Another Gnosticism Question (Jesus, ritual, mystic, virtual, Buddhism)

[mystic man]

Alright I've got a question about Gnosticism. Actually 2...

1. Is there a set doctorine of beliefs Gnostics have to believe to be Gnostics or is it just a mind set/practise/philosophy?

2. Does Gnosticism include a "mystical/esoteric" interpretation of Scripture(s)?

(bonus question). What is Gnosticism?

[Halcyon]

Originally Posted by mystic man

1. Is there a set doctorine of beliefs Gnostics have to believe to be Gnostics or is it just a mind set/practise/philosophy?

Nope, but kinda. I would expect anyone identifying themselves as a Gnostic to believe that, a) the world we experience is in some way illusitory and, b) understanding of the true nature of reality can be gained via gnosis.

Originally Posted by mystic man

2. Does Gnosticism include a "mystical/esoteric" interpretation of Scripture(s)?

That's pretty much all it deals in.

Originally Posted by mystic man

(bonus question). What is Gnosticism?

Good question, religious scholars are still arguing about that. I would say Gnosticism is the Abrahamic religions version of Buddhism.

[Random]

Originally Posted by mystic man

1. Is there a set doctorine of beliefs Gnostics have to believe to be Gnostics or is it just a mind set/practise/philosophy?

Most agree on the creation mythology of Gnosticism, that is incl. the All-Father or Source as the True God from which all spiritual beings and souls emanate, Sophia as the Goddess and her offspring the Demiurge as false god and author of the illusory material creation. Also, most agree to three classes of sentient being; hylics, who are egos caught up in identification with the Body (then called the eidolon), psychics who are initiated into the Mystery and are on a progressive path to gnosis (divine illumination, mastery of esoteric knowlege and enlightenment), and finally pneumatics who are fully self-realzied, awakened souls. The rest of the details differed greatly from sect to sect during the time Gnosticism thrived in the ancient world, but today Neo-Gnosticism always includes the figure of Christ-Jesus as the one who symbolically frees the gnostic from the binds of ignorance thru his wisdom and enlightened knowlege.

2. Does Gnosticism include a "mystical/esoteric" interpretation of Scripture(s)?

That's what it's all about, as Halcyon said.

bonus question). What is Gnosticism?

Gnosticism is @ the core of the perennial Mystery religion which underlies virtually all of the exoteric ones, Abrahamic or Dharmic. But on the face of it, it is very similar to Buddhism.

[mystic man]

Would it be fair to say if someone believes in this Gnosis, the illusory nature of the world and the teacher(the Buddha(ish) figure) that he/she is a Gnostic?

Do you see these Sophia, Demiurge as "literal" beings?

And Lastly is "Unitarian Gnosticism" possible? Not "UU" Unitarian.

[Random]

Originally Posted by mystic man

Would it be fair to say if someone believes in this Gnosis, the illusory nature of the world and the teacher(the Buddha(ish) figure) that he/she is a Gnostic?

It would, but belief is not gnosis, higher enlightened and secret knowlege is.

Do you see these Sophia, Demiurge as "literal" beings?

No I don't, they're symbols.

And Lastly is "Unitarian Gnosticism" possible? Not "UU" Unitarian.

I don't know what you mean, but if you invented it, no problem. The Gnostic Monad was a unitarian doctrine amongst early gnostics.

[mystic man]

So, Gnosticism = Esoteric Interpretation of Scripture(s) that would lead you to the "gnosis" which "liberates" the "soul" from the material "world". Excuse the extensive use of "quotations".

[mystic man]

This is very confusing stuff lol. I WILL get to the bottom of this!

So would Buddhism be considered a Gnostic religion?

[alpha&omega]

read about the essenes from qumran,the dead sea scrolls and most imortantly the nag hamadi texts,mary was kissed by jesus lol,the new testament is greek and mithriac,constantines solar religion,gnostic is what jesus was before he became christ!the snake is revered....eg.medical symbol snake and the staff!the dead sea scroll where covered up by the vatican for 40+ yrs,nag hamadi where half used as fuel for a egyptian peasant to cook before the discovery of there meaning wich pre date and contradict many themes of the new testament lol,coptic or egyptian christianity is closer to gnostic than any other recent religion than any thing else ive found!aberax is in a strugle for light and dark,zorasterism,taoism r similer.matter,and the seeking of understanding r core,the snake is not evil ciriosity,its the wanting of knowing and understandig,essenes,hebrew,templers,masons,gothic churches even the jesuits r related!the king james version of the bible is the most gnostic and apoctiliptic.

[michel]

Originally Posted by mystic man

This is very confusing stuff lol. I WILL get to the bottom of this!

So would Buddhism be considered a Gnostice religion?

My good friend Halcyon gave you some pretty good answers; your last question is an interesting one, and I can see why you ask it - You would have to ask Bhuddists for the answer though, although, in many ways I think you are probably correct.

Gnosis (to me) is all about a personal spiritual relationship with God arrived at from intuition and meditation, and prayer. The strange thing is that my beliefs (arrived at from gnosis) are not that different from some of the Christian church's beliefs; I would have to say that I "fit in" quite well with Roman Catholics, Latter Day saints, Chuch of England and even Judaism...but always not quite "within the boundaries" of each of the above; I just can't be labelled.........

[Halcyon]

Originally Posted by mystic man

Would it be fair to say if someone believes in this Gnosis, the illusory nature of the world and the teacher(the Buddha(ish) figure) that he/she is a Gnostic?

The teacher for most Gnostic sects was Jesus. But yeah, pretty much. If you're interested in reading Gnostic texts I would suggest The Gnostic Bible by Marvin Meyer, its crammed with good stuff.

Originally Posted by mystic man

Do you see these Sophia, Demiurge as "literal" beings?

I used to, yes. But if you do you also need to understand their symbolic meaning, otherwise just believing in them is useless.

Originally Posted by mystic man

And Lastly is "Unitarian Gnosticism" possible? Not "UU" Unitarian.

Like Random said, the Gnostic God is a Monad i.e. it is the One that is the origin of all other phenomena in the universe. In Gnosticism the Monad is generally split up into a myriad of pseudo-deities such as Sophia, the Logos, Barbelo and even the Demiurge which as a