Post 8

post eight: what is gnosticism all about and how does it compare to
Eastern ideas? I want to see the similarities between Eastern thought and Western thought.

Gnosticism is not an organized religion. Gnostic is what numerous schools of thought call themselves from the first and second centuries of the Common Era. There are different sects that are named after the founder. The four most famous are the schools of Marcion, Basilides, Valentinus, and Mani. Through each school the fundamentals remain the same, which is the pursuit of gnosis. Gnosis deals with knowledge of the spiritual world where the highest form of gnosis would be direct knowledge of the Divine that is not taught in Scriptures. This describes a basic goal to raise one’s consciousness beyond the physical world in to the higher spiritual worlds. This happens when the soul leaves the physical body and goes through the various spiritual realms and thus the consciousness becomes purified. Reaching its final destination of home with the Divine. There is a Gnostic text called The Apolcrphon of John where it refers to God as “the invisible One who is above everything,” “unnamable since there is no one prior to him to give him a name,” and the “ineffable”. The Gnostics definitely have a distinction between the physical world and the spiritual world. According to the Gnostics the great “original sin” is where the inner Self is forgotten. When the Divine Man comes down to earth from the spiritual realms and reveals divine secrets and calls the souls back and thus awakens the sleeping spirit. The Mani sect believes that the Divine Man incarnates (which is an eastern belief (incarnation)) into human forms in order to awaken people and restore the soul to its original purity and lead it back to God. Gnostics believe that humans reincarnate until the Divine is realized. The Gnostic draws from different philosophies from neo-Platonism, Judaism, Zorostrainism, Christianity, and maybe Hinduism. It has also been associated with Christianity where Christian Gnostics claim they have the “true” teachings of Jesus. Although orthodox Christians disagree and believe these claims to be absurd and destructive to Christian faith. Between the third and fourth centuries C.E. was the age of the great heresiologists where Christianities boundaries are no longer as fluid. However extreme sharp boundaries were then drawn in order to establish strong institutionalized Church. This was seen as trying to undermine the Church and all Gnostic thought was thought of as a heresy. At this time most Gnostic writings are destroyed. Even though there is a historical connection between Gnostic and Christianity, Gnostic did not emerge from Christianity. On the contrary relates more closely to Judaism. Gnostic used the Old Testament and re-interpreted it giving biblical figures like Adam and new role. This tactic is called a metaphorical teaching device where the twisting of the original story line occurs in order to present their own ideology. Another example of the Gnostic re-interpretation is the way the picture the biblical god. They portray him to be the next to last god, a lower deity and not the Godhead. They also believe the creator god is of an evil origin so creation is as well evil and because of that worldly pleasure impedes spiritual growth. Within the Marcionite doctrine of ethics the nature of Marcionites is evil because an evil Creator created it. Because of this they have decided to reframe from getting married because they do not want to fill the world made by the Creator-God. Because of this decision they are in opposition to their Maker. The Barbeliotes are on the other side of the coin where they supposedly engage in sexual cultic rituals. During these rituals they will begin with a feast of meat, wine and ends in an orgy. These actions are to transmit their sexual emission and the soul of the dead animal to the heavenly world however, refuse giving birth to children. There is a third Gnostic group called the Valentinians who condemn marriage and procreation as well. However have an overall theme of moderation in regards to how to live life. The Gnostic tradition feels that there is an overall objective to return to the Unknown God by realizing its higher nature. They believe the human soul is imprisoned in the body. They instruct believers on how to awaken their human spirit within the Nag Hammadi literature. Gnostic tradition is comparable to medieval and modern Sant tradition where there is a philosophy concerned with traversing spiritual realms to reach God. One reaches God or achieves God-Realization by realizing the relationship with the Divine. Sant’s are believes to be enlightened souls that have accomplished this. Sants’ are like the saint where a person sacrifices one’s life to serve humankind in some way. However a Sant has lost all identity by merging the spirit entity into the Highest Reality no longer subject o any form of maya (illusion) or ego (ahamkara) and embodies the Divine. Such a person is also called the satguru (the true guru) and is believed to have returned to awaken souls from ignorance. So unlike Christianity salvation is not a onetime event. Within the Sant tradition the salvific process is a continuous one. This tradition can be traced back to the fifteenth century C.E. to the North Indian mystic Kabir. What sets the Sant tradition apart from the orthodox Hinduism is the claim that devotion to the Divine Name of God is the only means to attain salvation. There is a second branch of the Sant tradition, which has been active from the fifteenth century up until today. They rebuff orthodox Hinduism for the value it places on rituals, holy books, and idol worship, and they ridicule the caste system. They also reject the authority of the Vedas, which sets the northern Sants outside the Hindu fold. The Maharashtra poet-Sants give deity characteristics to God by referring to it as “father and mother” and reject the saguna God. Since God is beyond all attributes and distinctions, God cannot be captured in an icon or temple. The Nirguna Bhakti suggests this. There is an intense emotional experience (anughava) that is created by the dual structure between the devotee and the object of devotion (the guru) that is supposed to pull the devotee towards the nirguna God. There is little differentiation between the northern and southern Sants when it comes to ethical issues. Both greatly stress living a moral life, which includes three basic requirements: 1. ahimsa, 2. no intoxicants, and 3. a moral life in society. The Sant tradition seems to be a mixture of Vaishnava bhakti and the esoteric Tantric tradition of the Nath yogis. Several scholars have argued that here is a great deal of Sufi influence on the Sants as well. Of course the Maharashtian and Northern Sants differ other wise there would be no reason to have two different sects of Sants. They differ somewhat in their theological approach, which marks them as a distinctive group.

The Gnostic tradition and the Sant tradition are similar in that there is no fixed institution or set boundaries. They also have the same notion of a Transcendent God. The western view of the God from the Old Testament is similar but twisted to fit the theology from the Gnostics’. Through out Gnostic literature as well as Hinduism there are doctrines of reincarnation. Gnostics, and Hinduist accept the idea of Karma. Both the Sant and Gnostic traditions believe in the existence of an Unknown God. Gnostics as well as Sants use sound and light to help in the soul’s ascent to the Unknown God. Both traditions agree that a spiritual guide unravels insoluble mysteries of the universe and awakens the soul from ignorance.