One problem with Yahweh, as they used to say in the old Christian Gnostic texts, is that he forgot he was a metaphor. He thought he was a fact. And when he said, I am God, a voice was heard to say, You are mistaken, Samael. Samael means blind god: blind to the infinite Light of which he is a local historical manifestation. This is known as the blasphemy of Jehovah – that he thought he was God.1
- Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth, 1988 [↩]