Gnosis "is not taught but when God wills it is brought to remembrance." (from "Corpus Hermeticum")
"Gnostic" is often erroneously used as a pejorative for any belief or faith that excludes Jesus and has become almost synonymous with "pagan". It is also often equated with secret writings and concealed knowledge. Gnosticism, under its own name and at least eight others, was declared heretical within the first three centuries of the Roman Catholic Church. Gnosticism, though, is not only an old Catholic heresy, it is also a living religion.
Gnosticism may be considered a Perso-Babylonian syncretion with three definable schools, Essenic, Samaritan (Simon Magus), and Alexandrian (Philo), with the Judaic "Qabala" as an arguable fourth.
Gnostic thought contains four main threads, first; that God is unknowable, or ineffable, mankind being rude matter cannot comprehend God. Second; that knowledge, not through intellect, but through special revelation, is an aspect or emanation from God and therefore superior to faith. Third; that mankind’s goal is redemption of the soul from the material world. And fourth; that knowledge could only be revealed as the petitioner was trained to Understand it.
With rare exception Gnostic writing had no place for a personal Redeemer or Savior God. With the knowledge of personal revelation and the proper passwords, a Gnostic believed that his soul would find its way back to its creator. The cosmology encompassed a wide range of complex and hotly-debated explanations for the spiritual mechanics of a dualistic universe composed of a world of sense-appearance and a realm of real being: matter and God, with matter being essentially evil.
Gnostic practices ranged from the rigorous ascetism of Saturninus to the unbridled libertinism of the Ophites. The Gnostic tradition flourished in such communities as the Essenes and the Ebionites and Carinthus. The ritual was defined by two extreme schools, one rejecting all sacraments and the other, mainly Marcosians, developing an extreme symbolism and mystic pomp in worship, with many sacraments and varied rites.
The only surviving Gnostic community is the Mandaeans, found near the lower reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates.
Gnosticism is a religion, teaching beliefs about God. Freemasonry is not a religion and does not teach its members what to believe about God.
Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):
Roger Whitaker - AntinomianismArthur Edward Waite - What Is Alchemy
Stephen Mcnallen - What Is Asatru
