What is Gnosis?
The word Gnosis means ‘knowledge’. However, it does not refer to just any kind of knowledge. It is a very special kind of knowledge, because it is not found in books. What can be found in books are keys or teachings that will enable us to bring about Gnosis from within, in other words, Auto-Gnosis.
The reason of being of the Being is the Being itself. Only the Being can know itself; consequently, the Being knows itself in Gnosis. The re-evaluation and auto-knowledge of Being itself is auto-gnosis. There is no doubt that in itself, auto-gnosis is Gnosis. The auto-knowledge of the Being is a supra-rational process that depends on the Being and has nothing to do with intellectualism.
« To know oneself is to identify with one’s own divine Being. Knowing oneself to be identical with one’s own Pneuma or Spirit, directly experiencing the identity between the known and the seeker, is what we can and must define as auto-gnosis. »
Self-knowledge, auto-gnosis, implies the annihilation of the Ego; the annihilation of the Ego is an extremely fundamental, extremely urgent task. The “I”, the Ego, is made up of conglomerates and residues of subjective, inhuman and bestial elements that have a beginning and an end, which is indisputable.
Unfortunately the Essence, the Consciousness, is swallowed up, imprisoned, locked up inside the various elements that make up the Myself. The Ego painfully processes itself by virtue of its own conditioning.
If the “I” is dissolved, the essence, the consciousness, awakens, becomes illuminated and liberated, and then, as a consequence or corollary, comes self-knowledge, auto-gnosis. Gnostic revelation is always immediate, direct and intuitive. It radically excludes any subjective intellectual operation and has nothing to do with sensory experience or with a set of fundamentally sensory data.
« The Gnostic experience enables the sincere student to know himself and to achieve total self-realisation. Self-realisation means the harmonious development of all of man’s infinite possibilities”.»
SCHOOL OF REGENERATION
Gnosis is a school of regeneration in pursuit of the genuine transformation of the human being. It demands every human being to change his or her fundamental principles and customs and become a true Man.
To regenerate means to be generated anew, that is, to be recreated, to be created anew. “Something old must die in man and something new must be born”. Regeneration means creating a new cosmos within us.
Gnosis is based on 4 pillars that lead human beings to wisdom: Art, Science, Philosophy and Religion.
Science:
Using the most important elements of science, which are practice and experimentation, we seek to acquire direct knowledge, by observing and studying the different systems of nature and man, in order to analyse, study and understand the complex human mechanism.
Art:
It is the pursuit of beauty in all its manifestations. We can see that this knowledge has given rise to all the arts, sculpture, painting, chosen music, poetry, literature, healthy and balanced sports, everything of a spiritual nature that activates the higher centres of the human person and brings them into a profoundly harmonious state.
Philosophy:
Philosophy aims to change perception, creating in the individual the necessary reasons to change the way he or she lives. To practise philosophy is to learn to reflect and think for oneself, to contemplate nature, the universe and our circumstances, with the intention of discovering the mystery that is concealed within all things. In other words, philosophy is both the search for answers and the understanding that we acquire in order to live wisely.
Religion:
It is important to understand that the term “religion” has become commonplace, has fallen into disrepute and does not convey the original, etymological meaning of the word. Religion comes from the Latin ‘religare’, to reconnect, i.e. to unite once again with what is divine in man himself. Gnosis as Religion seeks to study the science that exists in religious myths, behind the symbols, behind the different religious forms. Thus, Gnosis as Religion seeks man’s reintegration with the higher forces that exist in the universe and within the human being himself. It seeks the science that exists in all religions. Gnosis teaches THE DOCTRINE OF SYNTHESIS, because it synthesises knowledge to make it practical and accessible to all.
THE 4 PILLARS OF KNOWLEDGE
KNOWLEDGE OF ONESELF
The Gnostic experience enables the sincere student to know himself and to achieve total self-realisation. Self-realisation means the harmonious development of all of man’s infinite possibilities.
THE THREE FACTORS OF THE REVOLUTION OF THE CONSCIOUSNESS
Gnosis teaches human beings to realise themselves completely, to integrate with their true Inner Being. This process consists of several stages that can be summed up in the three (3) Factors of the Revolution of the Consciousness: Death, Birth and Sacrifice for Humanity.
1) PSYCHOLOGICAL DEATH
Gnosis views man as composed of a trio of: Essence, which is a spark of the Soul, the Personality and the Ego. The ego is considered to be a living, multiple and harmful entity within our psyche, which can be observed, comprehended and then eliminated.
Gnostic students devote their lives to eliminating all of their psychological defects, weaknesses, fears, vices, traumas, manias, aberrations as well as all the psychic, mental or emotional aspects that harm ourselves and others.
The aim of Gnosis is the Awakening of our Consciousness, but unfortunately it is asleep, locked up among thousands of these defects. We must put an end to unconsciousness in order to remain conscious, awake and enlightened.
"The old must die in man and the new must be born."
2) BIRTH
Human beings possess different types of energy, such as intellectual, emotional, motor, instinctive and sexual energies. Unfortunately, this energy is often wasted or used in excess, which accelerates ageing and disease.
We can use these energies and harness them wisely to regenerate our bodies, create the immortal Soul and embody the Spirit.
Man is an unfulfilled Being, but with the wise use of energy, the basis of all creation, other vehicles or higher inner existential bodies of the Being can be created to become true Men or Women in the fullest sense of the word.
These higher vehicles or solar bodies increase our cognitive capacity and our transcendental experiences in the higher dimensions of Nature and the Cosmos.
3) SACRIFICE FOR HUMANITY
"He who does not live to serve does not serve for living". Only the superior human being, the one who has stripped himself of greed, envy, ambition, hatred, etc., is capable of consciously sacrificing himself for his fellow human beings, helping them to emerge from their ignorance, pain, hunger, etc., without expecting any reward.
The cause of error is ignorance, and ignorance is due to a lack of Knowledge. There is a law in the universe that is well known today, the Law of Cause and Effect, or the Law of Karma, as the Hindustani esotericists called it thousands of years ago.
Many remain unaware that what they have sown previously or in previous lives is what we reap in this present life. It is through sacrifice for humanity that a human being can transcend or modify his own destiny,"Do good deeds to pay your debts."