Gnosis

Definition: Knowledge; to Know; Transcendental Wisdom The Hebrew word for knowledge is דעת (da`ath), a noun derived from the verb ידע (yada) meaning “to know”. According to the Septuagint or Pentateuch, in the Greek language the word for knowledge is γνῶσις, translated as “Gnosis”.

The Pillars on which Gnosis has its foundation are: “Science, Art, Philosophy, & Mysticism”. However, as its own entity, gnosis goes way beyond conventional wisdom; it is a “function of the consciousness” and it is something that pre-dates mankind’s existence on this Earth. This is not an everyday type of knowledge, and is definitely not book learning. Gnosis is Insight, Intuition, the ability to know everything about yourself; to know that you have a spark of the Divine inside of you, and to recognize that the God you profess to be an external God is the very same as that spark of the Divine that is within you. Gnosis is engraved in every archaeological artifact; in every pyramid, tomb, bas-relief, etc. The interesting thing is to be able to extract Gnosis from the different archaeological pieces found in all corners of the world, wisely, with precision, using “the scalpel of the consciousness.”

Gnosis is not a Science, but it relies on natural and scientific laws; it is not an Art but its primary purpose is to acquire inner beauty; it is not a Philosophy, but it postulates a clear vision and interpretation of man and of the world; and it is not a Religion, but its main goal is the union of man with God. It contains pure esotericism and occult science, the magic and mystical thought of the wise, and encloses within itself the secrets of life and death. However, the essential purpose of Gnosis is to bring the human being to the “Intimate Self-Realization of his Profound Inner Being”.

Gnostic Anthropology: A Brief Historic Overview: The Gnostic Essenes were the main professors of the teachings of early Christianity; they were a very old Hebrew sect with a great body of ancient knowledge. The Essenes lived on the shores of the Dead Sea from about 100 B.C. to 100 A.D. According to Philo of Alexandria, and other writers of the first century A.D., the Essenes lived a communal life; they shared their possessions and lived by agriculture and handicrafts. They were also great lovers of peace and so refused to take arms or manufacture warlike weapons. Moreover, they proscribed slavery, believed in God, the Creator, in the immortality of the soul and in a future state of retribution. Their basic tenet was the doctrine of love—love of God, love of virtue, and love of mankind. They practiced celibacy, inner purity, purity of thought, and lived a life of self-imposed poverty. The Essenes, above all secret societies of that age, were wise in the fullest sense of the word, having a unique perspective of God and the Universe. Hebraic or Aramaic Sources and the Qumran scrolls referred to them as a “Community of Saints”. The Talmud called them “Morning Baptists” (tovilé shahrit) and Arabic writings refer to them as “Magaritas” (people from the caves). Obviously, they were able to accomplish great transformations; psychosomatic, mystical-sensorial, and transcendental.
They attained the awakening of consciousness. Long ago the Gnostic Essene peoples were at the cradle of Christianity and were perhaps the sunlight of the world. Sadly, by 100 A.D. the Romans had persecuted and exterminated them, and Christianity had become a “separate sect”. Some managed to survive and adapted like chameleons into foreign faiths whose influence eventually altered their gnostic perspectives and the genuine teachings of the Lord Savior. In Palestine, Jeshua Ben Pandira, “Jesus Christ”, was once an active member of this secret society where he attained the degrees of Perfect Master and Grand Elect.

The doctrine of Jesus is the doctrine of the Essenes, the doctrine of the Nazarenes, Peratisens or Peratas, etc. Jesus founded the Gnostic Church—the Gnostic Church that existed in the times of St. Augustine (354–430 C.E.), who was one of the four great “Doctors of the Church,” specifically, the “Doctor of Grace”.

This is the Church that was known by St. Jerome, Empedocles, St. Thomas, Marcion of Sinope, Clement of Alexandria, Tertulian, St. Ambrose, Hipócrates, and all of the first Fathers of the Church. In those times, the Church was named the “Catholic Gnostic Church”. The Roman Catholic Church in its present form was not founded by Jesus. This Roman Church is a deviation, a fallen branch of the Holy Gnosticism. The Coptic Church in Egypt is probably the oldest deviation of the Gnostic Church of Jesus Christ. The Pistis Sophia (Πίστις Σοφία), "Gnostic Bible" (1773) and the Nag Hammadi Library (1945) represent the rebirth of Gnosis in the new era.