Gnosis simply means knowledge. The term is usually applied to a group of
early Christians who rejected faith as a path to salvation. They believed that
you had to gain knowledge, knowledge of the Nature of God and the Creation.
This differed from Paul's emphasis on faith and James' emphasis on good works.
Beyond this, things get murky.
The early Church fathers fought a battle against Gnosticism because a) they
felt it was false doctrine and b) you cannot organize a Church if everyone is
learning things in their own way. Point b is especially important because the
Church, at this point was making an effort to consolidate their power.
Ultimately they won and for long years they were the greatest Power in Europe,
a position they turned into a Kingdom, not of God as much as a Kingdom of
wealth and control..
The Church mentioned some of the Gnostic writing in their early documents
but seemingly destroyed all of them they could, or so they thought. In the late
1940s, a clay jar was found at Nag Hammadi containing scraps of these old
documents that had been hidden . Some were nearly complete texts, others, the
barest of scraps. Since, others have turned up on the antiquities market.
Most of these writing share a common theme. The original Creator made a
world of spiritual essences that were perfect but, somehow, something went
wrong and one of those essences, later known as the Demi-urge decidied to try
his hand at creation. Either he was grossly incompetent, and the little spirits
of what would become humans were trapped or he was evil and sought power by
trapping them. Either way, the World, they believed is an illusion, an evil,
corrupt mess.
This appealed to the citizens of that day because they were under the
control of the oppressive Romans. The Romans had not always been heavy handed
in their rule, but the Empire was starting its decline and they kept upping
taxes and were having a difficult time keeping control over their dissatisfied
poulation. This situation is mirrored in our present society as we witness, in
the US and Europe, the decline of Western Civilization.
You would have thought that the Romans would have loved a bunch of people
who really did not care about this world but they did not. If folks do not
participate in society, economies fail. Besides, they had grown power hungry
and power tolerates no dissent. So the Church had the Roman backing in stopping
this dissident movement.
The Gnostics truly did not care what happened in this World. Why try to
change a corrupt evil illusion? The modern day equivalent of this is Tim
Leary's insipid motto 'turn on, tune in, drop out.' And like the 60s hippies,
the Gnostics were bound to fade away. Most people, while recognizing the evil
that does exist on Earth, do not find the Earth and life itself, evil. It is a
blend of both good and evil, and as such, can be improved.
Well, the Romans did not like that either and finally they found, or maybe
invented, Paul who said that yes, the World was a wretched place, doomed to
soon be destroyed, but, that God ordained this, to test us and, as such, we
should meekly comply with oppression and suffering. Ultimately, over time, as
the Rennaissance and the Age of Enlightenment arrived, such beliefs started to fade. although, they
still have some power today.
The whole fascination with Gnosticism that we see today is a poor reaction
to the terrible problems we see around us. It is frightening to see people just
give up without a fight and lose interest in this beautiful World. It is
appalling that folks allow themselves to be so manipulated and that is what is
going on. There are now so many people in the World that the economy will keep
chugging along, for a while, and it is convenient for the Powers that Be to
allow some, often very bright and educated people, to just opt out of
participation.
If you find all of this confusing, good. It shows that you are still sane.
To attempt to read something like the Secret Gospel of John or the Apocalypse
of James is a daunting task. Half way through, you will either be dozing or
ready to teart your hair out. If you make it through and think you understand
and agree, seek psychiatric counciling immediately.
There are 2 useful things to come out of Gnosticism. First, the Gospel of
Thomas. Unlike the other books found at Nag Hammadi, it contains no distaste
for life. It is a collections of sayings, nothing more, no cosmology, no prophesy,
just the sayings of Jesus. Are they the true roiginal sayings? Who knows, but
we can say the same for the sayings in the Synoptic Gospels. To me, and many
others, the words in the Thomas Gospel ring true. They have a power and a sense
of being truly revolutionary. They seem like the kind of words that would
inspire men and women. By comparisom, the words in the other Gospels, while
similar, seem watered down, just what you would expect from a religion designed
to control.
In addition, the Gnostic books intrioduce the idea of the Archons. We will
get into that strange and fascinating topic in my next blog.
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