Fwd: gnostic esoterica

[Allan Balliett]

The Schumaker College has made a bunch of  conference tapes related to
William Irwin Thompson available for FREE at mp3s at

https://archive.org/search.php?query=william%20irwin%20thompson

I don't see anything directly addressing the Gnostics but a lot of lectures
on Man and Nature, Man and Industrialism and similar topics.

Seems like it's potentially a great find!

-allan in WV

On Sat, Jul 8, 2017 at 5:29 AM, Kai Frederik Lorentzen <lorentzen at hotmail.de
> wrote:

>
> 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> 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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