Theos-Talk Archives (August 2004 Message tt00577)

>From The Gnostic Society
Like Buddhism, Gnosticism begins with the fundamental recognition 
that earthly life is filled with suffering. In order to nourish 
themselves, all forms of life consume each other, thereby visiting 
pain, fear, and death upon one another (even herbivorous animals live 
by destroying the life of plants). In addition, so-called natural 
catastrophes -- earthquakes, floods, fires, drought, volcanic 
eruptions -- bring further suffering and death in their wake. Human 
beings, with their complex physiology and psychology, are aware not 
only of these painful features of earthly existence. They also suffer 
from the frequent recognition that they are strangers living in a 
world that is flawed and absurd.
The Gnostic God concept is more subtle than that of most religions. 
In its way, it unites and reconciles the recognitions of Monotheism 
and Polytheism, as well as of Theism, Deism and Pantheism. In the 
Gnostic view, there is a true, ultimate and transcendent God, who is 
beyond all created universes and who never created anything in the 
sense in which the word "create" is ordinarily understood. While this 
True God did not fashion or create anything, He (or, It) "emanated" 
or brought forth from within Himself the substance of all there is in 
all the worlds, visible and invisible. In a certain sense, it may 
therefore be true to say that all is God, for all consists of the 
substance of God ["monism"]. By the same token, it must also be 
recognized that many portions of the original divine essence have 
been projected so far from their source that they underwent 
unwholesome changes in the process. To worship the cosmos, or nature, 
or embodied creatures is thus tantamount to worshipping alienated and 
corrupt portions of the emanated divine essence. 
The basic Gnostic myth has many variations, but all of these refer to 
Aeons, intermediate deific beings who exist between the ultimate, 
True God and ourselves. They, together with the True God, comprise 
the realm of Fullness (Pleroma) wherein the potency of divinity 
operates fully. The Fullness stands in contrast to our existential 
state, which in comparison may be called emptiness. 
One of the aeonial beings who bears the name Sophia ("Wisdom") is of 
great importance to the Gnostic world view. In the course of her 
journeyings, Sophia came to emanate from her own being a flawed 
consciousness, a being who became the creator of the material and 
psychic cosmos, all of which he created in the image of his own flaw. 
This being, unaware of his origins, imagined himself to be the 
ultimate and absolute God. Since he took the already existing divine 
essence and fashioned it into various forms, he is also called the 
Demiurgos or "half-maker" There is an authentic half, a true deific 
component within creation, but it is not recognized by the half-maker 
and by his cosmic minions, the Archons or "rulers". 
Human nature mirrors the duality found in the world: in part it was 
made by the false creator God and in part it consists of the light of 
the True God. Humankind contains a perishable physical and psychic 
component, as well as a spiritual component which is a fragment of 
the divine essence. This latter part is often symbolically referred 
to as the "divine spark". The recognition of this dual nature of the 
world and of the human being has earned the Gnostic tradition the 
epithet of "dualist". 
Humans are generally ignorant of the divine spark resident within 
them. This ignorance is fostered in human nature by the influence of 
the false creator and his Archons, who together are intent upon 
keeping men and women ignorant of their true nature and destiny. 
Anything that causes us to remain attached to earthly things serves 
to keep us in enslavement to these lower cosmic rulers. Death 
releases the divine spark from its lowly prison, but if there has not 
been a substantial work of Gnosis undertaken by the soul prior to 
death, it becomes likely that the divine spark will be hurled back 
into, and then re-embodied within, the pangs and slavery of the 
physical world. 
Not all humans are spiritual (pneumatics) and thus ready for Gnosis 
and liberation. Some are earthbound and materialistic beings 
(hyletics), who recognize only the physical reality. Others live 
largely in their psyche (psychics). Such people usually mistake the 
Demiurge for the True God and have little or no awareness of the 
spiritual world beyond matter and mind. 
In the course of history, humans progress from materialistic sensate 
slavery, by way of ethical religiosity, to spiritual freedom and 
liberating Gnosis. As the scholar G. Quispel wrote: "The world-spirit 
in exile must go through the Inferno of matter and the Purgatory of 
morals to arrive at the spiritual Paradise." This kind of evolution 
of consciousness was envisioned by the Gnostics, long before the 
concept of evolution was known. 
To the Gnostic, commandments and rules are not salvific; they are not 
substantially conducive to salvation. Rules of conduct may serve 
numerous ends, including the structuring of an ordered and peaceful 
society, and the maintenance of harmonious relations within social 
groups. Rules, however, are not relevant to salvation; that is 
brought about only by Gnosis. Morality therefore needs to be viewed 
primarily in temporal and secular terms; it is ever subject to 
changes and modifications in accordance with the spiritual 
development of the individual. 
As noted in the discussion above, "hyletic materialists" usually have 
little interest in morality, while "psychic disciplinarians" often 
grant to it a great importance. In contrast, "Pneumatic spiritual" 
persons are generally more concerned with other, higher matters. 
Different historical periods also require variant attitudes regarding 
human conduct. Items of Gnostic interest may be found in much other 
literature. The Hermetic writings, the writings of the Christian 
mystics, the Jewish Gnosticism of the Kabbalah are some of these. 
Some of the great poets of the culture, such as Dante, Blake and 
Goethe incorporated valuable Gnostic themes in their works,which are 
of interest. In modern times, the Nineteenth Century Occult Revival, 
pioneered by H. P. Blavatsky, bore a decidedly Gnostic character and 
thus produced some writings that are useful to present Gnostic 
concerns.	+ Stephan A. Hoeller 
(Tau Stephanus, Gnostic Bishop)