Gnosticism
The Gospel of St Thomas from the Gnostic teachings of the early Christians, Chapter 22, contains a description of the healing and integrating process of humankind’s nature: ‘Jesus saw infants being suckled and he said to his disciples: ‘These infants being suckled are like those who enter the kingdom.’ They said to him: ‘Shall we then, as children, enter the kingdom?’ Jesus replied: ‘When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male not be male and the female no longer be female . . . then will you enter [the Kingdom of understanding and you will have evolved into a Christed one, in your own right].’
A major contribution to the theme of the true meaning of the Jesus legend was made by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy in their book ‘The Jesus Mysteries – Was the Original Jesus a Pagan God?’ Their research showed that the early Christians consisted by no means of a united front. The followers of this new formed religion were split about halfway between Gnostics and literalists. Gnosticism is a description for some of the ancient religions whose adherents shunned the material world. They embraced the spiritual world and viewed the Earth plane as something that had been created by what they called the demiurge. Gnostic ideas influenced many ancient religions. They taught that gnosis, variously interpreted as knowledge, enlightenment, salvation, emancipation or ‘oneness with God’, may be reached by practising philanthropy to the point of personal poverty, sexual abstinence, as far as possible for hearers and entirely for initiates, and diligently searching for wisdom by helping others.
The Gnostics believed that the world of the demiurge was the lower region of life, an imperfect and ephemeral world of matter, flesh and time, whereas God’s realm is the upper world which is associated with the soul and perfection. According to their beliefs, God’s world is eternal and not part of the physical. It is impalpable and timeless. This clearly shows that there is nothing new under the Sun. Alas, the Gnostic wisdom had to be hidden away because the time was not yet right for being presented to the whole of humankind.
In spite of the fact that it was suppressed into extinction – well, almost – by the literalists, some of their teachings have survived. In the gospel of St Thomas the evidence of their presence is casting its magic spell down the ages into our time, when things are coming full circle and ever more of us are evolving into what once would have been called Gnostics. The word Gnostic has its origin in the world knowing. The Gnostics among the early Christians knew that Christ does not mean a man hanging on a cross, but experiencing God on a deep inner level of everybody’s own being, which eventually fills every part of it with its presence. In this process the small earthly self and its ego is gradually absorbed into the greater Ego of the Universal Life Force, known as God. These wise ones were aware that no outer influences are involved and that the life story of Jesus Christ that can be likened to a picture book for very young children, i.e. souls.
On the internet I found the following definition of Gnosticism, declared to be the true and official one. It tells me that ‘Gnosticism means rebelling against and breaking free of the conformity set forth to us by religious dogma, which for centuries has instilled unbelievable fear and guilt into the masses. Gnosticism means dispelling all fear-based untruths about God and our eternal spirit and soul through bringing reasoning and intelligence into the equation.
‘Gnosticism has been linked to the New Age movement, but this so-called New Age movement isn’t so new. In fact, it is older than time. Gnosticism was around long before the time of Buddha or the time of Jesus, and it came about way before the Old Testament. The whole world believed in it, totally and completely.
‘We have had many lives. So who are we? We are Gnostics, not agnostics. As Gnostics we base our path to God on not so much as faith as we do reason. We know that Anything that can be asked can and will be answered. We know there are no mysteries. Believing on faith alone is exhausting. Reason is what we bring you. We know that the reasonable idea is that we keep progressing, that whatever wrongdoings have been done to us, they are ultimately for a reason. Nothing is random or pointless.
‘Gnosticism does not care whether you are Lutheran, Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, or Buddhist. Gnosticism is an addition to your existing beliefs, and also not a replacement for them. The knowledge of Gnosticism is to love not fear God, to get rid of guilt and to show that through many lifetimes you perfect your soul, then return to the other side. This is the knowledge that will help you progress faster and you do not have to come back so many times. If you want to, that’s fine. But I am sure almost everyone is weary of it or they would not be searching. We are tired of guilt, fear and labouring through life. We know that life is hard, but we also know it doesn’t mean that it cannot be wonderful, free of guilt and fear.’ Extract from ‘Gnosticism’
Reflecting on the above, I realise with astonishment that Gnosticism is what my life’s work has been about from its earliest beginnings, without ever having had any contact with the Gnostics or any of their teachings, not in this lifetime anyway. Somehow, I feel that I am reaching way back into the past. It’s teachings come to me like an echo of the ancient wisdom of bygone ages, which I brought with me into my present lifetime, to be revived and brought to fruition. To me, Gnosticism is not a belief, but a deep inner knowing and understanding of what God truly means through experiencing God as part of myself.
Recommended Reading:
• ‘Christ The Redeemer’
• ‘The Jesus Mysteries’
This article is a chapter from ‘Astrology As A Lifehelp On The Healing Journey’.
If it has whetted your appetite to read more, please follow the link below:
‘Astrology As A Lifehelp On The Healing Journey’
