spirit” or “breath.” So this phase is the dissolving of our separate identification from consciousness itself.
   
David: That’s why “The Trimorphic Protennoia” is written in the first person. It’s not just the autobiography of consciousness, it’s your and my autobiography. And that is the Pneumatic or Spiritual Awaking - that you aren’t the separate mind that you believed yourself to be.
   
Gene: So you reach YOUR center point and realize that it is THE center point, because as the Hermetic tradition says - “God is an intelligible sphere, whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.” It’s the axis mundi, the Monad, consciousness itself.
   
David: And the teaching here is that, that consciousness, at the center of our consciousness, is the same consciousness, the One consciousness that looks out of the eyes of all sentient creatures.
   
Gene: It’s the dimensionless point, outside of space and time, everywhere and nowhere - a quantum possibility waiting to be observed, to manifest.
   
David: And this full flowering of the Pneumatic understanding, identification with Source, the full remembering of our true nature, is exemplified in the last text we covered, “The Thunder, Perfect Mind,” which speaks from the perspective of this universal center point.
   
Gene: Because like the text says “What is inside of you, is outside of you.”
   
David: Right. It’s all one thing, one substance. Which is why we said that the initiated perspective is to read the statements in “The Thunder, Perfect Mind” like it’s you saying them… because it is - if you’ve identified with that Universal Mind.
   
Gene: So when it says, or I say - “I am the first and the last.” I’m saying, “I am the point and what comes out of it, the circle. The source and the manifestation.” Your body is a sacred temple for the indwelling spirit.
   
28:13 Cultural Convergence
   
David: This idea that there is one substance, consciousness, out of which mind and matter emerge, seems counter-intuitive, but it’s being embraced by scientists and researchers in a variety of fields.
   
Gene: And, that’s the core idea of all mystical traditions - like Hinduism, Buddhism and Hermeticism.
   
David: But, what’s interesting is how that idea, which is really the foundation stone of the Perennial Philosophy, seems to be gaining traction in philosophy, cognitive science, consciousness studies, and even quantum mechanics - with people like Bernardo Kastrup, Federico Faggin, Donald Hoffman, Amit Goswami, Ervin Laszlo, Giulio Tononi, and others - all of whom, theorize in one way or another, that reality is mental and that consciousness is the fundamental reality. We’re going to just touch on this subject here, because it’s important, but I’ve linked several resources in the “Show Notes,” related to this discussion.
   
Gene: We’ve mentioned Bernardo Kastrup as a proponent of “Analytical Idealism,” and how it fits with the idea of “consciousness first” or “consciousness only” in mystical traditions.
   
David: Right. And he calls the unified underlying reality, the “Universal Mind,” and the individual consciousnesses that arise out of it, like us, he calls “alters.” They, which is we, believe ourselves to be separate, but in reality, we’re like dissociative complexes in the “Universal Mind.”
   
Gene: Donald Hoffman’s “Conscious Agent Theory,” is sort of the same thing. It says that consciousness is fundamental, not an emergent property of matter.
   
David: And, I’ll just mention one more person, with similar ideas - Federico Faggin, who led the design team that created the first commercial microprocessor, the Intel 4004, in 1971 while working at Fairchild Semiconductor. He openly discusses having a mystical experience of oneness and unity, which he says, caused him to KNOW, not just understand intellectually, that consciousness must be primary. Do you have anything else?
   
Gene: One more cool analogy, that I think comes from Rupert Sheldrake. You can think of individual beings as like billions of little buckets of water, sitting out under a night sky. And then, when the Moon shines in the sky, the light reflects in all the buckets. And even though it may look like billions of Moons, there’s only one Moon.
   
30:43 Conclusions
    
David: So now that we understand that “all is one,” and that we’re all reflections of a Greater Light, are we done? What do we do now?
    
Gene: The Zen answer is “Chop wood, carry water.” Just carry on with life. As we’ve said all along, enlightenment is about a gradual, alchemical change in consciousness, and really, about how you frame what you experience in the world. Gnosis is about a radical change in perspective.
    
David: That’s true. And because I understand that’s what it is, I really feel like helping to reintroduce Gnostic ideas and conceptions is important. And I mean, to me personally, but also to the world at large. I think that if we don’t embrace some of these concepts about unity, and tolerance, and stop creating all these walls to separate us, we’re really entering a time when that won’t go well. It’s time to pull together, some way.
    
Gene: And Gnosticism could facilitate that, without asking people to abandon their religion, but just look at it in a different light. One that illuminates the truth that we are all “Children of God,” and there are no “others” to hate on. 
    
David: Because we’re all One. But, like all deep teachings, it’s really hard to put into practice. I’ll say that when you really start to open your eyes to it… to adopt that perspective of Oneness - your reward is, what I would call a “Vision of Sorrow,” it’s hard to even leave the house and look into the eyes of other people.

Gene: Yeah.

David You start seeing that, like you, everybody has things they’re going through. And, like it or not, there’s not really much that separates you from any other person. You don’t get to choose, at least as far as we can tell, where you’re born, or who your parents are, or the circumstances you find yourself growing up in… not to mention, all the traumas that people go through, and mostly suffer through alone. And that is the human condition, when you realize what that really means, it inspires compassion.
    
Gene: That’s so true. So the Gnosis that we’re talking about, doesn’t make you rich or solve all your problems, but it’s supposed to help you know how to live your life from then on, not by having a set of rules that you obey, but by having an unchanging perspective.
    
David: Alright. Gene, you said you had something else you wanted to share before we end?
    
Gene: Yeah. Here’s something pretty interesting. “The Thunder, Perfect Mind” ends with the statement - "Find me there, and you will live, and you will not die again".  And the Gospel of Thomas begins with the statement - "Whoever finds the meaning of these words will not taste death.”
    
David: And that's a great place to end. Anything else?
    
Gene: It’s been an amazing experience. And I appreciate everybody who’s gone along for this ride with us. 
    
David: I do, too. Thank you to all of our listeners. And, we plan to return for third season, but we’re not sure when… it may be awhile. 
    
Gene: Yeah. “Until we meet again…”🪶