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Gnostic (from Greek gnosis: γνῶσις, referring to a very specialized form of knowledge in association with Platonist philosophy) is a term created by modern scholars to expand the original meaning of the word to describe an individual associated with diverse religious movements, which, through the acts of Syncretism, have been historically integrated into Western Religious Philosophies of Judaism and Christianity to establish the Gnostic beliefs of an immortal soul associated with one’s personal state of consciousness (as opposed to through the lineage) which exists beyond one’s physical death and the idea that Heaven is place rather than a state of experience, and can even be identified within Eastern Religious Philosophies such as Buddhism in the context of teachings related to the transmigration (reincarnation) of souls.

However, while many scholars have attempted to offer a generic description of Gnostic belief systems, it is important to note that the original meaning of the term was not applied to an individual’s experience nor knowledge acquired with respect to the practice of the various mystical traditions the way modern scholars do, and so far, no one has succeeded in describing it/them satisfactorily, and that failure of modern scholars to differentiate the gnosis of Gnostic practitioners from the knowledge derived through mystical experience of the Hebrew-Judaism and Christian God itself begets controversy, but essentially, as the terms was originally intended, the term “Gnostic” was limited to denoting one who’s philosophy on redemption follows in Philo’s (20B.C.-42 A.D.) footsteps to wed the teachings of Plato (427-347 B.C.) to the Old and New Testaments, by primarily justifying the same through the teachings that Plato learned from Moses, to produce a supposedly new and different philosophical position on the nature of the soul relative to Platonism and who thereby believed they held “some special secret” knowledge of the truth and salvation involving a recompense for present miseries and the promise of an afterlife to the person in terms of their personality and mind.

Understanding the term Gnostic in relation to its application to Religious Philosophies

Only when the term “Gnostic” is properly defined can it thereby be understood accurately as it has been applied to Ophian Philosophy (Ophites), Cainian Philosophy (Cainites, or), Carpocratian Philosophy, which was based upon the writings of the founder Carpocrates of Alexandria, as well as to be expanded to apply to any philosophy from the Western traditions where religious philosophers maintain, for example, that all definitions of the soul prior to the book of Wisdom are incomplete, and thereupon merged the definitions of a soul (which up until the book Wisdom was understood as the vital force of the body wherein the genetic disease of aging was described in terms of the slow loss of the soul, and in which the only evidence of that vital force after death was in terms of one’s lineage or genetic materials) with that of a shade (the sinful self, as manifest in terms of persistent elements of the personality and mind which was not burned away by consistent religious or spiritual experiences, and it was the shade which was understood as being relegated to Baal (bā'əl) after death) (See Note #1) to produce supposedly new and different philosophical position on the nature of the soul in relation to God. As such, the primary tenet or Gnosis (i.e., the “secret” knowledge, which was dependent on evidence or consequences and observable by the senses, in terms of truth and salvation involving a recompense for present miseries and the promise of an afterlife to the person in terms of their personality and mind) is really not new, for although vehemently denounced by the Old Testament prophets, in terms of the ancient Semitic/Hebrew literature, it can be clearly seen that the Gnostics just followed in the tradition of syncretism by Israel to integrate Canaanite mythology whereby Baalistic Theory was merged with Yahwistic Theory, called it Platonism and carried the same into Jewish thought and it became the primary corruption of early Christianity.

Gnostic thought as a Necromancer’s view of Redemption

Because textual evidence of Gnostic belief systems offer a substantial amount of accurate information on exactly what Gnosticism is, as well as how to recognize it as it appears within the various religions of the world, it is important to understand the philosophies of the Gnostics are distinctly non-Judaic and non-Christian and can even be described as Anti-Redemptionist when Redemption itself is defined in terms of the state of biological immortality once enjoyed by Adam and Eve before death from the genetic disease of aging entered into being relative to the subjects of the Soul as the vital force of the body versus the Shade or sinful self as the persistent elements of the personality and mind.

Therefore, although the word “Gnosis” (γνῶσις) as it relates to the philosophies of the Gnostics can be conceptualized both in terms of the exact meaning of the original Greek term and its usage in Platonic philosophy, it is important to emphasize that in both cases it simply refers to the very specialized form of knowledge which is derived from one’s experience which is, dependent upon personality and mind in terms of evidence or consequences that are observable by the senses. In a religious context, however, the term “Gnostic” should not necessarily be simply understood in the same context as it was applied throughout Greek philosophy in terms of contrasting Experiential, Learned or Theoretical Knowledge which is akin to epistemology but rather in terms of how the mind and personality correspond to the Gnostic beliefs with respect to the subject of an immortal soul, and equally is not to be necessarily simply associated with Innate Knowledge derived through mystical experiences typically associated with ontological change and sharing in the divine nature, but rather the term “Gnostic” must be weighed in considering the nature of their Gnosis or knowledge acquired in terms of the nature of the soul and the very subtle implications of its application to a set of ancient religious groups often associated with the veneration of the personal identity beyond the physical death in terms of some kind of belief in an afterlife, which was also closely associated with Necromancy which was widespread in ancient Greece from prehistoric times, and in this context there has been growing interest in the subject for a few years now. For example, the Christian Churches of God is now emerging as yet another rather scholarly source which is seeking to help to define, through actual document research, the difference between a Christian and a Gnostic in FAQ Bible Study Old Testament (No. 57) this way:

Anyone who said that when they died they went to heaven, showed by that statement they were a Gnostic and not a Christian (see Justin Martyr, Second Apology).

Gnostic’s view of Redemption is not synonymous with New Testament Teachings

In keeping with the monastic order of Pharisees (i.e., Nazarean) known as the Essenes as well as most of the first Christians held that while the First Redemption involved an ontological change and sharing in the divine nature by being baptized in the Water and Spirit, and while this ontological change whereby one becomes Born Again actually represents a radical departure from the views traditionally held by most Christians today, in reality, the first Christians held that every believer must experience the death of the old self and a new birth (John 3:5-6) to experience this ontological change whereby one becomes born from the dead, which is obviously not synonymous with the ideas of many with respect to the First Redemption.

5Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' (John 3:5-7, NIV)

And, while all of this has a very special relationship to the mystical traditions, the idea that many have put forth that the Gnosis of the Gnostic practitioner should simply associated with Innate Knowledge derived through mystical experiences is rather obviously not a correct assumption.

The Second Redemption was understood as a process of the “Perfection of Matter” leading up to and including the development of the state of biological immortality once enjoyed by Adam and Eve prior to the fall. Extrinsically, the development of this deathless state was believed to be a two-part process which was to be initiated and facilitated by the appearance of two distinctly different Divine Prophets or Messiahs, and although in early Christianity these two were integrated as one references to the second Divine Prophet or Messiah still exists textually (see John 14:16; Revelation 2:26-29; 3:5-6; 3:12-13). The first Divine Prophet or Messiah-Saviour was to be from the Line of David and of the Priestly Class who was the first born of the dead (Revelation 1:7), and atone for the sin of David thereby freeing the Jewish People, followed by yet another Divine Prophet or Messiah-Saviour from line of David and the Warrior Class (see Note #2), who would atone for the sin of Joseph (i.e., the ancient system of novation (see Note # 3: the Biblical Beast) set forth in the Book of Genesis (41:1-4; 41:17-21) as Pharaoh's dream of the beasts of the field which ate up everything and left the people without their money (Genesis 47:13-15), without the rights to their lands, in a state of slavery (Genesis 47:18-22), and under which even the church which has contracted with the state for privileges of existence as, in fact, a creature of the state (Genesis 47:23-27), thereby free all of the peoples of the earth from the regulatory powers of their respective governments and the restoration of the property rights to them, thereby taking the power to finance wars away from the elite in control of the respective governments and thereby instituting a state of global peace (Revelation 2:26-29; 3:5-6; 3:12-13) and, intrinsically, the development of this deathless state was also believed to be centered upon a change in the regulating mechanism of creation (see Note #4), such that it is this very perfection of matter (Romans 8:21) whereby the radiance of God’s glory and very imprint of God’s being (Hebrews 1:3) is brought into being to effect the restoration of the integrity of matter, linked with the end of all human suffering, and it is this Second or Final Redemptive State which is associated with “the most defiant of all dogmas, the wedding of God with Man and therefore with Matter.”

“The state of incorrupt nature consists in the perfect subjection of the body to the soul and of the sense appetites to the reason; therefore it implies exemption from the four unfortunate natural consequences, that is, from ignorance, concupiscence, pain, and death. If only the sense appetites are subject to reason without the subjection of the body to the soul, the perfection of nature is only partial, not total, since the defects of old age and death will appear. In this integrity of nature Adam was created, according to revelation, which declares that "through sin death entered the world" (Rom. 5:12); and before sin, Adam and Eve, although naked, experienced no shame; but only after sin, as we read in Gen. 2:25, since before sin no inordinate passion of which they might be ashamed, could arise. This gift of integrity, according to St. Thomas (Ia, q. 97, a. i c. and 3 ad 2; Ia IIae, q. 91, a. i), resided in a certain force of a natural order, just as we find even now that certain people possess greater health and sturdiness."

Influence of Gnostics on other Religions

Gnostic sects, which are said to included other Essenes like that of the Pythagorean-Buddhist Essenes (i.e., Ossaeanes), the main Pharisaic sect in Judaism (i.e., Hellenists), and a large number of other pantheistic-idealistic sects, borrowed much of the phraseology and tenets of the Hebrew-Judaism and Christian religions of the day, to build a theory whereby all of matter was considered to be a deterioration of Spirit of God, as that which causes all things to exist in this three-dimensional reality, and in this same context, the whole universe as it applies to the Second Law of Thermodynamics (that orderly systems tend---on their own---to automatically become disorderly and chaotic, such that the processes of decay and disintegration are an inherent, built-in characteristics of the material world as we know it today) was also seen as a depravation of Spirit of God, such that although the Gnostics held Redemption was associated with mankind’s ability to overcome the grossness of matter, they assumed it to be a process leading to the ultimate end of all being, which is significantly different that the tenets of the Hebrew-Judaism and Christian be associated with the ability to "override without suspending” the Second Law of Thermodynamics. As such, although the Gnostics idea of redemption was very similar to the tenets of the Hebrew-Judaism and Christian religions of the day, in terms of the return to the uni-plurality of Elohim (See Note #4), Gnostics substituted their own androgynous monotheistic God to correspond with the masculine and feminine principles of creation of Greek philosophy and which corresponding to the Baal Easter system of idols, which, much like the Hebrew-Judaism and Christian religions, as a process was to be initiated and facilitated by the appearance of a Divine Prophet or Messiah, but under their model the Messiah would cause all of mankind to become associated with the tenets and system of Pythagoras by which certain vices and virtues were to be punished and rewarded after one’s physical death, and the success of the Gnostics in terms of their efforts to change existing texts to be more consistent with their beliefs can only be imagined/assessed in terms of the degree to which people from the Western Religious traditions have been indoctrinated in their beliefs to consider/interpret the same from within Jewish and Christian writings.

By way of a bit of history, most people are not aware that there is a considerable amount of information in the Talmud (See Note #5) about the ancient Sanhedrin, which was the legal-religious Jewish court that evolved away from the priesthood following the overthrow in approximately 148-164 BCE (depending upon source) of the Greeks who had occupied ancient Judah. In contrast to the sparse body of evidence about the ancient priesthood, the Talmud’s historical-legal records include substantial evidence about transformational leadership practices in the Sanhedrin, and it is clear that although Greek rule of the Jews occurred from about 332 until 164 BCE, little if any disagreement among the Jews as to the merits of this Greek rule is recorded until the later part of this occupation.

About 175 BCE, however, the Hellenists, admirers of Greek culture, whose ranks included most of the aristocratic priests, neglected their priestly duties in the interest of participating in Greek games and set to work transforming the Jewish Temple and the Jewish religion. The high priest Jason, for example, erected a gymnasium near the Temple for sporting events and young men participated naked, in the manner of the Greek Olympics, Hellenization resulted in the growth of immorality and the decline of religious observance, and laws were even passed prohibiting the practice of Judaism, especially circumcision and keeping the Sabbath and festivals. Eventually, the high priest, Menelaus, who succeeded Jason, built an acropolis that overshadowed the Temple and a statue of Jupiter was erected in the Temple and to add insult to injury pigs were brought as sacrifices.

In order to pay for all this construction, taxes were raised, and of course, Acts 5:17-18 refer to the high priest’s arresting Peter and the apostles, and Acts 5:27 refers to a trial before a Sanhedrin, and Matthew 27:1, Mark 15:1, and Luke 22:66 also refer to the council or Sanhedrin as trying the good Rabbi Yeshu Ben Yosef (Jesus) because of His outspokenness and the fact that was later convicted and suffered the crucifixion for encouraging the people to rebel and not to pay taxes as tribute to Caesar.

There has been some historical debate as to whether these are references to the Great Sanhedrin of 71 members discussed herein or one of several small Sanhedrins of 23 members , but in this context, Jesus had to fulfill three Passover events: (1) The timing of His death had to correspond with that of killing of the Passover Lamb, as well as (2) to fulfill the Sign of Jonah, necessary for the judgment of Judah forty years later at 70 CE, and (3) He had to fulfill the Wave Sheaf Offering, in which God’s Grace not only resulted in His overcoming the First Death by being restored to the land of the Living, but after being raised from the dead (see Note #1), He still could not be touched (John 20:17) until he had also been accepted by God as performing His functions in this regard, which is the ascension (i.e., on Sunday Morning at 9 a.m. to begin the Omer Count to Pentecost) to reintegrate the Trinitarian structure (See Notes #6a & #6b) once enjoyed by the Tribe of Adam, and, with Jesus’ ascension he thereby enabled the more perfect infusion of the Holy Spirit normally associated with that of the Holy Ghost which occurred only after his ascension, after which He could allow another, such as Thomas (John 20:26), to touch Him and thereafter was free to proceed with the rest of His life, until he would finally be subject to the Second Death, which is the physical death (See Note #1).

To this extent, we live in a very fortunate time, because unlike many generations of the past, we have many resources out there like that being offered by Bet Emet Ministries which offer a far more accurate look at the origins of original texts and their corruptions:

It is with this intent that I dedicate this web-site to YHVH as we endeavor to return to the faith once given to the saints; the faith of Yeshua build upon the Jewish Scriptures. In the pages that follow I will lay out for you how the Jewish Scriptures were purposely mistranslated 200 years before the birth of Jesus and how such concepts which were added to the Greek translation of the Jewish Bible were later, following the crucifixion of Jesus, applied to him. Such concepts of the Greek-Jews in Alexandria, Egypt, were a synthesis of Pythagorean-Buddhist Essenes. Their corruption of the Jewish Bible in translation introduced false "doctrines and dogmas" into the Holy texts. The fruit of such was the creation of a second religious text which was to become the Bible of the Greek-speaking world. This would serve as the background for all later translations and subsequently be used and quoted in the New Testament. Needless to say this corruption of truth would be assimilated by the Greek philosophers who, being the intellectuals of their day, would later write the documents we have collected today as the writings of the Early Church Fathers. In other words, the corruption of the Jewish Bible Jesus used has come down to us today and we unsuspectingly read our Bibles never knowing that these corruptions are in it not that Jesus never believed such falsehoods. He knew better and it is time that you do as well. Let us begin now a serious study into the canonization of the New Testament and then, and only then, once seeing the information for yourself, will you be able to make an intelligent decision in this matter.

Certainly, the research being offered by Bet Emet Ministries does offer the opportunity for a comparison of original and modern texts, but it must be noted that the grouping of the various Essene Religious Sects as “Pythagorean-Buddhist Essenes” is a bit of a misnomer in that it fails to differentiate one group of Essenes from other Essenes. In addition, while the subject might be more clearly understood by those who are thoroughly grounded in the primary sources in the ancient languages, simply being able to differentiate between Baalistic Theory and Yahwistic Theory (Mark 12:24b-26) allows even a non-biblical scholar to transcend the difficulties of biblical interpretation caused by any-and-all of the superimposed fallacies of the Gnostics.

Furthermore, in order to simplify the difficulties of biblical interpretation which might otherwise occur, the definitions of “the First Death as the state whereby one falls into physical or mortal danger as a result of the loss of God’s Grace" and the “Second Death as the physical death” are taken from the Encyclopedic dictionary of the bible (1963). In this context, the authors the Encyclopedic dictionary of the bible went to a great length to document and extensively reference the term so as to provide the reader with an appropriate means of understanding the words used in the bible apart from the corruption of ideas that would otherwise arise from Greco-Oriental premises of the nature of and meanings of such words, and it is in this context, which was the same context which the good Rabbi Yeshu Ben Yosef (aka Jesus) spoke, which was the ancient Semitic language of Aramaic, that the authors the Encyclopedic dictionary of the bible have documented these two meanings of the term “death.”

That is, keeping in mind the fact that the definitions of the First Death and the Second Death are clearly set forth, it is important to understand that, as reported in the texts of both the monastic order of Pharisees (i.e., Nazarean) known as the Essenes (as opposed to main Pharisaic Sect (referenced in Matthew 19:17b, 23:2, Mark 10:19, Luke 18:20 and John 9:13-34) and as opposed to other Essenes like that of the Pythagorean-Buddhist Essenes (i.e., Ossaeanes)), and as reported by the author of Mark's Gospel, the good Rabbi Yeshu Ben Yosef (aka Jesus) became the Messiah when He became the First Born of the Dead and was there-in-by possessed by the Elohim at his baptism, and the Essenes’ account of the death and ascension is set forth where Essene Physicians assisted the good Rabbi in His recovery from the First Death so that the Elohim could perform His function, which is the ascension (i.e., on Sunday Morning at 9 a.m. to begin the Omer Count to Pentecost) to reintegrate the Trinitarian structure. Such that, Redemption then is seen as a process leading up to and including the development of the deathless state, which is centered, intrinsically, upon a change in the regulating mechanism of creation which links providence with the end of all human suffering, and is associated with “the most defiant of all dogmas, the wedding of God with Man and therefore with Matter" (i.e., any time two or more meet in His Holy Name), after which the good Rabbi could allow another, such as Thomas (John 20:26), to touch Him and thereafter was free to proceed with the rest of His life, until he would finally be subject to the Second Death, which is the physical death, and according to documentation discovered in 1963, that includes Him having been at Messada in 73AD, such that, with respect to the subjects of heaven, hell and the soul;

(1) the distinction between the soul (the vital force of the body, in which the disease of aging as we know it constitutes the slow and visible loss of one’s soul, and which the loss of one’s soul is also associated with the various forms of slavery), and a shade (the sinful self represented after the physical death as the persistent elements of the personality and mind which are not burned off through repetitive experiences of union with God) is very clear, and

(2) the teachings of the good Rabbi Yeshu Ben Yosef (aka Jesus) to avoid the works of the heathen (pagans) are very clear, and especially those based on the religion of Babel. As such, because of the teachings of the Gnostic sects, not only is it that many are not aware that a shade and a soul are not synonymous, but that the teachings of the Gnostic sects in turn also results in a process whereby many are also unable to distinguish the difference between the god of the Northern Kingdom and his reign of high places (e.g., 4Kings 1:2f; Numbers 22:41; 33:7; Jeremias 19:5; 32:35; Psalms 68:5) and the God of the Living (e.g., Mt 10:25; 12:24-27; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15-18f), such that the idea of hell, for example, has absolutely no meaning in either the O.T. or N.T. in terms of Greek ideas put forth by the main Pharisaic sect and others. Instead, Sheol is presented as the state of the loss of God’s Grace and this state is signified as the First Death and in the correct application of the word, as a result of the loss of God’s Grace the individual experiences as state of physical or mortal danger, with the Second Death being the physical death. Of course, there are many who have assumed the lake of fire referenced in the N.T. must somehow have related to the Greek ideas of hell put forth by the Pharisaic sect, but that is not so either because the lake of fire is in reference to the ancient garbage dump located outside the South Gate, appropriately named the Dung Gate, and the reason it was called the lake of fire was because when the methane gasses burned even the torrential rains could not put it out.

As such, the evidence suggests that when many Essenes wrote of Yeshu’s suffering and death at Calvary it is in terms of the First Death rather than the Second Death, as well as the fact that they actually expressed and reported, within the context of their writings, of Yeshu’s activities after Calvary, and these writings include documentation recovered in 1963, including a sectarian scroll which provided a link between the zealots and the Essenes of Qumran, 30 miles north of Masada, that Jesus (Yeshu or Yeshua) was at Messada in 73AD. The prevailing evidence of the 14 or 15 parchments discovered on Masada provides a good historical reference because they were not altered by the Roman Catholic Church, and indicate that the Essenes of Qumran on Masada were actually a bodyguard contingent for the Hasmonean Royal Family, headed by Yeshu (Jesus) their king and Messiah.

Furthermore, from the documentation discovered in 1963, the Roman Tenth Legion, under the command of Flavius Silva, not only had knowledge of the fact that the bodyguard contingent of Essenes were a special group, but he left them untouched because of Jesus. Given that the prevailing evidence of the 14 or 15 parchments discovered on Masada indicate that Yeshu (Jesus), along with bodyguard contingent he headed, survived even the events at Masada, the possibility that his final resting place might have been in Al-Khaleeli (Gulailee) or Kashmir is worthy of consideration. In fact, researchers on the subject already have some of the genetic material of HIS mother Mary and hope to be able prove the claims of a final resting place one way or the other, but if it is eventually found that Yeshu’s burial cave is just outside Jerusalem one would want to look very closely at the evidence the researchers are proposing via the DNA tests.

Process by which Buddhism overcomes its own Gnostic Elements

Like the Pharisees mentioned in Mathew 22:41-46 and Mark 12:35-37, what most fail to realize is the fact that the tribe of Adam worshiped the Triad God from the beginning of time, and therefore knowledge of this Triad God in terms of Yahwistic Theory. Similarly, the recorded history of Baalistic Theory is recorded in the Book of Genesis. One needs only to consider a review the history of the ideological clashes between those following Baalistic Theory and those following Yahwistic Theory to understand origin Gnostic thought processes which would have been carried down to the time and events recorded in the Bible in associated with the Tower of Babble, and that knowledge of these two opposing religious views was therefore carried on to and through the various religions that were developed as the peoples of the earth were dispersed such that evidence of Baalistic Theory and Yahwistic Theory as the basis for all of the major religions of the world may be assessed.

For example, within both the lower and higher forms of Buddhism one finds theories such as that of reincarnation being based upon the theory of karma, and if one recognizes that the practice of burning off one’s karma itself is synonymous with the ancient Semitic idea of burning away of the persistent elements of the personality and mind through repetitive experiences of union with God, as well as the failure to do so being therefore being relegated, not as a soul, but as a shade to Baal after death, one will also find that in higher forms of Buddhism there is a tendency to overcome fallacies of Gnosticism through the recognition that the karmic self is not the soul or real self, which is reflected doctrine of “no-self” or “no-soul” and referred to as “anatman”, which is closely related to the subject of “moksa (also referred to as mukti)”, which is the term given to the state of completeness or fullness of being, free from samsara, the bondage of karma, and therefore the highest aim of human existence, the 4th level of enlightenment.

It should also be understood that the doctrine of “no-self” or “no-soul” is one that, according to authors like Kohn (1984), can or at least should be recognized where-in-by the spiritual aspect of this form of self-actualization would necessarily "involve the integration of all mental functions of the individual" (p. 255), and in this context just as the Rorschach test has been used to define pathologies where individual’s experiencing the psychological definable psychosis report experiences of Heaven, the Angels etc. in conjunction with the correlated Rorschach testing results, it has also been used to define the integration of all mental functions of individual’s associated with this level of consciousness.

One example using the Rorschach test is presented in a study by Brown and Engler (1980). In their assessment of the full, productive response to the world which in its highest form is referred to by Eastern contemplative traditions as the 4th level of enlightenment, they were able to show that there is a continuing tendency to generate formulations or core ideas about the nature of reality. Essentially this would infer that such core ideas are similar to the expectations imposed by and in respect to both right and left hemispheric functioning, but it is the symmetry between the two hemispheres or whole brain function, 'neural net,' which allows for critical differences in the perception of reality: For example, the individuals who were assessed to be fully enlightened, were able to attend to all the minute aspects of the reality imposed by the Rorschach test. Thus, this method appears to present as the best possible method for assessing the cognitive experience of Heaven as a state in which the individual perceives Being, that is, ultimate reality.

One Effect of Gnosticism in terms of American History

Of course, the subject of Gnosticism is also pertinent in terms of American history, and the most famous account of the movement against Gnosticism is in terms of Thomas Jefferson who was a Deist. In fact, a number of fundamental arguments Gnosticism caused Thomas Jefferson to write what is now known as the "Jefferson Bible," or "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth" as it is formally titled, which was published by an act of the United States Congress in 1904. Deists, of course, claim to base their belief systems on what they believe to be a pure, original form of Christianity, that they hold to believe have existed before it was corrupted by Gnosticism prevalent in the early church.

Modern Psychology as a means by which anyone may overcome elements of Gnosticism as it is maintained through cultural norms

In modern psychology, of course, the development of the personality and mind has been outlined in a number of theories involving the subject of neurosis, as well as how the ontological change associated with the Born Again experience of early Christianity and the Buddhist’s state of completeness or fullness of being, free from samsara, the bondage of karma, may both be associated with the Reality Principle from Freudian Psychoanalytical Theory, integration of the Higher Unconscious from Jungian Theory, and the process of Transcending Self-Actualization from Maslow’s Theory of Self-Actualization, as each of these subjects contrast with the Gnostic belief of the soul in terms of the persistent elements of the personality and mind.

Function of Neurosis in the development of the personality and mind

Theories involving the subject of neurosis in terms of the development of personality and mind has been outlined in a number of ways but the theory behind the more popular behavioral development and therapy models for normals and neurotics rely upon the individual to tolerate high levels of cognitive dissonance. In psychotherapeutic terms, this means cognitive dissonance models of learning and behavioral control rely on a degree of neurosis within the ego structure in order to accomplish their desired goals. In essence, based on the model of a so called ideal ego function they rely upon the capacity of the individual to tolerate anxiety: The ability to hold input data in a state of equilibrium within the ego, to tolerate anxiety by holding internal and external stress within the ego while reflecting upon that data, and then based upon reality, to consciously choose appropriate courses of action What is more important, because "neurosis is the medical euphuism for a state of sin" , many of the current psychological and/or spiritual treatment models appear to be in essential agreement with the historical features of the perspective of overcoming this state, such that the psychoanalytic perspective is central to the idea that "sin" is the underlying condition resulting in deficient hemisphere integration.

Reality Principle from Freudian Psychoanalytical Theory

In its original text, the title of Freud’s Book was “the structure of the soul” but the translators who translated it into English translated as “the structure of the mind.” Similarly, where Freud stated that “psyche means soul” the translators translated it as “psyche means mind.” Moreover, when attempting to understand the Reality Principle from Freudian Psychoanalytical Theory, one must give weight to the fact that Freud's views on psychic structure involved a special emphasis on the nature of the soul, as opposed to the cathexed psychic energies associated with what most people consider as the mind and which under the Psychoanalytic Method are pent-up energies of the soul awaiting the discharge which Freud called a Catharsis, and as a result of this therapeutic process whereby the energies of the soul are freed the Reality Principle from Freudian Psychoanalytical Theory is said to be experienced in terms of a two-stage process of integration, whereby (1) the individual begins to learn to separate his/her ego defense mechanisms from the ego (or truest sense of self one can experience at this point in one's development), and then (2) a progressive state of transcendence develops:

”I believe psychoanalytic method and theory is a necessary substructure for any such 'higher' or growth psychology” (Maslow, 1983, p. 7).

Of course, the important thing to understand is that Freud developed his theory out of the Jewish Mystical Tradition

It is popularly believed that Freud (1964) treated this generalization effect as a psychopathological characteristic of primary ego state, while others have taken this to imp1y that persons with relatively weak ego strength are likely to be susceptible to the oceanic experience , , , One of the many problems is that Freud was attempting to keep the elements of illusion within the psychotherapeutic process from falling into the hands of priests

[Freud] "wrote, 'I do not know whether you have guessed the hidden link between 'Lay Analysis' and Illusion.' . . . I want to protect analysis . . . from priests. I want to entrust it to a profession that doesn't yet exist, a profession of secular ministers of souls, who must not be priests."

In the early stages of therapy, as in real life, the objective is to elicit a meditative state. One method is Freudian psychotherapy, a meditative method coming out of the Judeo-Christian culture , where the object of therapy is to come under the influence of the pleasure principle:

"The dominating tendency of mental life, and perhaps of nervous life in general, is the effort to reduce, to keep constant or to remove internal tension due to stimuli (the 'Nirvana principle' to borrow a term from Barbara Low [1920, 73]) - a tendency which finds expression in the pleasure principle" , emphasis/underline added).

Elimination of defense mechanisms leads to elicitation of the pleasure principle and/or eventually to the process referred to as the reality principle. In this process, the overall stress to the overall personality is reduced, so that, ego strength is enhanced. This allows for input data to be held and appropriately acted upon by the ego, rather than inducing upon the ego and superego structures any system(s) of compulsions. The ego psychologists are among the many who have also attempted to address this same issue as if it were synonymous with total ego reduction:

"Life without ego is no new conception. Two thousand years ago Christ preached the necessity of losing one's life in order to find it again. He did not say ego, but that was what he had in mind. The analysts of out time recognize the same truth: they talk also about ego reduction. . . . The dilemma encountered in ego-reduction would be best resolved by recognizing that the old ego must go and a new one takes its place."

However, ego deflation and ego defense mechanism deflation are not synonymous subjects, for it is the degree of neurosis within the ego structure which is being deflated through the psychoanalytic method, not the ego. Rowan (1983) states that "even the latest and best attempts" to define this area of experience "seems incomplete or one-sided":

"I am very impressed by Marlan's (1981) argument that it is incorrect to talk about the dissolution of the ego or losing the ego; he says that it is the ego-image that is transcended, not the ego as such."

Higher Unconscious from Jungian Theory

Integration of the Higher Unconscious from Jungian Theory to be developed. Elements of Gnostic experience from within Jungian Theory to be compared and contrasted in terms of the experience where-in-by one experiences the integration of their lower and higher unconscious states.

Transcending Self-Actualization from Maslow’s Theory of Self-Actualization

In this day and age, there does not appear to be any advantage in running around telling people they are dead. Instead, people are able to carry the same argument for the need of the ontological change associated with the Born Again experience of early Christianity farther by explaining that individuals who have not experienced the ontological change fall into the category of what Maslow (1971) defined as a non-transcending self-actualizer” (i.e., “more essentially practical, realistic … ‘doers’ rather than meditators or contemplators” (p. 281)). Under this model, it can be explained that even though the healthiest most well adjusted non-transcending self-actualizer’s have achieved a level of consciousness that is typically associated with the few who may be considered psychologically healthy (i.e., typically understood to have successfully addressed and integrated their lower unconscious), because, after all, very few even achieve this level in the self-actualization process, it is the transcending self-actualizer, who is traditionally understood to have undergone a further step in the integration of their consciousness by overcoming the barriers (i.e., anger and pain) to be healed by the Spirit of God and thereby are able to access their higher unconscious and therefore experience the cognitive experience of Heaven as a state in which the individual perceives Being, that is, ultimate reality, which includes "feelings of limitless horizons opening up to the vision, the feeling of being. Simultaneously more powerful and also more helpless than one ever was before, the feeling of great ecstasy and wonder and awe, the loss of placing in time and space" (Maslow, A. (1970). Motivation and personality (rev. ed.). New York: Harper & Row., p. 164.) (also see, the Journal of Heart-Centered Therapies, Vol. 2, No. 2.: Breathwork: Exploring the Frontier of Being and Doing).

Notes

===Note #1=== The definition of (a) the soul as the vital force of the body in which the genetic disease of aging as we know it constitutes the slow and visible loss of one’s soul, (b) the Book of Wisdom being the first book of the bible in which the definition of the soul was changed from that of the vital force as the Semitic/Hebrew culture as they came in contact with the Greek culture, (c) the definition of the Shade as the sinful self represented after the physical death as the persistent elements of the personality and mind which are not burned off through repetitive experiences of union with God, (d) the definition of the First Death as falling into physical or mortal danger as a result of the loss of God’s Grace as well as that of overcoming the First Death by being restored to the land of the Living as a result of the infusion of God’s Grace, (e) the definition of the Second Death as the physical death, and (f) the definition of the god referenced in certain sections of the bible (e.g., Psalm 68:5) as being Baal, may all be found in many religious documents, including the Encyclopedic dictionary of the bible (1963). A translation and adaptation of A. van dun Born's Bijbels Woordenboek, Second Revised Ed, 1945-57, by Louis F. Hartman, C.SS.R., Executive Secretary of the Catholic Biblical Association of America. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.

===Note #2=== According to the Messianic passages in scripture there are to be two redeemers; the first being born of the Priestly Class who was to be a Suffering Messiah, as was Rabbi Yeshu Ben Yosef, and the second to be born of the Warrior Class, a Mighty King ("Ben David"); and references to all of this can also be found amongst the materials found in connection with the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as the Talmud (Mishna, Gemora) which was not recorded until some four hundred years after the New Testament.

===Note #3=== The Biblical Beast (Genesis 41:1-4; 41:17-21; 47:13-15; 47:18-27) is a very impressive system whereby each and every member of that system would, by an abstract "social" necessity, want the model of `powers-that-be' perpetrated “ad infinitum", and view any-and-all adversaries to such a system of slavery as indeed very dangerous and monstrous.

===Note #4=== The regulating mechanism of creation is dependent upon the absence versus the reintegration of the Trinitarian Structure of the Elohim, in which the process known as Jesus is an essential part of the God of Creation and of all Nature who is Yahweh, (“Elohim" (Exodus 20:2; Psalms 81:10) is the plural form of "Most High", Elahi/Ehyah) the I AM, who is most commonly referred to as the Father of us all but in reality is neither male nor female, and that, for the purpose of creation, Yahweh manifested as the Hebrew Elohim, which is the name of God which stresses His majesty and omnipotence. The “im” ending is a Hebrew suffix that indicates the plural form, which can actually be translated "gods". However in this instance (along with over 2,500 other times throughout the Bible) it is used in the singular, as the mighty name of God the Creator. This use of Elohim makes it a plural name with a singular, which is referred to as a "uni-plural" noun, suggesting the uni-plurality of our God in terms of the Creative Spirits known as Divine Father God and Divine Mother Goddess, the masculine and feminine principles of creation, Who after the sin of man is understood to be without His third counterpart, a process by which He is therefore left to continue to manifest all of the further principles of creation as in kayos, but when rejoined by His third counterpart (Jesus) is to be found to be so complete that even the genetic flaw responsible for disease of aging is corrected and all of matter in kind is perfected as well (i.e., for information on the perfection of matter, see the Summa Theologica of St Thomas Aquinas, Ia, q. 97, a. I c. and 3 ad 2; Ia IIae, q. 91, a. I, and/or “the most defiant of all dogmas, the wedding of God with Man and therefore with Matter" in Chesterton, G.K. (1938). St. Thomas Aquinas. USA: The Polygraphic Co. of America, for Sheed & Ward, Inc., New York. pp. 31-32), but of course, all of this is seen as a process involving both the First and Final Redemption states.

===Note #5=== There are actually two versions of the Talmud: (1) the Jerusalem Talmud, a kind of short version which is a product of the academies in Israel, and (2) the product of the academies in Babylon, the Babylonian Talmud, which is considerably larger and more authoritative. The Talmud is the compilation of ancient Jewish Oral law or case law, consisting of the Mishna, compiled and redacted about the year 189 CE in Israel, and the Gemara, commentaries and discussions on the Mishna was completed about 1,500 years ago.

===Note #6a=== The Trinitarian structure referenced herein is presented in the context of the fulfillment of the Law of God in the true feast systems. Whereas, presentations of the Trinitarian structure which do not keep the Wave Sheaf and denies the Sunday ascension (e.g., placing it forty days later) do in fact appear to be a misconstruction of the final ascension for the sole purpose of obscuring this miracle and the power of God. Moreover, presentations of the Trinitarian structure which are not in keeping with the Wave Sheaf appear instead to be built, as many authors suggest, upon a Triune god in which the very idea of the Trinity owes it origins to Pagan theology and Greek philosophy, which, of course, was prophesized in the Book of Hosea 2:16-17, and without appropriate references on the subject, there is no way the average person could even know that the god referenced in certain sections of the bible (e.g., Psalm 68, 5) is Baal (See Note #1).

===Note #6b=== Of course, the first Christians not only considered the attributes of the Holy Spirit in terms of the Paraklete or “Comforter” but also in terms of the actual Hebrew grammatical context of the word for Spirit, Ruach, which is feminine. Also, although some authors have maintained that the subject of the Trinity was a stranger to the Hebrew people and therefore the Jewish Jesus as well, they ignore references like Romans 8:21 and Hebrews 1:3 to site endless other references indicating that because Jesus never claimed to be God, but was content to be God’s son, their research is therefore correct. In order to build their case that the Trinity owes it origins to Pagan theology and Greek philosophy, they site references claiming to trace the origins of Trinity from Rome’s Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, back through Egypt’s dual trinities of Amun-Re-Ptah and Isis, Osiris and Horus, and in many cases will even go so far as to suggest that the idea of the Trinity finds its origin in the ancient Sumerian’s Anu, Enlil and Enki. It is clear, however, that these same authors have not been guided by the Holy Spirit and therefore not objective in their research, especially given that even the ancient Sumerian texts reference the fact that the tribe of Adam had its own Triune God. As such, even though I am aware that the concept of the Holy Trinity themselves was not a part of the stated views held by the first Christians, references like of Romans 8:21 and Hebrews 1:3 as well as references found in other historical texts describing the attributes of the Triune God of the tribe of Adam result in a very strong in favor of the Trinitarian structure associated with the fulfillment of the Law of God in the true feast systems.

Internal Links

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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

FAQ Bible Study Old Testament (No. 57) Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Journal of Heart-Centered Therapies, Vol. 2, No. 2.: Breathwork: Exploring the Frontier of Being and Doing Used by permission. All rights reserved.