Mary Recounts Her vision of the Soul’s ascent Beyond the Powers

 

“Desire said, ‘I did not see you descending, but now I see you ascending. Why are you lying, since you belong to me?’

“The soul answered and said, ‘I saw you but you did not see me or know me. You perceived the garment I was wearing, but you did not recognize me.’

“After the soul said this, she left, rejoicing greatly.

“The soul approached the third power, called ignorance. The power questioned the soul., saying, ‘Where are you going? You are bound by wickedness, you are bound, so do not pass judgment.’

“And the soul said, ‘Why do you pass judgment on me, since I have not passed judgment? I have been bound, but I have not bound (anything). They did not recognize me, but I have recognized that the universe is to be dissolved, both the things of earth and those of heaven.’
“When the soul had brought the third Power to naught, it went upward and saw the fourth Power. It had seven forms.

The first form is darkness;

the second is desire;

the third is ignorance;

the fourth is zeal for death;

the fifth is the realm of the flesh;

the sixth is the foolish wisdom of the flesh;

the seventh is the wisdom of the angry person.

These are the seven Powers of Wrath.
“They interrogated the soul, ‘Where are you coming from, slayer of humans, and where are you going, space-conqueror?’
“The soul replied, saying, ‘What binds me has been slain, and what surrounds me has been destroyed, and my desire has been brought to an end, and ignorance has died. In a world, I was set loose from a world and in an image, I was freed through a heavenly image. This is the fetter of forgetfulness which exists in the world of time. From this hour on, for the time of the due season of the aeon, I will receive rest in silence.’ “

From The Gospel of Mary