Gnosis. Where do we go from here? How does gnosis help us live our lives? How can we turn this knowledge into practical terms so we may live more fulfilling lives? Isn’t that what every human truly wants? — To live more fulfilled, joyous lives until the time that we shed our physical’ness’?
I am hard-pressed to believe that gnosis is the end. I am finding it is, truly, only the beginning. Acknowledgment of, and connection with, our Inner Spark is the first step in knowing ourselves — our True Selves. With this accomplished, we must then allow our True Selves to express through our physical beings. It is impossible for this expression to be rooted in anything other than love, for it comes from God.
“He said to them: “Whoever has ears should hear!
Light exists inside a person of light, and he shines on the whole world.
If he does not shine, there is darkness.” - Gospel of Thomas 24:2-3
Shine, indeed.
An understanding of our connection with the Divine and our true nature is imperative. Gnosis offers the key, but beyond the door is knowing what to do with that information…knowing how to shine.
May 8th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Great post. Theosis is to exist in constant connection with the Divine, or in other words, in a constant state of gnosis. It reminds me of my first week of Calculus when I realized with dismay that all 12 years of Math class were just to learn the basics! You are quite correct that gnosis, or one’s first experience of, is just the first step. A peek behind the veil as it were. Glad to see you’re back!
Peace
June 1st, 2007 at 5:30 pm
The term gnosis in Greek is different than what we use the word “knowledge” for in English. The more I study the way the ancient Greeks understood how we know things, the more the term gnosis as used in Gnostic texts seems to be a deeper developmental form of knowing. Not only a knowing that we are, but a knowing by our growing. So, as you point out, knowing the basic state of things is only the beginning. There is also no end, no set of things to know that are the sum of Gnosis. It is a becoming and a being, a movement and a rest.