198 SIUDUS N comPaxative RELICIN and thet relations Here again, of cours, geometry shouldbe onsieretin avers eifleren ay t that the pane mathematicae Sind ts ways peony tothe ater most complstely gies inet to these tho would actibute to this science ap “empineal”™ and uuiarian fngin onthe other hand, we have here anchampleol the manne. hve said above in which the sciences ars linked amongst themes {fom the ractionalstabdpavnt,tosuch an extent thar at ise hey ma) be considered ssn Some way expresins ofthe same rulhs meres lnguaes: this i moreover but a naural consequcce of the "law of coutespondences™ which the very foundation of al symbolism, “hese few notions summary andincomplteasthey are, wil suffice at least to make one uderstand whats most essential i the traditional Conception af the art and what differentiates most prounly fom {he profane conception, at once. with repaid to" ther basi at applifations of eerain sciences, to thei significance as diverse ‘modalities of symbole nguage,andto ther destination as ameans for Fins man approach ire knowledge Ss re i a el ra ie ares ali oe tater Sect reat Mi acento Epc eae de ct itt et ht ef a it Sea gata eS The Dramatic Element Common to the Gnostic Cosmogonies of the Religions of the Book by Henry Corbin Solon arto thcien eee ati 9an effective knowledges hat to say ibrngs about the rasfiguration find robin ofa erested being "ave spoken about our ‘origins, What scence (expecially palsntoiogs) does sto consider the probiem withthe ees of tees, ‘Considerable escach as been carted out, impressive results hae been {achieved One reckons years by dozens of milion. Yes, but with what Gut ot Man are thes els concerned? Have they anyahingia common ‘wth the gnostic viewpoint and sith the problem of Ma origin at Perceived hen provi explores the ster wah es of fe? Tvl ilusrate my question by teferrng-to a text by the great tncotophist Frans von Baader, who wel understood thatthe Bonk of Genes begins oniy mith the cecation ofthe vile universe and thal ths bepneang isnot an absolute beginning Evil didnot begin either ‘ith OF through man, ut independently of him rant von Baader Speaks of coumic estates, geet cataclises which were Beought sour betore the coming. or man. Our ancestors had committed great Erimes, times which brought abo dsturbancesia taeunterse eames Such ai we caa'no longer commit day and of which me can have no iden, Thee prmive times cannot be vented. Nature we ea in traces of ermes tha do nw stem rom us and that consequently could Gah ars fom ngs ilerent fom ss, nho mere poseson of “That the Genesis naratve refers to evens which fllomed an intial catisiroph s something that Jewsh and Christan theerophiss have flnays known, andso have Islamic heorophists notably the ematians, fn the baat of thee meations on hose pars of the Gorin a ourexpond tothe Genes text. But when ded th eatstrope ake pace fd what was ls nate’ Ths is precisely one ofthe questions to which nosis i is various foes tes fo ge an answer for here ha ewsh oss a Christan gnosis an islam gnosis, a Buddbist gon, and so ee there are two wuss of conection the answers The cose [itso can be see ae an attack onthe world o Light mad bythe ‘oppor power of Darkness that totally external and ae 1 the Stet of Ugh In rama conmoygoay. ths attack i mae by Abriman Sn eeaton of Okrmand the Wise Lord. Creation (butdotish is then Eorrupted by an appalling intermistare (gumechis) which ean only be solved when, atthe final Separation, the hostile Avimanie power fast out ito ts nothingness, Broadly speaking. hiss the drama in Iewwen as envinaged by Zoroastrian ‘cosmogon) and: Manichean fos: On dhe other hand, the cosmic catsttophe asa "drama Fiewen'can pe sen as provoked not hy a use tha i external the ‘won of Tight but by & lapse aking place thin the world of Light wt “The vision of the “drama in Heaven” a taking place within the peimordial word of Light tell sone ol ic element that scommon to fre"enostic sormogonies of the three “rigons of the Book’ Ie is ‘Giettanty and Ila Now, cur atl purpose, ere w the Univers ff St Sohn of Jeravalem, has been if no to eres, tekst to prepare lee forthe exoteriim ofthe three prt seigions Of the Book, ‘ite oaawaric cusses 201 entse that has never belore existed ut nithout which a rae ‘Abrahamic oecumenicalsm’ would appear to be impossible Sush ay ‘ecumenical is indeed mconcevabie unless we fy to make that Sent which th entcricnm summons sam ascent tat goes ack the criginn of things. inspite of the dificuties imposed bythe nes fr brevity the primary objec this pape ll betoeuamine what constitutenthe at feature the rum Heaven of she ths camogomin concerned. I ach Tres to go beyond i Or thre the dea ofa forenterupeng from beyond this Lim that roduc the catastrophe The first the drama (Of Wisdom ve Soph Valentinian gos thal othe tied Angel of the werld of Ligh, the angel Adam, the omallan ghost of Ila ttocertn The second i ie dramtie wisi of the oveaking of the ‘esses inthe Kabbalistic gnosis of Isaac Luria. In both eases there i Eompleeaiseupton: nothing nits place, crerthings in ene. From this isuption oue words bora the present world of earthly man. whe Should atthe samme time be the agent through whom everthing Festored: in both cases a sonar resolution sought tor inorder tobring the drama to am end It presupposes interventions and meases whose Fesity and siectvenese can omy be understood! om comcition tat one {Se things with the eyes of Ine, thoneejes tha were opened forthe “Stan of the prophet Esha, Valemuinan gnosis the Kabaia of nase ona! sna the omatian gsi alive ae 1 such an opening of te on 1. VALENTINIAN GNOSIS Valentinian Gnosis owes its name to Valentine, a Chistian priest of te Second century. onnaly om Eayp, the pleatest teacher abd Imasier ofthe School of what come tbe called gnostcsm, An $ccount of Valentini poss leach one throught tivee phases of 8 ‘Sramaturgy: the dramalo! Wisdom or Soph within the Bleromat the rama outside the Perom: he final resoktion, Unfortunately me ca ‘oly summarize these phases belly 1 The rama of Soph shin the Pleroma. would remindyou rst ofall that the Greek word pleroma sprites world that fal compete perfects entire in the plotade of is being Ths primordial world Peopled wth beng dered Aeon (rom the Greeks wed thafinaicatesboththe Ageolaworld and tha worse’ These Acons brethehypontacesofheranscendent and uninowable Principe fd the appear a jaygio that sto Says couple, each male Acon being onic wit a female eo, ‘Atthe origin of origins, Valentinian gnosisses‘a perfect Acon, prior to Being and to what cai be known and so insecenble- unknowable twthowt ame or atrbte ess gesribed im many ways, of whieh he Tost usual Byihow, the Abyss His fomiaine pane. who Ns ‘Thought (Eno) derided a Silence (32) From this it couple proceeds second coupe Ineigence (Ihe Nous heonl-epoiten Son) Sind truth (eet), Only the Nows knows something othe athomlesar STUDIES COMPARATIVE AELIOION Principle, and al Knowledge that the other Acons may have oti mediated by the Maun, the only-begoten Son: Tom ths primordia ‘Ted two other couples or reyes emanate, Inone of then the partners ane called Logos and Life (Zoe) we inthe otet they ate Eile niropos idea Ma and Ecclesia ypivng he Churchon high, ‘hat of the Elect mated to snows), The Couple Logo-and-Le give birth to ten other Acorn The couple nthoporondEectte poe With {0 twelve otter Acons” This sequenes of ® pits 10 plas 12 Aeon Sates the tiny Acons of th Vaestinian Pletoma, what night be felled the galas ofthis metaphyseal universe. Each has ows Name, the sigiicanceof which seems to have een somewhat Deleie. The hypontass ofthe Prom are nether opel nierser hor simple abstractions persed they ae Eseencevofxpetsona ind tha has no messure common with ou own “Tne youngest ofthese Acons if ne may put ke this when ctersing to Beings that enjoy sternal youth athe het hiscae Wisdom or Sophit ands i ihe heroine ofthe drama within the Pleroma. She fanmot accept the unknowabiiy, the tnaeecby, of the orga ttanseendent Principle She wants fo ys wou any Intermediary, She makes an increible leap "ourney tothe abyss Whether th leap was an at f love o madness twas bound to {aS attempts atthe vk of ber bing. because tought ering ISsretchedmestended immeasurably cise fo pass beyond thc whee Inerarchy of Aeon tha precede het. But this leaps broken by ancy {hat significantly. emerges irom the Abyss and fom the Nowe at aon has Some Knowledge ofthe Abyss. This ety ts named Limits Hor “Tim not only beaks Sophia's insane lap she as saves er, because in imposing tit on her beng. Sckatng she preven he rom