Gnosis - another look ...

Philosophy Forums Religion and Spirituality
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David F. Capps
We have been well trained by modern religion to see God as an outside force - something to be worshipped, feared, and appealed to in times of trouble and distress. But it hasn’t always been that way. Two millennia ago the landscape of religion was significantly different. Following the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC,1 two cities contended for domination of the known civilized world: Rome, the seat of political power represented by Octavian, and Alexandria in Egypt, the center of culture and religion, represented by Mark Antony. The military aspect of the conflict was brought to a close in 31 BC at the port of Actium on the western shore of Greece with Octavian’s defeat of Mark Antony. Rome became the supreme center of political and military power.

While political power flowed from Rome, the cultural center of the known world was Alexandria in Egypt. Here the philosophers, religious, scientists, and artists of the world came to share their knowledge and wisdom with all who would listen and learn. The epicenter of this quest for spiritual and cultural enlightenment was the library, attached to the temple of Serapis, in the southern section of the city. Here, tens of thousands of documents recorded the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of mankind since the time of the Biblical flood. And it was here that the Gnostics reigned supreme. The ancient wisdom and tradition of the Egyptian mystery schools enjoyed prominent scholarly support, and the inner expression of Divinity was the standard of the day.

One hundred fifty to 200 years would pass before the rise of Christianity challenged the Gnostic system of religion.

Early leaders of the Christian Church recognized that Rome was the center of political power and chose to align themselves with that power and authority. The marriage between the Christian Church and political power was formalized at the council of Nicea in 325 AD. Under the direction of the Emperor Constantine, bishops in the Christian Church ascended to the position of judges, with the military power of Rome at their disposal. Anything that differed from the approved Christian doctrine was deemed a heresy, and was to be destroyed.

Gnosticism (direct knowledge of God) was deemed a heresy by the Church and an aggressive program followed to rid the world of heretical documents. The final conflict between Rome and Alexandria came to a head in 391 AD2, when Bishop Theophilus of Alexandria, under the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, led an angry mob of Christians across the city to the Temple of Serapis, destroying the statues, tapestries, artwork and icons in the temple and then focusing their rage on the library in the main wing of the temple, and in a day’s time, destroyed the collected knowledge and wisdom of thousands of years. They burned all writings that did not agree with the doctrine of the Roman Christian Church. So it was that the center of religion was changed from Alexandria and its Gnostics to the Christians in Rome. God and divinity was relegated to outer, rather than inner expression.

The persecution of the Gnostics continued while foresighted individuals secreted copies of their sacred scriptures away, sealed in earthen jars, buried in eastern central Egypt, praying for the day when the ancient wisdom would once again be shared openly. Through this persecution and the deliberate destruction of sacred documents the Gospel of Thomas was “lost”.

During the excavation of ruins in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, in 1897 and 1903, over 5,000 fragments of ancient Greek texts were recovered from another ancient library. Among them were partial sections of what was believed to be the Gospel of Thomas. Due to a lack of other comparable documents, the discovery languished in the halls of academia through two world wars, remaining a curiosity and source of varied speculation.

In 1945, with the discovery of the buried earthen jars some 30 miles north of the Valley of the Kings near the town of Nag Hammadi, the world of the Gnostics sprang back to life as dozens of ancient Gnostic sacred scriptures were recovered. What became known as the “Nag Hammadi Scrolls” opened the door, releasing the “lost” ancient knowledge and wisdom again into the world. The two primary tasks were first to translate the ancient texts, and secondly to interpret the writings in modern terms so the people of our world could have access to the knowledge and wisdom that led to the presence of God - that which Jesus called “the Kingdom of Heaven” or “the Kingdom of God”.

Once again the inner practice of divinity and spiritual growth is taking hold in the world, and once again the conflict between the inner expression of God and the belief in an outer being, separate from us, is being thrust upon the world of religion. In reading this explanation of the sayings of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas, you will get an essentially Gnostic perception of Jesus, one contemporary with his life and experience in the first century. With this knowledge and understanding, you can determine which path, inner or outer, is right for you.

The Gospel of Thomas,
A Blueprint for Spiritual Growth
2005 First Printing
© 2005 by David F. Capps

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A solid post. It is a shame the irradication of information lost over time. I recently have been reading about the OT and how it came to be. So odd how people forget the names like El, Ba’al, Anot, and Yahwweh (sp) and their interlinking ways. Bob, do you feel that religion in many ways loses when vital stories, translations, and parts of history are lost? To my shock there is a record of another God like entity named Sophia (rough translation) from the Creation mythos. I myself feel that when I get more of a whole story find much more faith in the story than I do with those who convulute and flub it up.

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Hello Satori

My mellowing in my older days is particularly active with regard to other religions or less known Christian teachings since I think that in the church we are often met by a discriminate selection of positions which are not thorough with regard to the fullness of the original faith of the early church. If you listen to what others have to say, even if you do not adopt that position, there is always something to learn – even if it is about yourself.

One thing I have learnt is that the teaching of the Bible has been taken from a mystical teaching. Jesus was obviously different in his approach to us today and we have moved away from his Semitic style. Ironically, the Muslims are in some ways closer to that early teaching, at least in their language, in others they are not. But we seem to have forgotten that Jesus was an oriental man (Y’shua ben Yussuf) and many of the apparent contradictions people find are cleared up by that fact alone.

Shalom

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10.28.06.1632

Hey Bob,

Just curious… are you warming up to Gnosticism now, or are you merely presenting the information you have researched (discovered)? If it is the former, that is most intriguing… considering Sophia. The divine is often rather inspirational…

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Hi Sage,

I was never “cold” towards Gnosticism but I had the feeling that many Gnostics were not aware of the dangers they were putting themselves and the whole church into. At least the way it is portrayed in Church History there was a danger of the whole movement becoming undisciplined and breaking into multiple schisms.

On the other hand, I find that there is something missed out of the canonised scriptures - a side which makes a lot of sense. If anything, I find that David F. Capps has done a good job of exegesis on the Thomas Gospel and considering that it is free, it is worth discussing.
memoware.com/?start=0&screen … p=category^!Religion~!

Shalom

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Gnosticism was doomed from its’ inception because it emphasized a personal self understanding/relationship with the universe as god. Those who sought to dominate politically and militarily had no option. Gnostics were cosmologically, anarchists, and their concepts of social structure were 180 degrees out from prevailing might makes right social movements. We’ve never really recovered any of the wisdom of gnosticism because might still makes right. It is still a seed waiting to germinate.

In this sense, religion of any stripe is not an inspiration, but a tool of coercive power. We are alienated from that which is, and religion is the rock in the path.

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Hi JT,

I am reminded of my statement a little while back:
“I believe that Christians should be political dissidents and peace activists, who in addition serve the poor and needy. I also see the Bible as an anthology of religious diversity which supports my first statement. Unfortunately, too few dissidents and peace activists are spiritual, and even less serve the poor and needy.”

Shalom

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Hi Bob,

If there is a failing of the out there-inside perspective, it is that marvelous ability to slide off personal responsibility for one’s actions or inactions. Not that this is seen only in those religious, but religion effectively legitimizes seeing both God and one’s self as external actors on a stage. Religion says one thing, but closes its’ eyes to the other, and permits its’ followers to justify their actions by pointing to “God’s Word.” The disconnect allowed and even encouraged is the shame of all religions.

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Hi JT,

I have just written this in a letter to somebody else:

"I think that we have a lot of problems with life as it presents us because we are often deluded by some imaginations for which religion is sometimes responsible. I have come to see that many Christians have simplified the message and reduced it to “a ticket for a window seat in immortality” or a “community for crooners”. Not only their songs are evenly modulated and sung in a slightly exaggerated manner – the same goes for their message.

What we need is awareness, a capacity to sense or feel the Spirit which blows through our existence, inspiring and provoking, leading us into the depths, but also the heights of being. Unfortunately, this requires us to let go of many things – which is why only few actually find the path to walk down. Not only that, but our soul, or psyche, must receive the kind of (spiritual) nutrition we give our body, since our soul is our core and the place where real health is sustained. It is important to have a healthy body, but an unhealthy soul leads to a miserable life or even to the end of our existence.

To feed the soul we need to understand that much of what modern medicine has thrown out of the window as “not scientific”, such as the medicine man or shamanistic healer, did not heal the body directly, but empowered the psyche to invoke a self-healing of the body. That is why Jesus told people on many occasions that “their faith” had healed them. This kind of healing is based upon a tradition which the followers learn by heart and which is brought to life around the communal fireplace and we can sense the Spirit amongst us.

We can try to explain it all away psychologically of course – but it is the difference between taking medicine and analysing it. We don’t heal by the analysis, but by taking the medicine – and when we’re given a placebo and we heal anyway, we have invoked the healing capability that God has given us all.

Realistically, there must be an end. Our body is at some time worn out. The joints are loose, the paint has rubbed off, and not to mention the knocks we have taken. But if we know ourselves caught up in the Unity which we call God, we can rest assured that He will have a place for us, with Him and all who have gone on before us. If you want proof, it is like the analysis, you won’t gain anything from it; but this is the victory overcoming the world of knocks and bruises – our faith."

This seems to be the message that is being avoided in many churches - sometimes I have the feeling that it is for “theological” reasons. It is because people want a logical system of thought that they can call their “religion” whether it is logical on the outside or not. The fact that religion starts with an inexplicable experience or a mystery is too problematic, it has to be understandable … that is where the forgery begins …

Shalom

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Hi Bob,

Yes. Faith in the mystery. To have faith in what I cannot know, but KNOW, is more than most wish to face. The initial intuitive understanding fades before the onslaught of “prove it” and “what if you’re wrong”? To have a personal understanding of what is beyond words is just that, but we create our idols and externalize our personal experience and thereby alienate ourselves from that which we would have. Whether healing the body in faith, or finding contentment of mind in that faith, it comes from accepting the mystery as it is without adornment.

We have medical cures of amazing power. We go to a box where these cures are dispensed. But when the magic of scientific medicine fails, do we find our faith in a box? Having set our stone God on a pedestal and made our offerings, will the space between that block of stone and ourselves sustain us?

It is convenient to place God on a shelf or in a drawer, or in a book of gilt edged paper, but faith doesn’t reside there. All of the words of “God is like…” defeats faith, because outwardness is the idol, and the idol empties us of faith.

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Hi JT,

David F. Capps writes:
b Jesus said, “Recognize what is in your sight, and that which is hidden from you will become plain to you. For there is nothing hidden which will not become manifest.”[/b]

“The inner teaching begins with the recognition that there is more to us than we have perceived. A spiritual path is often referred to as a journey without distance because it is the journey of self discovery. As we grow from childhood into adulthood, the ego grows along with us. We come to assume that the ego is us, and we are it. The ego presents itself as whole, complete; there is nothing else. And yet a simple exercise opens an inner door and reveals the existence of something more than the ego and its thoughts.

Pause for a few moments and close your eyes. Observe the thoughts that pass through your mind. Many times we will begin to recognize how thoughts are connected, one to the next. Some element of one thought acts as a string to the next thought, and on and on it goes. You may even have a thought about how all this works, even as the thoughts being observed continue on uninterrupted. The question is this. If the thoughts being observed are the activities of my mind, what is doing the observing? Is the mind observing itself or is something else going on? The classic question in this example is, “Who is the observer?”

While some people see this as utter nonsense, others see an opening into another level of perception, a new area of exploration and experience. Those which follow this new lead sometimes feel like they have followed Alice through the rabbit hole into a strange new world where nothing really is as it seems to be. Everything we have come to know and trust is now called into question. In this journey of self discovery we come to see ourselves as fractured pieces, held together by invisible buffers. Programming and imprinting from parents, relatives, friends, teachers, authority figures and mentors are all there, each in its own little world, like pieces of a jig-saw puzzle. The task of self discovery is to explore each of these pieces, determine the value each presents, and discard the valueless. In this way the individual pieces can be joined and the inner separation can be healed. This leads to wholeness, holiness, and oneness.

With a little education about the mind and consciousness, we gradually begin to recognize what has been in front of us all along. We see the fractured nature of the ego’s world and how it pulls and pushes us through the everyday experiences of life. We discover why we are stressed by a situation where someone else doesn’t seem to even notice that it exists. We come to see that we really are individuals, that no two of us are exactly alike. Our thoughts, feelings and perceptions are all different, even given the same external circumstances.

As we come to recognize the various parts of our personality, we gradually uncover the inner nature of the spirit within. This is the part that was hidden, and through the process of self discovery, becomes revealed. As we learn more about the spirit within, we see in it the answer to life’s question, “Is this all there is?” The body and the ego that results are limited and temporal. The spirit within is unlimited and eternal. But until we actually begin the process of self discovery, the inner world remains hidden. The ego tells us, “Go out into the world and find the answer – seek and you will find!” But the answer is not “out there”, it is within.”

There are those who would say that the lack of faith is the real ailment and the physical symptoms just proof of a sickly soul. Therefore, the scientific medicine also requires a degree of faith too. The “gods in white” unwittingly play the witch doctor, but have no personal faith and are therefore often not authentic. They are restricted to reacting with chemicals against those unseen bacteria, viruses or tumours – but why was the body not able to cope with them like with numerous other examples of their like?

Exactly …

Shalom

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Bob,

As always, you never fail to captivate.

The Gospel of Thomas and The Gospel of Phillip, along with one of my newest favorites, The Gospel of Judas … long and deep is the admiration for the Gnostics.

Spiritual scholars and teachers as opposed to disseminators of indoctrination and dogma … no wonder they couldn’t possibly last.

Of course, by my perspective, this is part and parcel of what will be the ultimate ending of human progression. Anything that doesn’t inherently promote a systemisation of slavery will be laid to ashes.

You fight hard, and with good information. I wish I had more confidence that people like yourself could “win” the battle against demonisation of free form spiritual/intellectual ascension.

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Thanks Mas,

I think in some ways my journey is my goal, which seems perhaps bleak to some, but I’m in good company … :laughing:

Shalom

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Mas,

Throughout history, a few have kept the candle burning. It will never be fully extinguished. Bob, and people like him, even though they are few in number, will always be part of the human experience. When the world is in chaos, does not the sage retreat and hold himself in silence?

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Certainly, but at times it seems this needs to be railed against.

When does the time come, for those seek actual “progress”, not just the egomaniacal dissertations of the all knowing narcissists with slavery to technological “achievements”, that have yet to be proven to avail humanity of anything, other than the status quo in a prettier foil wrapper?

At what point do I get to awaken to a leadership in the world of genuine humans being, a “Bob” or a “tentative” or a “Mr. Jerry”?

When does the necessity of realising the system of life as it is, not as we want to make it be, take to the forefront of the human cognition? Under the realisation, we can’t know it all, we just have to experience it as it comes, allowing the gradual paradigm shift to occur of naturality?

Ever?

I doubt it.

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Mas,

Thanks for including me with Bob and Jerry, but I’m not close to being in that company. :blush:

Rather than rail against, one simply has to be, and let the rest of the world be as. But you know that.

Take two sugar cubes and call me in the morning… :wink:

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Ah yes, thank you brother tentative,

The “life as a placebo” philosophy … mmmmmm.

It can’t be better than that, live on!

(still didn’t answer my questions old man)

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Hi Mas,

  1. The time never comes. It never has and never will.

  2. If such a leader should arise, they would be assassinated. Find and read Kafka’s “Second Coming”

  3. No. Only the few, the very few.

There is a fair chance the sun will come up in the morning.

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Okay, so then the realisation has occurred.

Where then is the onus placed?
Should it be placed for responsibility’s sake?
How is it that in times lost, average humans, such as the Gnostics, could view the world in a completely different, seemingly whollistic fashion, and make it work?

We are progressive, technologically and empirically advanced …
Why then does the past forever repeat, incessantly, unabated, without change or recourse?

This then, is the bane of existence. Every human life is an isolated instance of senseless striving for the inevitable decline into nothingness, garnished with false piety, arrogance, and impenetrable delusion.

Where then does life’s meaning usher forth from, if anywhere?

The futility of it all, should be awe-striking, to even the most daft amoung us, but it is not seen.

Strange creatures we humans are, gifted with blindness, and in search of oblivion’s bliss.

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On the Gospel of Thomas: isn’t this the one that has stories about Jesus using his powers as a child - turning his playmates into sheep and so on?