There are some people who neither want nor are able to do evil. Others want to, but do not. But it is what they want that makes them unrighteous and leads them astray, even if they do nothing at all. Righteousness is lacking in those who want nothing as much as in those who do evil.
In a vision, the disciple of an apostle saw several people shut in a house on fire. “Throw water on the fire,” they begged. But it was impossible to save them. The outcome of their actions was death. This is the outer darkness.
The soul (psyche) and the spirit (pneuma) are born of water and fire. It is with water, fire, and light that the son of the bridal chamber came into being. The fire is an anointing, and the fire is a light.
I do not speak of that fire without form, but of that fire whose form is pure white: a clear light that illuminates beauty. (The Gospel of Philip, vs. 64-66)
“As a man thinks in his heart, so he is,” says Proverbs 23:7, and this means that a person’s true nature is determined by their innermost thoughts and not by their outward actions.
Jesus told us that our true self resides in the heart. Our desires reveal the darkness within us, or they reveal the light inside. Here, in the Gospel of Philip, we read that “what (we) want is what makes (us) unrighteous,” and, therefore, desire is the true test of our character. If we want power, or influence, or wealth, then that desire reveals our attachment to the world and the illusion of separation. If we want peace, freedom, and abundance for everyone, then that desire reveals our awakening to the reality of Oneness.
Wanting nothing is not the answer. We either want generously or we want selfishly, but we cannot want nothing at all. To want nothing is to reject the good and to accept the status quo of separation. Our desire must always be for transformation and awakening to flourish.
The house in the vision is a metaphor for this world: a man-made construction where people live separated from one another. Throwing water on the fire will not save those within the house. They must escape the house completely because those illusions of separation are destined to burn away in the blinding light of Divine Oneness. To cling to the illusion is an act of death. “This is the outer darkness.”
Death is part of the process. We cannot experience resurrection without first experiencing death.
We are born – both soul and spirit – of fire and water. The fire is holy and the water is holy.
While the fire consumes the illusion of separation, the water anoints the Christ within. Both the fire and the water are necessary to cleanse us and restore us into the full image of God.
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