Tomas Kindahl
... out on my Odyssé — again!
Hello everybody!
Am I an Abrahamite? I use the Old Testament for sure, I just don't use it in an acceptable way for Christians nor Jews.
I'm Tomas, and nobody else (such as f.ex. Jesus, Napoleon nor Julius Caesar). My supernatural powers are limited, and if I have any, they are so obscure that I have no control over them whatsoever. I'm in a quest to find brothers and sisters in faith, if there are any at all — my earlier experiences make me doubtful. Formally I'm a Gnostic, but Gnosticism are four or more current religions, and a lot of extinct religions. Gnosticism can be subdivided in various ways, but this one follows my measure of body continuity:
Am I an Abrahamite? I use the Old Testament for sure, I just don't use it in an acceptable way for Christians nor Jews.
I'm Tomas, and nobody else (such as f.ex. Jesus, Napoleon nor Julius Caesar). My supernatural powers are limited, and if I have any, they are so obscure that I have no control over them whatsoever. I'm in a quest to find brothers and sisters in faith, if there are any at all — my earlier experiences make me doubtful. Formally I'm a Gnostic, but Gnosticism are four or more current religions, and a lot of extinct religions. Gnosticism can be subdivided in various ways, but this one follows my measure of body continuity:
Paleognostics, originated in the antiquity, adapted a Judaic or Judaeo-Christian theology with angels to the "science" of the time, i.e. Aristotelean geocentrism, crystal spheres and a five-element teaching fire, earth, air, water and ether/quintessence. Their cosmology regards an "evil" which is rather a corruption process than a Catholic cosmic war between good and evil, the path to liberation requires recognizing the divine heritage of the individual. The Nag Hammadi library contains a lot of Paleognostic texts.
That was all for now. I know there are some more Gnostics here, but I don't know what religion they belong to, or if they belong to those that refuse to regard Gnosticism as a bunch of religions.
Mandeans — still alive and kicking, count their heritage from John the Baptist. They have their own scriptures. They regard Jesus the Christ as a false teacher.
† Thomasines — a hypothetical group that produced the Gospel of Thomas, and perhaps other books in the Thomas litterature.
† Sethians — probably "heretic" Jews, that mingled with the Platonists, produced the Secret Book of John.
† Valentinians — probably a branch from Simonianism, which in its turn possibly trace back to John the Baptist too, produced probably the Gospel of Truth and the Gospel of Philip.
Neognostics, originated in the 19th century as gnostic revivals, with an intensely diverse number of movement, most of them using† Thomasines — a hypothetical group that produced the Gospel of Thomas, and perhaps other books in the Thomas litterature.
† Sethians — probably "heretic" Jews, that mingled with the Platonists, produced the Secret Book of John.
† Valentinians — probably a branch from Simonianism, which in its turn possibly trace back to John the Baptist too, produced probably the Gospel of Truth and the Gospel of Philip.
Liberal Catholics — Blavatskyan Theosophy mixed with a Catholic cosmology pretty far from the Paleognostics, their cosmology is a fight between good and evil, where the Demiurges are persecuting devil or something, and the Gnosis is a mystic experience, some of them use the Nag Hammadi library, some others reject it, and claim that Qabbalah is the basis for divine knowledge, Ecclesia Gnostica in US, f.ex. project some kind of Jungianism upon a mix of Blavatskyan Theosophy and Nag Hammadi, preferrably Valentinian concepts.
French Gnostics — lots of New Age movements, f.ex. Rocicrucians, Masons, alchemism, Qabbalism, astrology, neo-Cathars etc. joined by a Catholic infrastructure, French Gnostics use Nag Hammadi as they wish, preferrably Valentinian concepts. According to my reading they use a Catholic cosmology similar to the Liberal Catholics, since they regard Jesus as Logos, which is not Valentinian. The so called (Primitive) Johannite Churches belong to the French Gnostics.
Thelema — don't use anything like the Bible, but are instead intent on following the teachings of Aleister Crowley, which is to restore Christianity to its original solar-phallic religion state. Good luck to them, but that's outside my area of interest!
The Gurdjieff/Samaelian/Belzebuubian block a.k.a. the Fourth Way — uses their own scriptures only, practicing some tantric stuff and self-hypnosis as a method of "liberation", they can do what they want, but my Gnosis is the realization of our divine heritage, not trying to achieve a sleepwalker state of mind.
I'm a Paleognostic who am still out for a viable cosmology (theology is no problem), but I rever Jesus, and is not a Mandean by birth, so I cannot join them – they don't accept proselytes, by the way.French Gnostics — lots of New Age movements, f.ex. Rocicrucians, Masons, alchemism, Qabbalism, astrology, neo-Cathars etc. joined by a Catholic infrastructure, French Gnostics use Nag Hammadi as they wish, preferrably Valentinian concepts. According to my reading they use a Catholic cosmology similar to the Liberal Catholics, since they regard Jesus as Logos, which is not Valentinian. The so called (Primitive) Johannite Churches belong to the French Gnostics.
Thelema — don't use anything like the Bible, but are instead intent on following the teachings of Aleister Crowley, which is to restore Christianity to its original solar-phallic religion state. Good luck to them, but that's outside my area of interest!
The Gurdjieff/Samaelian/Belzebuubian block a.k.a. the Fourth Way — uses their own scriptures only, practicing some tantric stuff and self-hypnosis as a method of "liberation", they can do what they want, but my Gnosis is the realization of our divine heritage, not trying to achieve a sleepwalker state of mind.
That was all for now. I know there are some more Gnostics here, but I don't know what religion they belong to, or if they belong to those that refuse to regard Gnosticism as a bunch of religions.
