Neil Haddon
01-25-2006, 01:02 AM
a different way of putting it. enjoy:
http://www.timboucher.com/journal/
everyday gnosis
january 19th, 2006 (read in 2:17 min)
a great deal of breath can and has been wasted by modern gnostics about just
what the heck "gnosis" actually is in the first place. the most common
definitions i see are usually roughly synonymous with "enlightenment" or
"illumination." while such terms are intriguing, they define by obfuscation. if
gnosis is enlightenment, then what is enlightenment? if enlightenment is defined
as illumination, then what's that? and so on. you go further and further down
the chain of words - and quite possibly farther away from what the words
actually point to.
for my own purposes, i've found it useful to not so much define as connect the
word "gnosis" to the word "experience." i like that as a replacement because if
you want to know what "experience" means, you don't look in a dictionary - you
go outside and actually do something.
in the gnostic gospel of thomas, jesus says:
split a piece of wood; i am there.
lift up the stone, and you will find me there."
this saying teaches us not that christ is hiding under a rock or inside a log
(although maybe he is). and it doesn't simply say that the divine is
omnipresent. it says that the divine is to be found in actual experience - in
the processes of living. you have to split the wood. you have to lift the stone.
....
love.
neil
[non-text portions of this message have been removed]
http://www.timboucher.com/journal/
everyday gnosis
january 19th, 2006 (read in 2:17 min)
a great deal of breath can and has been wasted by modern gnostics about just
what the heck "gnosis" actually is in the first place. the most common
definitions i see are usually roughly synonymous with "enlightenment" or
"illumination." while such terms are intriguing, they define by obfuscation. if
gnosis is enlightenment, then what is enlightenment? if enlightenment is defined
as illumination, then what's that? and so on. you go further and further down
the chain of words - and quite possibly farther away from what the words
actually point to.
for my own purposes, i've found it useful to not so much define as connect the
word "gnosis" to the word "experience." i like that as a replacement because if
you want to know what "experience" means, you don't look in a dictionary - you
go outside and actually do something.
in the gnostic gospel of thomas, jesus says:
split a piece of wood; i am there.
lift up the stone, and you will find me there."
this saying teaches us not that christ is hiding under a rock or inside a log
(although maybe he is). and it doesn't simply say that the divine is
omnipresent. it says that the divine is to be found in actual experience - in
the processes of living. you have to split the wood. you have to lift the stone.
....
love.
neil
[non-text portions of this message have been removed]