Gnosis is defined as esoteric knowledge of spiritual truth that is essential to the liberation of the individual from illusion or ignorance. The spiritual seeker searches for gnosis through numerous practices, striving to gain insight into the nature of the Universe as well as his or herself through these practices. For me these practices include; meditation, contemplation, fasting, Ritual, and any other means I find to communion with the Spirit Realm, but for others it may manifest in a different way. Perhaps the individual perceives deity as the personified god Ganesh and while in meditation that practitioner has a profound interaction with this deity or the Witch works only with the primordial forces of nature and while holding ritual outside in her backyard she witnessed a natural event that uncovered some truth for her. It is these moments when the individual is aligned with deity and the moment when gnosis can be gained if we are opened to the experience. Many times gnosis comes to me in a way I am unprepared for, which places even greater value on the experience for me.
Books are unable to provide gnosis because it is not the information that our brains collect from the written word that is the catalyst for gnosis; the catalyst is beyond the words … it is the sensations we experience body, mind, and spirit when we truly comprehend what the words are communicating to us. If the book encourages us into action or leads us to a practice then it is possible that we may experience gnosis, but just sitting on our sofa and reading a spiritual book will not lead to gnosis.
The beliefs we hold that were imparted to us as children, the doctrine taught to us by our religious and spiritual teachers are not gnosis because those are concepts and ideas or theories and gnosis is beyond them. Gnosis is conscious, empirical comprehension that encompasses the whole of the individual and because it is such it becomes a truth for that person, but as with all truths it is subjective, which makes it impossible to fully share with another individual and because it is so personal it cannot be translated to other in purely conceptual terms. Gnosis must be experienced.
As a Witch, gnosis is a large part of my own practice and when I practiced with other Witches we shared some understandings and beliefs, but Unverifiable Personal Gnosis was a large part of our personal practices and relationship with our gods.
The beliefs we hold that were imparted to us as children, the doctrine taught to us by our religious and spiritual teachers are not gnosis because those are concepts and ideas or theories and gnosis is beyond them. Gnosis is conscious, empirical comprehension that encompasses the whole of the individual and because it is such it becomes a truth for that person, but as with all truths it is subjective, which makes it impossible to fully share with another individual and because it is so personal it cannot be translated to other in purely conceptual terms. Gnosis must be experienced.
As a Witch, gnosis is a large part of my own practice and when I practiced with other Witches we shared some understandings and beliefs, but Unverifiable Personal Gnosis was a large part of our personal practices and relationship with our gods.
RSS Feed
