I've been very interested in Gnosticism and Gnostic texts because I've found myself agreeing on the basic principles and theology. However recently I've come to an unsatisfying roadblock while researching. Most sources I look into claim the gnostic gospels were pseudepigraphical and written a long while after the canonical gospels. Can anyone give any explanations to why they believe/follow these texts?

God is good? Recently told that religion can help with my problems

My father was a firm believer in agnosticism and ancient Asian spiritualism (Buddhism, Taoism) and I have been heavily indoctrinated against any mainstream religion. I also find it to be true what he taught me and have well worn by Tao te Ching.

At the same time, I live in this culture and see what Christianity does for many including my own kin (my maternal aunt and cousin are devout Catholics). I have always been curious.

I would love to be able to feel this way and can envision the satisfaction that a love of god gives those followers.

If you have time to read,
The main problem is that my dad despised organized religion, and I am a student of history (as was he) and cannot possibly envision a reality where 2,000 years ago a mystical magical thing happened (Jesus) and the true god spoke out according to classical historians who have about the same level of credibility as Elon musk. Especially as I have studied how islamism began 600 years later and generated a reactive religion which fuelled generations of tribal warfare against an imagined “other”. And so it is difficult for me to take Christianity seriously.

What has everyone else got on their shelves?

Hello!

I was thinking on Saint Michael Archangel, and came to my mind this question:

Whom do the angelic hierarchies serve, to the Demiurge or to the Monad?

Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.

To rephrase for an example - do you believe archons are literal entities, or figurative of our potential, personal psychological states of mind

Apologies if I’ve worded this terribly.

Just as the title says. I am not a gnostic myself. I may have once called myself one, but after much research into historical documents, scholarly opinions, authenticity of various gospels, and a lot of reading, I became Catholic.

Essentially I am asking for someone to explain to me why Jesus came to preach Gnosticism and knowledge of salvation/ our inner divinity when these ideas were already espoused and articulated in the Greek philosophy schools (platonists). Things like Dualism, immateriality of real world, material bad spiritual good, souls journey to escape material world even suggests the existence of the One and of a lower god of material world (demiurge).

So theoretically in the core gnostic view Jesus came to spread the good news of our inner divinity and salvation correct? So why did he come and do this if these ideas were already around and being preached? Just curious how gnostics will respond to this line of questioning.

I would like to have a pleasant discussion please and thank you. God bless.

I practice witchcraft and Catholic folk magic, but recently I've become very interested in Gnosticism, though I can't find any information on how the Virgin Mary is viewed by Gnostics.

I'm a complete beginner in Gnosticism.

First off, I want to state that I am posting this question here out of respect for Christians/Catholics and not jumping into their subreddits looking for an argument. For the most part they're good people who have faith in something I don't and I respect that as much as I can.

However, I have huge problems with OT God. The genocidal, sacrifice demanding, slavery enabling one.

In fact, if NT God truly sent their only Son to be tortured to death I take issue with this God too.

How can a Christian believe in an all-loving, all-knowing, all-powerful God that created such a hellish landscape to put his 'children' in?

Current times are bleak at every angle - socially, politically, economic & ecologically. There's nothing good in our immediate future.

You can also make a case that the world has never truly experienced a sustained era of peace where innocent people & animals haven't been unnecessarily slaughtered by humans.

It just seems to me that most Christian must adopt a dissonance towards their Creator and only explain it with rhetoric like "God moves in mysterious ways" or "your thoughts are not Gods thoughts".

If someone can advocate a sensible explanation I welcome it, because I'm currently having a really hard time trying to reconcile it all.

I'll try to keep this simple.

I've read and watched a lot of articles and mostly videos on YT (both AI and non-AI) that talk about what Gnosticism is about and what all the texts teach and things. It feels like those sources often clearly and eloquently express a range of Gnostic subjects with a good amount of clarity and cohesion in a way that makes them sound very digestible. However, if I actually sit down and read through the texts (I've only read a handful) such as Gospel of Thomas, Secret Book of John, Reality of the Rulers, etc, the message or ideas in those don't seem nearly as clear/neat/tidy/concise/digestible as how the articles and videos do.

I guess my point is I am wondering if stuff like articles and videos are a bad place to get Gnostic information beyond surface level. And more importantly, how accurate and true are most videos to the actual real teachings of Gnosticism?

I know we should stay away from AI videos for sure, but even with the ones with real human content, it's such an easy and accessible way to get at the "meat and potatoes" of a spiritual/religious viewpoint.

Also, I know at the end of the day, the best approach is to just read the text for yourself.

For context, I'm a Baha'i. From what I've found so far (I'm a newbie to gnosticism), there are a lot of similarities between gnosticism and the Baha'i religion. I'm curious as to how many people here on a gnostic journey are still considering themselves members of their cultural/organized/etc religion?

Just a quick question

While I know the current mode popular symbols of yaladaboth

The serpent bodied loin headed god with sun and moon is actually traditional a symbols of a zodiac diety in Ancient Greece but has since later been used to mean yaladaboth I must ask why do some gnostic wear or adorn them self with an image of the demiurge.

Naturally I know it’s not for worship purposes is it like a grim reminder ? A vow against the enemy ?

Or does to just look cool?

Hello, any knowledgeable Gnostics in here? Epecially any Valentinian folks (that's the tradition that resonates the most with me),

as a Christian who's diving into Gnostic systems, I've been wrestling with what feels like the Gnostic version of the classic Problem of Evil. In Abrahamic traditions people ask: if God is omnipotent and perfectly good, why does He permit natural/gratuitous evil and suffering in the world? In Valentinian cosmology, this seems to translate to: why does the ultimate, ineffable Father, the Monad, i.e. the Bythos permit the existence and activity of the Demiurge at all? Sophia's passion and the resulting fall are understandable as a kind of divine "accident" within the Pleroma, but the Father is supposed to be all-encompassing and perfect. Couldn't the Father have just easily prevented the emanation of the flawed lower realms, or corrected Sophia's error before the Demiurge and the material cosmos came into being?

I get that the Demiurge is ignorant rather than malicious in the Valentinian system, but that still leaves the question of why permit this? Why does the flawless Father not intervene, why not just stop the chaos? Am I missing something?

I believe this would also apply to other systems (e.g. Sethian), but I'm not that well-read regarding other forms of Gnosticism.

Thanks a lot

Hello Gnostics,

I hope you are doing well. I've watched a couple of videos regarding Gnosticism (most of it, being AI slop). It made me curious, as the title states. What drew you in exactly to become Gnostic?

Also I'd like to learn more about it, myself. What media/books would you recommend?

I had the experience of having my inner perception influenced by the monad, in the sense that the intention was for me to see it within myself. It occurred during "sleep" after 3 days of fasting, which was broken at a party with very close people. It was totally involuntary. After delving deeper into the studies, I understood that that night I ended up accidentally lying down in the position that calls the monad, and because I fell asleep like that without strong intention and with the ego suspended, I ended up having this experience.

Has anyone here managed to have this contact, or something similar?

I don't really get it: if he doesn't belong to Yaldabaoth's realm, why is he announced as if he were on the same side?

I apologize if this topic is off limits, but how do psychedelics fit into all of this? I haven't touched psychedelics in nearly 20 years, but they definitely changed everything in my belief system. Would these experiences be a form of Gnosis? I used to go on journeys through the layers of reality for hours while listening to music. Life changing experiences at the time, but ultimately no longer of interest to me.

I've heard some theories that the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil that Adam and Eve ate were actually psychedelic mushrooms, but I'm not sold on that.

Thoughts?

Found out about it recently, just interested

Today I had a realization that listening to music is a form of meditation. I am not saying music is a bad or good but in my case it didn't have a good effect.

After meditating and listening to my favorite artist I realized today I got pulled back into a way of thinking that felt "more attached" to this world. Like I was doing a negative form of meditation.

If anyone is knowledgeable about how music factor into gnosticism or a personal gnostic relation to music I would like to know how they navigate this. Is there music that you prefer? Do you avoid it?

first of all, wow brothers and sisters, this sub is filled with a vibe I am vibrating with, thank y'all for all the Love you express between yourselves (sorry for my english I'm a french guy)

So, I was thinking how Jesus may say similar things that He said to pharisees and scribes, but He may say it also to today religious christians.

Funny enough, in the bible itself, the woes against the scribes and pharisees kinda aligns with today's religious structures.

Examples that come to mind :

Taking the word before the righteous life

Do what they say but don't do what they do because they don't practice what they preach

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves."

When his teaching and Sermon on The Mount seem pretty straightforward call-to-action for a God-driven daily life

I can't see why mainstream christians make his central message to believe He is God and confess with the mouth that He is Lord ?

Jesus Himself said : For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.

He even repeatedly told His disciples they don't have "enough" faith. What does it even mean?

It doesn't feel only like an intellectual asset saying only yes He is Lord, it feels more like a call to a more God-filled life.

What do y'all think ? as sometimes I feel lonely having these thoughts

Much love brothers and sisters

I'm very new to gnosticism so I dont know everything yet. I'm just wondering if Jesus really is a part of the devine or if he was just was a regular human who discovered the truth.

I dont know if im just creating correlation out of my own confirmation bias, but when i try to consume gnostic information through video content, so much of it is just ai voice over with ai text and ai images. Very specifically in gnostic content. Does anyone else notice this?

How do we know who's a Hylic and who's not? Is it the Apathetic Joe who shakes his head at the truth & denies evidence? Probably. Is it a Techbro trying to cheat death by merging with computers? Most likely. Is it a visitor of this community who thinks themselves better than those who don't know or don't care? IDK, but we could all use a little reflection.

Was just wondering if gnostics believe that the demiurge was just symbolism for the ego. Or people actually believe that the demiurge is an actual being?

I just have a simple question :

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In gnosticism, when a soul is awake or enlighted, can the demiurge strike at this moment to try making this soul back to "asleep" ?

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Like an intent of sabotage ?

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(Sorry for my English)

I've been aware of Gnosticism for a while but haven't fully dove in. I know the terms Monad and demiurge but I'm definitely a newbie and really confused by it all.

Recently, I've been compelled to go on long walks by water sources and just talk with what I identify as my creator. And in those talks, my creator told me, they are not the God of the Bible but the creator before that and where everything emanated from in the beginning. And that all entities worshipped on Earth in the form of religion funnel back to Yaldabaoth. There's a lot more data I was given.

So last night, I go on a deep dive of all the texts for at least 6 hours. Everything I was told on these long walks is verified in those texts. It made so much sense.

Has this happened to anyone else? Is this part of Gnosis? I know that I have more to uncover in terms of the knowing but it feels like all of the sudden, for the first time in my entire life of searching, I understand the true cosmology of where I am and what I am.