The Divine Spark — Pneuma
Every human being (or at least every pneumatic) contains a divine spark (pneuma) — a portion of the divine light imprisoned in matter that yearns to return to its source in the Pleroma.
The divine spark (pneuma — spirit; also called the 'seed of light,' 'drop of the Father's dew,' or simply 'the light within') is the Gnostic teaching that makes every pneumatic human being intrinsically divine — regardless of their material circumstances, moral record, or social position. This spark is not something earned or achieved but something inherent — a portion of the divine Pleroma that was somehow entrapped in the material world through the cosmic drama of Sophia's fall. The pneumatic's task is not to become divine (they already are) but to recognize their divine nature: 'If you bring forth what is within you, what you have will save you' (Gospel of Thomas, Saying 70). This recognition (Gnosis) awakens the spark to its true nature and sets in motion the process of its return to the Pleroma. The divine spark teaching is both democratizing (every pneumatic has it regardless of social status) and potentially elitist (not everyone is pneumatic — some are only psychic or hylic).
You are from the light, and you will return to the light. The light that was hidden in the darkness will now shine from within you.
Philosopher Simone Weil's concept of the 'uncreated part of the soul' — a divine dimension of human being that cannot be damaged by worldly suffering — resonates with the Gnostic divine spark: both identify an indestructible divine ground within the human that remains untouched by all that the material world can do to the person.
Nag Hammadi Library
Written about in
- What Gnosticism says about knowing yourself
The spark is described as already in you, regardless of your record or your circumstances. That turns the task from self-improvement into recognition of something that was never absent.