The Gospel of Philip says ‘Ignorance is the mother of all evil.’ In a lucid passage on error theory, the Gnostic master says: ‘So long as the root of wickedness is hidden, it is strong. But when it is recognised, it is dissolved. When it is revealed it perishes… As for ourselves, let us dig down after the root of evil which is within each of us and produces its fruit in our hearts. It masters us. We are its slaves. It takes us captive to make us do what we do not want and what we do want we do not do. It is powerful because we have not recognised it’.”