How Was Our Material Universe Created?

In the Beginning (Canonical Bible)

The Bible (Genesis, 1:3), which is often viewed as more literal rather than metaphorical in many aspects, explains that in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John, 1:1). Could the Word have been considered the first thought?

It goes on to explain that God created heaven and primordial dry land earth. The primordial, dry land earth was absent of form and light (void) at this point. On day 1, the Spirit of God was said to move on the face of the waters (Genesis, 1:2) to command light into existence. This light was then divided into day and night (Genesis, 1:3-5). On day 2, it’s said that God created the firmament. This vast dome was said to separate the heavenly waters above from the earthly waters below (Genesis, 1:6-8).

On day 3, it’s said that the waters below were gathered into seas so that the dry land earth could finally appear and produce vegetation. This was followed by the creation of the sun, moon, and stars on day 4 to govern what appears to be time (Gen 1:9–19). The population of earth was said to begin on day 5 with sea creatures and birds.

Land animals and man were said to be created on day 6 (Gen 1:20–26). Man in this context doesn’t appear to be a reference to Adam (he comes later), but entities created from God’s own image, male and female (Genesis, 1:27). Could these have been considered androgynous angels, Lucifer (Satan), and other higher-consciousness entities? On day 7 it’s said that God rested.

Satan is not described in one single narrative in the canonical Bible. But, he is referred to as the son of the morning (Isaiah: 14:12-15). According to Revelations (12:7-9), at some point it appears that the great dragon who deceived the world was cast out into the earth, along with his angels, to deceive nations (20:7). 

Pretty straightforward, right?

In the Beginning (Gnosticism)

Gnostic teachings offer a much more detailed and symbolic account of the beginning. Essentially, The Apocryphon of John explains that the Father manifests the first thought which is considered the Word, androgynous Mother, or Barbelo. Barbelo was granted attributes including eternal life, truth, and indestructibility. Eventually the Mother-Father duo conceived Christ, the only-begotten who is anointed with will, thought, life, and every authority. Through will and thought, the first angels or divine entities (aons) appeared, including Pigera-Adamas and Sophia of the Epinoia (aon of divine wisdom). They possessed various divine powers like understanding, grace, perception, prudence, truth, form, conception, and memory. This is where it gets really interesting…

Eventually Sophia will go on to manifest a likeness of herself without consent from the Father or her male counterpart. This entity was named Yaltabaoth or the Demiurgos (half-maker, false god). This lion-faced serpent, often synonymous with Satan, possessed divine powers from his mother but also ignorance of his divine origins — he was not born in sin but forgetfulness. After realizing what she’d done, Sophia became ashamed. So she casts her son down from Pleroma (spiritual universe, heaven) into a cloud of ignorance — creating a boundary that would not disrupt the harmony of the spiritual universe. Unable to perceive the reality above him, Yaltabaoth declares himself as supreme — showing how ignorance (misunderstanding) and limitations can emerge when wisdom is cut off from the reality above it. 

Yaltabaoth eventually created what is known as our dualistic material universe — a world that could see the light but only a shadow. The material universe is mirrored after his duality. As a result, it’s also complete with heavenly and hellish realms for his archons (cosmic minions). After learning of his Father, who revealed himself in human form, Yaltabaoth decided to create a likeness of his own — the first perfect man, Adam. Meanwhile, Sophia remained anchored in the spiritual universe while an aspect of her unknowingly followed false light, descending from the higher fullness of the spiritual universe into the chaos and illusion of the material universe. As a result, Sophia became tethered to a newly formed lower self (Akimoth) — she was diminished but not destroyed.

As one can see, Sophia is considered a pivotal figure in Gnostic traditions. Her independent act is considered by many to be the mistake or sin that gave birth to the Demiurgos, evil, material universe, and veil of amnesia (ignorance). But saying this could be misleading. Instead of focusing on if Sophia made a “mistake,” we draw attention to what can happen when consciousness and wisdom loses contact with Source or when we have yearnings that create imbalance. Ergo, we view Yaltabaoth not as an “evil” entity but one who — lacking wisdom, perception, and understanding — emerged within a set of conditions created by ignorance and separation.

While Sophia’s “fall” began in ignorance not evil, this is not where her story ends. 

Birth of Humanity (Canonical Bible)

After realizing there wasn’t anyone to till the ground on dry land earth, The Bible explains that God formed man (Adam) – from the dust of the ground and the breath of life – making him into a living soul (Genesis, 2:7 & Edgar Cayce Reading 5749-3). Is this referring to the creation of souls from Spirit? After creating Adam, The Bible explains that God planted a garden eastward of Eden and placed Adam there to tend to it (Genesis, 2:8). Adam was then warned that he could enjoy all fruits in the garden except those from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis, 2:16).

Seeing that Adam shouldn’t be alone, The Bible explains that God decided to create help for him (Genesis, 2:18). After a deep sleep, God took one of Adam’s “ribs” to make Eve (Genesis: 2:21-23). We say “rib” because perhaps the Hebrew term was actually tsela. What if the term tsela was mistranslated (from Hebrew to Greek to Latin to English) as rib instead of side? This would further support the idea that Adam was initially a dual entity with two natures in one unified body: masculine nature (reason) and feminine nature (feeling), as explained in Autobiography of a Yogi (16:148). Eve is, after all, said to be the flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones (Genesis, 2:23-24). 

The Bible further explains that after Eve was created, she was tempted by the serpent to eat fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis, 3:1-6). It states that Eve ate an apple and persuaded Adam to eat. Could this be The Bible’s way of illustrating the imbalance between feminine (Eve) and masculine (Adam) natures? If so, perhaps The Bible is symbolically trying to convey that the goal for humanity to is restore the dual nature of Adam and Eve (reason and feeling) to a unified, harmonious balance (Autobiography of a Yogi, 16:150-151).

Nevertheless, once eating from the tree, The Bible explains that Adam and Eve knew they were naked (Genesis, 3:1-20). Because they disobeyed God and ate, The Bible explains that God cursed them above every beast of the field and multiplied their sorrow and conception (Genesis, 3:14-17). The Bible goes on to explain in Revelations (21:1) that after a period of time, this heaven and earth will be destroyed. After a rather theatrical destruction process, a new heaven and earth will be seen as the old will pass away. Is it just us or does this version of God seem a tad bit vengeful?

Consider this fellow souls. What if The Bible’s version of Adam and Eve is trying to explain our illusion of separation and awakening from that illusion? Afterall, there seems to be a clear distinction between Adam and Eve’s awareness level before eating the apple versus after. But who exactly was pulling the strings — a vengeful God or a false God? And did eating the apple awaken them from their ignorance or send them spiraling into it? This leads us to the question, what if somewhere along the line, the true story of Adam and Eve was distorted, mistranslated, or hidden?

Birth of Humanity (Gnosticism)

If one does not resonate with the version of God portrayed in the canonical Bible, then perhaps the Gnostic’s point of view will shed some light. In Gnostic traditions, there is a clear distinction between the true God (Father) versus the false creator god who rules over the material universe (Yaltabaoth, chief archon). It is this false creator god who was pulling the strings in the garden of Eden, according to Gnostic traditions. With that in mind, this gives us a brand new perspective on the story of Adam and Eve. Let’s dive in!

The Apocryphon of John explains that Yaltabaoth’s archons constructed Adam’s material body. But, it remained lifeless until Yaldabaoth blew his inherited divine spark and core divine essence into Adam, unbeknownst of the true consequences. This leads us to Sophia’s restoration and Akimoth’s infiltration of the material universe. While she understood that she couldn’t immediately undo her decent into chaos, she could stop mistaking the chaos for home to become the embodiment of divine consciousness (wisdom) awakening inside the illusion. 

So instead of dwelling on the past, Sophia chose to focus on the future. She pleaded to the Mother-Father to work through Yaltabaoth without his knowledge — placing her divine spark in humanity to become the mother of the living. Once Yaltabaoth and his archons realized that Adam possessed superior wisdom, they cast him down into the lowest realm in the material universe — enclosing him in a dense, mortal body to shackle him in spiritual forgetfulness. 

But the Mother-Father had mercy on Sophia, sending the light of Epinoia (light) to secretly reside inside Adam as a helper to awaken his true nature. Epinoia is seen as divine insight and the inner guiding intelligence that activates the divine spark, lifts the veil, and guides us toward gnosis. The archons then placed Adam in a false paradise filled with trees of illusion. They encouraged Adam to eat from poisoned trees rather than the tree of knowledge of good and evil (gnosis). But, Adam was not deceived because of the wisdom he was bestowed from Epinoia and a divine eagle. After realizing he had given away a divine power to Adam, Yaltabaoth and his archons decided Epinoia would be extracted from Adam’s rib to form a woman — bringing about a forgetfulness over Adam. 

The Apocyphon of John challenges the account in Genesis, explaining that Adam was not put into a deep sleep but was given a lack of awareness or veil of forgetting. It also explains that what was taken from Adam was not a physical rib-bone, but an intangible power as it proved too difficult for the archons to extract Epinoia. Ergo, instead of taking a rib, perhaps an entire side or half of Adam’s nature was taken to construct Eve (Edgar Cayce Reading, 5056-1). Could this have been his feminine nature?

This would substantiate the claim that masculine nature (reason) predominately resided with Adam while feminine nature (feeling) predominately resided with Eve. Is this why The Bible explains that man should cleave to his wife? Are they simply one flesh — meaning their divine nature is one? In this sense, the creation of Eve from Adam’s rib could represent the fracture of the original, unified androgynous soul archetype into dual archetypes with polarized natures (masculine and feminine). But we digress…

After Adam saw Eve beside him, Eve lifts his veil of forgetting so he recognized Eve as his spiritual counterpart, Epinoia. Together, they eat from the tree of knowledge which fully awakens them to their divine origins. And when Yaltabaoth noticed that they where no longer under his control, he cursed his earth casting them out of false paradise and into a deeper material realm. To re-establish dominion and permanently trap the divine spark, the Yaltabaoth defiles the virgin Eve, producing offspring — Eloim (Cain) and Yave (Abel). This was said to introduce carnal sexual desire into humanity — trapping us across generations in a cycle of carnal pleasures, physical reproduction, rebirth, forgetfulness, and eventual remembrance or revelation (Apocalypse of Adam).

Revelation is not considered physical destruction per say but the point at which humanity remembers its divine origin — unveiling the structures of the material illusion, causing cosmic disturbance, and resulting in purification of everything unreal. Consider this fellow souls. Perhaps humanity’s story is not one of failure but one of remembrance — that even when humanity has forgotten, there is something within us that helps us remember our true origins, Sophia’s divine spark of remembrance. 

An illusion only holds power when it’s believed. So perhaps life is the process of seeing through that illusion to remember with clarity that we came from a realm of fullness, entered into a realm of forgetfulness, and can return through experiential knowledge.