Sophia's Annoying Wisdom

from the womb of the world soul

Ask questions from your heart, and you will receive answers from your heart.

〰 Omaha Proverb 〰

Vedat Zorluer on Pixabay

The Mother of Life

Wisdom consists of ten parts: nine parts silence, and one part a few words.

〰 Arabic Proverb 〰

Sophia, the personification of wisdom in Greek mythology, is not a goddess. She was conceived as a divine principle. When the cosmic egg broke open, Sophia was born as the world-soul ~ aka the ‘mother of all life’.

“In the Gnostic myth of how the world works, Sophia, the feminine personification of wisdom, lives happily with spirits of light (especially her twin brother), in the unified limitless potential of her Father’s radiance, created by the twin powers of Depth and Silence.” Robert Kopecki writes in his article The World’s Soul is a Woman.

In Hindu tradition, this principle of feminine wisdom is personified as Shakti, in Buddhism by a deity called Guanine. In Gnosticism, Sophia is a feminine figure analogous to the soul. In Christianity she is represented by Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalen, and Carl Jung recognised her in the pair he identified as animus and anima.

There is, however, a nocturnal side to Sophia. This obscure and cataclysmic aspect is assigned to the shadows, and therefore all too often remains in the dark.

In Ancient Greek thought, Sophia ~ the anima mundi ~ represents not only the highest divine or ‘spiritual’ principle, but also also the principle of life present in the dark waters of chaos. In other words, the soul of the world unites within herself the order and chaos we find in the Eastern concept of the Tao ~ the eternal dance of Yin and Yang.

Sophia stands on the threshold between the immaterial and the material, allegedly brought about by a ‘flaw’ (or sin) in one of the Aeons, which has created an instability within the so-called Pleroma (= the totality of divine powers; the divine realm). Ever since her calamitous fall from the Pleroma, Sophia lives in fear and anguish of losing herself, and her life, and is driven by a longing to return to the divine realm.

The fact that Sophia is a representative of divine wisdom and the human soul may give an indication how we can access this wisdom within ourselves.

As the ‘mother of the underworld’, Sophia bears the name Ennoia. A Greek word translated as thought, notion, conception, is also described as a living entity, which personifies the suffering we experience in the human world. Restrained by the power of the lower world, Ennoia is hindered from being in the reassuring presence of the higher world.

Ennoia ~ Sophia as the mother of the underworld ~ is also described as a living entity,

which personifies the suffering we experience in the human world.

Although incapable of suffering herself, Ennoia is intimately involved in the suffering of humans, born ‘again and again into fresh earthly bodies’, forced to accompany us in our worldly incarnation through the millennia.

Robert Fludd ‘Anima Mundi’

The Soul of the World

Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.

〰 Greek Proverb 〰

Sophia survives in many languages, including English, in a range of words that have attached themselves to her ~ in the sense of wisdom, knowledge or skill. Here are some examples:

Anthroposophy [from Greek anthrōpos = human being + sophia = knowledge, skill, wisdom] philosophical school founded in the early 20th century by Austrian mystic, psychic, scholar of occult topics, and esoteric teacher Rudolph Joseph Lorenz Steiner

Biosophy [from Greek bios = life + sophia] philosophical school founded by Swiss Philosopher Ignaz Paul Vitalis Troxler in the 19th century

Chronosophy [from Greek khronos = time + sophia] the skillful management of time; “a kind of ur-discipline, subsuming all other disciplines through a proposed unifying characteristic: temporality”

Cosmosophy [from Greek kosmos = universe + sophia] body of beliefs or theories contributing to a philosophy about the universe

Kairosophy [from Greek kairos = time, opportune moment, weather + sophia] critical reflection on lived time; the wise (or ‘smart’) use of opportune moments;

Philosophy [from Greek philo- = loving + sophia] the love for, study and scholarship of knowledge

Synchronosophy [from Greek syn = together + khronos + sophia = practical wisdom] an invitation to journey into the inner world and gather wisdom from the things that happen in synchrony ~ in subjective experience. See also my substack dedicated to Synchronosophy

Theosophy [from Greek theos = god + sophia] religious philosophy about the nature of the soul based on mystical insight into the nature of God

Delving into the story of Sophia (via recorded biographical snippets) we meet her two ‘alter egos’, representing two sides of the Mother of Life. Here she reveals her dual identity, so to speak. On one side she calls herself Ennoia, on the other she is known as Epinoia.

While Sophia is firmly associated with wisdom, scholarly knowledge, and teachings of such knowledge ~ in contemporary interpretation, inherited via our Greek lineage ~ Ennoia has found her way into the English language in the words annoy, annoying, annoyance (= irritation, exasperation, indignation), and ennui (= listlessness, dissatisfaction, Weltschmerz).

Ennoia [from Greek en = in + noia = knowing] translated in the gnostic dictionary as ‘thought’, is associated with the dark side of Sophia. Ennoia holds an internal knowing which is deprived of the opportunity to express itself.

Ennoia carries the burden of human suffering, the struggles which we assume are inevitable and can never be shaken off.

That’s one theory. Theory, as we have learned, is no more than a way of looking at things, a speculation. (See my earlier wordcast Theatrical Theories)

Ennoia is a deep and ancient knowing. This nocturnal side of Sophia is most likely associated with the so-called Dark Night of the Soul. It is a personal, intimate, unique experience, which ~ in my personal experience ~ has a direct link between the individual and the dark side of the world-soul.

Those who have the good fortune to survive and resolve such an experience, emerge from it ‘transformed’ in some miraculous way. This is a well-known phenomenon. We come out of the dark ~ provided we make it all the way to the other side ~ clutching some precious pearl of wisdom. This pearl is provided by Epinoia, Sophia’s brighter side, who has never left her divine home.

Epinoia [from Greek epi = beyond + noia = knowing] translated in the gnostic dictionary as ‘insight’, is associated with the ‘divine light side’ of Sophia and interpreted as wisdom.

Wisdom [from Old Saxon wis = knowing] is etymologically related to Latin videre = to see, Greek idein = to see, and Sanskrit veda = to know.

Here we need to differentiate between looking and seeing, as well as speculating and knowing. Looking and speculating can be done as an entirely mental activity. The result is theoretical comprehension and assessment.

Seeing and knowing arise from the involvement of the heart and soul. The dark side of the soul in particular, offers opportunities to breathe life into those sufferings of the world-soul which have been literally kept in the dark until that moment. And such experiences sweep the first glimpses of insight into those inner valleys hidden in cold shadows.

In this way, as far as I understand, every individual has the potential gift to make a contribution towards healing the world-soul (as well as our own). How to approach this mysterious work will be the topic of the next season of chapters on my serialised non-fiction book Synchronosophy: a Rough Guide to the Feral Side of Life ~ starting on Saturday, 11th January 2025.