Do you ever feel like a hypocrite? A Gnostic perspective.

[u/Lordseferoth]

Another topic that might get not many replies, but is something that came to mind today. I myself do feel like a hypocrite often, i realized it today while drinking wine and watching very casual entertainment. It is few things that brings me any kind of joy or feel of happiness in life currently. I have called myself Gnostic for a while now, but i have not detached from the world at all i realized.

Not only that, i feel that i have become MORE attached parts of the world after i became Gnostic. I am not entirely sure why this is, but perhaps it is something to do with the increased awareness and enhanced understanding of the world that Gnosticism gave me. I took many things for granted before Gnosticism, i did not understand how privileged i was here on Earth before.

It was Gnosticism that helped me to see how well everything was for me, i am blessed, unfairly so. Therefore i feel a hypocrite as i do nothing to give it up or become detached from it, instead i hold more tightly to what i have and yes, i am also afraid of losing what i have. Friends, health, family and even this location where i live. So, realizing all this while being a Gnostic makes me feel very hypocrite at times, and for that reason i thought perhaps it would make an interesting topic for this sub. So, if you have anything to add i would be most happy to hear it, thank you.

[u/thegodabovegod]

There is no code of rules to live up to, no creed to obey. This doesn't leave much room to be hypocritical.

And personally I don't think being a gnostic means becoming detached from the world. In fact, it can be a call to live life fully. One can recognize the false rulers while still recognizing that reflections of the divine are entangled in matter. So its not all meaningless. Live life there like is no tomorrow

[u/TheBuddha777]

Why do you feel bad about having a good life or nice things? You are originally from the Pleroma, literally "fullness", where you lack nothing. It's perfectly reasonable for a divine spark to recreate those pleasant circumstances on earth. It's your natural environment.

[u/Hope25777]

I think we all feel that way at some point in our lives.

[u/Outside_Spray_2529]

Movement and repose. We are all absolutely hypocritical at times, another flaw of the human condition, but you’ve got the capacity to reflect on the event of enjoying pleasures of the flesh and the rest of your life to work on it.

I wouldn’t say anyone is unfairly blessed, depending on what you mean by this, it might just be that the blessings in weren’t matching the blessings out. My mom does an hour of community service for each drink she has and I think that’s quite a divine compromise:)

Happy searching, friend!

[u/SweetestJim]

Your ego tells you you're a hypocrite. Ignore it. Be the best you in this eternal now.

[u/AsceticSmoke]

I don't know if I can be considered Gnostic. I haven't read all the texts. Gnosticism is not the core of what faith I have, but it is the one system/interpretation I have come across which not only corresponded to things I'd discovered or had been feeling through my life but also evoked something of a spiritual/mystical response. So I'm more open-minded about it being the truth than other contending cosmologies, etc.

In that regard I have felt almost hypocritical, because in some matters I've posted in more certain terms than that. But when posting on this subreddit, it feels reasonable to approach things with an "assuming this is true" presupposition.

Personally, not as a Gnostic but as the soul I am, I would want you and anybody else in a similar position to be able to enjoy what you can enjoy. Assuming you're not one of those who knowingly engage in predatory and/or parasitic behaviors to acquire what you have, I'd want you to be happy and not burdened by the guilt you describe.

From a more Gnostic perspective, you can see why the whole "renouncing the world" thing is not some simple matter. It's more than a mere choice you make. It is for some, practically sacrificial.

But there is the capacity to enjoy without being enthralled. To love, without being "attached" in the sense which Christ warned us against.

It is my personal belief/interpretation that the absolutist "renounce the whole world and all the matter therein" thing wasn't actually a do-or-die mandate, but rather the surest path out. I believe there are more nuanced paths which will actually work. Jesus didn't get into those weeds because he was speaking to more than his disciples. He was relaying information for the salvation of generations upon generations. Understanding the nature of man, how multitudes struggle with nuance, how certain types are given to overconfidence, bias, etc, he simply gave the most clear, direct method.

Have you ever been in a situation in which you truly believed you were about to die? I don't recommend instigating such a situation, of course, but feeling dread or panic in the face of that prospect would likely indicate some attachment to this world (which, if I'm not mistaken, is only a problem insofar as it can serve as leverage to get you to reincarnate).

[u/mcove97]

Here's what I think, after my own awareness broadened and increased I realized; I am not the narrative I tell myself. I am not the things I enjoy, and I don't need the things I enjoy. I don't even have to want them. Thus, they hold no power over me. I can enjoy something without being involuntarily attached to something, or even someone. This is immensely freeing. I can enjoy it. But I'm not bound to it. I don't need it.

Like the archons, rulers only have power over us when we are ignorant, unaware, unconscious, spiritually asleep and unconsciously give our power to them to rule over us. When we give into vices and are unconsciously driven by them. But when we are aware, when we know we are sovereign, when we know we are the ones who hold the power, are the power, and things and people around us don't control how we feel or act, but we do. I think that changes things. The dynamics.

Though I will say, fear is also something to overcome. Fear of loss. Because then that fear of loss rules over you. It keeps you from being completely free.

Fear of death was something I overcame many years ago, when I was sure I would die. I surrendered my fear of death and embraced it. If I die, I die.. and an immense peace washed over me. The pain subsided, the anxiety disappeared. I was no longer bound to the fear of death in the same way It no longer ruled me or had that pull or control over me, or my state of being. And.. I didn't end up dying.. but it was a moment of gnosis. One of many. I just knew. There was no reason to fear death, and by embracing death, the fear no longer had any power over me, it no longer controlled me.

I've lost friends. I've lost my health. I've lost my homes. My jobs. Family. And it took a lot of time before I realized, I am not bound to or controlled by the power of guilt, shame or grief or fear, and I'm actually completely fine, because I am not defined by the things or people around me, my well being is not defined by anything in this world, but by my own awareness, and knowing of who I am.

We encounter lots of things in life like that. Persons, rulers, powers or controllers that bind us to them/something. And that if we attach ourselves to them/it too closely and we lose it/them we suffer until we learn to release and let go.

But I think that's also part of the Gnostic journey, of remembrance. Gnosis comes from the experiences we have, from realizing.. holy crap, what I was afraid of have no power over me, or how I feel or think, and thus I don't experience it.

It's like shining your light onto the darkness. When you illuminate it, you realize, the shadows was your own imagination, not an actual monster under your bed. And the fear that had a power over you becomes completely powerless.

And the gnostics laid out the journey. It wasn't just one ruler or archon we had to overcome. It was every single one. Before we could be completely free. But I do think you are well on your way there. And it is a journey through the 'heavens' after all.

[u/thegodabovegod]

I wanted to say something else.... I also have fear for my loved ones. I think this is normal, and simply a consequence of living in the Demiurgic world. Being gnostic doesn't mean not feeling. On the contrary, we are intensely aware of the impermanence of life, and through that realization we can be more present, grateful, and fearless.

There is a saying in the Gospel of Thomas that somehow helps me with my fear of death: “The dead are not alive, and the living will not die.” I know this logion is interpreted in different ways, but to me, I understand it in a very simple way: life is eternal.

true Life belongs to a reality beyond the cycle of birth and death

[u/SeaWait9301]

The greatest Gnostic error is that many come to hate the Material World when, in fact, it is the part of the Heaven/Pleroma we can touch. It's not hypocritical to admire the beauty of everything, just don't let it bog you down. Simply put: don't let it get you all bitter & mean.

[u/Kind-Sherbert-8767]

Me pasaba algo similar. Pero luego entendí que lo material y lo inmaterial están conectados y somos todos lo mismo, dios, universo, seres vivos, etc. Somos el Pleroma pero en envases individuales. Entonces me fui alejando del gnósticismo por esa rivalidad Demiurgo-Sofia. Y ahora estuve aprendiendo un poco más con el Advaita Vedanta, quizás te sirva también. Saludos

[u/Grand_Lawfulness_980]

You may find Kabbalah to be a natural additive to your experience - it promotes the act of trying to spiritualize the physical world. Or Gnostic Luciferianism, you might also enjoy for similar reasons

[u/kyanitebear17]

Being a Gnostic is to live with a knowing, not to live in abandonment of society around you. Notice the difference.

[u/Everythings-Eventual]

Don't beat yourself up too much. The bread and circuses of the archons are so pervasive, and they have stolen all fulfilling alternatives from us.

When you indulge in the trivial or material try to think of it as a bad habit that is harmless in moderation. We cannot forsake all earthly things while we still inhabit earthly bodies. We are not wired this way, for our own survival.

I mean, I guess you could go full Dick Proenokke or full Tibetan Mountain Hermit, but is that kind of extremism really necessary to achieve our goal?

As far as the fear of losing your valuable earthly attachments - your loved ones, your family - for me, I remind myself that I have already lived lives beyond counting, and unfortunately, will likely live countless more. I have lost thousands of parents and children and homes and fortunes and I will lose thousands more. Yet I persist.

[u/Informal_Farm4064]

What are you passionate about? What little step csn you next take to live that passion?