• Explains how the Gnostic understanding of self-realization is embodied in the esoteric traditions of the Rosicrucians and Freemasons
• Explores how gnosticism continues to influence up to date spirituality
• Shows gnosticism to be a philosophical key that helps spiritual seekers “take into account that” their higher selves
Gnosticism was once a up to date of early Christianity, and its demise may also be traced to Christianity’s efforts to silence its teachings. The Gnostic message, then again, was once not destroyed but simply went underground. Starting with the first emergence of Gnosticism, the writer shows how its influence extended from the teachings of neo-Platonists and the magical traditions of the Middle Ages to the beliefs and ideas of the Sufis, Jacob Böhme, Carl Jung, Rudolf Steiner, and the Rosicrucians and Freemasons. In the language of spiritual freemasonry,
gnosis is the rejected stone necessary for the completion of the Temple, a Temple of a new cosmic understanding that today’s heirs to Gnosticism continue to strive to create.The Gnostics believed that the universe embodies a ceaseless contest between opposing principles. Terrestrial life exhibits the struggle between good and evil, life and death, beauty and ugliness, and enlightenment and lack of awareness:
gnosis and agnosis. The very nature of physical space and time are obstacles to humanity’s ability to take into account that its divine origins and recuperate its original unity with God. Thus the preeminent gnostic secret is that we are God in potential and the purpose of bona fide gnostic teaching is to go back us to our godlike nature.Tobias Churton is a filmmaker and the founding editor of the magazine
Freemasonry Today. He studied theology at Oxford University and created the award-winning documentary series and accompanying book The Gnostics, in addition to several other films on Christian doctrine, mysticism, and magical folklore. He lives in England.
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