On Gnosticism

 When referring to Gnosticism I am speaking about the organized belief system under that moniker, not to be confused with the umbrella belief in deity.
 To accept Gnosticism as the universal truth is similar to accepting the theory that each of us and this entire universe is a simulation in an advanced computer. They are both ignorant reductionist projections of the functions of the psyche, rather than a reflection of how the world IS.

 For example, one of the main tennets of Gnosticism is that this is a fallen world, that a small speck of the light of divinity exists within everything, but it is all obscured, perverted, we exist within a demiurge that eternally seeks to eat the light that created it.

This narrative certainly may have elements or themes which reflect some truth of existence, but it is actually a better analogy to the nature of thoughts that are made manifest A few examples of what I mean, a mythic character or story is written in an age, and all time goes on the next generations create, recreate, reinvent, and even create entirely new mythic characters and stories based on the previous. Each reincarnation and reinvention of the motif or character takes it further from the source or what it was made to be. So much time passes that the original message, meaning, power is lost, and what is left is only a blunted nub.

One such example is that of the Sun/Sun God. Ra, Apollo, Dionysus, Jesus, and then Superman, yes superman. Other characters throughout time and in our present age also are recapitulations of this thread of myth. Think of the fullness of the story, character, and meaning of the character Jesus, and then compare that to Superman. Even though the latter has a voluminous library of material, the character is nowhere near as "complete" "whole" nor "powerful" (psychologically speaking) as that of Jesus (note: I am not a Christian or Catholic or anything of the like).

Another Example of Gnosticism being a better mapping of the nature of a thought through time rather than a schematic of reality is Rome. Before Rome existed it was but an idea. By great and terrible action Rome became a reality, it is still a reality! But The Rome which manifested was less than the Rome contemplated, and the Rome today is far less than the Rome of yesterday.

I think it is important for us as individuals to look to life, to engage with the mystery, to look for patterns, to contemplate, to dream, but when we take that step into deciding we KNOW the nature of the mystery, or some metaphysical blueprint, or the essence of soul, spirit, of the transcendent itself, we do ourselves and others a disservice.

Why is it a disservice? Because it is wrong, whatever is assumed to be true, it is wrong. It can be written in a hundred million different places throughout time, or only once in a rare text, either way it will be wrong, it will not be the complete picture. I know this because humanity (as far as we know) has never been complete. In all places and all times we've been enshrouded in ignorance, dogma, "common-sense", religion, and all matters of systems and influences which beat and shape and shield the individuals from reality. Even those who have gone out by great faith and determination to discard themselves to gain the world, they too are still enshrouded. Encased in the stop-gap, limitation of biological necessity and perceptual crunch.