286 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
The father was in the son and the son in the father.
This is the kingdom of heaven.LAUGHING CHRIST
The lord said it perfectly:
"Some have entered the kingdom of heaven laughing,
and they have come out laughing."
They do not remain there:
one because he is not a Christian,
another because he laments his later acts.
As soon as Christ went down into the water
he came out laughing at everything in this world,
not because he thought it a trifle, but out of contempt.^67
Whoever wants to enter the kingdom of heaven will do so.
Whoever despises everything of this world, scorns it as a trifle,
will emerge laughing.
So with the bread and the cup and the oil,
for above is one superior to all these.^68CREATION
The world came into being through error.
The agent who made it^69
wanted it to be imperishable and immortal.
He failed. He came up with less than his desire.
The world was never incorruptible,
nor was its maker. Things are not imperishable,
but children are. Nothing can endure
that is not first a child. Whoever cannot receive
surely will be unable to give.CUP OF PRAYER
The cup of prayer holds wine and water.
It is appointed for the blood for which thanks is given.- On the laughing Christ see the Second Treatise of the Great Seth and the Round Dance of
the Cross. - Partially restored.
- The creator of the world, the demiurge.