gnostic esoterica

Sat Jul 8 04:29:50 CDT 2017

Gnosis has always been important to me because therein the question of theodicy can be answered better than with the Lutheran Protestantism I grew up with. The Gnostic teaching also provided a psychonautic map for navigating through the psychedelic experience. In recent years, however, my ways led me to India ... Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha ...

http://gnosis.org/gnintro.htm

> ... Gnostics do not look to salvation from sin (original or other), but rather from the ignorance of which sin is a consequence. Ignorance -- whereby is meant ignorance of spiritual realities -- is dispelled only by Gnosis, and the decisive revelation of Gnosis is brought by the Messengers of Light, especially by Christ, the Logos of the True God. It is not by His suffering and death but by His life of teaching and His establishing of mysteries that Christ has performed His work of salvation.

The Gnostic concept of salvation, like other Gnostic concepts, is a subtle one. On the one hand, Gnostic salvation may easily be mistaken for an unmediated individual experience, a sort of spiritual do-it-yourself project. Gnostics hold that the potential for Gnosis, and thus, of salvation is present in every man and woman, and that salvation is not vicarious but individual. At the same time, they also acknowledge that Gnosis and salvation can be, indeed must be, stimulated and facilitated in order to effectively arise within consciousness. This stimulation is supplied by Messengers of Light who, in addition to their teachings, establish salvific mysteries (sacraments) which can be administered by apostles of the Messengers and their successors.

One needs also remember that knowledge of our true nature -- as well as other associated realizations -- are withheld from us by our very condition of earthly existence. The True God of transcendence is unknown in this world, in fact He is often called the Unknown Father. It is thus obvious that revelation from on High is needed to bring about salvation. The indwelling spark must be awakened from its terrestrial slumber by the saving knowledge that comes “from without” ... <

For a longer read I recommend "A History of Gnosticism"  by Giovanni Filoramo.

Then there's "The Gnostic Religion" by Hans Jonas. The study is the English version of the dissertation he wrote as a student of Heidegger whose existential categories from "Being and Time" Jonas uses for the explication of the Gnostic teaching. This works because there's a genuinely Gnostic element in Heidegger's thinking.

Those reading German should also check out the 1031 pages reader "Weltrevolution der Seele. Ein Lese- und Arbeitsbuch der Gnosis von der Spätantike bis zur Gegenwart", edited by Peter Sloterdijk and Thomas Macho, where you'll also find texts from people like Samuel Beckett, Stanislav Grof or Jorge Luis Borges.

https://petersloterdijk.net/werk/weltrevolution-der-seele/

Some ancient source texts can be read in the Nag Hammadi Library:

http://khazarzar.skeptik.net/books/nhl.pdf

Am 08.07.2017 um 03:28 schrieb David Morris:
I never studied Gnosticism.  It always seemed to be negating, but then so does Zen.  Nothing is real.  The common thread is that our shared fallen/illusory state is transcendable.  A return is possible via disciplined practice.  The return is to experience our source, gnosis, consciousness.  We are not primarily physical beings.  That illusion is our fallen state.

All religions have their mystical paths, probably always discovered by accident by real devotees.  Sufism, Kaballaism, Mystical Christianism, all sorts of Budism, Hinduism, and Shamanism.  My list is too short.  Their common thread is personal transcendent experience, not dogma.

David Morris

On Fri, Jul 7, 2017 at 7:25 PM L E Bryan <lebryan at sonic.net<mailto:lebryan at sonic.net>> wrote:
Ah yes. The good old days of 20 years ago when Pagel’s "The Gnostics” came out. About the same time William Irwin Thompson’s “the Edge of History” came out. It was in the latter I first came across the demiurge, Ialdabaoth. Hadn’t thought about old Iald in years. The book is still available on Amazon. I wonder if I would still be impressed with his eruditeness.

Lawrence

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