What is Gnosis?

[Cynic]

I've always had trouble understanding gnosis. What is gnosis to you? Is Gnosis spiritual truth that you find along the journey we call life?
What are some spiritual truths that you have learned?

 

[Halcyon]

I've always thought Gnosis was the one thing Gnostics would agree on. Apparently not.

I think of Gnosis as "Awakening", innate 'knowledge' of God - not knowledge as in knowing how many Aeons there are, their names and attributes - but an almost subconscious understanding of what God is and how we as individuals relate to God. Much like in Buddhism where Awakening is a dramatic and consciousness altering event, Gnosis changes a person into a Christ-like being. I don't think i have Gnosis.

But, as i've recently learnt, other Gnostics have different views of Gnosis. Many think they already have it.
Some think it is that knowledge of the Aeons, others believe they receive little doses of Gnosis throughout their lives - in dreams or visions. Others believe Gnosis comes through thinking and imagination, suddenly something makes sense about the afterlife or the nature of God, and they would consider that Gnosis.

It has been said that Gnosis cannot be adequatly expressed in words, if at all. So perhaps you're question is simply unanswerable. Otherwise, Gnosis can be anything you want it to be, it would seem.

 

[Random]

I think of Gnosis as "Awakening", innate 'knowledge' of God - not knowledge as in knowing how many Aeons there are, their names and attributes - but an almost subconscious understanding of what God is and how we as individuals relate to God. Much like in Buddhism where Awakening is a dramatic and consciousness altering event, Gnosis changes a person into a Christ-like being.

Uh-huh, that's as good a description of Gnosis as any.

 

[Buttons*]

I've always thought Gnosis was the one thing Gnostics would agree on. Apparently not.

I think of Gnosis as "Awakening", innate 'knowledge' of God - not knowledge as in knowing how many Aeons there are, their names and attributes - but an almost subconscious understanding of what God is and how we as individuals relate to God. Much like in Buddhism where Awakening is a dramatic and consciousness altering event, Gnosis changes a person into a Christ-like being. I don't think i have Gnosis.

I agree... I also agree that Gnosis, an understanding of all that is, can be found in any religion. It's pratically mysticism, in my view anyway. I dont see God as a being passing judgement... I feel "god" in everything... so I have a SLIGHTLY differing view, but only because I look at the same even through different eyeballs

I think Ymir and Halcyon have wonderful views of gnosis... and the greatest part (well, I think) is that Gnosis is something that is achievable by everyone. All can become a Christ. This, however, does not mean that we are any more holy... just that we comprehend and understand, and see what we could not before. I dont believe I've reached it. You will know when you do.

But, as i've recently learnt, other Gnostics have different views of Gnosis. Many think they already have it.

I dont believe that we are without some of gnostic light... because we do understand... i mean, i believe we all are born with the capability to understand. In this way, i feel that we all have gnosis... we just haven't touched it's light because we're too clouded by other things. I know, i'm just messing it up more with my silly language and words...

It's a feeling... and though we all have felt parts of it... you wont know until you've felt true light.

Some think it is that knowledge of the Aeons, others believe they receive little doses of Gnosis throughout their lives - in dreams or visions. Others believe Gnosis comes through thinking and imagination, suddenly something makes sense about the afterlife or the nature of God, and they would consider that Gnosis.

I disagree about knowing of the Aeons...
As for the rest, I see where they're coming from... but for the most part I disgree. Gnosis is something unexplainable, unimaginable... *sigh* I know what I mean.

It has been said that Gnosis cannot be adequatly expressed in words, if at all. So perhaps you're question is simply unanswerable. Otherwise, Gnosis can be anything you want it to be, it would seem.

pretty much

good answers Paul

 

[Cynic]

I'm not sure if I should share this, but I guess I'll do it anyway:

When I was about 18 and a liberal Christian, I had a strange experience... It was like I underwent a complete transformation, mentally and or spiritually. During this time, I saw the movie "To End All Wars", which inspired me. At this point I wanted to be like Christ. I began to "turn the other cheek", whenever someone wronged me, and felt compassion for them. Eventually from practicing humility, it seemed as though my ego, was no longer influencing my behavior. I had at this point, decided to give total dedication to God. God became everything, and I let go of everything in this world, including wants and desires. I let go of everything material, and a thought kept entering my mind, that this world is an illusion. I thought that spending time on worldly things was like spending money in the stock market when it would inevitably crash. “This world is a bridge, do not build your dwelling on it” –A non-canonical quote from Jesus. It was a waste of time, so I spent all day reading the bible and praying for weeks. Eventually, I entered a state of complete compassion and utter peace. I could no longer feel things like pain, anger, or sadness. It was as if I became disassociated with my physical self, I no longer needed sleep and never felt hungry. In fact if I tried to sleep, I would wake up every time. My body felt as though it was overflowing with spiritual energy. I felt as though I was unified with God, and I felt "oneness" towards everything and everyone. During this time, a lot of thoughts came to mind, and these thoughts led to my disassociation with mainstream Christianity. Because to me, at this point, I believed that rebirth was the exact process I went through. It was to do as Jesus said, "go and sin no more", to become Christ-like. A lot of churches I attended at the time taught that you could never stop sinning, and that Jesus did all the work for you. I learned that sin was not the works that we do, but your motives and intentions behind what you do, and that sin begins inside the heart and mind. To stop sinning, I believe that you have to change the negetive inside of you: anger, hate, jealousy, pride, selfishness. These are things associated with the physical self. The beast to me was our animalistic, physical nature, our desires and instincts to survive. But there was also a divine, spiritual nature within that is asleep inside of most people, because attachments to physical and material things. Sadly, before this experience, I had signed up to join the military, and was in the DEP program. Long story short, being in the military led to my gradual loss of spirituality. Being re-associated with the physical self was like returning to a very dense and dumbfounded state of consciousness. I could feel negative emotions again, like anger and hate. Ultimately I let myself fall, and regret it to this day. I’ve always been contemplating about this experience, and even though I’m now agnostic and sort of a naturalist, it feels as though I am denying my spirituality. My agnostic inclination often gets tossed around, as my spiritual inquisitiveness becomes more and more aroused. I feel that spirituality is a principle part of my nature, and often find myself wishing to be like Christ again, wishing to return to that state of utter peace and compassion. I sort of believe in a God, but God to me is like what Buttons said.

 

[Moni_Gail]

First, Cynic thanks for sharing that. :hug: It's definitely inspirational.

Second, as with everyone else, I will have to go with Paul for the definition of gnosis.

 

[Halcyon]

Wow! Sounds like you had it to me Cynic. I didn't realise you could lose it again though, very interesting.

If you had it once though, i believe you must be able to get it again. Seems like your obstacle is agnosticism, well - since you've experienced it once you know the experience is real, can i ask what exactly you are agnostic about?
Because if its a disbelief in a personal God sitting in the sky controlling the world, then we don't believe that either.

 

[Quiddity]

This has been an interesting read.

 

[Buttons*]

I'm not sure if I should share this, but I guess I'll do it anyway:

When I was about 18 and a liberal Christian, I had a strange experience... It was like I underwent a complete transformation, mentally and or spiritually. During this time, I saw the movie "To End All Wars", which inspired me. At this point I wanted to be like Christ. I began to "turn the other cheek", whenever someone wronged me, and felt compassion for them. Eventually from practicing humility, it seemed as though my ego, was no longer influencing my behavior. I had at this point, decided to give total dedication to God. God became everything, and I let go of everything in this world, including wants and desires. I let go of everything material, and a thought kept entering my mind, that this world is an illusion. I thought that spending time on worldly things was like spending money in the stock market when it would inevitably crash. “This world is a bridge, do not build your dwelling on it” –A non-canonical quote from Jesus. It was a waste of time, so I spent all day reading the bible and praying for weeks. Eventually, I entered a state of complete compassion and utter peace. I could no longer feel things like pain, anger, or sadness. It was as if I became disassociated with my physical self, I no longer needed sleep and never felt hungry. In fact if I tried to sleep, I would wake up every time. My body felt as though it was overflowing with spiritual energy. I felt as though I was unified with God, and I felt "oneness" towards everything and everyone. During this time, a lot of thoughts came to mind, and these thoughts led to my disassociation with mainstream Christianity. Because to me, at this point, I believed that rebirth was the exact process I went through. It was to do as Jesus said, "go and sin no more", to become Christ-like. A lot of churches I attended at the time taught that you could never stop sinning, and that Jesus did all the work for you. I learned that sin was not the works that we do, but your motives and intentions behind what you do, and that sin begins inside the heart and mind. To stop sinning, I believe that you have to change the negetive inside of you: anger, hate, jealousy, pride, selfishness. These are things associated with the physical self. The beast to me was our animalistic, physical nature, our desires and instincts to survive. But there was also a divine, spiritual nature within that is asleep inside of most people, because attachments to physical and material things. Sadly, before this experience, I had signed up to join the military, and was in the DEP program. Long story short, being in the military led to my gradual loss of spirituality. Being re-associated with the physical self was like returning to a very dense and dumbfounded state of consciousness. I could feel negative emotions again, like anger and hate. Ultimately I let myself fall, and regret it to this day. I’ve always been contemplating about this experience, and even though I’m now agnostic and sort of a naturalist, it feels as though I am denying my spirituality. My agnostic inclination often gets tossed around, as my spiritual inquisitiveness becomes more and more aroused. I feel that spirituality is a principle part of my nature, and often find myself wishing to be like Christ again, wishing to return to that state of utter peace and compassion. I sort of believe in a God, but God to me is like what Buttons said.

i remember all those feelings...it's beautiful, thank you *hug*

 

[Cynic]

Wow! Sounds like you had it to me Cynic. I didn't realise you could lose it again though, very interesting.

If you had it once though, i believe you must be able to get it again. Seems like your obstacle is agnosticism, well - since you've experienced it once you know the experience is real, can i ask what exactly you are agnostic about?
Because if its a disbelief in a personal God sitting in the sky controlling the world, then we don't believe that either.

I don't doubt that I can get to that state again. Sadly I think I have lots of obstactles... I usually find myself ensnared by pride and self interest.
I'm not sure what I'm agnostic about at this point, as dumb as that sounds.

 

[arielmessenger]

When I went through my religious conversion experience that converted me from near atheism to what has become a permanent belief in God and the reality of the spiritual world, I was overwhelmed with a flood of brand new to me religious concepts. In the experience God informed my mind why It had sent the Spirit of Christ as Jesus into our world and so I became a "Christian" but along with the new info God stuck in my head were these very, well, untraditional Christian ideas, like forinstance, where was the missing Feminine face of the Godhead in Christianity and the Abrahamic religions?

My religious conversion experience happened over Easter of 1979 and it took me a year to verify that my new "Christian" religious beliefs shared major themes in common with the old Gnostics. The Nag Hammadi Library was just translated into English in 1980 and that was where I found my "people", God help us all.

Now, though, after many a vision since 1979, my "Gnostic" beliefs are moved far beyond classical Gnosticism and into both pagan Canaanite and Native American directions. I will be posting a link to my website where the whole works of Arielmessenger can be read.

 

[gnostic]

I believe that gnosis means "secret knowledge", but I think it means a lot more that. Perhaps, "Awakening" as Halcyon said; though a lot of people prefer to equate it with "Enlightenment". It is Gnostic way of reaching the Buddhist's ninvana, except the Gnostic called it "pleroma".

 

[Random]

I believe that gnosis means "secret knowledge", but I think it means a lot more that. Perhaps, "Awakening" as Halcyon said; though a lot of people prefer to equate it with "Enlightenment". It is Gnostic way of reaching the Buddhist's ninvana, except the Gnostic called it "pleroma".

Once again, that's what it IS, yeah.

 

[arielmessenger]

Gnosis of God is not at all like the Buddhist brain manipulated state of mind. People confuse oceanic transcendental feelings arrived by meditating mystics with consciousness of God. The two aren't the same deal at all.

That's why prophesy and new inspiration comes out of God consciousness while Buddhists train their minds to tranquilize their brains into "no thought" using meditation instead of drugs.

Sorry, :sad4: but Buddhist philosophy is another traditional religion that is facing its End Times by having its fatal flaw exposed. I'll be posting more on this with results of brain studies of Buddhist monks.

 

[Random]

Gnosis of God is not at all like the Buddhist brain manipulated state of mind. People confuse oceanic transcendental feelings arrived by meditating mystics with consciousness of God. The two aren't the same deal at all.

That's why prophesy and new inspiration comes out of God consciousness while Buddhists train their minds to tranquilize their brains into "no thought" using meditation instead of drugs.

Sorry, :sad4: but Buddhist philosophy is another traditional religion that is facing its End Times by having its fatal flaw exposed. I'll be posting more on this with results of brain studies of Buddhist monks.

I look forward to your posts on Buddhist Brain detail-stuff.

However, gnosis and Enlightenment were originally not dissimilar in any way.

 

[RevOxley_501]

I'm not sure if I should share this, but I guess I'll do it anyway:

When I was about 18 and a liberal Christian, I had a strange experience... It was like I underwent a complete transformation, mentally and or spiritually. During this time, I saw the movie "To End All Wars", which inspired me. At this point I wanted to be like Christ. I began to "turn the other cheek", whenever someone wronged me, and felt compassion for them. Eventually from practicing humility, it seemed as though my ego, was no longer influencing my behavior. I had at this point, decided to give total dedication to God. God became everything, and I let go of everything in this world, including wants and desires. I let go of everything material, and a thought kept entering my mind, that this world is an illusion. I thought that spending time on worldly things was like spending money in the stock market when it would inevitably crash. “This world is a bridge, do not build your dwelling on it” –A non-canonical quote from Jesus. It was a waste of time, so I spent all day reading the bible and praying for weeks. Eventually, I entered a state of complete compassion and utter peace. I could no longer feel things like pain, anger, or sadness. It was as if I became disassociated with my physical self, I no longer needed sleep and never felt hungry. In fact if I tried to sleep, I would wake up every time. My body felt as though it was overflowing with spiritual energy. I felt as though I was unified with God, and I felt "oneness" towards everything and everyone. During this time, a lot of thoughts came to mind, and these thoughts led to my disassociation with mainstream Christianity. Because to me, at this point, I believed that rebirth was the exact process I went through. It was to do as Jesus said, "go and sin no more", to become Christ-like. A lot of churches I attended at the time taught that you could never stop sinning, and that Jesus did all the work for you. I learned that sin was not the works that we do, but your motives and intentions behind what you do, and that sin begins inside the heart and mind. To stop sinning, I believe that you have to change the negetive inside of you: anger, hate, jealousy, pride, selfishness. These are things associated with the physical self. The beast to me was our animalistic, physical nature, our desires and instincts to survive. But there was also a divine, spiritual nature within that is asleep inside of most people, because attachments to physical and material things. Sadly, before this experience, I had signed up to join the military, and was in the DEP program. Long story short, being in the military led to my gradual loss of spirituality. Being re-associated with the physical self was like returning to a very dense and dumbfounded state of consciousness. I could feel negative emotions again, like anger and hate. Ultimately I let myself fall, and regret it to this day. I’ve always been contemplating about this experience, and even though I’m now agnostic and sort of a naturalist, it feels as though I am denying my spirituality. My agnostic inclination often gets tossed around, as my spiritual inquisitiveness becomes more and more aroused. I feel that spirituality is a principle part of my nature, and often find myself wishing to be like Christ again, wishing to return to that state of utter peace and compassion. I sort of believe in a God, but God to me is like what Buttons said.

im going through some very similar emotions and situations myself


i have been rather bittered by the church for many years----now i think its getting a bit extreme even for me. good read

 

[Toblerone2]

I'm back!!
Sorry, I've been away from this board for several months.... I noticed coming back today that a lot of people have been banned??? Obviously I missed whatever it was that happened, but was still curious....what happened?

Back to the topic...
I'm also curious as to how anyone can fully claim to understand Gnosticism...from what I've read so far ( which is only a little ), gnostics rejected the formation of the Pauline catholic church, as well as much of its claims to Jesus' immortality and godhood. In "The Gnostic Gospels," Ms. Pagel even claims that gnostics rejected the belief in Yahweh as a universal creator god, instead saying that "Sophia", or wisdom, begat Yahweh and that he then created the Earth in a flawed manner (without her permission perhaps?). Hence everything in it and on it is flawed.

The purpose of Gnosis therefore is somewhat nihilistic: to reject everything to do with materialism, substance, and the earth, and look within to find one's own wisdom......ech now I need to go back and read the book again to clarify my thoughts. I also think that this set of beliefs has parallels in Buddism. It is certainly possible that different groups of people came to the same conclusions independent of one another, just at different times and places.

 

[ChrisP]

I'm back!!
Sorry, I've been away from this board for several months.... I noticed coming back today that a lot of people have been banned??? Obviously I missed whatever it was that happened, but was still curious....what happened?

Back to the topic...
I'm also curious as to how anyone can fully claim to understand Gnosticism...from what I've read so far ( which is only a little ), gnostics rejected the formation of the Pauline catholic church, as well as much of its claims to Jesus' immortality and godhood. In "The Gnostic Gospels," Ms. Pagel even claims that gnostics rejected the belief in Yahweh as a universal creator god, instead saying that "Sophia", or wisdom, begat Yahweh and that he then created the Earth in a flawed manner (without her permission perhaps?). Hence everything in it and on it is flawed.

The purpose of Gnosis therefore is somewhat nihilistic: to reject everything to do with materialism, substance, and the earth, and look within to find one's own wisdom......ech now I need to go back and read the book again to clarify my thoughts. I also think that this set of beliefs has parallels in Buddism. It is certainly possible that different groups of people came to the same conclusions independent of one another, just at different times and places.

I guess that all depends on your presumption that A) what you've read is true and correct, and B) Whether this is Abrahamic Gnosticism (sorry Paul... but hell, what else do I call it?).

I suggest you spend a lot of time reading this forum if you really want to know what Gnostics think, and yes, there is in depth discussion and study of some Gnostic creation myths, including the one you've mentioned.

 

[Halcyon]

I'm also curious as to how anyone can fully claim to understand Gnosticism...from what I've read so far ( which is only a little ), gnostics rejected the formation of the Pauline catholic church, as well as much of its claims to Jesus' immortality and godhood.

It's complicated. You're right that it is very difficult to fully understand Gnosticism, especially since Gnosticism doesn't really exist as a religion in and of itself, but is a category that contains quite a diverse and sometimes contradictory set of faiths.

Most Gnostics rejected the Catholic Church's claim to be the universal, be-all-and-end-all of Christ's purpose on Earth. Most saw it as the beginning of a process, once people got to grips with the simple orthodox understanding of Jesus and God, they could move onto the more important and mature teachings of the Gnostic Christ and the true meaning of Paul's letters.
Also, different sects of Gnostic thought had different ideas about the nature of Jesus Christ. Some believed him to be a man who had the Christ (a divine Aeon) indwelling in him. Others that Jesus Christ was a phantom that only appeared real to people, but was in fact entirely spiritual. There is also some evidence that some groups didn't believe Jesus existed at all, but that he was actually a vehicle for their own teachings.

In "The Gnostic Gospels," Ms. Pagel even claims that gnostics rejected the belief in Yahweh as a universal creator god, instead saying that "Sophia", or wisdom, begat Yahweh and that he then created the Earth in a flawed manner (without her permission perhaps?). Hence everything in it and on it is flawed.

This is the biggie of Gnostic belief, that the creator of this universe was flawed and that He passed that flaw onto his creation - hence why there is pain, suffering and evil in the world. The true God is all good, but Sophia (an Aeon, that is aspect of God's totality [what we call the pleroma]) made a mistake and wanted to create a being in the likeness of God, but without the cooperation of the pleroma, hence her child - the Demiurge/YHWH was born deformed and flawed.

The purpose of Gnosis therefore is somewhat nihilistic: to reject everything to do with materialism, substance, and the earth, and look within to find one's own wisdom......ech now I need to go back and read the book again to clarify my thoughts.

Exactly.

I also think that this set of beliefs has parallels in Buddism. It is certainly possible that different groups of people came to the same conclusions independent of one another, just at different times and places.

I often think of it as the Buddhism of the West.

I guess that all depends on your presumption that A) what you've read is true and correct, and B) Whether this is Abrahamic Gnosticism (sorry Paul... but hell, what else do I call it?).

Gnosticism is by its nature Abrahamic Chris, so no need to apologise at all. All forms of Gnosticism are either Jewish, Christian (including Bogomils/Cathari etc), Islamic, Manichaen or Mandean and so are all within the greater family of the Abrahamic faiths.

 

[wayfaring]

I have always understood gnosis as a type or means of knowledge. Arthur Deikman, amongst many others defines two ways of knowing:

a) Discursive reason - logical analysis, deduction, rationality. An active form of knowing.
b) Intellectus or perception - intuition, creative insight. A passive form of knowing that does not involve reason, analysis or deduction, not even at an unconscious level. A direct and immediate knowing giving synthesis and integration.
The western world is well trained in the first way of knowing but the second is less well cultivated. but it is this second way, usually cultivated by meditative techniques, but which can arise spontaneously or by means of drugs, that mystics usually refer to as the path of Transcendence. Thus, 'A person can no more understand (discursive reason) God than a stone can comprehend a human being.'