Anyone here of a Gnostic persuasion?

[magdalena]

Just curious. I've attended a few Gnostic Catholic services and they were incredibly spiritually uplifting. I would love to learn more about this particular "faith".

[Khephra]

1. Me

But it's just a fraction of my belief system and I'm not aligned with any Gnostic Church. I USED to be. In fact, I almost became a Deacon in the EGC, but they changed the rules on me as I was preparing to become one, and I ended up going the solitary worshiper/mage route.

I usually describe myself as a Gnostic Quaker Taoist Thelemite in terms of beliefs and a Chaos Mage in terms of practice and ritual.

[magdalena]

2. You certainly have quite a broad belief spectrum and

that's very interesting to me. This is actually one of my questions to people who study Gnosticism. Are they exclusively Gnostic or is it merely a welcome addition to an amalgam of various teachings? The priest of the Gnostic church I attended gave services that were ritualistically identical to that of a Catholic mass. Although I attended one of his study groups and the topic was the tree of life in which we examined the ten sefirot and the paths between them. Upon speaking with him further he was extremely knowledgeable about Cabalism, Hermeticism, Buddhism, even Chaos Magick if I remember correctly.

Just wondering if it's the nature of Gnosticism itself, or the nature of the people drawn to Gnosticism that is so multifaceted. Probably a little of both I imagine. Or maybe I'm just getting overly tired.

Thanks for your response. :)

[Khephra]

3. I'd hazard a guess that it's the nature of the people drawn to it

I mean, not just everyone decides that there's merit in a heretical sect that was virtually hounded out of existence. Usually it's a faith that one comes to after a period of dissatisfaction with mainstream religions, especially Catholic Christianity. So we search through other faiths, being influenced by what we learn, and then eventually end up Gnostic.

What I've found is that Gnostics are actually better versed in the Bible than most modern Christians. It's because of the unusual questions, contradictions, and unexplained statements that send pre-Gnostics questing for meaning. Many of the modern Christians that I've talked to have never even read the whole Bible. They tend to rely on Church authorities to tell them what's in it and what the stories mean. That just won't do for a Gnostic. We have to KNOW for ourselves.

Faith. Bah! Deity talks to us all, if you just listen. Who needs middlemen/women?

Gnostics usually want to find out for themselves. We tend to be very anti-authority. Similar to the Quaker non-leader format (which I consider a Gnostic Church in spirit, if not in reality), several Gnostic sects never used to have Priests but would draw lots at each meeting to choose the leader for the day. The Catholic Church hated that as it took away the entire reason for their existence--and thus, the persecution had to start.

Not that I like Dan Brown's writing--I'm more a Foucault's Pendulum/Illuminatus type of a guy--I think the DaVinci book and coming film will draw even more people into examining Gnostic beliefs. That's the main reason Robertson, Falwell and the rest of the religious right hate Brown's books.

[jobendorfer]

4. some references for you

_The Gnostic Gospels_ by Elaine Pagels

a good introduction to the history & philosophy of Gnosticism

_Jung & the Lost Gospels_ by Stephan Hoeller
_The Gnostic Jung & Seven Sermons to the Dead_ by Stephan Hoeller

Another pair of general introductions to Gnostic thought,
quite readable. Dr. Hoeller leads a gnostic church (the
Ecclesia Gnostica). At times it seems to me that he can't
quite reconcile his gnosticism with his catholic upbringing;
it seems odd to find a self-professed gnostic worrying about
doctrinal conformity in the organization. But that is one
man's view from middle-distance (my best friend is one of the
priests in the Portland congregation.)


_The Nag Hammadi Library_, James Robinson, editor

Prior to 1945, the only sources we had on christian gnosticism
were secondary and hostile to the faith (Catholic heresiologists,
for the most part). An Egyptian peasant (digging for manure,
no less) found a collection of gnostic manuscripts near the
village of Nag Hammadi in 1945. This is the first substantive
collection of primary source material on Gnosticism and it is
fascinating reading.

Good luck.

J.

[solinvictus]

5. More or less...

but I'm honestly still shopping, so to speak, for spirituality.