Truth did not come into the world naked, but it came in types and images.
One will not receive truth in any other way.
– Gospel of Philip, 3rd Century Gnostic text
From Darkness Unto Light.
The path the Gnostics blazed 2000 years ago is still open in the 21st century. In a world of confusion, those who draw aside into the calmness of contemplation can still enter the gates of Initiation, pass through all the subtle planes of the Mysteries, and become citizens of the City Above, the glorious Kingdom of Light, the Pleroma.
Welcome to Gnostic.info, an online resource exploring all aspects of the Gnostic tradition. Many of the articles written by modern-day Gnostics and leading researchers.
Gnostic and Gnosticism are derived from the Greek word gnosis meaning ‘knowledge’. However, the Gnosis that Gnostics refer to is not scientific or rational knowledge, it is a ‘knowledge of the heart’, spiritual insight. Gnosis, according to Joseph Campbell, is a knowledge transcending “that derived either empirically from the senses or rationally by way of the categories of thought. Such ineffable knowledge transcends, as well, the terms and images by which it is metaphorically suggested.”
In the words of Dr. Stephan A. Hoeller, “Gnosticism is the teaching based on Gnosis, the knowledge of transcendence arrived at by way of interior, intuitive means.”
Gnostic.info is inspired by the intelligent, enquiring, free spirit of the ancient Gnostics creatively applied in the 21st century. The writings of the early Gnostics are used to illuminate ideas which are profoundly meaningful to modern life. The various articles on Gnostic.info are therefore designed to inform, inspire and enlighten. They are like maps showing the way to the Gnosis. As Duncan Greenless reminds us in The Gospel of the Gnostics:
“Gnosticism is a system of direct experiential knowledge of God and the nature of the Soul and the universe; therefore it has no fixed dogmas or creed but naturally expresses itself in terms familiar to its environment.”
The Gnostic path, whether travelled 2,000 years ago or today, is a process of awakening and return. The Gnostic cultivates an open-mind, while continually seeking the core nature of things.
Gnostic.info is a public initiative of the New Gnosis Study Group, a part of the Universal Gnostic Alliance established in Australia in 2005. Most of the material on Gnostic.info previously appeared in the Australian magazine New Dawn, and the site is established and maintained thanks to the support of the publishers of New Dawn.
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The True Self
The very word gnosis shows that the Gnostic knows. He does not know because he has gradually learned; he knows because revelation has been given him. He does not believe, for faith is inferior to gnosis. And his gnosis, ‘the knowledge of the ineffable greatness’, is itself perfect redemption… Gnostics know that they were originally spiritual beings who have come to live in souls and bodies; they once dwelt in the spiritual world above but have been made to fall into this world of sense and sin. Now, thanks to their self-knowledge, they are hastening back above, having been redeemed from this world below… The Gnostic is a Gnostic because he knows, by revelation, who his true self is.
– Professor R. M. Grant, Gnosticism and Early Christianity
There is only one Supreme Truth, but there are many ways of understanding this Truth. However, so long as we realise that this Truth is OUR TRUE SELF, we are well on the way to becoming that Truth in action. Therefore, these articles are to be absorbed completely and not merely read and assented to. If we just give assent to the ideas presented, we shall fail to see those truths that are and have been deliberately concealed from the non-intuitive student. You can now see our reason for constantly repeating that it is not how well the maxims contained herein are known but how well they are followed that will avail the student ultimate success in this study.
– Richard, Duc de Palatine