Patterns of Creation - the Book
Restoring the inner teachings of the Gospel of John
The book Patterns of Creation is a Kabbalistic exploration of some of the core themes found in the Gospel of John. The book is full of meditational practices that allow the reader to connect directly with the living experience of the teachings. It brings out the sacred geometry of the kabbalistic Tree of Life which was embedded into many of the stories within the Greek Gospel text and restores the power of the Divine Feminine teachings through the figure of Mary Magdalene.
Read more about the book, endorsements, and reviews (below)
Brilliantly Clear
This is an eye-opening and deeply spiritual book that interprets the Prologue to the Gospel of John—and other parts of John’s writings—-as a step by step guide to spiritual awakening. Steve is totally centred on the use of these writings to expand the reader’s consciousness, and reveals early Christianity as a school to foster awakening by using the symbols shared with many mystical groups. ..I recommend this book to everyone interested in spiritual awakening…It is brilliantly clear, and shines a powerful light.A precious contribution to religious literature
“Patterns of Creation” is a brilliant work, truly ground-breaking on all levels, and should be required reading for all students of Biblical theology. Stephen Pope has given us an extremely impressive and masterfully written book, revealing not only extraordinary scholarship, but profound mystical wisdom — for only one who has tasted divine truth directly could write so authoritatively on its hidden essence. With each sentence, Stephen Pope invites us to experience, personally and directly, the mystery hidden within the ancient words of the Gospel of John. As he says, “Everything presented in the Gospel stories points to your inner awakening: realising your own Consciousness.” The subtle meanings he reveals for us echo into many languages and religious traditions, for he is not only an expert on the Bible, but also the Kabbalah, and he is not only a master of Hebrew, but has retranslated the Gospel of John for this book from the Aramaic, using the original Greek version to balance his choice of words in English! His rich linguistic explanations are combined with numerous sections guiding the reader into meditation and contemplation, to help us come out of the intellect and find our center of stillness, our own inner silence. Beautiful geometric designs are used throughout the book to help communicate the Gospel’s essence visually, the most simple of which is “a point within a circle to represent unity and wholeness, the One, Being, source of all life.” The book presents us with a new understanding of the concept of creation, not as something that occurred in the ancient past, but as something ever-happening in the eternal Now, with each aspect of the creation reflecting the unity of all existence. I was also impressed by the book’s focus on the divine feminine, all too often overlooked in Christian theology; one chapter is dedicated to the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, fragments of which have been discovered in manuscripts belonging to the Coptic Church.An important book
“Patterns of Creation” represents a new breed of Christian theology, one which fully integrates astonishing intercultural scholarship with the highest kind of New Age spiritual wisdom. Stephen Pope has questioned and researched the Gospel of John and in this book he offers us an interpretation of the gospel that hit me with the intuitive knowing that his interpretation is Truth. This book is not a dry ‘thesis’. It’s a rich text that I could not rush as there was so much to savour. Stephen connects the words of John’s Gospel with our life here, right now, in the world in the 21st century. His book brings John’s words alive and gives them meaning. I could quote ad infinitum from this book. It’s full of moments of ‘yes, yes, yes’ and that feeling of things falling into place, a deepening understanding of the meaning of life. The chapter on the Kabbalah was almost a mini book in itself with a very clear description of what the Kabbalah represents. In fact it’s the first interpretation that I have really understood. I love this book. It’s wise, it’s intelligent, it’s profound and it’s accessible. The fact that I am writing this review on Easter Sunday is no coincidence because at some level I feel as if I have been reborn into a higher level of awareness through reading it. This is an important book. Thanks for writing it Stephen.An inspirational labour of love
Steve Pope’s book has been many years in the writing – I’ve been lucky to have known Steve for more than 20 years now and have attended some of his workshops. This has been a true labour of love. The end result is more than worth it. Steve has taken the entire prologue of the Gospel of John and translated it in the mystical terms that most likely would have been used at the time (when the oral tradition was much stronger than the written one – 95% of people did not read or write). Together with these beautiful translations, Steve has placed the teaching fairly and squarely in the 21st century, showing us how ancient wisdom is still valid in the modern world. He also includes simple meditations. It shows that the teaching of Jesus (and the mystical teaching of the time) is all- embracing AND it shows it with Biblical text and translation. This is incredibly valuable in the modern world where the fundamentalist will quote the Bible at the spiritual believer. Without wishing to encourage ‘Bible tennis’ it is wonderful to have contemporary but clear alternative translations to work with. I won’t give it away, because the whole book is worth reading, but Steve’s translation of Jesus’ ‘well-known phrase, ‘I am the way the truth and the life…’ made me go ‘Yes!’ and feel a tremendous sense of relief and joy.Revolutionary
This is the first commentary on a Gospel that has really made sense to me. The superficiality of the fundamentalist, the slavishness of the establishment and the dismissal of the atheist all wilt before the knowledgeable, well researched, carefully thought out and sensitive treatment that Stephen gives John’s poem. The book brings real and tangible meaning to the original scripts by translating the Aramaic, Greek and Roman languages into the modern idiom; it illuminates the text for today’s reader and points up the 2000 years of misunderstanding, misleading interpretations and downright fraud that have been the foundation of everyday Christianity. It is provocative and necessary reading, study and meditation. It is iconoclastic and therefore mandatory for all students of life. I have grown whilst reading this book and been inspired to take the concepts and philosophy forward. Thank you and congratulations on a modern classic.A great discovery
This book comes as a delight and a relief to someone who survived obligatory church-going as a boy. Stephen Pope demonstrates that John’s words offer personal transformation and renewal. This can be achieved by understanding the wider meanings of the original Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew words, and by activating these meanings through spiritual practices that will be familiar to many mind/body/spirit enquirers today, such as guided meditations and intent-charged breathing. The emergent raising of personal consciousness dissolves the contrived separation of each of us from our source. The scholarship is solid and comprehensive. The perspective plainly springs from ardent and persistent practice by the author over many years. The writing is clear, accessible and in places touched with poetry, like finding a wild flower on a path.A beautifully written book
Very enlightening and a superb read. A very stimulating read also. Was more than pleasantly surprised how intrigued I was to turn each page to read and learn more. A beautifully written book and definitely recommended.Buy the book here:
UK/Europe/other (amazon.co.uk): U.K. paperback / U.K. Kindle
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(Note: Star ratings as of June 21, 2020. For attributions and more reviews, see entries on amazon.co.uk and amazon.com via the ‘Buy the book’ links.)
UK/Europe/other:
U.K. paperback |
U.K. Kindle
(amazon.co.uk)
Americas:
U.S. paperback |
U.S. Kindle
(amazon.com)
About the book, endorsements and reviews
Patterns of Creation illuminates the ideas contained in the Greek – Aramaic text of Gospel of John, so that the untranslatable geometric figures of Logos and the Universal Tree of Life, may become for you, the reader, the living reality they point to, beyond their use as symbols.
The aim of Patterns of Creation is to help you experience these spiritual truths contained within the original Greek – Aramaic text of the Gospel for yourself. It contains my original translations and meditative exercises to help you go beyond the everyday, unconscious mind, centered around the ego, to realise your eternal essence. John’s Gospel calls this formless essence, which exists within the heart of every human-being, Logos (usually translated as Word). The exercises help bring this into your daily life, so that you gain a deeper connection with the Eternal Presence that contains and connects every living thing within the great circle of life.
Spiritual awakening is freedom from fear and all the needless suffering that we inflict upon ourselves, each other, and all the creatures of the natural world. To awaken to the greater spiritual awareness is to realise our natural state: all life is sacred, and we are intimately connected with the whole of life.
There is One Universal consciousness, out of which, every form of life is continually emerging and into which they are continually dissolving. This Universal Consciousness is here within you now, an infinite creative potential, the timeless, formless essence of who you really are. To awaken to this deeper reality we need to learn to step out of the unconscious thought streams that dictate so much our lives. To Be, here, now, as a conscious witness, is to meet life fully, where the boundaries of inner and outer dissolve into a unified whole of non duality and no-mind.
These realisations have come out of my years of meditational practice and academic studies, and through the workshops and seminars I have shared with others.
These realisations do not belong to me; they have come through many people in a shared meditative space. Nobody can claim a spiritual realisation for themselves alone; they come through us but they can never be owned or added to our ego identity.
The realisation of Eternal Presence in such shared space takes us beyond the thinking mind, and all religious interpretations, dogmas and doctrines.
Endorsements
“Patterns of Creation brings the reader into the creative power of the present. Written with great clarity and considerable scholarship, this book achieves its aim, that of awakening the reader to a greater awareness of the spiritual consciousness that exists in each of us, enfolding us within the greater circle of life of which so many people are largely unaware.”
— Natasha Hoffman, Author, with Hamilton Hill, of Let the Standing Stones Speak (O-Books)
“The author’s overarching perspective and focus is the ceaseless unfolding of being into becoming, through the Logos itself; and that the ‘perennial wisdom’ must be constantly experienced and enacted if it is to bear fruit. His words have real substance, and a clarity and simplicity that enhances the content of the book and makes it readily accessible to a wide audience. I believe this is a much-needed book with a much-needed message that will not disappoint, and I recommend it wholeheartedly.”
— Ingrid Walton MA Lit. Hum. (Oxon.); Dip. Information Science (City) Translator of Classical Greek and Latin texts.
“Steve Pope is a marvelous Teacher, Scholar and Mystic. This book provides a modern way of approaching ancient Biblical texts and a practical roadmap to spiritual awakening. Through clear and penetrating insights, Steve helps the reader discover the deeper meaning hidden in the western mystical teachings.”
— Rev. Dr. Megan Wagner, PhD, Author ofThe Sapphire Staff, Provost and Director of Spiritual Psychology at The Chaplaincy Institute in California, USA.
Reviews
This is a serious text on a serious subject and as such it is not light reading but you don’t have to be a Kabbalist to appreciate this really fascinating and enlightening book. Nor do you need to be particularly religious. All you really need is to want to understand more about the truth of existence. So often when I’ve looked at the Bible and struggled to put meaning to the stories, I’ve wished I had a teacher who could help me, using language I was familiar with. This book does just that and more. It goes far beyond explanations, allowing you, through the guided meditations to actually experience the teachings of the Gospel of John in a direct and personal way. It does this within the framework of the Kabbalah and The Tree of Life, showing you in an accessible way, how the two are intertwined. It truly brought the teachings to life for me and that is far more than I had hoped for when I began reading. There is so much information in this for anyone wanting answers and the stories, when explained, contain so much wisdom. It really is teaching at its very best.
— Sara Geller (reviewer for Goodreads.)
Subtitled ‘Logos and the tree of life in the Gospel of John’, this remarkable and profound work takes the understanding of the gospel to a new level. The author is a practicing mystic in the Kabbalistic tradition and also a translator of Greek and Hebrew texts. This scholarship comes through very clearly in the text and commentary. The Logos is understood as the essence and unity of Life, and is designed to awaken the reader to the greater consciousness that exists at the core of our being. To this end, the author provides not only a narrative illustrated geometrically with the tree of life, but also a series of meditations to help the reader enter more deeply into the meaning of the gospel and the stillness within. The later chapters explore union with God in the symbol of death and resurrection, and there is a fascinating separate chapter on the historical background to the text. Some readers will know that the Gospel of John is the esoteric gospel and that it is not meant to be taken literally, as many fundamentalists have done. There is also a chapter on the symbolism of the Kabbalah and a full translation from the Greek of the first two chapters of the gospel. Readers interested in deepening their knowledge of the Gospel of John should make a careful and contemplative study of this book.
— The Scientific and Medical Network (United Kingdom).
Steve Pope’s book has been many years in the writing – I’ve been lucky to have known Steve for more than 20 years now and have attended some of his workshops. This has been a true labour of love. The end result is more than worth it. Steve has taken the entire prologue of the Gospel of John and translated it in the mystical terms that most likely would have been used at the time (when the oral tradition was much stronger than the written one – 95% of people did not read or write). Together with these beautiful translations, Steve has placed the teaching fairly and squarely in the 21st century, showing us how ancient wisdom is still valid in the modern world. He also includes simple meditations. It shows that the teaching of Jesus (and the mystical teaching of the time) is all-embracing AND it shows it with Biblical text and translation. This is incredibly valuable in the modern world where the fundamentalist will quote the Bible at the spiritual believer. Without wishing to encourage ‘Bible tennis’ it is wonderful to have contemporary but clear alternative translations to work with. The book takes a wider brief than just the prologue – giving a clear and concise view of the life and times of the people who wrote the Bible, and a sensible and not over-complicated guide to the Kabbalistic tradition. I won’t give it away, because the whole book is worth reading, but Steve’s translation of Jesus’ ‘well-known phrase, ‘I am the way the truth and the life…’ made me go ‘Yes!’ and feel a tremendous sense of relief and joy. Highly recommended.
— Maggy Whitehouse, (Author of Kabbalah made easy. Axis Mundi Books)
UK/Europe/other:
U.K. paperback |
U.K. Kindle
(amazon.co.uk)
Americas:
U.S. paperback |
U.S. Kindle
(amazon.com)
Note: Based on original ‘launch’ blog post for the book.
Testimonials
The lessons are meditative and awakening journeys. While being lucid, informed and precise, they are also a great pleasure to participate in.
