Unverified personal gnosis
Encyclopedia
Unverified personal gnosis (often abbreviated UPG) is the phenomenological concept that an individual's spiritual insights (or gnosis
) may be valid for them without being generalizable
to the experience of others. It is primarily a neologism used in polytheistic reconstructionism
, to differentiate it from ancient sources of spiritual practices.
and modern, personal interpretations grows. All myth
s and legends started at some point in the human past with one person or group's experience; thus it would be inappropriate to dismiss out-of-hand a new experience. UPG grew out of the need for a shorthand in differentiating the two.
, although further verification from the spiritual interactions of others may lead to a certain degree of verifiability. At other times, the term is used in either a value-neutral or disparaging sense, about someone else's experience.
UPG is sometimes also said to stand for Unsubstantiated Personal Gnosis.
Gnosis
Gnosis is the common Greek noun for knowledge . In the context of the English language gnosis generally refers to the word's meaning within the spheres of Christian mysticism, Mystery religions and Gnosticism where it signifies 'spiritual knowledge' in the sense of mystical enlightenment.-Related...
) may be valid for them without being generalizable
Generalization
A generalization of a concept is an extension of the concept to less-specific criteria. It is a foundational element of logic and human reasoning. Generalizations posit the existence of a domain or set of elements, as well as one or more common characteristics shared by those elements. As such, it...
to the experience of others. It is primarily a neologism used in polytheistic reconstructionism
Polytheistic reconstructionism
Polytheistic reconstructionism is an approach to Neopaganism first emerging in the late 1960s to early 1970s, and gathering momentum in the 1990s to 2000s...
, to differentiate it from ancient sources of spiritual practices.
Origin
The term appears to have originally appeared in print in Kaatryn MacMorgan's book Wicca 333: Advanced Topics in Wiccan Belief, published in March 2003, but seems to have originated in Germano-Scandinavian Reconstructionist groups in the 1970s or 1980s. The same phenomenon has also been referred to as "personal revelation", or "unverifiable personal gnosis" (in a somewhat derogatory sense).Importance
As attempts at recreating or restarting ancient religions continue, the difficulty in telling the difference between historically attested sourcesSource text
A source text is a text from which information or ideas are derived. In translation, a source text is the original text that is to be translated into another language.-Description:...
and modern, personal interpretations grows. All myth
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
s and legends started at some point in the human past with one person or group's experience; thus it would be inappropriate to dismiss out-of-hand a new experience. UPG grew out of the need for a shorthand in differentiating the two.
Usage
Ideally the term is used to label one's own experience as a new and untested hypothesisHypothesis
A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. The term derives from the Greek, ὑποτιθέναι – hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose". For a hypothesis to be put forward as a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it...
, although further verification from the spiritual interactions of others may lead to a certain degree of verifiability. At other times, the term is used in either a value-neutral or disparaging sense, about someone else's experience.
UPG is sometimes also said to stand for Unsubstantiated Personal Gnosis.
Related terms
- SPG (Shared Personal Gnosis) - indicating a mystical vision shared by a number of unrelated people, preferably, one arrived at independently of one another.
- CG (Confirmed Gnosis) - indicating that substantiating evidence for an incidence of UPG or SPG has later been found in the lore. This is also sometimes referred to as CPG (Confirmed Personal Gnosis).