Since I was about eight or nine I have wondered who and what we are. There were those who said we had a Soul and if we were good little boys and girls this Soul would go to a wonderful place. If we were bad this Soul would go to a terrifying place but that did not tell me what we are; never mind this Soul I had, I wanted to know what happened to me. Born in 1947 in Norway just after the war, life seemed confusing, my parents were not very religious but wanted me to know what religion was all about. I had a great aunt who was religious but talking to her confused me even more.

When I was nine I was fascinated by some books my father had on the book shelf.  There were books about astronomy, ancient Near Eastern Mythology, an encyclopedia etc, but all I ever got were theories. This was back in the nineteen fifties and there was no internet so research was difficult. In 1963 the family moved to Canada where I continued in my quest to find out who we humans are.

One day perusing my favorite book store in Calgary I came across “History Begins in Sumer” by Professor S. N. Kramer, and this became one of my favorite books. Not because it told me who we are, but because it was an insight into the way the ancients thought. While the material was interesting, such things as the descent of Enkidu to the netherworld and its correlation with biblical books were fascinating.

Rather than solving my problem looking back at how the ancients believed, the book indicated to me that the same question had plagued humanity for millennia. Intellectuals such as Plato in his efforts did a lot of good, such compositions as the “Cave Allegory” from Chapter VII of “The Republic” shows that he understood our shortcomings, yet there is still a lack of answers.

The one thing most people seem to have in common is that they would like to live in peace. People want to be treated fairly, justly, have foods for their children and a roof over their heads. Unless provoked, people do not want to fight or kill. I want to know what went wrong; we do not want the constant strife. With the release of the Nag Hammadi Manuscripts we have a lot more material with which to work. I took it upon myself to research, and The Secrets of the Universe is the result of my research prior to the advent of internet.

–Rasmus Gjesdal