Modern Gnosis in Christianity

What part can Gnosis play in modern Christianity?

Gnosis answers the essential questions, "How can I know God, and be sure that I am saved?" Aside from the concern to appease the wrath of the earlier gods, this has been the ultimate issue of our religious traditions all the way back to ancient Egypt. Esoteric texts purporting to share the secret divine knowledge needed to pass into the world of the gods date to the age of the pyramids. There was a series of rituals and passwords needed to get past the gatekeepers. It wasn't until later that a clear conscience became a requirement, when the god Ma'at decided to weigh men's souls against a feather.

But there is also another way to be attuned to God, to discern what we need to have a right relationship with the Divinity that sustains our existence. A personal mystic experience grants ineffable (unspeakable) knowledge directly from God. It is not an exclusive prerogative, so as to be reserved only for an elite class of the faithful, but actually may be a democratizing factor. This is because it's not something in us, or in our actions, that causes God to speak to our hearts. It is all God's will, to decide if He wants to touch us in this way.

It may indeed help if we are strongly focused on our desire to know God, practicing prayer, meditation and study as our ultimate concern, but we don't make it happen. Saints through all the ages have retreated from the world, to escape its distractions and  concentrate on their efforts to live for God. And many have had these deeply spiritual experiences, and felt thus enlightened  and empowered, encouraged in their pursuit of God. Their examples and teachings, as a result, have been a special boon to the rest of us. It is this kind of experience, and the knowledge beyond expression in words, that I am referring to as gnosis.

What can the mystic experience of gnosis do for the believer?

A. Reassure the seeker.
- this is usually imparted only to the elect
- the experience deepens one's faith
- it may reveal a sense of a deeper truth
- it can clarify a holy mystery

B. "My kingdom is not of this world" becomes self-evident.
- knowledge strengthens faith in afterlife
- we may feel less attachment to flesh
- we see this world is not the most "real"
- we may even have a vision of Heaven

C. Offer direction and purpose.
- God's touch can reveal a way to serve
- it may offer a religious vocation
- it often delivers a call to salvation
- it may grant a spiritual gift or aptitude

D. A direct experience of God's love.
- it can be like a face to face meeting
- it speaks intimately to one's heart
- it can give reassurance of forgiveness
- it makes a claim for God's family

Gnosis is not given as a judge of doctrinal issues. The Church is the designated arbiter of doctrine. Rather, gnosis is a deeply personal experience, to be kept in one's heart and meditated on as a gift from Heaven. It can be regarded as imparting personal knowledge of God, or other spiritual matters, maybe revealing a new, higher point of view. It might even offer a broader perspective on religion in general. Many faiths share some aspect or relation in God's plan of salvation. But it will not give contradictory evidence, invalidating any of the means of consolation, salvation or empowerment offered to the faithful.

Gnosis can clarify the nature and depth of the dichotomy between good and evil, specifying the true nature of each. It carries within it the sense of a hallmark of Truth that is hard to ignore, but it begs to be "fact checked" by logical reasoning and critical investigation. Its nonverbal communication needs to be "translated" into more familiar forms. In essence, gnosis stands as the evidence we need to assert confidently that, truly, God does exist, and He cares about us, as amazing as that may be.

Sometimes, a tradition of mystical  experiences can offer a path of spiritual evolution, slowly leading the faithful to the improvement of a poorly imagined religion, shedding light on internal contradictions. It can encourage the neglect of certain bad teachings, like threats of violence, or even dissembling lurking in the hidden corners of the faith, or a disdain for and harsh marginalization of the adherents of other traditions. In this way, gnosis, through the integration of mystic experience, can be a means for human spirituality to evolve subtly toward a nearer approximation of true knowledge by encounters with God. Sufis have been working on Islam for centuries, but they are afraid of being accused of apostasy. So, neither can they convert.

But gnosis is not the same as the ancient sects of Gnosticism. We do not claim any secret mystery, to be revealed only to an initiate. There are no essential passwords to be revealed in writing to a chosen few. There is no revelation of a twisted creation ruined by a lesser god, or a multiverse of hierarchies and levels of worlds. No evil Archons, no Barbelo. Those are merely deceptions, distractions to keep you from focusing on the truth.

The Truth has always been in plain sight, evident to any who have ears to hear and eyes to see with. The architecture of creation is already known, at least in mythological language. The God of creation is the same God of compassion, liberation and salvation. The troubles of this world are due to our own lack of faith and obedience, at least until we learn to internalize His morality and grow up to spiritual adulthood. Indeed, the message of Truth is the Good News that the Messiah has come, teaching about the Kingdom of God, and that the Law has been simplified so that Love is its fulfillment.

Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father but by Me." He did promise to send the Holy Spirit for a guide, but She does not speak for her own glory, but only for the Father and the Son. Thus, gnosis and mystical experience is not a path away from Christianity, nor even an elitist community within it. Rather, gnosis may offer an answer to the doubt of the honest agnostic, who prays, "Lord, I believe. Help Thou my unbelief."