“Wipe your glosses with what you know” – Finnegans Wake
What is gnosis, and what does it have to do with
Thelema?
The word “gnosis” literally means “knowledge” in
Greek, and it’s usually used to refer to spiritual knowledge or knowledge of an
esoteric nature. Occultists seem to use the word in various ways, ranging from
certain trance states (“I intone a mantra to generate gnosis before I begin the
ritual”) to daft poetry (“What’s that? Your magical order doesn’t produce
laughable poetry? Ha! Looks like you guys have no new gnosis!”) to certainty
about spiritual claims (“I know that reincarnation is true because I have
acquired gnosis!”).
One way that some kinds of supernaturalists often
use the word is to contrast their beliefs with those of other religionists. The
argument they make goes something like this: “Most religious people – like
those Christians! – just have a bunch of beliefs that the priests tell them and
that they are expected to believe. So
they take it on faith. Bleh! But we superior supernaturalists don’t take our
ideas on faith – we know. You see, we
get into our trance states and achieve gnosis.
We don’t just believe that we have
had past lives. We experience past
life memories, and we therefore have direct
knowledge that reincarnation is true. No belief required! We have knowledge!”
Unfortunately for these supernaturalists, they are
incorrect.
Read on for a discussion of knowledge, belief, and
gnosis in the context of Thelema.
