A Framework to Think About Gnosticism

I was beginning to read a book on the subject of Gnosticism last night that I’ve had forever. A new goal of mine since joining the Blurt community is a) read a book on some subject matter that I find of interest, and b) summarize some points of the book to share with #blurtreligion for a conversation starter. I like this, because it will force me to start reading some books I’ve stockpiled forever.

Last night I began this book, The Apocalypse of the Reluctant Gnostics: Carl G. Jung and Philip K. Dick, by Stuart Douglas:

Straight away, through the first chapter, I read a wonderful synopsis of the gnostic worldview that was put together ever so succinctly. Douglas put a ten point, high level summary of the Gnostic framework for a good starter…and since I am going to be sharing some details and findings of my research on the Nag Hammadi Library, I thought I should share it for everyone to give some context as to what is going on with the whole “Gnosticism” thing. So, without further ado (and with some paraphrasing, of course), I give you the Stuart Douglas “Gnostic Manifesto.” Simply put: based in visionary experiences and relating to a group of people with a related spiritual worldview, Gnosticism exhibits the following fundamental characteristics:

I. It is Monistic; there exists a sole, indefinable, preternatural supreme godhead out of which everything else comes into being

II. Its cosmogony involves a process of discharge of male-female syzygies out of the one preternatural source

III. It is dualistic in nature and draws a distinct division between a preternatural realm of light and the artificed domain of matter

IV. It believes the artificed domain of matter was not created by the preternatural godhead but rather that it was generated by “a lesser, ignorant, occasionally evil god and his subordinates”

V. The generation of this domain of matter was a result of an error or disruption to the superlunary order

VI. Humans were created by the artificer and his subordinates, imprisoned them in the generated domain of matter, and banished them from their true home in the preternatural realm of light

VII. Each human being contains an essence that is equal to the essence of the supreme godhead; it is the divine essence

VIII. Transcendent awareness is required through direct, inner experience to achieved salvation; salvation is not acquired through blind faith

IX. This inner experience is gnosis, and is imparted by a delegate from the preternatural realm

X. Hence, the goal of every Gnostic is to “extract their divine essence from its imprisonment” in the world of matter and return it to the preternatural realm of light

After reading this last night, I immediately thought this was a perfect framework from how to approach any Gnostic works, and more importantly to me, to be used as a cheat sheet as I move forward with my Nag Hammadi research. So go ahead and bookmark it if interested!

What do you think of this “manifesto”? Overly simplistic? Lacking elegance ? I’m curious to hear what others think about the summary laid forth by the Douglas. Thanks as always for reading!