GNOSIS

Gnosticism is probably the oldest form of God worship (I don't like to use the term 'religion' because of what it has now come to represent). It has existed in all ancient cultures under different names - in India, Egypt, China, Persia, Israel/Palestine, Greece, etc.

All genuine Spiritual Teachers (such as Zoroaster, Krishna, Melchizedek, Moses, Buddha, Isaiah, Yehoshua, Mohammed, Guru Nanak, and so many others now forgotten by modern history) were, by definition, gnostics, i.e. they (if genuine) KNEW and/or were UNITED with Elohim - the Spirit of God.

Throughout history these gnostic Masters have always been hated and persecuted during their lifetimes by the majority of common religionists (i.e. those whose worship is only concerned with exotericism and mere beliefs and traditions passed down from their forefathers, i.e. no personal 'first-hand' knowledge or experience). It is always the custom for the ignorant to be jealous of those who claim to have special hidden knowledge - whether it be true or not. Thus it is that gnostics have always been forced underground until quite recently.

Now that 'orthodox' religious (worldly) power has been diminished worldwide, you will notice a vast increase in those who are seeking or interested in gnostic Truth - the only genuine Truth - and an enormous increase in books and other media attention to the subject.

Is it a coincidence that so many ancient gnostic texts are only now coming to light after thousands of years hidden from the evil hands of orthodoxy? I wonder how many more archaeological discoveries will be made in the future showing the precedence of gnosis over mass (i.e. 'orthodox') religion?

PLU ~ Bob

Admin wrote:
Is it a coincidence that so many ancient gnostic texts are only now coming to light after thousands of years hidden from the evil hands of orthodoxy? I wonder how many more archaeological discoveries will be made in the future showing the precedence of gnosis over mass (i.e. 'orthodox') religion?
PLU ~ Bob

Admin

I have two associations to this matter/question:

1. Jesus' prophesy of the time to come when "all that was hidden shall be revealed"

and

2. My "teacher of teachers" Gurdjieff's statement that goes something like this:

In times of great upheaval, wars and destruction (like our time) a very great amount of knowledge is liberated. For the benefit of those (comparatively few) who seek this knowledge. It's a special cosmic principle, that I don't pretend to understand. But I believe it's true. Never has there been more violence and conflict in the world than there is today, and never before has so much knowledge been available to the seekers of truth.

There can be a great many thoughts to be thought on this matter.
It is definitely interesting.

Two circles. We are in the outer. The "Kingdom og Heaven" is the esoteric or inner.
That's where all the knowledge is coming from. In our solar system this would be the Sun.
The source of our life. At least there's a theory that without this inner circle our Earth would die.

i appreciate that definition. todays orthochristians are what the great apostle called judaizers.
and we need to enlighten them in the the context of things in which they understand,as he did
as christ DOES.the pastor of the church i attend asked me to define gnosis ,i quoted the book of
matthew the kingdom of heaven is with in you,and added its christ in you ,a divine esoteric revealatory of the indwelling of christ.todays orthochristians are only doing what they were taught.
by man made doctrine.thats why so many are carnal and un enlightend.why so many seek outside
the ortho-box and for the most part remain christless and unfullfilled.instead of arguing abouy how
rigt we are;we being enlighten need to seek and save the lost.this must be done as christ did .
he made connections . this is why phenomonolgy is so important. if you can understand how and why someone believes what they do, you can work and teach in that enviroment,thatis what makes
one a master teacher in the order of christ and others.time is critical,and we need to be the searvants not pridefull because we are enlightend in reality god never esteems one over the other
otherwise he would not be just

I am in complete agreeance with you, Sopherim. Course, they get a little grumpy when you try to wake them up....
Just outta curiosity, what was your minister's response?
Also, what is phenomonolgy? I am unfamiliar with that term. I assume it has a Latin base, but I am honestly too lazy to look it up, and I can't remember enough from medical terms class to work it out.

hi
1} a decription of the given of immediate experieance .2}an attempt to capture experience in process as lived tru a descriptive analysis. 3} a method of KNOWING that begins with the things
themselves, that looksfor a moment of an openingfree of our own perceptionsand interpitations,together withwith a methodologyfor reducing the interferance of our own pre conceptions. 4} !! a method of learningabout another person by listiening to there descriptions
of what there subjective world is like for them.together with an attempt tounderstand this in their
own terms as fully as possiable. it is the actof trying to experience the total realityof anothers
concesness and how the have percieved it in there own setting. definations i have gathered 2 years
ago and had in my journal. they are correct "phenesti" greek- to show forth bringing into the light of day. is that an awesome word or what. i noticed you loves words and there original meening
as much as i do. i also love factual information

Do you know any (ancient) Greek?

Sounds like poetry and especially haikus would be good examples of phenomenology.

i dont really read poetry hardley ever any more, i love it . i love to write,prayer,poem,and also iwrite
just bunches of stuff,learned,thoughts ,expound upon what ifs i learn alot thru it. i have always wanted to learn to speak,aramaic , hebrew greek and latin so i do it kinda word at a time during study of other things

Me too!
I already know a smattering of Latin, but I am tryin gto learn Greek and Aramaic as well. Scanning the Zohar was my first step (the 72 name meditation for GOd according to Kabbalah).

i love to do word studies going back to the root word and there first definition allows yow to see when and how the word has changed . it also opens the door to a greater depth of understanding. when a definition changes, the word loses its intended meaning. this leads to misinterpretation ,and divisions. an example is after pres Clinton and Monica
his explanation of his actions has changed the definition of sex

sopherim7 wrote:i love to do word studies going back to the root word and there first definition allows yow to see when and how the word has changed . it also opens the door to a greater depth of understanding. when a definition changes, the word loses its intended meaning. this leads to misinterpretation ,and divisions. an example is after pres Clinton and Monica
his explanation of his actions has changed the definition of sex

I think it is most likely that the original meaning of ISRAEL was "one who sees God" (’ish ra’eh ’el). If so, this is probably the most critical 'lost meaning' of any word in history!

PLU ~ Bob

genisis 32;27-28and the angel said to him, what is your name?he said jacob .28 and he said your name shall no longer be jacob but israel{peniel}for you have struggled with GOD and with men and have preveiled.vrs 30 ..for i have seenGod face to face and my life is preserved.. the name has also been interprited one who struggles wiyh God.this passage represents ego death, and becoming a new creation because of the experiance with GOD . the meanings of names is very different because it is a proper noun but because of what it means to be named. makeking a name uncomparable in the situation i addressed above.

I wonder if there is a Gnostic book that gives the methods of attaining first hand knowledge the way the ancients did, maybe without the possibly deadly initiation rituals, although what is death if one never really accomplishes living human potential, we may have to come back till we get it right.

It would be really great if some text came out that was useful to the seeker after truth, that was an exact science of finding ones inner truth without having to live like a monk, not that I would not like to get away from this consumer based civilization.

It seems that we need eyes to see and ears to hear of a spiritual fabric.

I read that religion comes from another older word that meant re-binding, as in intergrating the Higher Self into this body with the personality of the current incarnation

That diagram reminds me of the symbol for the sun, the point centered within the circle. Or my favorite, the symbol for God, where the point (within the circle) is everywhere and the circumference nowhere.

The exoteric may have it's uses, but without the esoteric it only seems to go so far. The exoteric is good for the preparation in morals and ethics to safely approach the esoteric free of hates and resentments with reverence for something Higher and a greater capacity for love, understanding and tolerance.

I have a friend that speaks Czech, German, Hebrew, English, Swedish and another, it may be French. Some say you never fully understand laguage until you know more than one.

I have to agree Bob, that is what I found that "Israel" really meant, historical authority may depend on the majority not knowing enough. Imagine children of (’ish ra’eh ’el) in jerusalum, maybe they would put down the desert eagles and accept that others have the right to live on there forefathers land. The innocent are born on both sides. I feel we live on earth and do not really own it, this is after all a transitory world.

Iehi Aur wrote:I wonder if there is a Gnostic book that gives the methods of attaining first hand knowledge the way the ancients did, maybe without the possibly deadly initiation rituals, although what is death if one never really accomplishes living human potential, we may have to come back till we get it right.

It would be really great if some text came out that was useful to the seeker after truth, that was an exact science of finding ones inner truth without having to live like a monk, not that I would not like to get away from this consumer based civilization.

Methods of attaining first-hand knowledge(the way the ancients did)- I've a feeling you mean the "mystical death" or ego-death. How to attain this? and then be free of the veils so one can "see" clearly. This is what all scriptures really talk about. In my experience i find Love to be a Burning Fire, that destroys and creates anew. This is constantly happening, and there is the pleroma. Much of the "advice" given in scripture is meant to undo the counterfeit spirit. I also find the Tao-te-Ching and other Taoist manuals great help in this "Opus Dei". Another book I find practical in these regards is titled A Course in Miracles. But simply ask and ye shall receive. Ask for the Awarenss and Mindfulness of ego reactions. Ask for the Knowledge of Your Self,The Knowledge of Your True Will.

"without the possibly deadly initiation rituals"- by this do you mean the entheogenic sacraments? Something like the kykleon(?) used by the initiates of the eleusinian mysteries? I do feel that these help to destroy one's ego, but I also feel it is done by opening one to demonic influences, sometimes angelic.

Yes that is it, I can actually remember the fight within to go against my nature and toughen up to fit in with the world I found myself in, now I am working on getting rid of those patterns I inflicted upon myself.
I often do ask Christ, God or ( I am not religious, for some reason I talk to Christ Jesus/Logos) whomever can help to rid me of all this, matter of fact I did earlyier today. I have a strong body, food, shelter and such, but I feel like I really need to find a greater purpose than mere living to be a good consumer. I want my treasures within and thine eye to be single, and maybe that flickering Light may grow to fill me with Light. Yup like the Pleroma, and I have done my share in the past of something alike to the Kykleon. Yet in my current perception that is, who knows how many degree's of change can occur to shift that, not me, Yet.

I failed to mention in my introduction Anthroposphy, that is Rudolph Steiner's method of human wisdom after he broke off with the Theosophical group because they thought that Christ was coming back as a single person in the flesh again. I don't know about it's truth or untruth of Christ coming back, I tend to lean towards Christ coming back within humanity.

His book Knowledge of the higher worlds is a good one to me, and it really has me readjusting negative patterns in thought and emotion which I think are important to preparation and purification, if I lay up myself in sacrifice I don't want to be cheap about it.

Yes the old Greek initiations is where I think I recieved the notion of dangerous methods that could result in death, I don't always remember all the factual information when I am putting books through the juicer to extract the nutrients (the Ways to know thySelf), but I think it may have been in a few books, one being "Christianity and occult mysteries of antiquity".

Persephone and Eve seem to like eating fruits ayy, and making us fall, I hope there is a good reason for it all.

Pretty much I think this world is a struggle and I am here for some reason, and I don't find things appealing, my only hope is that I have a purpose or a lesson to learn before I check out onto the next level, so I seek, hopefully not in vain.

Thanks for the suggested reads Theeternaliam I will check them out, infact I probably have access to those two from a friend, I think I saw those in his study.

From what I understand of sociological trends, at the turn of every century there has been a major resurgence in fundamentalist forms of religion - the literalist ranks seem to swell. This lasts for about a decade before people calm down, or tire of the emptiness the find in literalist doctrines. Then we see a period of genuine inquiry and/or complete disbelief. The turning of this century and millenium follows this trend.