What is Gnosis?

Gnosis (-g·no·sis): From Greek γνῶσις. Knowledge.

There is a root from which all knowledge has emerged. Humanity has many names for it; we call it Gnosis.

Gnosticism was an esoteric religious movement, which flourished primarily during the second and third centuries, and for a time posed a major challenge to mainstream Christianity. Its adherents claimed to possess a secret knowledge of the divine realms and its inhabitants, and utilized a complex mythology to describe this system. This myth began with the One Unknowable God, then went on to tell of intermediary emanations.

One of these emanations, Sophia (Wisdom), desired to know the Unknowable God, but since this desire was illegitimate, what came forth from this desire was an aborted deformity, a being that went forth and created the physical universe. This Creator (or Demiurge) in turn, used the newly created universe to enslave the divine sparks of God into human bodies, where they could only be redeemed by the grace of Gnosis.

Most Gnostics considered themselves to be Christians, yet there were many theological differences between them and the mainstream Christians. The Gnostics did not consider the God of the Old Testament to be the same God as taught by Jesus. The acceptance of the sacraments varied among Gnostic sects. Many of the Gnostic sects used special hymns, magical formulas and amulets in their practices. The Gnostics also admitted women equally into their clergy.

The word “Gnosis” essentially means knowledge. Beyond this simple definition there is considerable disagreement among scholars as to a more precise meaning. It may be safely stated however that the early Gnostics were not speaking of a mundane common knowledge, but rather an intuitive internally derived knowledge. The next logical question would naturally be what exactly was the nature of this secret knowledge.

The nearest that we may come to answering this question would be to say that the Gnostics knew “from whence they came and to whither they were going.” In a sense, the art of obtaining Gnosis is within the realm of anamnesis, or a remembering of things divine, where the present is brought into intimate contact with the past, and the past with the present. Anamnesis would be the word used in Christ’s command: “Do this in remembrance of me.”

The Gnosis therefore imparted knowledge of the origin of things as well as the destiny of the world which the Gnostic saw as a temporary state far away from his original home. The Gnostic considers himself as a temporary resident in an alien world, in a state of spiritual drunkenness or sleep. It is only through the redeeming grace of the Gnosis that he may become sober and awakened to a higher state of consciousness, which in turn will reveal his latent spiritual potentialities.

One of the greatest admirers of the Gnostic path was none other than Madame Blavatsky herself. During the year of her death, 1891, she published an excellent commentary on the ancient Gnostic writing the Pistis Sophia, which was being translated by her secretary G. R. S. Mead. Madame Blavatsky wrote a great deal on the Gnostics throughout her writings, and we are now fortunate to have a compilation of these writings in one volume, “H. P. Blavatsky, On the Gnostics,” compiled and annotated by H. J. Spierenburg.

Madame Blavatsky felt that there was an underlying unity between the esoteric traditions within all religions, and that in the case of Christianity this was represented by the Gnostics. She goes on to tell us in the Key to Theosophy that “There are six great schools of Indian Philosophy — the six principles of that unit of wisdom of which the Gnosis, the hidden knowledge, is the seventh.”

No account of the Gnostic tradition would be complete without giving honor to G. R. S. Mead. Mead was the personal secretary to Madame Blavatsky in the last years of her life. He will most appropriately be remembered for his scholarly English translations and commentaries of ancient Gnostic and Hermetic texts. Mead wrote of the Gnostics not only from a scholarly point of view, but also as one who had an inner understanding of these mysteries, or one who had experienced the Gnosis himself.

In 1928, the brothers James and John Pryse, who at one time were well connected with Mead and the Theosophical Society, founded the Gnostic Society in Los Angeles. The Gnostic Society was founded with the purpose of studying Gnosticism and the Western Esoteric Tradition in general. The Gnostic Society has since been united with the Ecclesia Gnostica whose presiding Bishop, Stephan Hoeller, is a well-known lecturer and writer for the Theosophical Society today.

We are indeed coming into a renaissance of Gnostic thought in the twentieth century. To find examples of Gnostic influence we need look no farther than the science fiction of Phillip K. Dick, the art of Salvador Dali or the psychology of Carl Jung, who went so far as to write his own Gnostic Gospel, “The Seven Sermons to the Dead,” which he wrote under the name, Basilides.

The higher meaning of Gnosis is knowledge from experience, especially experience of divinity or that which is beyond the five senses.

The Greek word Gnosis (γνῶσις) implies genuine knowledge of the truth. To understand truth, one must experience it. This is why real spirituality is based on one’s own effort to experience the truth. Experience is gained by expanding the capabilities of our consciousness.

The word Gnosis does not refer to knowledge that we are told or believe in. Gnosis is conscious, experiential knowledge, not merely intellectual or conceptual knowledge, belief, or theory. This term is synonymous with the Hebrew דעת “Da’ath,” the Arabic Ma’rifah, the Tibetan Rigpa (knowing), and the Sanskrit “Jna.”

The idea of Jnana centers on a cognitive event which is recognized when experienced. It is knowledge inseparable from the total experience of reality, especially the total or divine reality (Brahman). There are also some categorized terms like physical Jnana, spiritual Jnana and ultimate Jnana of Self-Realization.

Gnosis can also refer to the tradition that embodies the core wisdom or knowledge of humanity, although in the physical world it has not been known by that name, but instead has adopted varying appearances according to culture, time, and place.

The Greek word Gnosis (γνῶσις) implies a type of knowledge that is derived from experience, and encompasses the whole of a person. That is, it is genuine knowledge of the truth. Reality, truth, does not fit neatly into a concept, dogma, or theory, thus genuine Gnosis must also be something that one must experience.

Personal experience is not transmissible in conceptual terms; a concept is merely an idea, and experience is far more than an idea. In other words, real Gnosis is an experience that defies conceptualization, belief, or any attempt to convey it. To understand it, one must experience it.

Nonetheless, in order to understand what we experience, we must study the experiences of others. For this, we prefer to rely on those who have proven the qualities we wish to embody ourselves: profound love for all beings, brilliant intelligence, and radiant joy. As such, we rely on the greatest human beings and their legacies, in every field of understanding: philosophy, science, art, and religion.

The Jnana (Gnosis) alone is eternal; it is without beginning or end; there exists no other real substance. Diversities which we see in the world are results of sense-conditions; when the latter cease, then this Jnana alone, and nothing else, remains.

“There is every reason to believe that all so-called secret schools of the ancient world were branches from one philosophic tree which, with its root in heaven and its branches on the earth, is like the spirit of man, an invisible but ever-present cause of the objectified vehicles that give it expression. The Mysteries were the channels through which this one philosophic light was disseminated, and their initiates, resplendent with intellectual and spiritual understanding, were the perfect fruitage of the divine tree, bearing witness before the material world of the recondite source of all Light and Truth. In all cities of the ancient world were temples for public worship and offerings. In every community also were philosophers and mystics, deeply versed in Nature’s lore. These individuals were usually banded together, forming seclusive philosophic and religious schools. The more important of these groups were known as the Mysteries. Many of the great minds of antiquity were initiated into these secret fraternities by strange and mysterious rites, some of which were extremely cruel. Alexander Wilder defines the Mysteries as “Sacred dramas performed at stated periods. The most celebrated were those of Isis, Sabazius, Cybele, and Eleusis.” After being admitted, the initiates were instructed in the secret wisdom (Gnosis) which had been preserved for ages.”
― Manly P. Hall – The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1923)

Gnosis, the knowledge of transcendence arrived at by way of interior, intuitive means.

Gnosis is not something in a book, school, or lecture. Real Gnosis is in your heart, something that emerges from self-knowledge. This is the basic postulate of the Gnostic approach, the fundamental idea: all knowledge that exists within the universe also exists within us.

This is why the Oracle at Delphi stated:

Gnōthi Seautón.

Or in Latin:

Homo, Nosce Te Ipsum.

Which is generally stated now as:

“Human being, know yourself, and thus you will know the universe and the gods.”

Everything and every level of existence in nature are also inside of us, reflected like in a mirror. Our physical body reflects all the laws and structures of the cosmos. Our physical body is a microcosm — in other words, a mirror — that reflects all the laws that exist outside us.

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God (the Internal God) that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.”
― James 1.5-6

When confronted with a problem involving the use of the reasoning faculties, individuals of strong intellect keep their poise, and seek to reach a solution by obtaining facts bearing upon the question. Those of immature mentality, on the other hand, when similarly confronted, are overwhelmed. While the former may be qualified to solve the riddle of their own destiny, the latter must be led like a flock of sheep and taught in simple language. They depend almost entirely upon the ministrations of the shepherd.

The Apostle Paul said that these little ones must be fed with milk, but that meat is the food of strong men. Thoughtlessness is almost synonymous with childishness, while thoughtfulness is symbolic of maturity.

There are, however, but few mature minds in the world; and thus it was that the philosophic-religious doctrines of the pagans were divided to meet the needs of these two fundamental groups of human intellect, one philosophic, the other incapable of appreciating the deeper mysteries of life.

To the discerning few were revealed the esoteric, or spiritual, teachings (Gnosis), while the unqualified many received only the literal, or exoteric, interpretations. In order to make simple the great truths of Nature and the abstract principles of natural law, the vital forces of the universe were personified, becoming the gods and goddesses of the ancient mythologies.

While the ignorant multitudes brought their offerings to the altars of Priapus and Pan (deities representing the procreative energies), the wise recognized in these marble statues only symbolic concretions of great abstract truths.

Any study of world philosophies, religions, and spiritual traditions demonstrates the same principles, themes, and symbols. While some have argued that this is mere happenstance or unconscious impulse, the truth is far more powerful: there is ubiquitous symbolism and intent in world traditions because there is one ubiquitous source of all knowledge, but whose true form and meaning is only hazily perceived by the sleeping consciousness of mankind.

Due to this, messengers arrive from time to time to clarify the One True Source: messengers such as Buddha, Jesus, Mohammad, Quetzalcoatl, Krishna, Moses, Fu Ji, and many more: all of them taught Gnosis, but according to the needs of the time and place.

Gnostics are those who embody the highest ethical and spiritual values, such as temperance, diligence, humility, chastity, generosity, etc. In other words, anyone today who calls themselves “Gnostic” probably is not. The only true gnostics are Buddha, Jesus, Moses, etc.

Throughout our entire history, there has been a protected and difficult to acquire knowledge. Those who received it had to prove themselves worthy through their ethics and their capacity for sacrifice for others.

Thus, those who received this knowledge, and in turn carried forward to the next generations, were the greatest artists, philosophers, musicians, scientists, religious leaders, and more, both men and women, and from every culture and civilization in the world.

The examples we cite here are but a few of those who knew and practiced Gnosis, even when it was known by other names, such as Dharma, Torah, Daath, Jnana, Tantra, etc. As you would expect, most were sworn to secrecy. The yoga or discipline based on knowledge (Jnana, from the Sanskrit root Jna which is cognate with the English word “know”).

Nous is a Platonic term for the Higher Mind or Soul. It means Spirit as distinct from animal Soul — Psyche; divine consciousness or mind in man. Nous was the designation given to the Supreme Deity (third Logos) by Anaxagoras. Taken from Egypt where it was called Nout, it was adopted by the Gnostics for their first conscious Æon which, with the Occultists, is the third Logos, cosmically, and the third “principle” (from above) or Manas, in man.

In the Pantheon of the Egyptians Nout meant the “One-only-One”, because they did not proceed in their popular or exoteric religion higher than the third manifestation which radiates from the Unknown and the Unknowable, the first unmanifested and the second Logoi in the esoteric philosophy of every nation.

The Nous of Anaxagoras was the Mahat of the Hindu Brahma, the first manifested Deity — “the Mind or Spirit self-potent” – this creative Principle being of course the Primum Mobile of everything in the Universe — its Soul and Ideation.

Gnosis means “knowledge.” The technical term used by the schools of religious philosophy, both before and during the first centuries of so-called Christianity, to denote the object of their enquiry. This Spiritual and Sacred Knowledge, the Gupta Vidya (Secret Wisdom) of the Hindus, could only be obtained by Initiation into Spiritual Mysteries of which the ceremonial “Mysteries” were a type. Gnostics were the philosophers who formulated and taught the Gnosis or Knowledge.

“Whenever the Law declines and the purpose of life is forgotten, I manifest myself on earth. I am born in every age to protect the good, to destroy evil, and to re-establish the Law.”
— Hinduism – Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita 4.7-8

“Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.”
— Christianity – Jesus in the Bible – Matthew 5.17-18

“Lo! We inspired you (O Muhammad) as We inspired Noah and the prophets after him, as We inspired Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and Jesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomon, and as we imparted unto David the Psalms; and messengers We have mentioned to you before and messengers We have not mentioned to you, messengers of good cheer and of warning, in order that mankind might have no argument against God after the messengers. God was ever Mighty, Wise.”
— Islam – Qur’an 4.163-65

“Naught is said unto you (Muhammad) save what was said unto the messengers before you.”
— Islam – Qur’an 41.43

“I have seen an ancient Path, an ancient road traversed by the rightly enlightened ones of former times.”
— Buddhism – Samyutta Nikaya ii.106

The Master said: “I have transmitted what was taught to me without making up anything of my own. I have been faithful to and loved the Ancients.”
— Confucianism – Analects 7.1

The word Jnana Yoga is related to the English know and the Greek Gnosis. It refers to knowledge resulting from a direct experience of reality.

Madame Blavatsky said:

“Jnana Yoga is especially the Yoga of the West. One who follows it continually strives for a fuller and deeper understanding of the meaning of life.”

In the Secret Doctrine She Added:

“These truths are in no sense put forward as a revelation; nor does the author claim the position of a revealer of mystic lore, now made public for the first time in the world’s history. For what is contained in this work is to be found scattered throughout thousands of volumes embodying the scriptures of the great Asiatic and early European religions, hidden under glyph and symbol, and hitherto left unnoticed because of this veil. What is now attempted is to gather the oldest tenets together and to make of them one harmonious and unbroken whole. The sole advantage which the writer has over her predecessors, is that she need not resort to personal speculations and theories. For this work is a partial statement of what she herself has been taught by more advanced students, supplemented, in a few details only, by the results of her own study and observation. The publication of many of the facts herein stated has been rendered necessary by the wild and fanciful speculations in which many Theosophists and students of mysticism have indulged, during the last few years, in their endeavor to, as they imagined, work out a complete system of thought from the few facts previously communicated to them. It is needless to explain that this book is not the Secret Doctrine in its entirety, but a select number of fragments of its fundamental tenets, special attention being paid to some facts which have been seized upon by various writers, and distorted out of all resemblance to the truth. But it is perhaps desirable to state unequivocally that the teachings, however fragmentary and incomplete, contained in these volumes, belong neither to the Hindu, the Zoroastrian, the Chaldean, nor the Egyptian religion, neither to Buddhism, Islam, Judaism nor Christianity exclusively. The Secret Doctrine is the essence of all these. Sprung from it in their origins, the various religious schemes are now made to merge back into their original element (Jnana or Gnosis), out of which every mystery and dogma has grown, developed, and become materialized.”
— Helena Petrovna Blavatsky – The Secret Doctrine (1888)

In a sense, Gnosticism is not a religion that can be extinguished by terror and repression, but rather it is a Tao or way that is already inherently archetypal within us all, patiently lying dormant, awaiting the day of the great awakening.

“Howsoever men approach Me, even so do I welcome them, for the path men take from every side is Mine.”
— Krishna – Bhagavad-gita

What is Gnosis (Lecture)
https://www.bitchute.com/video/xjfw55xc8uyP/

GNOSIS #Jnana #Nous