In working on my conference paper on lightworld visitors to Jerusalem in the Mandaean Book of John, I've been looking up related passages in the Nag Hammadi texts. Below is a passage from “The Sophia of Jesus Christ,” which always strikes me, because the response of Philip on behalf of the disciples describes something that would sound just as apt on the lips of any seeker after truth today.
And he said: “Peace be to you, My peace I give you!” And they all marveled and were afraid. The Savior laughed and said to them: “What are you thinking about? Are you perplexed? What are you searching for?”
Philip said: “For the underlying reality of the universe and the plan.”
The underlying reality of the universe – and the plan (many would add, “if there is one”). Doesn't that sum up the human quest to understand just as well today as ever?
The answers change. But our quest to understand seems to persist.
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