{"id":10714,"date":"2026-07-24T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10714"},"modified":"2025-12-15T10:51:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T10:51:51","slug":"looking-at-peter-burfeinds-book-2014-gnostic-america-part-6-of-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10714","title":{"rendered":"Looking at Peter Burfeind’s Book (2014) “Gnostic America” (Part 6 of 26)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

0087 This leads to a comparison of the virtual nested forms in the category of thirdness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0088 This diagram suggests that any act that defies the superego<\/em> will be processed as a normal context that defies reflexive reason that (in turn) goes with mindless rationality<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0089 Say what?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0090 The ego must remain responsible for the Self.  The ego must be free to act in the Name of the Self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0091 But, if the ego suppresses, manipulates, ignores and denies the Self, then that is not good either.  Once the Self insists on getting attention, the person becomes hysterical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word \u201chysterical\u201d derives from the same root as the scientific technical term \u201chysteresis\u201d.  Hysteresis occurs when a material cannot recover from an imposed stress<\/em>.  The Gnostic worldview plays on that image.  Hysteria occurs when something immaterial cannot recover from an imposed material stress<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0092 Gnosis<\/em> is called \u201csecret knowledge\u201d.  The meaning of a Gnostic statement<\/em> is never about what the Gnostic is talking about<\/em>.  Sophia is Personified Wisdom<\/em> for exactly this reason.  Look at the myth.  Sophia birthed the monster who created the current age<\/em>.  At the same time, she aborted the same monster<\/em>.  She hid him in a cloud.  Is that taking responsibility?<\/em>  Is that acting in the Name of the Self?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is that personified wisdom?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0093 Here is the next question: What is the pleroma3c<\/sub>?  How does it compare to reflective reason3c<\/sub>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0094 Recall, in the Gnostic origin myth, the pleroma proceeds in aeons<\/em> that culminate in Sophia\u2019s Self-ish actions.  Obviously, these emanations are not in the clouds that Sophia put Yaltabaoth in.  I suppose that the male emanation that Sophia ignored<\/em> remains outside the cloud.  After all, she did not abort His child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She aborted Her child, after she realized her child as an “alien being”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is that the same as an “inconvenience”?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0095 Also, what about the Monad?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the example, the Monad presents the image of an ideal that will appear in the coming age<\/em>.  The coming age will be one where friends do not lie to one another<\/em>.  That sounds like a future emanation of the pleroma<\/em>, but it cannot be so, because my life is happening in the cloud, hidden from the pleroma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0096 What does this imply?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I suppose, the Monad must contain the future end point of each age within the cloud<\/em>.  The first pleroma ended in tragedy.  A second pleroma is linked to that cloud where Sophia hides Yaltabaoth<\/em>.  The second pleroma is a mockery of the first.  Each age in our current Lebenswelt<\/em> ends as a farce of a passing aeon<\/em>.  Each age ends as one aborted Yaltabaoth replaces another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0097 Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the new age where friends do not lie to one another<\/em> arrives, then it will become a new Establishment.  It will manifest itself as a new Yaltabaoth.  Plus, it will be as dysfunctional as the present Yaltabaoth, because people abuse and manipulate any set of natural laws and social regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0098 So the next questions unfold.  Who is Sophia?  How is Sophia present in this world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before I address these questions, I return to Burfeind\u2019s work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students should read chapters 2, 3 and 4 to complete Part 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0099 Consider the 13 traits of Gnosticism listed at the start of chapter 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ego is concerned with material conditions.  The ego exhibits responsibility and freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0100 What happens when the material world is declared evil?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good immaterial Self hears Sophia\u2019s call to return to the Source<\/em>.  The Self must get around Yaltabaoth and the Establishment<\/em> in order to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0101 As far as the ego is concerned, the ways around Yaltabaoth and the Establishment<\/em> are both unnatural (against the archons) and abnormal (against social tradition).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

0102 Here is one way to get around Yaltabaoth and the Establishment: The ego uses language one way.  Sophia uses language another way.  Gnosis undermines the traditional vocabulary.  Words gain alternate meanings.  Ego-supporting institutions, such as marriage and church, are re-purposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word \u201csubversion\u201d fits.  The prefix \u201csub\u201d means \u2018below\u2019.  The word \u201cversion\u201d is \u201cone expression of events\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Someone may ask me, \u201cWhat is your version of the story?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I may reply, \u201cWell, I would like to live in an honest world, where friends do not lie to one another<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0103 The subversion of the traditional meaning of words<\/em> suggests that a version is being added below the surface version<\/em>.  Burfeind labels this subversion with the word \u201cphantasm\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The medieval scholastics used the term in the same fashion.  \u201cPhantasm\u201d meant \u201cwhat is going on in my head when I figure out me in the situation<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0104 With Gnostic subversion, there are two simultaneous movements. Version<\/em> corresponds to the ego. Sub-<\/em> goes with the Self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ego version matches the word \u201creckoning\u201d.  The Self\u2019s subversion matches the word \u201cphantasm\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

0087 This leads to a comparison of the virtual nested forms in the category of thirdness. 0088 This diagram suggests that any act that defies the superego will be processed as a normal context that defies reflexive reason that (in turn) goes with mindless rationality. 0089 Say what? 0090 The ego must remain responsible for the Self.  The ego […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[417],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review"],"yoast_head":"\nLooking at Peter Burfeind's Book (2014) "Gnostic America" (Part 6 of 26) - An Archaeology of the Fall<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10714\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Looking at Peter Burfeind's Book (2014) "Gnostic America" (Part 6 of 26) - 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