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The Secret Book of John: The God Who Built Your Prison

The Conscious Radical

17,866 views

Content note: this is a documentary reading of a 2nd-century text that includes a depiction of sexual violence (around 48:41), and reinterprets the biblical names Elohim and Yahweh as part of the text's own ancient critique of the creator-god. Full context is given throughout.

The Apocryphon of John, the Secret Book of John, is the closest thing the Gnostics left to a complete map of reality: how a false god was born, how the world got built wrong, and how a spark of something real ended up trapped inside us. It's the source text half of this channel has been quoting without naming.

Take the cosmology out, and it reads like a threat assessment for the present day. This is that reading: the whole text in plain English, on screen, section by section, with the warnings I think it's still making.

Everything on screen is my own plain-English retelling. Read the originals for yourself, both linked below.

Chapters
0:00 Introduction, and the text itself
4:44 Prologue
7:08 Note: the immovable race
7:24 The Inexpressible One
11:01 The Origin of Reality: Barbelo appears
14:06 Primary Structures of the Divine Mind
15:18 Secondary Structures of the Divine Mind
17:08 Tertiary Structures: the Four Lights
20:17 Note: everything real is asked for, and given
20:48 A Crisis That Became the World: Sophia's error
23:14 The Fashioning of This World: Yaldabaoth and the archons
31:05 Sophia's Repentance
35:08 Humanity Begins
37:06 Construction of the Human Body
41:04 Yaldabaoth Deceived
42:42 The Beginning of Salvation
45:41 Adam in Yaldabaoth's Paradise
48:41 Woman Comes into Being
52:32 The Children of Seth
53:59 Six Questions about the Soul
56:57 Note: the master key, memory
57:39 Three Plots against Humanity: Fate
59:39 The Flood, and the Counterfeit Spirit
1:03:07 The Providence Hymn
1:07:00 Conclusion

Some of what's covered: why 365 and 7 are the numbers of the calendar, and what that says about the prison. What the ninth sphere is, and why Sophia is left waiting in it. Why the "male-female" language at the top of the cosmology isn't a translation slip. What the counterfeit spirit is, and why it isn't about AI. The Eden reversal, and who benefits from "don't eat, don't question." The five seals. And the warning the book quietly issues about itself.

Sources
The Stevan Davies translation, free at gnosis.org
The Nag Hammadi Scriptures Complete (the long recension)
For the scholarly translations: Marvin Meyer's The Nag Hammadi Scriptures, and Karen King's The Secret Revelation of John

Related on this channel
What the Gnostics Said About the Prison You're In → What the Gnostics Said About the Prison Yo...
The Gnostics Warned Us About This 2,000 Years Ago (The Pattern) → The Gnostics Warned Us About This 2,000 Ye...
The Watchers and the Knowledge We Weren't Ready For → The Watchers and the Knowledge We Weren't ...
Enoch: The Witness The Bible Couldn't Let You Read → Enoch: The Witness The Bible Couldn't Let ...

The Conscious Radical explores the intersection of personal growth and
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20 Comments

@seriousmunk7164 2 months ago

Utterly profound. I’m a Buddhist, who has been looking into gnostic Christianity since the mid-90s, and this video brought some huge breakthroughs. Thank you.

@edwardhanson3664 2 months ago (edited)

I think that eventually you become immune to the "waters of forgetfulness". Carl Jung said this was a sign that you were in your last incarnation.

@RickDeTroye 2 months ago

So funny you would mention Stevan Davies. I had Stevan Davies as a visiting professor in the Religious Studies program at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, 1978-1979. Great professor! Took Religions of the Far East and The New Testament with him. Great sense of humor and smart, smart, smart! I still tell stories about him and those classes. Our final for the class was to write an analysis of the Christology, eschatology, pneumatology, etc., of the Gospel of John. It was my first foray into gnostic thought and absolutely blew my mind. A turning point for me.

@BigPhilsSaws 2 months ago

I guess that's a big part of life is getting to be about 30 to 35 and realizing that you can just look at all of these religions and see that most of the Gnostic volumes do the very best job of putting the world that we see into words.

@ACosmicButterfly 2 months ago

Your channel is a treasure, a true light in the darkness.

@Aikiswfl 2 months ago

keep going, Claire. We are with you

@SalenaShakti_7 2 months ago

"The inexpressible one" is VERY similar to what came to my thoughts one day when I was 9 years old. IIt was pure logic coupled with reason.

@BigPhilsSaws 2 months ago (edited)

These guys were so lucky to live in a day where visions came directly from God, The Source.

@Goddess.Renell 1 month ago

Thank you, Claire. I’m so grateful for your service to us all! 🌟 🌹

@mick244 2 months ago

Today is the day I sat fully focused on this video,, and listened with remembrance. Thank you, I hope you present more of these, much needed scrolls, with your insightful commentary. Return to remembrance,. Blessings 🎉

@darrellernst5493 2 months ago

Jordan Maxwell said he was told by a high ranking Rabbi that the Old testament has seven codes encrypted into it.
People today are aware that a key is needed for the encryptions.

@rinkydinky78 2 months ago

I was aware of the controversy surrounding the text but never fully appreciated why, thank you for the education.. so relevant and couldn't have come at a better time x

@billie.ray.martin 2 months ago

This is fantastic. Thank you so much.

@darrellernst5493 2 months ago

Light is always a reference to knowledge, so the 4 truths or knowledge that came out of him.

@citizenzeus1684 1 month ago

Very well done. Nice combination of succinct analysis and narration.

@doraray7644 2 months ago

I feel at home here, on your channel. I do not listen as much as I experience - and it feels true.

@skel8tor 2 months ago

Perfect timing, Thank you

@canitbu6217 2 months ago

Now, you've done it! Reminded us, again. No excuses! We have the Key! Death has no power over Us. We are delivered.

@marthahopewell 3 days ago

Thank you for your offerings, Claire! I found your channel a couple of months ago, and I'm riveted by your perspectives and wise counsel. Your work is now a part of a very carefully curated collection of sources I regularly turn to: my own Gnostic teacher and tradition, the channel called "Wisdom of Yogananda," and the recent work of Gigi Young. I'm so glad you are now in this treasure trove!

@annas.770 4 days ago

The god that cannot conceive of any power outside itself sounds very much like Iain McGilchrist's description of the brain's left hemisphere when operating without input and balance from the right hemisphere. The divine spark within us indeed...