Gnosticism: the gathering of the light
May 31, 2024 21:41:31 GMT
Post by Stella on May 31, 2024 21:41:31 GMT
One of the major consequences of separateness and the Fall of Man in human culture is gnosticism. Gnosticism is a kind of shared set of beliefs which developed before what I personally refer to as the second wave of religious thinking. If we understand the oldest religions to be Hinduism and Judaism arising in the north of India and the Middle East or Israel around 10,000 years ago, developing into cultures themselves, closely followed by Jainism in India. Then second wave religions and spiritual beliefs would be Christianity, Buddhism and Zen, or Chan Buddhism the Chinese offshoot of Mahayana Buddhism fused together with Taoism.
Please keep in mind I'm referring to early or traditional gnosticism as opposed to modern gnosticism. I'm referring to a period of history roughly around 100 AD to 300-400 AD, around the Middle East, including the ancient trading centre of Alexandria in what is now Egypt and stretching eastwards towards Asia. Very much like modern conspiracy theories today back then there was a plethora of different cults, sects, mystical teachings, and developing belief systems.
Gnosticism is part of the journey between Judaism and Christianity among various sects and groups which diversified out of Judaism and arose out of the beginnings of Christianity in Judea which started out as mystical esoteric sects for Gentiles and non-Jews. But there were other cults and sects as well, such as Valentiniaism, Sethianism, Manichaeism, and Mandaeism which developed out of Persia and Iraq. Mandaeism is where gnosticism originated in time before Christ (BC) and gnosticism didn't flourish within early Christian circles until the latter half of the third century.
What is gnosticism about?
The central, core belief of gnosticism is that we humans don't belong here (on this planet). We are strangers or aliens to this planet. Something terrible happened in the past and that explains why we're here on this planet. We were destined for a much better living existence elsewhere but something went terribly wrong.
In this context some gnostic mythologies are fairly straightforward. Some are more Baroque or elaborate. Take for example the version put forward by the second century gnostic Bishop Valentinius. He had this notion that there were 36 Archons or demons with progressively lessening power. They interpose themselves between Mankind and a true or accurate vision of God. The last of the Archons, the 36th Archon was Sofia, who was the only female Archon.
There was a widespread cultural understanding and notion of sexual ambivalence and ambiguity at this time across many different beliefs, and which in gnosticism was resolved or explained in various ways. However... the 36th Archon was Sofia. She looked upwards towards the higher God and saw him bring forth Creation of which she was the final manifestation. In her heart an avarice grew, a desire or compulsion to create in the same manner as the highest God or All Father.
She brought forth an abortion (as described), she self-fertilised, or fertilised herself, not understanding the prerequisites of Creation. She turned inwards towards herself and then she brought forth a monstrosity. This monstrosity is Jahweh, Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament. When she had saw what she had done, and that she had brought forth this monstrosity, she flashed through a whole bunch of different emotions very quickly - horror, rage, guilt, fear, agony, shame, and so on.
These emotions felt by Sofia condensed into the material world over which Yaldaboath was then made Lord. Now this is where it gets confusing. The story about Sofia materialised around 200 AD but was inspired by a previous belief arising out of Jewish gnosticism which existed as early as 90 AD. Some versions of the story of Sofia maintain that Yaldaboath morphed into both Jahweh or Jehovah and also the Egyptian deity Seth. But there is a consensus that the material universe and physical existence was created out of the storm of emotions arising out of Sofia, the 36th Archon.
Despite the fact that this was an incredibly bad scene, it still retains a somewhat tenuous connection to the Almighty, the All Father, or Godthrough what is known as the scintilla or 'spark', the soul spark of divinity, which brings us to the main objective of gnosticism.
The gathering of the light
The main objectives of the unfortunate gnostics who had the misfortune to be born into this world is to gather the light together. There's a belief that the light in contact with the material world and existence is defiled and corrupt. So it's the objectives of gnostics is to gather the light together and save the light.
The central concern of gnostics is how to gather the light together and save it. Therefore the whole theology is what is the light, how shall we gather the light, and once we have the light what do we do with it. There are various answers. There's a sexual tension in gnosticism. There are two extremes as to how to deal with it.
This gave the two extreme versions of gnostic beliefs, one of extreme or harsh austerity and self-deprivation, and one of extreme hedonism and liberalism where you can do anything you want.
This was rejected by traditional and orthodox Jews, baffling to scholars of early Christian morality and also rejected by what was to become the Theravadins (early Buddhism) in India. But nonetheless gnostic beliefs permeated Christianity and Buddhism.
Gnostic influences on Buddhism and Christianity
Out of gnosticism we get Mayahana Buddhism (Mahayana = the 'Greater Vehicle') and a separation from the older version, Theravada (Buddhism) which retained its roots in Hinduism and Jainism. Theravada Buddhism is considered hinayana - 'the lesser vehicle' which essentially means that it's Buddhism developed for one person and their 'path' or Abidhamma through either a monastic or shamanistic tradition (the Forest Tradition).
The objective of Mahayana Buddhism (which includes Zen) is 'perfect enlightenment' (the gathering of the light) so as to escape samsara or 'the wheel of life', the endless cycles of karma, reincarnation and rebirth. Once having become a boddhisatva - 'the one who is to become a buddha or awakened one' - then it is one's mission to go back into the world to save other souls (to gather the light again). Enlightened beings are known as buddhas and there are buddhas born throughout history. Prince Shakyamuni Siddhartha Gautama was only the original buddha, or Buddha.
When it comes to Christianity gnostic influences are somewhat more subdued, nuanced and interwoven with the rest of Christian thinking and mysticism. Keep in mind that Christian mysticism is in itself a diverse and wealthy chunk of mysticism but there are parts of the Bible which are very clearly gnostic in nature, particularly in the New Testament.
One of the clearest examples is the Book of Revelations which is clearly gnostic in nature. This is because the central theme of Revelations is the separation of the light from matter and the physical realm of existence to establish a new kingdom of God. In Chapter 12 of Revelations you have a revision of the story of Sofia in the Woman of the Apocalypse, who's appearance is signified by the Dragon. You have people with the mark of God who are distinguished very clearly from those with the number of the beast (666). There's a lot of other stuff in Revelations, a great deal of numerology, but the central gnostic theme is pretty much undeniable.
Another clear example is the Gospel according to John.
I've given you here the opening to the gospel according to John. You have the going forward of the word, and the struggle between light and darkness. This is thoroughly gnostic. This is essentially the Manichaean doctrine, which is a variant of gnosticism. Manichaeism is an elaborate dualistic Persian religion which held great sway in world around the 3rd century. The central figure or messiah was Mani, and the central belief was the struggle throughout Mankind between the good, spiritual world of light, and the evil, material world of darkness. Mani's teachings were designed to combine and surpass other teachings such as Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Marcianism, Hellenistic and Rabbinistic Judaism, other gnostic movements, Ancient Greek religions, Babylonian and other Mesopotamian religions.
Islam developed out of the rivalry between early Christianity and Manichaeism and from both changed from polytheism to monotheism (Allah) because Manichaeism was the dominant religion in the Aramaic speaking world. However Mani was a Mandaen, his father was a priest in the Mandaen faith.
Why am I writing about all this?
I have a couple of reasons. The first is to illustrate how your past karma may contain consequences arising from choices made in previous incarnations which lie way beyond your conscious awareness or your knowledge from this incarnation or life cycle. I'm sure you are aware of the struggle between light and darkness and between good and evil, but you might not be aware or familiar with how this entered into human culture or the field of human consciousness. I'm trying to point out how extremely limited your field of knowledge is if you're going through life from a position of Ego. I go into this and the mechanics of social condition in more detail in my 'Understanding the cycles of fear', which brings me to my second reason.
I also feel that this is a very important issue which still hasn't been resolved today in the 21st century and affects the vast majority of human beings on the planet.
Are we a part of Nature and an integral part of this planet's ecosystem? Or are we from somewhere else and belong somewhere other than this planet? This is a straightforward either or issue. You cannot have this both ways. You simply cannot refer to yourself or think of yourself as a natural human being and also have a form conviction or belief in your separateness from your environment and other people. Believing that you can is nonsense. it just doesn't square with your lived experience of reality.
This is a very clear and straightforward choice. Who are you really? How do you really want to live? Do you want to integrate fully with nature and biology and feel that this is where the future of the human species lies? Or are you prepared to still believe in some magical act of conjuration where you conjure up a non-physical version of yourself from out of your physical form and somehow transcend completely the physical limitations of existence? Keep in mind that collectively, socially and culturally we have made the latter choice and that is how we are all programmed. The only thing what's left is the philosophical dotting of the i's and crossing of the t's.
Finally I want to point out that you do not need a religion. The only thing you have to do on this planet is be yourself, trust yourself, and live in accordance with Natural Law. You do not need anything else. I get that you may have some emotional need for a religion, but that's your choice to make it or continue it as part of your process. But existentially, you don't. You don't need any belief system or ideology. You don't even need to accept or embrace any of my writing, works, Qultura or anything. I am simply manifesting myself through my creative energy and consciousness and expressing it out into the environment. However if you do follow a religion, I would hope that you permit yourself the licence of heresy and apply the skill of critical thinking to your doctrines and what is being taught.
Not much point in following any belief or ideology if you're not directly getting any benefit from it, is there? Think about it.
Please keep in mind I'm referring to early or traditional gnosticism as opposed to modern gnosticism. I'm referring to a period of history roughly around 100 AD to 300-400 AD, around the Middle East, including the ancient trading centre of Alexandria in what is now Egypt and stretching eastwards towards Asia. Very much like modern conspiracy theories today back then there was a plethora of different cults, sects, mystical teachings, and developing belief systems.
Gnosticism is part of the journey between Judaism and Christianity among various sects and groups which diversified out of Judaism and arose out of the beginnings of Christianity in Judea which started out as mystical esoteric sects for Gentiles and non-Jews. But there were other cults and sects as well, such as Valentiniaism, Sethianism, Manichaeism, and Mandaeism which developed out of Persia and Iraq. Mandaeism is where gnosticism originated in time before Christ (BC) and gnosticism didn't flourish within early Christian circles until the latter half of the third century.
What is gnosticism about?
The central, core belief of gnosticism is that we humans don't belong here (on this planet). We are strangers or aliens to this planet. Something terrible happened in the past and that explains why we're here on this planet. We were destined for a much better living existence elsewhere but something went terribly wrong.
In this context some gnostic mythologies are fairly straightforward. Some are more Baroque or elaborate. Take for example the version put forward by the second century gnostic Bishop Valentinius. He had this notion that there were 36 Archons or demons with progressively lessening power. They interpose themselves between Mankind and a true or accurate vision of God. The last of the Archons, the 36th Archon was Sofia, who was the only female Archon.
There was a widespread cultural understanding and notion of sexual ambivalence and ambiguity at this time across many different beliefs, and which in gnosticism was resolved or explained in various ways. However... the 36th Archon was Sofia. She looked upwards towards the higher God and saw him bring forth Creation of which she was the final manifestation. In her heart an avarice grew, a desire or compulsion to create in the same manner as the highest God or All Father.
She brought forth an abortion (as described), she self-fertilised, or fertilised herself, not understanding the prerequisites of Creation. She turned inwards towards herself and then she brought forth a monstrosity. This monstrosity is Jahweh, Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament. When she had saw what she had done, and that she had brought forth this monstrosity, she flashed through a whole bunch of different emotions very quickly - horror, rage, guilt, fear, agony, shame, and so on.
These emotions felt by Sofia condensed into the material world over which Yaldaboath was then made Lord. Now this is where it gets confusing. The story about Sofia materialised around 200 AD but was inspired by a previous belief arising out of Jewish gnosticism which existed as early as 90 AD. Some versions of the story of Sofia maintain that Yaldaboath morphed into both Jahweh or Jehovah and also the Egyptian deity Seth. But there is a consensus that the material universe and physical existence was created out of the storm of emotions arising out of Sofia, the 36th Archon.
Despite the fact that this was an incredibly bad scene, it still retains a somewhat tenuous connection to the Almighty, the All Father, or Godthrough what is known as the scintilla or 'spark', the soul spark of divinity, which brings us to the main objective of gnosticism.
The gathering of the light
The main objectives of the unfortunate gnostics who had the misfortune to be born into this world is to gather the light together. There's a belief that the light in contact with the material world and existence is defiled and corrupt. So it's the objectives of gnostics is to gather the light together and save the light.
The central concern of gnostics is how to gather the light together and save it. Therefore the whole theology is what is the light, how shall we gather the light, and once we have the light what do we do with it. There are various answers. There's a sexual tension in gnosticism. There are two extremes as to how to deal with it.
- Life is defiled. The light is defiled. Therefore we should withhold the entry of light into matter. Therefore we must be celibate. We must not have any children. In some cases this took on the form that we sanction no form of sexual union which could lead to procreation.
- Extreme celibacy.
- Man is divine. We are of the light. Nothing in the universe of Yaldaboath can pollute the light because it is of a higher order. Thereffore we can do anything we want.
This gave the two extreme versions of gnostic beliefs, one of extreme or harsh austerity and self-deprivation, and one of extreme hedonism and liberalism where you can do anything you want.
This was rejected by traditional and orthodox Jews, baffling to scholars of early Christian morality and also rejected by what was to become the Theravadins (early Buddhism) in India. But nonetheless gnostic beliefs permeated Christianity and Buddhism.
Gnostic influences on Buddhism and Christianity
Out of gnosticism we get Mayahana Buddhism (Mahayana = the 'Greater Vehicle') and a separation from the older version, Theravada (Buddhism) which retained its roots in Hinduism and Jainism. Theravada Buddhism is considered hinayana - 'the lesser vehicle' which essentially means that it's Buddhism developed for one person and their 'path' or Abidhamma through either a monastic or shamanistic tradition (the Forest Tradition).
The objective of Mahayana Buddhism (which includes Zen) is 'perfect enlightenment' (the gathering of the light) so as to escape samsara or 'the wheel of life', the endless cycles of karma, reincarnation and rebirth. Once having become a boddhisatva - 'the one who is to become a buddha or awakened one' - then it is one's mission to go back into the world to save other souls (to gather the light again). Enlightened beings are known as buddhas and there are buddhas born throughout history. Prince Shakyamuni Siddhartha Gautama was only the original buddha, or Buddha.
When it comes to Christianity gnostic influences are somewhat more subdued, nuanced and interwoven with the rest of Christian thinking and mysticism. Keep in mind that Christian mysticism is in itself a diverse and wealthy chunk of mysticism but there are parts of the Bible which are very clearly gnostic in nature, particularly in the New Testament.
One of the clearest examples is the Book of Revelations which is clearly gnostic in nature. This is because the central theme of Revelations is the separation of the light from matter and the physical realm of existence to establish a new kingdom of God. In Chapter 12 of Revelations you have a revision of the story of Sofia in the Woman of the Apocalypse, who's appearance is signified by the Dragon. You have people with the mark of God who are distinguished very clearly from those with the number of the beast (666). There's a lot of other stuff in Revelations, a great deal of numerology, but the central gnostic theme is pretty much undeniable.
Another clear example is the Gospel according to John.
The word became flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
--The Gospel according to John, Chapter 1, Holy Bible - New International Version
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
--The Gospel according to John, Chapter 1, Holy Bible - New International Version
I've given you here the opening to the gospel according to John. You have the going forward of the word, and the struggle between light and darkness. This is thoroughly gnostic. This is essentially the Manichaean doctrine, which is a variant of gnosticism. Manichaeism is an elaborate dualistic Persian religion which held great sway in world around the 3rd century. The central figure or messiah was Mani, and the central belief was the struggle throughout Mankind between the good, spiritual world of light, and the evil, material world of darkness. Mani's teachings were designed to combine and surpass other teachings such as Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Marcianism, Hellenistic and Rabbinistic Judaism, other gnostic movements, Ancient Greek religions, Babylonian and other Mesopotamian religions.
Islam developed out of the rivalry between early Christianity and Manichaeism and from both changed from polytheism to monotheism (Allah) because Manichaeism was the dominant religion in the Aramaic speaking world. However Mani was a Mandaen, his father was a priest in the Mandaen faith.
Why am I writing about all this?
I have a couple of reasons. The first is to illustrate how your past karma may contain consequences arising from choices made in previous incarnations which lie way beyond your conscious awareness or your knowledge from this incarnation or life cycle. I'm sure you are aware of the struggle between light and darkness and between good and evil, but you might not be aware or familiar with how this entered into human culture or the field of human consciousness. I'm trying to point out how extremely limited your field of knowledge is if you're going through life from a position of Ego. I go into this and the mechanics of social condition in more detail in my 'Understanding the cycles of fear', which brings me to my second reason.
I also feel that this is a very important issue which still hasn't been resolved today in the 21st century and affects the vast majority of human beings on the planet.
Are we a part of Nature and an integral part of this planet's ecosystem? Or are we from somewhere else and belong somewhere other than this planet? This is a straightforward either or issue. You cannot have this both ways. You simply cannot refer to yourself or think of yourself as a natural human being and also have a form conviction or belief in your separateness from your environment and other people. Believing that you can is nonsense. it just doesn't square with your lived experience of reality.
This is a very clear and straightforward choice. Who are you really? How do you really want to live? Do you want to integrate fully with nature and biology and feel that this is where the future of the human species lies? Or are you prepared to still believe in some magical act of conjuration where you conjure up a non-physical version of yourself from out of your physical form and somehow transcend completely the physical limitations of existence? Keep in mind that collectively, socially and culturally we have made the latter choice and that is how we are all programmed. The only thing what's left is the philosophical dotting of the i's and crossing of the t's.
Finally I want to point out that you do not need a religion. The only thing you have to do on this planet is be yourself, trust yourself, and live in accordance with Natural Law. You do not need anything else. I get that you may have some emotional need for a religion, but that's your choice to make it or continue it as part of your process. But existentially, you don't. You don't need any belief system or ideology. You don't even need to accept or embrace any of my writing, works, Qultura or anything. I am simply manifesting myself through my creative energy and consciousness and expressing it out into the environment. However if you do follow a religion, I would hope that you permit yourself the licence of heresy and apply the skill of critical thinking to your doctrines and what is being taught.
Not much point in following any belief or ideology if you're not directly getting any benefit from it, is there? Think about it.