A Description of Gnostic Science pt 1

[Mr Cheese]

A Description of Gnostic Science
by
Tom Saunders

Gnostic science is the development, use, and study of a heuristic device called the Monad. It is designed to enlighten one about the aspects of duality in both physical and mental action. Theodotus said...

"The athlete, who knows the Olympic stadium, strips for training, contends, and becomes victor, tripping up his antagonists who contend against his scientific method, and fighting out the contest. For scientific knowledge is necessary both for the training of the soul and for gravity of conduct; making the faithful more active and keen observers of things. For as there is no believing without elementary instruction, so neither is there comprehension without science." (Theodotus)

Gnostics used a device called a Monadology, and it is the same tool used in Chinese Philosophy called Ba Gua Science. This discovery is my own, and I have written several essays on how these devices work. I have written very little on the potential and uses of these devices, so this essay is directed toward that end. Gnostic Science is based on the Pythagorean concept of the Monad. It has been one of the best kept Occult Secrets in ancient and modern history.

"Now I know that the mysteries of science (gnosis) are a laughing-stock to many, especially when not patched up with sophistical figurative language. And the few are at first startled at them; as when light is suddenly brought into a convivial party in the dark. Subsequently, on getting used and accustomed, and trained to reasoning, as if gladdened and exulting for delight, they praise the Lord. . . . For as pleasure has for its essence release from pain; so also has knowledge the removal of ignorance. For as those that are most asleep think they are most awake, being under the power of dream-visions very vivid and fixed; so those that are most ignorant think that they know most. But blessed are they who rouse themselves from this sleep and derangement, and raise their eyes to the light and the truth." (Theodotus)

Scholars have been trying to figure out how Pythagoreans used the Monad for centuries, with little or no luck. It was my fortune to find that the Monadology used in Sethian works was the same method used by Karate Masters, called the study of Ba Gua or trigrams from the philosophy of the Tai Chi. The Sethian works served as a Rosetta Stone for me, and the Sethian descriptions of the Monad or Monadology disclosed how Pythagoreans and Sethian Christians used the Monad.

Because this study was mostly occult by all who studied it, the history, and archeology of how these groups came to adopt and share this study may never be clear. For me the Monadologies, and Ba Gua science are virtually the same study of a very similar heuristic device. A powerful tool.

A "heuristic device" is an abstract concept or model applied to contemplation about physical, mental, and social phenomena. Not only are they good devices for contemplation, they can be applied to a number of human skills. Skill requires training and discipline. Those trained in particular skills, with the aid and application of heuristic devices sometimes become extraordinary.

 

[Mr Cheese]

This is what the ancient Gnostics like Theodotus, knew. Theodotus was a student of Valentinus, in the Apostolic lineage of Alexandria, starting with Peter and Mark, who are noted for starting the Alexandrian Christian Church. Theodotus was in a lineage of teachers like Barnabus, Basilides, Clement, Pantaenus, Heracleon, and others. Clement considered Basilides an Apostle, who had studied from Matthias and others. There is no question they studied a Monadology but no one work discloses the method.

The works of Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Tertullian, and other heresiologists mention the Monad, and parts of the system, and their ranting and misconceptions of the system is obvious, if you know the system. They did not, they just knew it existed. Theodotus' second passage above, is no doubt directed at these enemies of the Gnostic Church. Knowing what these Church fathers almost destroyed, would lead me to harsher words for them than we read from most early Gnostics.

The first description of Gnostic Science by Theodotus relates to using Monadic science of applying a physical grid, and other applications on an opponent, in regard to the science of the Olympic Stadium. This is part of how the Monad can be used. Modern but classical karate fighters use the same tools as the ancients in this regard. This is how I could disclose the Monadology as almost identical to Ba Gua Science. I have studied Isshinryu Karate for over forty years, and the karate system can be aligned perfectly in the Tai Chi schema.

At the same time of applying the grid over an opponent, the study of the Monad is how to use the 'void,' and how you apply your skills in the void (between opponents). This is all part of the science Theodotus is writing about. It applies to the mental opponent, and physical opponent, and can be applied to both at the same time. Oriental Martial Arts Masters throughout history have demonstrated this well.

What Theodotus writes about, are those same things Masters like Yagu Munemori, and Miyamoto Mushashi wrote about in regard to the ''stadium (fighting) science.'' Munemori's ''The Sword and the Mind,'' makes it clear that the study of the 'void,' is a secret, only transmitted to others orally. This is why Theodotus seems vague, its part of keeping the Monadology secret.

The human mind and body work with similar patterns. They are after all connected. What the use of heuristic devices teach one, is how to fill the void with these patterns and understand them. Chess is an example of a heuristic device, and the squares on the board are voids. What fills the voids are patterns, or forms.

These patterns or forms start from the void in their origins. One very important concept to understand is both for the Oriental and Hellenistic systems, Man's Mind, works like the Void or Emptiness from heaven. The mind and heaven as far as the void is concerned work the same way. They start the same way...

Compare the most famous axioms of the Tai Chi, after those from NHL, "Eugnostos the Blessed,'' of Codex III....

1a. "As I said earlier, among the things that were created the monad is first, the dyad follows it, and the triad, up to the tenths. Now the tenths rule the hundredths; the hundredths rule the thousandths; the thousands rule the ten thousands. This is the pattern <among the> immortals. First Man is like this: His monad [...]. 2a.Again it is this pattern that exists among the immortals: the monad and the thought are those things that belong to Immortal Man. The thinkings are for <the> decads, and the hundreds are the teachings, and the thousands are the counsels, and the ten thousands are the powers. Now those who come from the [...] exist with their [...] in every aeon [...]."

The above description of the Monad is an obvious match to the same concept of the Tai Chi, and the process of growth in the sequence of growth from Oneness to the ''ten thousand things.''

1b.) "Wu Chi {The Great Void** creates Tai Chi, Tai Chi is the one Chi. One Chi
generates Yin and Yang, and Yin and Yang can change in infinite ways." (From
"The History of Chinese Philosophy," Fung Yu-Lan, Princeton Press, 1953.)

2b.) " Tao produced oneness. Oneness produced duality, Duality evolved into the
ten thousand things. The ten thousand things support the yin, and embrace the
yang. It is the blending of the breaths (of yin and yang) that their harmony
depends." ( from "Lau Tzu," or the "Tao Te Ching" sixth c. B.C. ), Ibid., Fung
Yu-Lan)

These passages explain the origin of the Monad, or Tai Chi, (Oneness) from the Void. It is pretty obvious the two sets of passages are talking about the same concepts. Bits and pieces of the Monadology are hidden in Gnostic texts, like the Seven Forms of Wrath, in the "Gospel of Mary." I am certain that anyone who studies Ba Gua Science would recognize the sequences of Monadic sets, just as easily as Ba Gua sequences. They simply work the same way, its prima facie. (It is a study for another essay.)

Now put yourself in the space of the Olympic stadium pretty much like what Theodotus describes. You have to fight, naked, an opponent you know nothing about, until you see him. There are no rules except when a fighter is disabled and can no longer fight, the contest can be stopped.

In the stadium, you look across the void between you and your opponent. What the science of the stadium will teach you is how to map the space between you and your opponent, and manage it. You will be able to map how he/she moves, in a way that gives you virtual domain over the space. This is what Martial Artists have known for years. Masters also know they can use their skills just as easily in the mental arena, as the physical. They also know these skills transfer to other skills, mental and physical. The ancient Gnostics knew the same.

It is obvious that a Monadology was used by Dositheos, Matthias, Basilides, Pantaenus, Clement, Valentinus, Theodotus, Heracleon, and can be shown as extant Christian teachings from the start of Christianity. To think the teaching of the Monad is post Christian is ludicrous. The study of the Monad is clearly pre-Christian, and an adaptation to Christianity, making Jesus the Monad or primary force of Wisdom. The primary tool of the Sethians for establishing Jesus Wisdom, to fill the 'void' are the parables, in the ''Gospel of Thomas.'' A further explanation of how the parables work is beyond the scope of this essay. Simply said, Parables act as voids.

The Pauline letters, ''1 Corinthians,'' and ''1 Romans,'' explain about the 'gifted' that Paul observed among Christian communities. He is describing the same things Clement describes for those who study Gnostic Science. The Orthodox Church has suppressed this teaching from people for around 1700 years and still declares it heretical.

The fact is the Orthodox Church never knew or taught the secrets of the Monad. Knowing its potential, what they suppressed was one of the best and most effective learning tools man has ever devised. Almost any human skill can be improved with this knowledge. This is its potential as an educational tool, as a religious tool, it will take a book to explain.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

Who is Tom Saunders?

 

[Mr Cheese]

Who is Tom Saunders?

Sethian Gnostic Bishop NJCDLP Gateway

glossary :

There is a lost Christianity that can be brought back to understanding from the Gnostic texts of the Nag Hammadi Library, and other texts like "The Pistis Sophia,"with many others mentioned below. Until the serious study of the Nag Hammadi texts in the last few years, nobody has had the knowledge to assume much about what is contained in Gnostic texts.

The following set of terms was gathered by myself and members of a group of scholars who study the "Gospel of Thomas." These human sources of information include, Dr. Andrew Criddle, Dr. William Arnal, Dr. Mark Goodachre, Dr. Jack Kilmon, Dr. Lynn Bauman, Mike Grondin, Frank McCoy, and others.

....

He'll be published soon enough, for now , his stuff is free online..everywhere