DeConick A.D

187
GNOSTIC ALTERED STATES
states of boundless energy and flow, but when pushed to the extreme, the
sympathetic mode can run on high until the body becomes exhausted and
collapses. At this point, the parasympathetic system kicks in and we are
back to oceanic tranquility. This is our brain on ecstasy.
In light of this brain research, it is very likely that Gnostics of all stripes
were cultivating silence not to intentionally hide their mysteries from outsiders
but to discover the hidden God themselves by employing rituals of
extreme bodily stillness. Silence was not meant to guard their secrets but
to reveal them to the Gnostic initiate in ecstasy.
The Power of Chanting
Although a culture of silence permeates Gnostic ritual, this is only half
the story. The other half has to do with repetitive chanting, which, like
intentional silence, likely prompted altered states of consciousness and ecstasy.
So it is not surprising that Gnostic chants most often are embedded
in their records of their ascent journeys, chronicled as transpiring when
they are ascending into the highest levels of the transcendent realms. The
Gnostics believed that their chants not only praised the transcendent beings
but also tapped into the primal Father’s creative power. And this
would transform their spirits and heal their bodies.
Chants abound in the Sethian literature. The Gospel of the Egyptians
(NHC III.2 44.4–10) records the sounds that brought forth the primal
God. According to the Sethians, the sound of God emerged out of the
primal silence as the seven vowels pronounced twenty-two times each, in
this sequence:
I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I
Ê-Ê-Ê-Ê-Ê-Ê-Ê-Ê-Ê-Ê-Ê-Ê-Ê-Ê-Ê-Ê-Ê-Ê-Ê-Ê-Ê-Ê
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U
E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E
A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A
Ô-Ô-Ô-Ô-Ô-Ô-Ô-Ô-Ô-Ô-Ô-Ô-Ô-Ô-Ô-Ô-Ô-Ô-Ô-Ô-Ô-Ô
This pattern was used by the Sethians to invoke and praise the God Before
All Gods. Similar vowels were used as invocations of the supreme God in