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Gnosticism (from gnostikos, "learned", from Ancient
Greek: γνῶσις
gnōsis,
knowledge; Arabic: الغنوصية al-ġnūṣīh) is the belief that the material world
created by the Demiurge
should be shunned[citation needed] and the spiritual world
should be embraced (God's world). Gnostic ideas influenced many ancient
religions[1] which teach that gnosis
(variously interpreted as knowledge, enlightenment, salvation, emancipation
or 'oneness
with God') may be reached by practicing philanthropy
to the point of personal poverty, sexual
abstinence (as far as possible for hearers,
total for initiates) and diligently searching for wisdom by helping
others.[2] However, practices varied
among those who were gnostic. In gnosticism, the world of the Demiurge is
represented by the lower world which associated to the matter, to flesh, to
time, to molecules and more particularly to an imperfect world and an ephemeral
world. The world of God is represented by the upper world, and is associated
with the soul and perfection. The world of God is eternal and not part of the
physical. It is impalpable, and time there doesn't exist. To rise to God, the
Gnostic must reach the "knowledge" which mixes philosophy,
metaphysics,
curiosity, culture, knowledge, and secrets of history and universe. [3][4]
Gnosticism was
primarily defined in a Christian context.[5][6] Some scholars have
claimed that gnosticism predated Christianity. Such
discussions have included pre-Christian religious beliefs and spiritual
practices argued to be common to early Christianity, Neoplatonism, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, and Zoroastrianism
(especially Zurvanism). The discussion of gnosticism changed radically with the discovery of
the Nag Hammadi library
and led to revision of older assumptions.
The Egyptian Gnostic Basilideans
referred to a figure called Abraxas who was at the
head of 365 spiritual beings (Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, I.24); it is unclear what to make of Irenaeus'
use of the term "Archon", which may simply mean "ruler" in
this context. The role and function of Abraxas for Basilideans is not clear.
The word Abraxas
was engraved on certain antique gemstones, called on that account Abraxas stones, which may have been used as amulets or
charms by Gnostic groups. In popular culture, Abraxas
is sometimes considered the name of a god who incorporated both Good and Evil
(God and Demiurge) in one entity, and therefore representing the monotheistic God,
singular, but (unlike, for example, the Christian God) not omni-benevolent.
(See
The above information relates to
interpretations of ancient amulets and to reports of Christian heresy hunters
which are not always clear.
Actual ancient Gnostic texts from the Nag Hammadi Library, such as the Coptic Gospel of the
Egyptians, refer to Abraxas as an Aeon
dwelling with Sophia and other Aeons of the Spiritual
Fullness in the light of the luminary Eleleth. In
several texts, the luminary Eleleth is the last of
the luminaries (Spiritual Lights) that come forward, and it is the Aeon Sophia, associated with Eleleth,
who encounters darkness and becomes involved in the chain of events that leads
to the Demiurge and Archon's rule of this world, and the salvage effort that
ensues. As such, the role of Aeons of Eleleth, including Abraxas,
Sophia, and others, pertains to this outer border of the Divine Fullness that
encounters the ignorance of the world of Lack and interacts to rectify the
error of ignorance in the world of materiality.
Words like or similar to Abraxas
or Abrasax also appear in the Greek Magical Papyri.
There are similarities and differences between such figures in reports about Basiledes' teaching, in the larger magical traditions of
the Graeco-Roman world, in the classic ancient
Gnostic texts such as the Gospel of the Egyptians, and in later magical and
esoteric writings.
The Swiss psychologist Carl Jung wrote a
short Gnostic treatise in 1916 called Seven Sermons to the Dead, which called Abraxas a God higher than the Christian God and Devil, that
combines all opposites into one Being.
Aeon
In many Gnostic systems, the ćons are the various emanations of the superior God, who is
also known by such names as the One, the Monad, Aion teleos (Greek: "The Complete Ćon"),[citation
needed] Bythos (Greek: Βυθος,
'Depth' or 'profundity'), Proarkhe (Greek: προαρχη, "Before
the Beginning'), E Arkhe (Greek: ἡ ἀρχή, 'The Beginning'), Ennoia
(Greek: "Thought") of the Light[7] or Sige
(Greek: Σιγη,
"Silence").[8] From this first being, also an ćon,
a series of different emanations occur, beginning in certain Gnostic texts with
the hermaphroditic Barbelo,[9][10][11] from which
successive pairs of aeons emanate, often in
male-female pairings called syzygies;[12] the numbers
of these pairings varied from text to text, though some identify their number
as being thirty.[13] The aeons as a totality
constitute the pleroma, the "region of
light". The lowest regions of the pleroma are
closest to the darkness; that is, the physical world.[citation
needed]
Two of the most commonly paired ćons were Jesus and Sophia (Greek: "Wisdom"); the
latter refers to Jesus as her "consort" in A Valentinian
Exposition.[14] Sophia, emanating without her partner,
resulting in the production of the Demiurge (Greek: lit. "public
builder"),[15] who is also referred to as Yaldabaoth
and variations thereof in some Gnostic texts.[9] This creature is concealed
outside the Pleroma;[9] in isolation, and thinking
itself alone, it creates materiality and a host of co-actors, referred to as
archons. The demiurge is responsible for the creation of mankind; trapping
elements of the Pleroma stolen from Sophia inside
human bodies.[9][16] In response, the Godhead emanates
two savior ćons, Christ and the Holy Spirit; Christ
then embodies itself in the form of Jesus, in order to be able to teach man how
to achieve gnosis, by which they may return to the Pleroma.[17]
Gnosis
The word "Gnosticism" is a modern
construction, though based on an antiquated linguistic expression: it comes
from the Greek word meaning "knowledge", gnosis (γνῶσις). However,
gnosis itself refers to a very specialised
form of knowledge, deriving both from the exact meaning of the original Greek
term and its usage in Platonist philosophy.
Ancient Greek was capable of discerning
between several different forms of knowing. These different forms may be
described in English as being propositional knowledge, indicative of knowledge
acquired indirectly through the reports of others or otherwise by inference
(such as "I know of George Bush" or "I know Berlin is in
Germany"), and empirical knowledge acquired by direct participation or
acquaintance (such as "I know George Bush personally" or "I know
Berlin, having visited").
Gnosis (γνῶσις) refers to
knowledge of the second kind. Therefore, in a religious context, to be
"Gnostic" should be understood as being reliant not on knowledge in a
general sense, but as being specially receptive to
mystical or esoteric experiences of direct participation with the divine.
Indeed, in most Gnostic systems the sufficient cause of salvation is this
"knowledge of" ("acquaintance with") the divine. This is
commonly identified with a process of inward "knowing" or
self-exploration, comparable to that encouraged by Plotinus
(c. 205 – 270 AD). This is what helps separate Gnosticism from proto-orthodox
views, where the orthodox views are considered to be superficial.[23] The inadequate take then requires a correct form of
interpretation. With "gnosis" comes a fuller insight that is
considered to be more spiritual. Greater recognition of the deeper spiritual
meanings of doctrines, scriptures, and rituals are obtained with this insight.
However, as may be seen, the term "gnostic"
also had precedent usage in several ancient philosophical traditions, which
must also be weighed in considering the very subtle implications of its
appellation to a set of ancient religious groups.
Monad
In many Gnostic systems (and heresiologies), God is known as the Monad, the One, The
Absolute, Aion teleos (The
Perfect Ćon), Bythos (Depth
or Profundity, Βυθος), Proarkhe (Before the Beginning, προαρχη),
and E Arkhe (The Beginning, η αρχη). God is the high source of the pleroma, the region of light. The various emanations of God
are called ćons.
Within certain variations of Gnosticism,
especially those inspired by Monoimus, the Monad was
the highest God which created lesser gods, or elements
(similar to ćons).
According to Hippolytus,
this view was inspired by the Pythagoreans, who called the first thing that
came into existence the Monad, which begat the dyad, which begat the numbers,
which begat the point, begetting lines, etc. This was also clarified in the
writings of Plato, Aristotle and Plotinus. This teaching being largely Neopythagorean
via Numenius as well.
This Monad is the spiritual source of
everything which emanates the pleroma, and could be
contrasted to the dark Demiurge (Yaldabaoth) that
controls matter.
The Sethian
cosmogony as most famously contained in the Apocryphon
("Secret book") of John describes an unknown God, very similar to the
orthodox apophatic theology, although very different
from the orthodox credal teachings that there is one
such god who is identified also as creator of heaven and earth. In describing
the nature of a creator god associated with Biblical texts, orthodox
theologians often attempt to define God through a series of explicit positive
statements, themselves universal but in the divine taken to their superlative
degrees: he is omniscient, omnipotent and truly benevolent. The Sethian conception of the most hidden transcendent God is,
by contrast, defined through negative theology: he is immovable, invisible,
intangible, ineffable; commonly, "he" is
seen as being hermaphroditic, a potent symbol for being, as it were,
"all-containing". In the Apocryphon of
John, this god is good in that it bestows goodness. After the apophatic statements, the process of the
Divine in action are used to describe the effect of such a god.
An apophatic
approach to discussing the Divine is found throughout gnosticism, Vedanta, and Platonic and Aristotelian
theology as well. It is also found in some Judaic sources.
Pleroma
Pleroma (Greek πληρωμα)
generally refers to the totality of God's powers. The term means fullness, and
is used in Christian theological contexts: both in Gnosticism generally, and in
Colossians 2:9.
Gnosticism holds that the world is controlled
by evil archons, one of whom is the demiurge, the deity of the Old Testament
who holds the human spirit captive.
The heavenly pleroma
is the center of divine life, a region of light "above" (the term is
not to be understood spatially) our world, occupied by spiritual beings such as
aeons (eternal beings) and sometimes archons. Jesus
is interpreted as an intermediary aeon who was sent from the pleroma,
with whose aid humanity can recover the lost knowledge of the divine origins of
humanity. The term is thus a central element of Gnostic cosmology.
Pleroma is also used in the general Greek language and is
used by the Greek Orthodox church in this general form
since the word appears under the book of Colossians. Proponents of the view
that Paul was actually a gnostic, such as Elaine Pagels of
Common
Characteristics[edit]
A common characteristic of some of these
groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis
(esoteric or intuitive knowledge) is the way to salvation of the soul from the
material world. They saw the material world as created through an intermediary
being (demiurge) rather than directly by God. In most of the systems, this
demiurge was seen as imperfect, in others even as evil. Different gnostic schools sometimes identified the demiurge as Ahriman, El, Saklas, Samael, Satan, Yaldabaoth, or
Yahweh.
Jesus is identified by some Gnostics as an
embodiment of the supreme being who became incarnate to bring gnōsis to the earth.[17] Others adamantly deny that
the supreme being came in the flesh, claiming Jesus to be merely a human who
attained divinity through gnosis and taught his disciples to do the
same.[citation needed] Among the Mandaeans, Jesus was
considered a mšiha kdaba or
"false messiah" who perverted the teachings entrusted to him by John
the Baptist.[24] Still other traditions identify Mani
and Seth, third son of Adam and Eve, as salvific
figures.[25]
The Christian groups first called "gnostic" a branch of Christianity, however Joseph
Jacobs and Ludwig Blau (Jewish Encyclopedia, 1911)
note that much of the terminology employed is Jewish and note that this
"proves at least that the principal elements of gnosticism
were derived from Jewish speculation, while it does not preclude the
possibility of new wine having been poured into old bottles."[26] The
movement spread in areas controlled by the Roman Empire and Arian Goths,[27] and the Persian Empire; it continued to develop in the
Mediterranean and
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism