Gnosticism

Gnosticism - The view of life through an experience of gnosis.

There have been a few places where struggling to define Gnosticism in theological terms has led to even bigger and more horrible discussions about the use and general relevance of theology in Gnosticism to begin with. It occurs to me that some might be trying to argue too much about word meanings and not enough on the actual intent on the message.

From what I've seen, Gnosticism is a very secluded religion. There are no big huge Gnostic megachurches, and there are no cathedrals. You can't just walk down the street and join a Gnostic church, much less find a priest or minister to help you better understand the experience of gnosis, even if you just want help becoming aware of it yourself. The horrible truth of it is many miss out on the freedom of gnosis because we cannot comfortably give a concise definition of Gnosticism. When one who has not become aware of Gnosis approaches Gnosticism, he/she will either be interested or not. To those who are not interested, they usually require more information at a greater depth.

To argue whether this is important seems to be a rediculous point to take. If we are to share our gnosis with others, we must invite others to the table. We must take an approach to defining what it is we view Gnosticism as, not so we feel better at night, but so we can open our doors to those who might show interest in the field.

I had never even heard of Gnosticism until three years ago. This was not because I was happy with my religion and was not searching. This was not because I didn't read a lot, or because I just didn't look for the answers. I looked, trust me. I had heard of Wicca and Fairy Magic and Masons, but not Gnosticism in general. I hadn't heard of it because it is not taken seriously as a religion, and therefore few people talk about it.

I don't believe we should try to define Gnosticism for ourselves to feel better about what we practice. I believe we should look for a theological definition that is acedemically accepted so that we may begin the processes of approaching a scholarly study of it.

We must make Gnosticism accessible to people of all walks, and in the modern world, that's through our educational processes. If we cannot explore a Gnostic defintion of Gnosticism, our way of life will only be cycled between a very few. The fact that this is the case now is a travesty.