(Sacred Knowledge) Pistis Sophia | Forgotten Gospel of Soul’s Fall and Divine Return, April 2025
Pistis Sophia (Koine Greek Πίστις Σοφία) is a Gnostic text discovered in 1773 [1], possibly written between the 3rd [2] and 4th centuries AD [3].
The existing manuscript, which some scholars place in the late 4th century [4], relates one Gnostic group's teachings of the transfigured Jesus to the assembled disciples, including his mother Mary, Mary Magdalene [his chief disciple], and Martha.
(In this context, "transfigured" refers to Jesus after his death and resurrection, not the event during his life where he spoke to appearances of Moses and Elijah on a mountain).
In this Gnostic text, the risen Jesus had spent 11 years speaking with his disciples, teaching them only the lower mysteries.
After 11 years, he receives his true garment and is able to reveal the higher mysteries revered by this group. The prized mysteries relate to complex cosmologies and knowledge necessary for the soul to reach the highest divine realms. More
Kehlani speaks the truth and offends local Jews, claiming to be "afraid" for their safety when they are opposed to being labeled Israeli Genocide supporters, Jewish supremacists, or sympathizers who back Jewish Dictator Bibi Netanyahu. More
Kehlani expressed solidarity with Palestine during Israel's genocidal ethnic cleansing of Gaza and war on Palestinian non-Jews.
In Instagram posts, they [Kehlani] voiced disapproval for celebrities who have chosen to remain silent on the matter, implying that they prioritize their personal business endeavors over addressing a pressing humanitarian crisis [88, 89].
They were a principal signer of the October 2023 open letter, Artists Against Apartheid [90, 91]. In November 2023, Kehlani signed an open letter calling for a ceasefire and an end to the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip [92]. On May 27, 2024, Kehlani voiced their criticism on Instagram, this time directed specifically at fellow musicians for remaining silent about the Israel's war on Gaza and Palestine [93].
They further demonstrated their support for Gaza in the “Next 2 U” music video, which opens up with a poem by a Palestinian-American writer and has a Palestinian flag in the background of the entire video [70].
In April 2025, Kehlani's scheduled performance at Cornell University's annual Slope Day was canceled by university president Michael Kotlikoff over their support for Palestine. Kotlikoff claimed that Kehlani had "espoused antisemitic, anti-Israel sentiments in performances, videos, and on social media."
In response, they responded on Instagram saying, "I am not antisemitic, nor anti-Jew. I am anti-genocide, I am anti the actions of the Israeli government, I am anti an extermination of an entire people, I am anti the bombing of innocent children, men, women—that’s what I’m anti" [94].
In May 2025, another scheduled Kehlani concert in New York was canceled after pressure from New York City Mayor Eric Adams citing "security concerns" [but not admitting to any undue Jewish influence]. The free concert had been scheduled to take place on June 26 at SummerStage as part of Pride events taking place in the city... More
Batchelor: Many of my critics would be quite happy for me to stop calling myself a "Buddhist."
And even some of those who like my work feel that the Buddhism gets in the way. But I disagree profoundly with that.
The rootedness in tradition is central to me. And I see Buddhist tradition -- I suspect like other traditions, also -- as not something which is static and fixed and somehow preserved in formaldehyde, but it is something that is alive.
Host Krista Tippett: I’m Krista Tippett, and this is On Being.[Music: “Seven League Boots” by Zoe Keating]. Stephen Batchelor is the author of numerous books, including The Faith to Doubt, Confession of a Buddhist Atheist and, most recently, Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World.
He grew up near London and traveled to India in the early '70s, where -- he has often written -- he was immediately captured by Buddhism. He spent a decade as an ordained monk, living, studying, and writing in Tibetan Buddhist and Zen communities in Asia. I spoke with Stephen Batchelor in 2016. More + AUDIO
Buddhist scholar, philosopher of ecology, Joanna Macy’s path wound from the CIA to
Tibetan Buddhism [not unlike the current Dalai Lama], to translating the poetry ofRainer Maria Rilke. On Being takes that exquisite poetry as a lens on Macy's wisdom on the great dramas
of our time: ecological, political, personal [even sexual]. Now in her 80s, Macy says we are at a pivotal moment in history -- with possibilities of
unraveling, or of creating, a life-sustaining human society. More + AUDIO GUEST:Joanna Macyis a scholar of Buddhism, translator of Rilke, and philosopher of ecology. Her translations include Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, A Year with Rilke, and the recently re-released In Praise of Mortality. She is the co-author of Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work That Reconnects.
A transformation of medicine is underway, a transition from a science of treating disease to a science of health. Dr. Mark Hyman* is a family physician and a pioneer in the new discipline of functional medicine.
Prof. James Gordon is an expert in using mind-body medicine to heal depression, anxiety, and psychological trauma.
Penny George became a philanthropist of integrative medicine after she experienced cancer in mid-life. Before a live audience at the University of Minnesota, they discuss the challenge and promise of aligning medicine with a 21st century understanding of food, diet, and human wholeness. More
*GUEST Mark Hyman is the director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for functional medicine. He is also the founder and medical director of the UltraWellness Center. He’s a practicing family physician and a best-selling author.
The focus is on practical wisdom about how we relate to what makes us feel embattled from without as well as from within. More + AUDIO
Sharon Salzberg is a meditation teacher, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, co-author of Love Your Enemies, and the author of other books including Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation and Real Happiness at Work: Meditations for Accomplishment, Achievement, and Peace.
Robert Thurman is professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University and the president of the Tibet House U.S., co-author of Love Your Enemies, and author of other books including Infinite Life: Awakening to Bliss Within and Inner Revolution.
Love Your Enemies: How to Break the Anger Habit and Be a Whole Lot Happier
When people and circumstances upset us, how do we deal with them? Often,
we feel victimized. We become hurt, angry, and defensive. We end up
seeing others as enemies. And when things don't go our way, we become
enemies to ourselves.
But what if we could move past this pain, anger,
and defensiveness?
Inspired by Buddhist philosophy, this book introduces
us to the four kinds of enemies we encounter in life:
the outer enemy,
people, institutions, and situations that mean to harm us;
the inner
enemy, anger, hatred, fear, and other destructive emotions;
the secret
enemy, self-obsession that isolates us from others;
the super-secret
enemy, deep-seated self-loathing that prevents us from finding inner
freedom and true happiness.
In this practical guide, we learn not only
how to identify our enemies, but more importantly, how to transform our
relationship to them.
Love Your Enemies teaches us how to "break
free from the mode of 'us versus them' thinking" "develop
compassion, patience, and love," "accept what is beyond our control," "embrace loving-kindness, right speech, and other core concepts."
Throughout, authors Sharon Salzberg and Robert Thurman share stories and
exercises for achieving finding peace within ourselves and with the
world. Drawing from ancient spiritual wisdom and modern psychology, Love
Your Enemies presents tools that are useful for all readers. More
The Dalai Lama XIV seems to many to embody happiness -- happiness against the odds [Chinese oppression, invasion, genocide, and propaganda], a virtue that is acquired and practiced.
Religion = a daily practice.
Before a live audience in Atlanta, Georgia, On Being/Speaking of Faith's Krista Tippett had a rare opportunity to mull over the meaning of happiness in contemporary life with the head prelate [a kind of "pope"] of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism, the 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso) who now lives in exile in Dharamsala, India. Assisting is Thupten Jinpa, the Dalai Lama's English translator.
Also contributing to the conversation are three global spiritual leaders: Muslim scholar Seyyed Hossein Nasr (George Washington Univ., D.C.), former chief Jewish rabbi Prof. Johnathan Sacks (King's College, London), and presiding Episcopalian Bishop and Primate (yes, primate) the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori (Episcopal Church Center, NY). An invigorating and unpredictable discussion ensues exploring the themes of suffering (dukkha), beauty, and the nature of the human body. More
Vajrayana Buddhism Origins, HistoryVajrayana Buddhism, also known as the "Diamond" or "Thunderbolt" Vehicle, is a form of Buddhism that developed in India in the 5th century C.E. (Patheos.com)
Vajrayana Foundation (vajrayana.org) is a Tibetan Buddhist retreat and teaching center founded by Lama Tharchin Rinpoche. It is a Nyingma center in the Dudjom Tersar...
Buddhist Schools: Vajrayana (Tibetan)The
kind of Buddhism known as Vajrayana (which is mixed with indigenous Bon
shamanism) is predominant in the Himalayan nations of Tibet, Nepal,
Bhutan, [Ladakh, India], and also on the plains of Mongolia. It is
because of the ritual...(BuddhaNet.net)
Vaccines really do HARM children after all Investigative journalist Jon Rappoport focuses on the CDC researcher/whistleblower who admitted he left out vital data to skew the results in a vaccine study thereby hiding the toxic hazards of vaccines known for at least a decade (nomorefakenews.com).
Pres. Obama: Mistrust of police corrodes AmericaBut why should outgoing Attorney General Holder or "War President" and "Military-Industrial Complex CEO" Obama do anything to improve police departments when you can just start OBEYING, stop your protesting, and get to doing whatever you're told by our uniformed paramilitary, racist, and sexist law enforcement officials?
Can different religions date and marry? (NBC/Today Show/naomiriley.com) Naomi Schaefer Riley, author of Got Religion? and New York Post journalist, talks about the rise of interfaith relationships and marriage in the USA.
(OB/9-26-14) Emma Watson's challenging and inspirational speech creates an opening for On Being's senior producer Lily Percy to reflect, reframe, and reclaim her sense of feminism.
The word "Voodoo" evokes images of sorcery and pins in dolls. In fact, it is a living tradition wherever Haitians are found. And it is based on ancestral religious concepts and traditions in Africa.
Enslaving Haiti (Randal Robinson)
On Being walks through this mysterious tradition -- one with dramatic rituals of trances and dreaming and of belief in "spirits" (lwa or devas, kami), who speak through human beings, with both good and evil potential.
"The craft of loving-kindness is the everyday face of wisdom and the
ordinary hand of compassion. This wisdom face, this hand of mercy, is
never realized alone but always with and through others." - Roshi Joan Halifax (upaya.org)
It's
easy to feel overwhelmed by all the bad news and horrific pictures in
the world. This is a form of empathy, Joan Halifax says, that works
against us. The Zen abbess (Upaya.org) and medical anthropologist has bracing,
nourishing thoughts on finding buoyancy rather than burnout -- or compassion fatigue -- in how we
work, live, and care.
on thepart of
caregivers who are tending to the ill and dying.
Joan Halifax Roshi is a Buddhist teacher, Zen priestess,
medical anthropologist, and author. She is founder, abbess, and head teacher of
Upaya Zen Center, a Buddhist monastery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has
worked in the area of death and dying for over 30 years and is
director of the Project On Being with Dying. For the past 25 years, she
has been active in environmental work.
Extending love (metta) to all quarters of the universe? The Dark Universe
exhibition displays works that use light and sound to
explore the boundaries of awareness (Rene Passet/flickr)
Accomplished Buddhist meditation teach Sylvia Boorstein speaks with Krista Tippett
In February, On Being partnered with WDET to hold a live event in a quaint suburban village outside of Detroit, USA. The topic was "raising children in complex times."
Host Krista Tippett’s conversation with Sylvia Boorstein was rolling along nicely: Stories were being told, approaches to child-rearing were being shared...
Then, unexpectedly, Boorstein (a Jewish Buddhist teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center near San Francisco, California) offered to lead a loving-kindness, or metta, meditation for a crowd of more than 300.
How would the crowd react, whose members may never have attended a meditation or mindfulness retreat of any kind? What to expect? What resulted was a magical experience in which the audience fully participated in this unannounced moment of reflection.
If readers are game, On Being offers this video to use as a guided meditation. Will this live experience translate into a fruitful online experience?
"On Being" radio hostess, Krista Tippett (American Public Media)
A
Jesuit priest famous for his gang intervention programs in Los Angeles,
Father Greg Boyle makes winsome connections between service and delight,
and compassion and awe. He heads Homeboy Industries, which employs
former gang members in a constellation of businesses.
This is not work
of helping, he says, but of finding kinship [which is suggested by the powerful term "homeboy"]. The point of Christian
service, as he lives it, is about “our common calling to delight in one
another.”
Catholicism, the religious arm of the Roman Empire, is founded on lofty principles. Few would argue with those ideals, yet few would be able to find them in action. However, Fr. Boyle is an embodiment of the best of the Christian message.
Sermon on the Mount (Carl Bloch)
"The Sermon on the Mount," one of the most beautiful parts of the Bible, is mistranslated, according to Fr. Boyle. "Blessed are the..." is actually more accurately translated, "You're in the right place if..." This inflection brings to light that it is not that we are where we aspire to go, but we are on the way. "Look before you jump," Fr. Boyle insists, "but jump!" Let us live our ideals."
Esoteric
teachings on rebirth and consciousness, simple teachings on
compassion and ethics. Geshe Thupten Jinpa is a man who finishes the
Dalai Lama’s English sentences. Meet this philosopher and former Buddhist monk,
now a husband and father of two daughters, and hear what happens when
the ancient tradition embodied in the Dalai Lama meets modern science and life.
I can't remember watching something so heartbreakingly gorgeous,
unswerving in its emotional sway, inspirational to the point of forcing
me to wonder about my current station in life. What am I doing here? "This project isn't about making images. It's not about
creating the world's largest camera. It's about doing what you love. If
you had been searching your whole life for something you love, what
would you be willing to sacrifice?" - Ian Ruhter (Silver & Light)
OnBeing.org (formerly Speaking of Faith) with Krista Tippett, March 1, 2012
Calvin and Hobbes: Math Is a Religion (speakingoffaith/flickr.com)
Physicist James Gates reveals why string theory stretches imaginations about the nature of reality. Are we in the Matrix? How does failure make us more complete and imagination more knowledgeable? Can math and physics reveal the "codes" behind reality? More
Symbols of Power: Adinkras and the Nature of Reality Physicists have long sought to describe the universe in terms of equations. In this article, S. James Gates explains how research on a class of geometric symbols known as adinkras could lead to fresh insights into the theory of supersymmetry — and perhaps even the very nature of reality.
On the Universality of Creativity in the Liberal Arts and in the Sciences S. James Gates wrote this essay in response to a gathering at Westmont College exploring not only the role of science in liberal arts education, but also how the sciences help us understand the value and meaning of our lives.
Pertinent Posts from the On Being Blog Superstring Theory as a Unifier for the Laws of Physics Writing script explaining string theory isn't so easy. Thankfully, Brian Greene's TED talk provided just the right language. A revelatory video that will excite your imagination.
Calvin and Hobbes: Math is a Religion A classic comic on faith in equations. "You take two numbers and when you add them, they magically become one new number!"
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