“Yeshua uprooted fear, which is the root of evil, the poisoner of our lives.” Gospel of Philip

Good Does Not Fight

Ignorance grounded in confusion
is the mother of evil.

Hidden and unconscious
it coerces us.
We do what we would not do.
We cannot do what we would.

Unable to love what is destroying us,
unable to know it from within.
Observers of a fire we did not light,
we can only watch.

The Good does not fight.
It is present or it is not


Two gravitations.

One toward enfoldment —
grasping, power, enjoyment.
The gesture of possession.

One toward radiation —
acceptance, giving, wholeness.
Gestures of abundance.

There is a fire,
sown into the cosmos,
guarded carefully,
until it blazes.

Truth held in secret
rests within itself.
When you possess nothing within,
the absence will destroy you.

Uproot from your own heart
what causes unhappiness.
Find contentment there.

The Good does not fight.
It is present or it is not


The deepest Good
is child of wrath,
born in the refiner’s fire.

The Good does not fight.
It does not struggle.
It is present or it is not.

William Britten

Ignorance grounded in confusion is the mother of evil. Anyone working out of ignorance is not, was not, nor will ever be a true being. And yet, if truth is fully revealed, even these can be brought to perfection. Truth, like ignorance, if it is held in secret remains at rest within itself, but if it is manifest outwardly, then it becomes known and is superior because it triumphs over ignorance and liberates us from confusion.

The Logos said, “You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.” It is ignorance that enslaves us, and enlightenment, which liberates us. When we come to recognize the truth, we shall discover its fruits within our hearts. If we unite intimately with it, we shall reach ultimate fulfillment.

At present we are surrounded by the visible manifestations of creation. Some call these strong and valuable, while what is unseen or unknown is deemed weak and contemptible. The truth is, however, that what is manifest is weak and interior, while what is unseen is powerful and praiseworthy.

Yet it is from the unseen world that the mysteries of truth are revealed through iconic images, but the Bridal Chamber itself remains hidden for it is the Holy of Holies.

Gospel of Philip, Analogue 69, W Bauman

“Terrestrial gravitation, ‘the flesh’, pushes mankind towards the ideal of enfoldment, i.e. possession, power and enjoyment, whilst celestial gravitation, ‘the spirit’, draws mankind towards the ideal of radiation, i.e. poverty, obedience and chastity.”Valentin Tomberg, Meditations on the Tarot, p315

“The good is the child of the wrath in Jacob Boehme’s metaphysic. … And the implication here is that the real good, the deepest good, the fullest good occurs through the transformation of the wrath principle and not through the avoidance of it in the first place.” Cynthia Bourgeault, Encounter With Evil April 2023NC, 12:13 02b-Monday PM Teaching Evil

“One can grasp profoundly, i.e. intuitively, only that which one loves. Love is the vital element of profound knowledge, intuitive knowledge. Now, one cannot love evil. Evil is therefore unknowable in its essence. One can understand it only at a distance, as an observer.”
Valentin Tomberg, Meditations on the Tarot, p403

Yeshua uprooted fear, which is the root of evil, the poisoner of our lives; but he only uprooted a part of it, leaving it to us to dig out our own roots, so that each person works to uproot from their own heart that evil which is the cause of unhappiness.
Gospel of Philip, Saying 123, LeLoup 

Ignorance is the cause of all evil, and serves death. Nothing has been or ever will be born from ignorance. Those who live in vigilance will be happy when the truth is revealed.
Gospel of Philip, Saying 123, LeLoup

“The good does not fight evil; it does not struggle against it. The good is only present, or it is not. Its victory consists in that it results in being present, its defeat in that it is forced to be absent. And it is the five wounds which assure the presence of the good, i.e. the presence of pure will from above.”
Valentin Tomberg, Meditations on the Tarot, p114


Logion 70
Yeshua says…
When you give birth
to that which is within yourself,
what you bring forth will save you.
If you possess nothing within,
that absence will destroy you.



Quotations from the Gospel of Thomas and Philip are from Lynn C Bauman, Ward J Bauman, Cynthia Bourgeault, The Luminous Gospels (Praxis 2008)

Jean-Yves Leloup, The Gospel of Philip, Inner Traditions, 2003

Valentin Tomberg, Meditations on the Tarot, Jeremy Tarcher, 1985


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