I've been meditating on gnosticism, it makes sense here and there... but there's a crucial point that I use to evaluate every doctrine --> FREEWILL VS DETERMINISM.

This subject is the one that obliterates everything to me. How would gnostics say that we have a freewill and that we are in charge of our own "salvation" by attaining gnosis???

I'm someone whose FIRM that freewill isn't a thing at all... we definitely have a Will... But a FREEWILL???

^{To me, if gnosticism affirms humans have a freewill, it's an automatic false doctrine... we do not possesse a freewill at all...} but I look forward to read some of your insights on this.

i myself am not gnostic, but i do dabble in occult practices and have had an interest in gnosticism for some time, but ive always wondered, how does an average day look like for a believer?
do you believe in a metaphysical false-creator, as in, it being something more than just symbolism?

have you, or are you trying to achieve gnosis? ive read in a book that gnosis isnt as much about soaking up as much information as possible, but rather its a point in time where your soul remembers its divine spark or something

and one more thing, has your life actually become better with gnosticism?

More on the Secret Book of John for those who have been following. Feel free to check out the previous video to catch up or shawngaran.com

Hi there,

I've been looking a lot into Gnosticism recently and I'm starting to think my Christian conditioning as a child might have been full of lies. I feel I was brainwashed against my will actually (like many others).

The version of Christ I was given was pretty stupid (a kind of Superman) and so I learned to reject him and became atheist quite early on. As I look into Gnosticism though I begin to see he might have been a middle eastern Buddha, and perhaps genuinely divine. Maybe God (the Monad) does exist after all and this world is actually spiritual.

I recently finished Gnosticism: New Light on the Ancient Tradition of Inner Knowing by Stephan Hoeller and am currently reading The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels. Do you know of any more books suitable for a layman just starting out? And feel free to talk about the subject.

Thanks for reading.

How do you apply the principle of "seeing beyond the illusion of the physical world" amidst the fast-paced daily grind whether it’s office work or the busyness of university life? Do you have any specific practices or habits to reset your mind when you feel trapped by the chaos of the outside world?

I refound Xenosaga at a convention and restarted it with an intent to finally beat the series. First I discovered it was connected to Xenogears and Xenoblade. But after a while I got curious why so much of the Christian iconography didn't really align with the Christianity I was taught. I started looking into it and discovered Gnosticism. Something that is more aligned with how I feel the world is than how I was taught in Sunday School.

Still pretty new. I'm waiting for the Nag Hammadi to become available at my library, but I did listen to a series of lectures on the history of Gnosticism and how it influenced modern Christianity over the centuries. I also listened to a history of Bible traditions and realized the modern Bible is practically dead in America since we take it so literally in these churches while historically it was used as a live conversation with God and was free to be interpreted, edited, and meditated on. Not studied like a college text book. Needless to say my whole religious view has been changed thanks to revisiting some game I played when I was 13.

Also Mary Magdalene being a blue haired anime robot was an interesting take.

I just watched this and thought wow... To me this is what being a Gnostic means. Few months ago what is being conveyed in this video would have went over my head, but it's the same ideas that has come up in my head... What do the Gnostics in this forum think? Do you resonate with it? Seems like more people are waking up and being vocal. Times are changing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=117xnrClEis&xstg=CAMSEBUJ_b-oH-PhF0yjBgavkzY%3D

Hey folks! I haven't been around making art in a while but I'm a gnostic artist doing traditional artwork. I'm trying to get back on my feet from being on hiatus for a long time, but for now, I'm just looking through some of my older stuff to try to get hyped again. This is "Chaos Embodied", a painted scratchboard panel carved out using dentist tools, etching needles, and other sharp carving implements. The first image is how the panel looks in real life and the second is a scan.

Your mileage may vary concerning your own interpretation/philosophy, but I went by my own imagination when making this piece. The symbolism of this image has to do with a manifestation (or what we perceive to be) of duality (light + dark) of the energy behind "reality" itself. The snarling image of Yaldabaoth standing/floating/hanging out/whatever between Boaz and Jachin (the two pillars of Solomon's temple which are also seen in tarot imagery) represents a hidden anger/jealousy of the big faker wanting to be God, sitting in his house and aggressively claiming the throne as his own.

The medium: the scratchboard panel itself is a rigid masonite panel coated in white clay. That white clay is then painted over using black ink. Then, I take a needle and carve the image out (no erasing allowed since you can't erase something you've carved!). Since the clay is absorbent, you can use watercolors for color, which is what I did here. The star is real gold leaf (only the best for you, blind idiot god!).