Gnosis

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Gnosis

Gnosis (from one of the Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
words for knowledge

Knowledge

Knowledge is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject, what is known in a particular field or in total; facts and information or awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation....
, ???s??) is the spiritual knowledge of a saint

Saint

A saint in Christianity is a human being who has been called to holiness. The term is used differently by various denominations, with some, such as the Anglicans, Methodists, and Lutherans distinguishing between Saints and saints....
or mystically enlightened

Mysticism

Mysticism is the pursuit of communion with, Unio Mystica with, or conscious awareness of an ultimate reality, divinity, Spirituality, or God through direct experience, intuition, or insight....
human being. In the cultures of the term (Byzantine

Byzantine

The word Byzantine may refer to:Topics directly related to the Byzantine Empire* A citizen of Byzantine Empire, or native Greeks during the Middle Ages ....
and Hellenic

Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
) gnosis was a special knowledge or insight

Insight

Insight from the Greek word noesis .Insight can be used with several related meanings:In psychology and psychiatry, insight is the ability to recognize one's own mental illness....
into the infinite, divine and uncreated in all and above all, rather than knowledge strictly into the finite, natural or material world which is called Epistemological knowledge. Gnosis is a transcendent as well as mature understanding

Apperception

Apperception has the following meanings:* In epistemology, it is "the introspective or reflective apprehension by the mind of its own inner states" ....
.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Gnosis'

Start a new discussion about 'Gnosis'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

Gnosis (from one of the Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
words for knowledge

Knowledge

Saint

Mysticism

Byzantine

The word Byzantine may refer to:Topics directly related to the Byzantine Empire* A citizen of Byzantine Empire, or native Greeks during the Middle Ages ....
and Hellenic

Ancient Greece

Insight

Apperception

Apperception has the following meanings:* In epistemology, it is "the introspective or reflective apprehension by the mind of its own inner states" ....
. It indicates direct spiritual experiential knowledge and intuitive

Intuition (knowledge)

Intuition is the apparent ability to acquire knowledge without inference or the use of reason.?The word ?intuition? comes from the Latin word 'intueri', which is often roughly translated as meaning ?to look inside? or ?to contemplate?."...
knowledge, mystic

Mystic

Mystic may refer to:* A person who practices mysticism, or a reference to a mystery a mystic knows or studies. It may also be a person who seeks the truth of life beyond the five senses....
rather than that from rational or reasoned thinking. Gnosis itself is and was obtained through understanding, arrived at via inner experience or contemplation

Contemplation

Epiphany (feeling)

An epiphany is the sudden realization or comprehension of the essence or meaning of something. Or also known as a big moment of EUREKA! The term is used in either a Philosophy or Literal and figurative language sense to signify that the claimant has "found the last piece of the puzzle and now sees the whole picture," or has new information o...
epiphany of intuition and external epiphany such as the Theophany

Theophany

Theophany, from the Greek language, theophaneia , refers to the appearance of a deity to a human, or to a divine disclosure. This term has been used to refer to appearances of the gods in the ancient Greek and Near Eastern religions....
.

Etymology

Gnosis is a Greek word, originally used in specifically Hellenistic pagan philosophical contexts. Plato

Plato

Plato , was a Classical Greece Greeks philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Platonic Academy in Ancient Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the western world....
, for example, uses the terms gnostikoi’ and gnostike episteme in the text called Politikos. The word means the knowledge to influence and control, Gnostike episteme also was used to indicate one's aptitude

Aptitude

An aptitude is an innate, acquired or learned or developed component of a competency to do a certain kind of Labour at a certain level. Aptitudes may be physical or mental....
. The terms do not appear to indicate any mystic, esoteric or hidden meaning in the works of Plato, but instead expressed a sort of higher intelligence and ability analogous to talent. The term is used throughout Greek philosophy as a technical term for experience knowledge (see gnosiology

Gnosiology

The term gnosiology is derived from the Greek language words gnosis and logos . Linguistically, one might compare it to epistemology, which is derived from the Greek words episteme and logos....
) in contrast to theoretical knowledge or epistemology

Epistemology

Epistemology or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge. It addresses the questions:...
. The term is also related to the study of knowledge retention or memory (also see cognition

Cognition

Cognition is the science term for "the process of thought."Its usage varies in different ways in accord with different disciplines: For example, in psychology and cognitive science it refers to an information processing view of an individual's psychological Functionalism s....
). In relation to ontic

Ontic

In philosophy, ontic is physical , real or factual existence."Ontic" describes what is there, as opposed to the nature or properties of that being....
or ontological, which is how something actually is rather then how something is captured (abstraction

Abstraction

Abstraction is the process or result of generalization by reducing the information content of a concept or an observable phenomenon, typically in order to retain only information which is relevant for a particular purpose....
) and stored (memory

Anamnesis

Anamnesis...
) in the mind.

The Gnostic sects

Among the sectarian gnostics

Gnosticism

Gnosticism refers to diverse, syncretistic religious movements in antiquity consisting of various belief systems generally united in the teaching that humans are divine souls trapped in a Nature created by an imperfect god, the demiurge; this being is frequently identified with the Abrahamic God, and is contrasted with a superior entity, ref...
, gnosis was first and foremost a matter of self-knowledge which was considered the path leading to the goal of enlightenment

Enlightenment

Enlightenment may refer to:...
. Through such self-knowledge and personal purification

Purification

Purification is the process of rendering something pure, i.e. clean of foreign elements and/or pollution, and may refer to:* List of purification methods in chemistry...
(virtuous living) the adept is led to direct knowledge of God via themselves or inner reflection. Later, Valentinius (Valentinus), taught that gnosis was the privileged Gnosis kardias "knowledge of the heart" or "insight

Insight

Spirituality

Spirituality, in a narrow sense, concerns itself with matters of the spirit, a concept closely tied to religion and faith, transcendence , or one or more Deity....
nature of the cosmos

Universe

The universe is defined as everything that physically exists: the entirety of space and time, all forms of matter, energy and momentum, and the physical laws and physical constants that govern them....
, that brought about salvation

Salvation

In religion, salvation is the concept that God saves humanity from death. As commonly conceived, He has both Will of God and omnipotence to realize human salvation....
to the pneumatics
Pneumatics

Pneumatics is the use of pressurized gas to affect mechanical motion.Pneumatic power is used in industry, where factory machines are commonly plumbed for compressed air; other compressed inert gases can also be used....
— the name given to those believed to have reached the final goal of sanctity. Gnosis was distinct from the secret teachings revealed to initiates once they had reached a certain level of progression akin to arcanum

Arcanum

'Arcanum' may refer to:* The Arcanum , a novel by Thomas Wheeler* Arcanum , a 1996 album by Acoustic Alchemy* Arcanum * Arcanum * ...
. Rather, these teachings were paths to obtain gnosis. (See e.g. "fukasetsu", or ineffability

Ineffability

To say that something is "ineffable" means that it cannot or should not be expressed in spoken words . It is generally used to describe a feeling, concept or aspect of existence that is too great to be adequately described in words, or that inherently cannot be conveyed in Dualism symbolic human language, but can only be known internally b...
, a quality of realization common to many, if not most, esoteric traditions; see also Jung

Jung

Jung may refer to:People with the surname Jung:* See Jung Other:* JUNG, the Java Universal Network/Graph Framework* Jung-Kellogg Library, located at Missouri Baptist University in St....
on the difference between sign

Sign

A sign is an entity which signifies another entity. A natural sign is an entity which bears a causal relation to the signified entity, as thunder is a sign of storm....
and symbol

Symbol

A symbol is something such as an entity, picture, written word, sound, or particular mark that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention....
.) Gnosis from this perspective being analogous, to the same meaning as the words occult

Occult

The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g....
and arcana. Which is the same knowledge of prognostication

Prognosis (disambiguation)

Prognosis is a doctor's prediction about a disease.Prognosis may also refer to:*Prediction, a statement or claim that a particular event will occur in the future...
.

The Gnostics in the Early Christian Era

In the formation of early Christianity, various sectarian groups, labeled "gnostics" by their opponents, emphasised spiritual knowledge (gnosis) over faith

Faith

Faith is the confident belief in the truth of or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. It is also used for a belief, characteristically without proof....
(pistis) in the teachings and traditions of the established community of Christians. These sectarians considered the most essential

Essential

Essential or essentials can refer to:*An essential property, which defines an entity as being a particular type of entity. See also essentialism, the philosophical view that an entity must have certain characteristics in order to belong to a certain defined group, and its counterpart, non-essentialism....
part of the process of salvation

Salvation

In religion, salvation is the concept that God saves humanity from death. As commonly conceived, He has both Will of God and omnipotence to realize human salvation....
to be this personal knowledge, in contrast to faith as an outlook in their world view

Perspective (cognitive)

Perspective in theory of cognition is the choice of a wiktionary:context or a reference from which to sense, categorize, Measurement or codify experience, cohesively forming a coherent belief, typically for comparing with another....
along with faith in the ecclesiastical authority. These break away groups were branded minuth

Minuth

Minuth means "heresy" in Hebrew. The word is especially important for studies of Jewish Christian relations in late antiquity. Though there is considerable information on Christian attitudes on Jews, Jewish Christians, and Judaizers, information from Rabbinic sources is somewhat difficult to ascertain....
by Hebrews (see the Notzrim

Notzrim

Heresy

Heresy is an introduced change to some system of belief, especially a religion, that conflicts with the previously established canon of that belief....
by the fathers of the early church due to teaching this type of authority rejection referred to as antinomianism

Antinomianism

Antinomianism , or lawlessness , in theology, is the idea that members of a particular religious group are under no obligation to obey the religious law of ethics or morality as presented by religious authorities....
. The knowledge of these sectarian groups is contested by orthodox Christian theology as speculative knowledge derived from religio-philosophical systems rather than knowledge derived from revelation

Revelation

Revelation is the act of revealing or disclosing, or making something obvious and clearly understood through active or passive communication with the divinity....
as insight

Insight

Insight from the Greek word noesis .Insight can be used with several related meanings:In psychology and psychiatry, insight is the ability to recognize one's own mental illness....
(noesis

Noesis

Noesis is a Greek word meaning understanding as "the ability to sense or know something, immediately".In Phenomenology , it is an act of consciousness....
) coming from faith. Gnosis itself is and was obtained through understanding, arrived at via inner experience or contemplation

Contemplation

Epiphany

Epiphany may refer to:* Epiphany , a Christian holiday on January 6 celebrating the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus* Epiphany , the sudden realization or comprehension of the essence or meaning of something...
for example. For the various sectarian gnostics, gnosis was obtained as speculative gnosis, instigated by the contemplation of their religo-philosophical (salvational and rational) systems. These systems being pagan (folk) in origin and syncretic

Syncretism

Syncretism consists of the attempt to reconcile disparate or contrary beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term may refer to attempts to merge and analogy several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, and thus assert an underlying unity allowing for an inclu...
in nature. The gnostic sectarians vilified the concepts of an subjective

Idealism

Idealism is the philosophical theory which maintains that the ultimate nature of reality is based on mind or ideas. It holds that the so-called external or "real world" is inseparable from mind, consciousness, or perception....
creator God (Plato's demiurge

Demiurge

Demiurge in philosophical and religious language is a term for a creator deity, responsible for the Creation myth of the physical universe.In the sense of a divine creative principle as expressed in ergon or energy, the word was first introduced by Plato in Timaeus , 41a ....
) and objective

Objectivism

The terms Objectivism and Objectivist can refer to:*Objectivity_#Objectivism, an alternate name in analytic philosophy for philosophical realism, the belief that reality is mind-independent...
creator God (one that creates ex-nihilo) as in the Judeo-Christian God (creator

Creator deity

A creator deity is a deity in a creation myth responsible for the creation of the world .In monotheism, the single God is necessarily also the creator deity, while polytheistic traditions may or may not have creator deities....
) and sought to reconcile the individual to their own personal deification (henosis

Henosis

Within the realm of Neoplatonism, the Mystery Religionsand the Hermes Trismegistus henosis is the goal of union with the Monad , Source, force or the One....
). Making each individual God. As such the gnostic sects made a duality out of the difference between the activities of the nous (or spirit) called noesis (insight) and pistis (faith

Faith

Faith is the confident belief in the truth of or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. It is also used for a belief, characteristically without proof....
).

During the early formation of Christianity, church authorities (Fathers of the Church)exerted considerable amounts of energy attempting to weed out what were considered to be false doctrines (i.e. Irenaeus

Irenaeus

Saint Irenaeus , was a Catholic Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, then a part of the Roman Empire . He was an early church father and apologist, and his writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology....
' On the Detection and Overthrow of False Gnosis

On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis

On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis , commonly called Against Heresies , is a five-volume work written by St. Irenaeus in the second century....
). The gnostics (as one sectarian group) held views which were incompatible with the emerging Ante-Nicene community. Among Christian heresiologist

Heresy

Heresy is an introduced change to some system of belief, especially a religion, that conflicts with the previously established canon of that belief....
s, the concept of false gnosis was used to denote different Pagan, Jewish

Judaism

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
or Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism#Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus and interpreted by Christians to have been prophesied in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament....
belief systems (i.e. the Eleusinian Mysteries or Glycon

Glycon

Glycon was a snake god, according to the satirist Lucian, who provides the only literary reference to the deity. Lucian claimed Glycon was created in the mid-second century by the Greek prophet Alexander of Abonutichus....
) and their various teachings of what was deemed religio-philosophical systems of knowledge as opposed to authentic gnosis (see below, Gnosis among the Greek Fathers). The sectarians used gnosis or secret knowledge to reject the traditions of the established community or church. Authorities throughout the community criticizing this antinomianism

Antinomianism

Antinomianism , or lawlessness , in theology, is the idea that members of a particular religious group are under no obligation to obey the religious law of ethics or morality as presented by religious authorities....
as inconsistent with the communities teachings. Sectarians and followers of gnosticism

Gnosticism

Gnosticism refers to diverse, syncretistic religious movements in antiquity consisting of various belief systems generally united in the teaching that humans are divine souls trapped in a Nature created by an imperfect god, the demiurge; this being is frequently identified with the Abrahamic God, and is contrasted with a superior entity, ref...
being first rejected by the Jewish communities of the Mediterranean (see the Notzrim

Notzrim

The Notzrim, also Nasaraioi/Nasoraean , from Hebrew ???????? or ?????? "sentry" or "watchmen" , are a sect that began as a Gnostic movement during the reign of the Hasmonean queen Salome Alexandra among Hellenized supporters of Rome in Judea....
139–67 BCE) then the Christian communities and finally by the late Hellenistic philosophical communities (see Neoplatonism and Gnosticism

Neoplatonism and Gnosticism

Neoplatonism is the modern term for a school of Hellenistic philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, based on the teachings of Plato and some of his early Platonism....
).

In the writings of the Greek Fathers

The fathers of early Christianity used the word gnosis to mean spiritual knowledge, in specific knowledge of the divine. This usage to a degree being analogous with the modern usage of the word mysticism. This positive usage was to contrast it with the use of the word by gnostic sectarians. This use carried over from Hellenic philosophy

Plato

Plato , was a Classical Greece Greeks philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Platonic Academy in Ancient Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the western world....
into Greek Orthodoxy as a critical characteristic of ascetic practices via St Clement

Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria , was the first notable member of the Christianity of Alexandria, and one of its most distinguished teachers. He was born about the middle of the 2nd century, and died between 211 and 216....
of Alexandria, Irenaeus

Irenaeus

Hegesippus (chronicler)

Saint Hegesippus , was a Christian chronicler of the early Church who may have been a Jewish convert and certainly wrote against heresies of the Gnosticism and of Marcion....
, and Origen

Origen

Origen was an Early Christianity scholar, theology, and one of the most distinguished of the early Church father of the Christian Church. According to tradition, he is held to have been an Ancient Egypt who taught in Alexandria, reviving the Catechetical School of Alexandria where Clement of Alexandria had taught....
. Gnosis here meant intuitive knowledge, spiritual knowledge, heart knowledge (kardiognosis), memory of an experience of God and or the divine. As such it was emphasized that such knowledge is not secret knowledge but rather a maturing, transcendent form of knowledge derived from contemplation

Contemplation

The word Contemplation comes from the Latin root templum , and means to separate something from its environment, and to enclose it in a sector. Contemplation is the Latin translation of Greek 'theory' ....
(theoria
Theoria

Theoria is Greek for contemplation or 'the perception of beauty regarded as a moral faculty' . From within Eastern Orthodox theology it is the 'vision' and or the 'seeing' of God, as the experience of God, achieved by the pure of heart who are no longer subject to the afflictions of the passions....
resulting from practice of hesychasm
Hesychasm

Hesychasm is an eremitic tradition of prayer in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and some other Eastern Churches of the Byzantine Rite, practised by the Hesychast ....
), since gnosis can not truly be derived from gnosis but rather gnosis can only be derived from theoria. Gnosis thus plays an important role in relation to theosis

Theosis

In Christianity theology, particularly in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and Eastern Catholic Churches theology, theosis is the process of a believer in emulating the life example of Jesus Christ and of following the gospel of Christ in one's daily life; the process of seeking to become more holy....
(deification/personal relationship with God) and theoria

Theoria

Theoria is Greek for contemplation or 'the perception of beauty regarded as a moral faculty' . From within Eastern Orthodox theology it is the 'vision' and or the 'seeing' of God, as the experience of God, achieved by the pure of heart who are no longer subject to the afflictions of the passions....
(revelation of the divine, vision of God). Gnosis, as the proper use of the noetic faculty plays an important role in Eastern Orthodox theology. Its importance in the economy of salvation is discussed periodically in the Philokalia

Philokalia

The Philokalia is a collection of texts by masters of the Eastern Orthodox, hesychasm tradition, writing from the fourth century to the fifteenth century on the disciplines of Christian prayer and a life dedicated to God....
where as direct, personal knowledge of God (noesis

Noesis

Noesis is a Greek word meaning understanding as "the ability to sense or know something, immediately".In Phenomenology , it is an act of consciousness....
also see Noema

Noema

Noema is Greek for the meaning of something. It is the mental equivalent of a Schema or schematic of something. It is the "representation" of an experience of a meaning based system through its own self-referential process....
) it is distinguished from ordinary epistemological knowledge (speculative philosophy).

Hellenic philosophy

The Neoplatonic

Neoplatonism

Neoplatonism is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, founded by Plotinus and based on the teachings of Plato and earlier Platonism....
philosophers, including Plotinus

Plotinus

Plotinus was a major Philosophy of the ancient world who is widely considered the founder of Neoplatonism . Much of our biographical information about him comes from Porphyry 's preface to his edition of Plotinus' Enneads....
, rejected followers of gnosticism

Gnosticism

Plato

Polemic

Polemics is the practice of disputing or controverting religion, philosophy, politics, or scientific matters. As such, a polemic text on a topic is often written specifically to dispute or refute a position or theory that is widely viewed to be beyond reproach....
of Plato's creator of the universe (the demiurge

Demiurge

Problem of evil

In the philosophy of religion and theology, the problem of evil is the problem of reconciling the existence of evil or suffering in the world with the existence of God....
, taking all their truths over from Plato. Plotinus did express that gnosis, via contemplation

Contemplation

Henosis

Within the realm of Neoplatonism, the Mystery Religionsand the Hermes Trismegistus henosis is the goal of union with the Monad , Source, force or the One....
.

Eric Voegelin

Eric Voegelin, born Erich Hermann Wilhelm V?gelin, was a political philosopher. He was born in Cologne, Germany, and educated in political science at the University of Vienna....
(1901-1985), partially building on the concept of gnosis as used by Plato and the followers of Gnosticism, along with how it was defined by Hans Jonas

Hans Jonas

Hans Jonas was a Germany-born philosopher who was, from 1955 to 1976, Alvin Johnson Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York City....
, defined the gnosis of the followers of Gnosticism as religious philosophical teachings that are the foundations of cults. Voegelin identified a number of similarities between ancient Gnosticism and those held by a number of modernist political theories, particularly communism

Communism

Communism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarianism, classlessness, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general....
and nazism

Nazism

Nazism, officially National Socialism , refers to the ideology and practices of the National Socialist German Workers? Party under Adolf Hitler, and the policies adopted by the dictatorial government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945....
.

Voegelin identified the root of the Gnostic impulse as alienation

Social alienation

In sociology and critical social theory, alienation refers to an individual's estrangement from traditional community and others in general. It is considered by many that the Atomism of modernity means that individuals have shallower relations with other people than they would normally....
, that is, a sense of disconnection with society, and a belief that this disconnection is the result of the inherent disorder, or even evil, of the world. This alienation has two effects:

The belief that the disorder of the world can be transcended by extraordinary insight, learning, or knowledge, called a Gnostic Speculation by Voegelin (the Gnostics themselves referred to this as gnosis).
The desire to create and implement a policy to actualize the speculation, or as Voegelin described it, to Immanentize the Eschaton
Immanentize the eschaton

To immanentize the eschaton means trying to make the eschaton in the Immanence world. More recently, it has been used by conservatism as pejorative against what they perceive as utopian schemes, such as socialism, communism, etc....
, to create a sort of heaven on earth within history by triggering the apocalypse
Apocalypse

Apocalypse is a term applied to the disclosure to certain privileged persons of something hidden from the majority of humankind. Today the term is often used to refer to the Doomsday event, which may be a shortening of the phrase apokalupsis eschaton which literally means "revelation at the end of the ?on, or age"....
.

Voegelin’s conception of gnosis and his analysis of Gnosticism in general has been criticized by Eugene Webb

Eugene Webb

Eugene Webb is Professor Emeritus in the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. Webb holds a Ph.D., in Comparative Literature from Columbia University , an M.A....
, who holds a Ph.D. in comparative literature. In an article entitled "Voegelin’s Gnosticism Reconsidered", Webb explains that Voegelin’s concept of Gnosticism was conceived "not primarily to describe ancient phenomena but to help us understand some modern ones for which the evidence is a great deal clearer." Webb continues, "the category (of Gnosticism) is of limited usefulness for the purpose to which he put it…and the fact that the idea of Gnosticism as such has become so problematic and complex in recent years must at the very least undercut Voegelin’s effort to trace a historical line of descent from ancient sources to the modern phenomena he tried to use them to illuminate."