Gnosticism is a Christian belief system that empowers the adherent to ‘become with all’ via their own effort and will. During the formation of the early church, Gnosticism was kind of the beat poetry of its day: iconoclast, edgy and a fairly solo endeavor. And it was this last part that put Gnosticism and the nascent Orthodox Church at odds. Well, this, and not supporting the concept of Jesus’ virgin birth, telling the Myth of he Garden story fro the serpent’s point of view and being pro woman. These beliefs—after the church was officially formed—turned these renegade theologians into heretics, teaching and promoting falsehoods against the established Church order. An important thing to note: The author/s of The Gospel of Truth, Thunder Perfect Mind and The Gospel of Thomas did no view themselves as heretics, but as keepers and participants of a divine knowledge not readily available to the masses. This, as well as the above, provided ammunition for the cleaning house of all Gnostic influences, post-Constantine. While the above explained why the Gnostics were at odds with the established Catholic Church, it is highly relevant to present their differences in experiencing the divine.
While anyone could be called to attend church, listen to the sermons, praise and pray with their congregation, being a Gnostic meant that you were charged with finding your own way to God. Also, what set many against the Gnostic viewpoint was the fact that there seemed to be a kind of spiritual elitism involved. Instead of walking into a building or a meeting hall or any other gathering spot, the Gnostics had to deal personally and individually with their own shortcomings, spiritual and psychic trauma in order for them to attain Gnosis (awareness). In the traditional sit down and genuflect church setting, the congregation is getting second, third, or even fourth-hand knowledge from and about God. Whereas in the Gnostic example, you are winding your own way to God, without the middle man filtering information for you. It was just you, your path and your (hopeful) meting with the divine.
There is an interesting schism between this view and that of the traditional Church. In the traditional view, you may receive the word of God, but the person sitting next to you is receiving the exact same words, even though you may interpret them differently. This makes it kind of hard for many people to go “off-message”, and it is my assumption that the Church is very fond of this: Church followers toeing the line, doing and believing what they are told and not causing too much of an uproar. In contrast, the Gnostic road is built on the foundation of individual experience and being that every person who chooses (or, is called more accurate?) this path, will approach it from his or her own standpoint. So, when/if they achieve Gnosis, their interpretation of what happened, what they received, will most likely be completely different from anyone else. And this is type of experience; the acquisition of individual knowledge—especially spiritual knowledge—is dangerous to any sort of Orthodoxy. Because if you cannot control the flow, interpretation and dissemination of particular types of information, how will you be able to control a populace? And so, what better way to wrest control from the Gnostic viewpoint and establish and maintain power and instill loyalty to the traditional Church position? Declare any type of teaching that does not come directly from the Orthodoxy as heretical, and—being that the Orthodox Church was the official state religion—have an army to enforce this pogrom.
In the end, Gnosticism may have been an ugly blemish to the emerging Church, but we are witnessing a resurgence of the Gnostic ideas in places that are not exclusively Christian: some forms of Paganism, Chaos Magick and even some martial arts disciplines. The will and experience of the individual can be more powerful than an institution, we only have to be brave enough to walk the path and be content with the fact the road to Gnosis is rewarding, yet lonely.
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