Gnosticism
An explicit religious inclination, it is an experience which expresses itself through the realm of myths. It does not reveal stories that are not true, but rather the truth embodies the myths in a different manner from the doctrines of theology or philosophy. A personal religious experience, it is the teaching based on Gnosis, the knowledge of transcendence through the means of central perception. With its unique history and many influences, Gnosticism was a jumble of ideas and beliefs taken from past religions and faiths. However, becoming a direct threat during the spread of Christianity, this religion of Gnosticism created disturbances among the Christians with its different beliefs of salvation and Jesus. Religious traditions acknowledge that the world is imperfect, but Gnostics hold a belief almost shocking that the world is flawed, and was created in a faulty manner. Their outlook of the cosmos, the Deity, and the human being vary from that within Christianity and other religions. Creating a niche in the society of Christianity's rooting, Gnosticism has managed to raise many questions and speculations because of its tangent views.Gnosticism refers to a related body of teachings that stress the attainment of "gnosis,
Gnosticism, reaching a high point of development in the 2nd century AD, was a religious philosophical dualism that taught salvation through secret knowledge. One of the central principles of Gnosticism was the sharp dualism between spirit and matter. Salvation is achieved by freeing the spirit from its imprisonment in matter. Since the world was looked upon as evil, the ultimate goal of Gnostics was to reach that spirituality of the soul to free itself from the body. The spirit was thought to be trapped in matter, especially in man. It was therefore believed that not to prolong or broaden life was the best way to ultimately free the Spirit. The duality also comes into play that the world was made by the falsely true God and that humans have spiritual and physical/psychic components. According to Gnosticism, humans are said to be uninformed of the divine essence held inside them due to the influence of the false creator who purposely aims to keep humans ignorant and attached to worldly essences instead. "Anything that causes us to remain attached to earthly things serves to keep us in enslavement to these lower cosmic rulers," (Hoeller, p. 3). Hoeller further explains that when one dies, the "divine spark" is released only if there has been subsequent amount gnosis acquired by the soul before dying. If not, then the spirit is thrown back into the world of suffering into another body. The duality of humans consists of their ignorance of the spirit withheld inside, waiting to be released. On the other hand, the Creator, influences humans and brings them closer to the pain and suffering. Gnosticism was perceived as an attempt to transform Christianity into a religious value and to replace faith in the mysteries of revelation by theoretical explanations. It became a direct and dangerous threat to Christianity during the 2nd century, when Christianity was struggling to mark its own territory. Gnosticism created another realm of Christianity, which was opposed due to its contradictory beliefs of the origins of life, the source of evil, and the nature of the deity. Gnostics were individualists with a goal of self-fulfillment. The ethical teachings of the Gnostics ranged from simplicity to extreme freedom. Allegro recounts, " They felt unfettered by the conventions of ordinary men, and in conduct this led to extreme libertinism on the one hand, and a debilitating asceticism on the other," (p. 137). Some Gnostics regarded marriage and procreation as an evil act of the world, whi
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