Gnosticism

As somebody who has never praciced a religion or been spiritual, its hard to wrap my head around the concepts found in various religions.
However, I recently became interested in Gnosticism and looked online for some explanation of Gnostic beliefs.
Everything I found was either too scholarly and obtuse or seemed to be some kind of new-agey cult like bullshit.
So coul any informed people give me a quick rundown on Gnosticism? What they believed, the history of it etc.

Other urls found in this thread:

gnosis.org/welcome.html
gnosis.org/library/valentinus/index.html
sanctuaryinterfaith.org/wp-content/uploads/The-Gnostic-Gospels.pdf
youtu.be/hySnCU-PQxM
twitter.com/AnonBabble

The God of the Old testament is called Yadalbaoth and is an obtuse Aeon that forgot the existence of the other Aeons and believe himself to be creator of everything

Yadalbaoth was born from Sophia an Aeon and he's the demiurge creator of the material plan

Christ is a the redemption of Sophia and Image of the one true God of the spiritual plane that wants to free the souls of mankind

I don't remember everything but this is the basics
It's mostly meditation and occult practices as far as system of belief go

Essentially, the idea is that the god of the OT is an evil being who has created religions in order to trick people into worshiping him. Gnostics claim you don't need scriptures or any of the usual trappings of religion, but can experience the true God for yourself thru meditation / fasting / introspection. Naturally, the Christian churches did not like being accurately described as Satanic, and proved the superior loving nature of their god by having the gnostics exterminated and their teachings burnt.

Just watch The Matrix and The Truman Show, it´s all there

People always had the idea of being trapped here against their will for some reason

...

When and where did these beliefs sprout up? They werent around in the time of christ or the early church, were they?

fuck right off

>So coul any informed people give me a quick rundown on Gnosticism?

Quickest rundown possible: its religious platonism.

Ill give a slower rundown once im in front of a computer and not phone posting.

1. The belief: Gnostic texts are mythos, this means that they are there to explain the situation, not to give you a precise 1:1 view.
We live in an illusory world where we are trapped by a false god whom hides behind religions, it is notable that this creator is evil and wants to entrap you and screw you for his enjoyment, luckily we can escape by achieving gnosis.
2. The ins and outs: Gnosis is knowing yourself, not in a way of knowing who you are in this gay earth or how you behave, but a special inner knowledge, achieved by meditation of who you are in spirit. If you get to know yourself you will experiment union with God and will be going to the heavenly realm.
3. The practice: To reach gnosis, you have to meditate, a meditation exercise proper will not have mantras, as you will want to have a clear mind where to receive your gnosis.
4. Darkness: Most humans are to be considered belonging to darkness already, aswell as every religion is to be considered as leading to hell.

I want to get in on this christian meditation. How do I start?

Save your time. It's complete bullshit.

Everything these idiots know about gnosticism comes from the Nag Hamadi discovered in 1953, the earliest copies of which date thousands of years after the events took place. Thousands.

It's all made up bullshit. Know secret things, be like God.

I'll teach you the method I used when I achieved gnosis myself.

Close your eyes, breathe deeply and softly, ignore your thoughts, focus on feeling the energy arround you, you can use music (quiet music) during this form of meditation, I was listening to music when I received my gnosis.

Union with God is not experienced instantly after achieving gnosis, so if you get a mental image (must be of a human being, which will be your true self) but don't feel union with God, don't give hope just yet, you may experience it that night or the following night (I experienced it that same night).

It is possible that you may have dreams about going to heaven if all goes well.

After you experience gnosis and face union with God (which is a pretty impressive happening) the next days you will feel very happy.

What then?
Death?

You will die when you will die.

>They werent around in the time of christ or the early church, were they?
Yes, they were.

You'll never experience union with God.

Doing what you are doing, however, you will definitely experience union with demons.

>You'll never
I already have.
That's correct, I'm a saved person, I've experienced union with God and gnosis.
You on the other hand are solely a religious fanatic of a religion that leads to hell.

We gnostics are smarter than the average religious person: since we have to get actual results from our practice (gnosis and union with God) we can tell if we are saved or not, as opposed to dying while believing a lie.

thats becuz its allthe same rehashed fallen angel bullshit, across the board with all religions Just follow Lord Jesus Christ and be saved! I dont post for my health so consider my opinion please

where does he say Christian meditation? He is literally spewing filth onto this thread and you are eating it up? As a follower of Yeshua??! Comeon mannn

From satan in the Garden of Eden, lying to Eve: "The fruit will not kill you; eat it, and know good and evil, and thus be like God."

You become a Christian, first, then you read the bible, and when a verse hits you, you stop reading, read that verse a few times, and pray about gaining a deeper understanding of it.

You're delusional, and deluded. That's all. You're experiencing things beings manifold times more intelligent than you are deceiving you into believing are true.

hence the term gnosis or knowing, but you kids really like to believe you're some crazy Godman, its sad to see young and impressinable minds get eaten up by their pride and desire for power/glory/wealth/etc

Gnostics will not tell you that they are following satan. Hence, I am not a gnostic. I mock gnostics.

Their gnosticism, or delusion, is no substitute for epignosis.

>Gnostics will not tell you that they are following satan

Must be because we aren't.

Get out of here, you towelhead.

>You're delusional, and deluded.
No, as I'm not believing the first lie I am told and pretending it to be some inescapable truth, I've tested and checked what I believe, unlike you.

>young and impressinable
I'm probably older and more experienced in life than you, that is why I've chosen my faith out of testing things instead of trusting on blind luck, because I'm not retarded to believe the first retard who comes over and tells me he will send me to heaven if I obey him.

Any critical intellectual study of religion that is done seriously takes you to gnosticism if it doesn't destroy your faith.

>my interpretation of the invisible sky daddy better then urs!

Ah, I love it when the glaring contradictions in the Bible produce yet more le heretics for you to rage at.

I don't see what paganism has to do with what we're discussing.

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Gnosticism. The theology is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical Christian’s head. There’s also Sophia's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into her characterisation- her personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The gnostics understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these beliefs, to realise that they’re not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Gnosticism truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn’t appreciate, for instance, the humour in the Gnostic existential catchphrase “Wubba Lubba Dub Dub,” which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev’s Russian epic Fathers and Sons. I’m smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as The Gospel of Judas's genius wit unfolds itself on the belief system. What fools.. how I pity them.

And yes, by the way, i DO have a Gnosis tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It’s for the ladies’ eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they’re within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothin personnel kid

>is it my skyfairy?
>no it's not my skyfairy!
>let's vomit shit all over the place

gnosis.org/welcome.html

Have fun

If you want to understand gnosticism, do NOT forget about Mani.

This guy founded an entire gnostic religion. Like a fusion of early Christian, Zoroastrian, and gnostic beliefs, Manichaeism preached true wisdom and peace.

The Roman Christians responded by killing every Manichaean they could find and then using it as a term for every new heresy over the next five hundred years. The Zoroastrian magi and Chinese magistrates weren't much kinder in future centuries.

Everywhere this religion went, it pissed off the institutional state and spiritual mechanisms. The world would be a better place if Manichaeism had survived.

It's a damn shame all of Mani's books remain lost, but there's enough fragments translated to be worth a look.

>Wanting to be spoon fed a simplified explanation
Read nigger
gnosis.org/library/valentinus/index.html
sanctuaryinterfaith.org/wp-content/uploads/The-Gnostic-Gospels.pdf
youtu.be/hySnCU-PQxM

Gnosticism is too scholarly and obtuse or seems to be some kind of new-agey cult like bullshit.

There you go, that's Gnosticism. Answered your own question.