Reddit mentions: The best gnosticism books

Well, for mahayana the book I have is this one. However, I don't remember how good it is. What I did for buddhism was simply go through various online resources. The reason being that western misconceptions about the connotations of buddhism are so deep that the only way to balance them out is by reading a lot of different sources, and trying to ignore the obviously interpretive parts. The main misconceptions revolve around ignoring or hand-waving that the Buddha post enlightenment was seen as divine, and that this and the system in general were meant to be very literal.

> I also wanted to ask, do you know of any theistic views that are different to classical and personalist theism that you consider intelligible and consistent?

Well, if you want a book on tillich, this one is good.

You already know about process theism, but I can give you some good reads. The iep page for whitehead is a good place to get the basics down. The important ting to note about process theists is that some of them hold to some of the general points, but not others. And so its a good general basis to explore a general idea that can be taken in different ways. For instance, whitehead's specific ontology of events is obviously a little more specific than someone today would be likely to profess. But the general format of the system is still top of the line. I would also say to read this book written by the first big process theist after whithead who turned it into a distinctly theological project instead of just a philosophical system.

Note that (well, obviously after you'll read them you can note that) the idea of a social conception of god is compatible also with tillich. Both tillich and some of the process theists explore the idea that the living aspects of god should be seen as a collective / social organism by nature of the summation of all the values of individual entities relating together through the absolute. Another way they tie them together is that john b cobb who you mention points out that the process theological concept of "creativity" parallels closely tillich's concept of the power of being. Process theism has a bit more metaphysics than tillich's minimalistic form, but they are very compatible ideas.

Another important person to look into is Carl Jung (yes, the psychologist carl jung). Because interestingly for his profession he actually provides a pretty substantial idea of a pantheist system. Which in short has to do with the idea that gods have a kind of quasi existence since they exist as abstract archetypes in the world at large, and are given form by human consciousness. But that once you properly frame into context what human consciousness even is you begin to see why that despite them being psychological images that they are also real. (its not easy to describe how, but basically it has to do with the fact that people aren't discrete, and the images are images of things external to the mind to begin with, so the mediated form exists as a submind encoded across multiple beings, and the world at large). Its a bit hard to get how it work until you intuitively grasp it, and it helps to know some relevant philosophy of mind that would make it seem more real. But a good book for seeing jung in a religious light is this one. It starts off a little slow, but in the middle it has a metaphorical religious text written by jung itself, and then it picks up in analysis of his real beliefs from it. As a psychologist he talked about the collective uconscious as a human psychological phenomenon, but it seems he really thought it was a kind of world soul relation between entities and the world itself.

Now, I must admit that tillich, the process theists, and jung are the three best modern things to look into. But there's a few more notable things to look at.

this book by the physicist schrodinger is about an idea called open individualism, which is basically a modern secularization of the hindu idea of brahman. He points out at the beginning that he is not a philosopher himself, but merely expressing the idea in an easy to read way. (Which is fortunate, since the actual philosophy textbook I want on the idea is $110). The gist of the idea is that there are no actual metaphysical borders between people, and so all people are abstractions of a super-identity that you can identify with god.

this book by fechner is a quasi religious book that argues for a secular reason to think life exists in a sense after death. The book is 150 years old, so it might have parts that seem overly idealistic, but the general idea and its arguments are something that's relevant even today. There's pantheistic elements in it too, but they are sidelined.

The kyoto school in japan blends modern metaphysics, zen metaphysics, and pantheism into a modern system. I haven't read anything from it, but hear that this anthology is good.

Here is a well-rated anthology of panentheistic writings from many authors in general. Including many I haven't read. You can look into it to see if any of them look like interesting areas of interest to branch off into.

Also, of course there's any number of old traditions one could look into even if one doesn't consider them totally literal to frame into context ways of looking at things that could carry over to a more transtheistic system. Kabbalah and stoicism are good places to look. here Is a book written by a psychologist and stoicism scholar that details their beliefs and how to engage in the practice in modern day. (Though obviously one can disagree with the virtue ethic framework). And here is one of the best kabbalah books. Obviously kabbalah is way too specific for me to consider literal, but it does have beautiful work and ways of looking at things to frame religious experience into context.

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For a few closing remarks, I'd point out to remember that these ideas are not necessarily all competing. Many of them (perhaps all at once depending on how strict you are) are compatible. You'll probably also notice that they all have similar tones of panentheism. That's because that's my general area of interest. The reason for this being that ultimately I think tillich is correct. There may be sentient godlike distinct beings out there, but we need to make religious experience revolve around things we have more of a definite concrete justification for. And the values of the religious experience pervade our world anyways, and so we don't need to rely on the literal existence of these independently sentient beings. Via jungian ideals we can even abstract the idea of gods to positive useful archetypes, and if they exist as concrete instantiations as well, all the better. If you ask me, the universe is likely tremendous in size. Bigger than we can even dream. There's probably more complex segments of it somewhere that very much have tangible sentient entities we would consider godlike. But there doesn't seem to be evidence of them interacting directly with us. So like epicurus says, belief in gods isn't an excuse for belief in superstition. They exist "elsewhere." Its better to focus on the transtheistic absolute.

In some ways you could still say I'm a Gnostic, but I'm also an atheist. I didn't used to be. I used to be really into religion. I studied various religions for 10 or so years, and I believed that there was a link between them all, some half-understood glimpse into a supernatural world. Initiation never ends, though, so one day I came to see the emptiness in that as I'd seen emptiness in everything else. There's truth in the metaphors of mysticism, but it's not truth about the world, it's truth about human beings and what they are.

Ein Sof is the unmanifest complete nature of "God", right? Well really that's just your deepest self, the part that isn't your petty emotions and worldviews, the part that fuels the Logos of the manifest self, yet sits and watches in stillness as the storm churns around it. Identification of self with thoughts is deficiency, as Sophia, who is wisdom, tries to understand the world without that concept of a quiet inner self, but of one that partakes in emotional turmoil fully and feels as though that's where it is, bringing about a false self. This is the Demi-urge and its Archons, our controlling and hostile self-imposed restrictions and our deficient interpretation of our relationship to the world. Gnosis is a realization of unity, not with the deficiency, but with the Pleroma and Logos, the manifestation of Ein Sof. It's identification with that stillness and quietness at the heart of the self, the place that the storm doesn't touch. Whether or not there's more to that stillness is, well, open to interpretation.

Some good books to take a look at, if you want to know about the cosmology of Gnosticism, are Gnosis of the Cosmic Christ by Tau Malachi, and On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead by Gershom Scholem. Also, really, if you just want a basic outline of some of the cosmology, take a look at Wikipedia. Look at the capitalized letters in these last couple of posts and see what they have to say about them. As far as just addressing the ideas, they're pretty good.

Really, though, cosmology isn't that important, what's important is what the cosmology is trying to reflect. You should also read the story of Krishna and Arjuna on the battlefield, which is in the Bhagavad Gita, and basically the entirety of the Tao Te Ching. The Heart of Understanding by Thich Nhat Hanh is another good read that gets into some of this stuff that's really the core of the point of it all.

The thing is, a lot of this stuff is non-verbal. You can learn as much from extended periods of mindfulness meditation as you can from reading about it, and, really, if you're going to actually understand it, you have to do some work within yourself. If you can't ever differentiate the cloud of your emotions from the self that you are, you're not going to see the sign posts in the text in front of you. Eventually their shape might sort of point you in the right direction, though, and that is, presumably, the hope. Like a Zen koan, it's a finger pointing at the moon. Try not to get caught up in the finger. Along that line of thinking, take a look at the introduction to Magick in Theory and Practice by Aleister Crowley, but first, read this quote from Liber O.

>In this book it is spoken of the Sephiroth and the Paths; of Spirits and Conjurations; of Gods, Spheres, Planes, and many other things which may or may not exist. It is immaterial whether these exist or not. By doing certain things certain results will follow; students are most earnestly warned against attributing objective reality or philosophic validity to any of them.

There are many ways to interpret the things Crowley says. He definitely seems to have had some delusional periods in his life, but he is an excellent representation of a finger pointing at the moon.

Personally, I think religion needs to fade into the darkness of history and take as much ignorance and woo with it as possible. There are, however, valuable transmissions of non-verbal information going on, but I think they can be secularized. Crowley managed to get his students to play with the stuff while supposedly not expressly believing in its literal validity or the literal truth of the cosmologies related to it, so there ought to be other ways of doing that.

Anyway, that's just me. I couldn't tell you whether most Gnostics today or ~300CE believed the cosmology literally or believed it in the context of their experience of themselves and their connection with the world. I don't know of any studies regarding it. I'm pretty sure there aren't that many Gnostics.

I don't know of any services or anything. I certainly don't go to any. If you have any questions about Gnosticism or whatever you can certainly ask, though. It seems that I still enjoy typing about it.

Probably not here though, because this has nothing at all to do with physics.

First of all, that's amazing. Great idea for a dice box or dice rolling tray.

Have you considered something like a holder for minis, dice, pens/pencils? Basically little compartments inside for a player kit. I've seen a websites selling custom wooden enclosures for dice, pens, and minis for D&D players but a copy of the Necronomicon for a CoC game would be amazing.

Book ideas:

• There are a lot of collections of HP Lovecraft tales, many of which have great covers. I would particularly look for ones that have especially popular titles on their covers. "Call of Cthulhu and other tales" looks more fun than "Tales of HP Lovecraft." Of course, cool looking covers trumps all. https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Cthulhu-Leatherbound-Classics-Collection/dp/1435162552/
  
• King in Yellow (as SamEire93 said)
  
• Necronomicon (as you said)
  
• Der Hexenhammer - an actual book often referenced in CoC and with a really cool name.
  
• Malleus maleficarum - A translation of the Der Hexenhammer which still has a cool name.
  
• The Lesser Key of Solomon - A real book sometimes used in CoC games and which has a cool cover. https://smile.amazon.com/Lesser-Key-Solomon-Aleister-Crowley/dp/0998136417
  
• Book of the Dead (Egyptian version) - An actual book often referenced in CoC and with a really cool name.
  
• The Book of Eibon - I'm not sure there are any decent looking copies that exist, but the concept is good.
  
• Penny Dreadfuls: Sensational Tales of Terror - has a cool looking cover: https://www.amazon.com/Penny-Dreadfuls-Sensational-Leatherbound-Collection/dp/1435162765/
  
• Lovecraft Country - Maybe? It's a great book so I'd feel a little weird having it hollowed out, but a fan might really like the idea.

I agree, I found Donna's ending much more heartbreaking than Doomsday. And the actor who played her grandfather was AMAZING. Also loved the Doctor's line to Donna's Mum: "Well maybe you should tell her that sometime." Caught me off guard in good way. (Jack's line was a favorite for lulz, second only to Jackie naming her kid Tony. XD What Pete doesn't know won't hurt him?)

And while I agree with the current top comments that referenced saccharine and deus ex machina, FWIW, the two endings with Rose and Donna had me looking up gnostic stuff the next day (don't worry, I've also got a library book on hold). It felt like a little return to some of the larger issues RTD explored in the Long Game/Bad Wolf arcs of New Series 1 (still my fave of New Who), which was a relief.

I'm shocked to find myself interested in seeing Martha and Mickey on Torchwood, too.

I have a copy of this but haven't read it. We used this in a religion class. It's really just an overview but it may be a good jumping off point (lots of references to chase). There may be a more readable ancient near east book. This to cover zoroaster.

You can get the original Gilgamesh translation or Enuma Elish free from Gutenberg. There have probably been half a dozen books written on each one so just look those up.

I think that, even if you have books and a ton of references in hand, it's not going to settle the matter for very many theists. Most people's belief doesn't come from thoroughly convincing evidence. That god exists is, to them, an absolute. But, you know, it's fun stuff to read about.

I've been invoked here. Thanks @MontyAtWork.

I actually can't argue with you here that often Simulation Theory is a fun exercise that takes eschatological and gnostic motifs and runs with them via computer metaphors. I actually think this is a really interesting point of study: many technologists are obsessed with rather religious sounding ideas. Simulation Theory is a pretty intriguing way of thinking about our reality and how it works, similar to how the steam engine was once used to talk about the human mind. The technological imagination of modern culture is isomorphic to various theologies and there have been plenty of academic books in the humanities discussing this subject.

So while we could dismiss it as "bad theology," it's also intriguing from an anthropological and cultural studies perspective.

Whether or not these are true? Well, again, I suggest that the religious motifs themselves are more important than the particular metaphors used (holograms, computers, simulations, etc).

There's a good essay about it here from a friend who is a stronger advocate of the theory than myself: "Why it Matters That You Realize You're in a Computer Simulation"

And for a good, non-academic book that's also a cult-classic discussing modern gnostics and techno culture, check out TechGnosis by Erik Davis.

Edit: words.

>“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.”

― H.P. Lovecraft


The scariest universal concepts I am aware of, are the Gnostic themes/Nag Hammadi Texts/Apocrypha. A false deity (in their case, YHWH, god of the Judaeo-Christian religion), has created his own realm to rule over (thinking he is the supreme and only god). This counterfeit realm is a pale image of a more perfect realm that exists outside of his perception/grasp. In this 'matrix'/false world, light (spirit/living beings) that are trapped within can produce a form of energy that can be harnessed. The false deity, and his mottled creations are powered by this energy - as simple a motive as you can get (sustenance to continue existence). The Gnostics believe we live in this misrendered reality which mimics a more perfect place (what some may call Heaven) and that we are (as light/spirit) trapped and fed upon by the Demiurge (The Creator/Architect).

The story, relayed by the myths, state that a dark celestial (aborted-fetal) mass was lured to feed upon one of the greater beings, Aeons (serpents of light) within a trap/lattice/matrix. Her sacrifice was to let the dark, so-to-speak, latch onto her as a parasite, but at the same time making it so the dark-matter could not escape (the Aeon's ultimate goal). Their wish was to wash the dark away and convert/transmute the being from dark to light. Things went wrong and here we are today.. still trapped and fed upon within the counterfeit realm with an emotional, unjust, angry and easily irritated false god at the helm, latched onto a withering Aeon in her last breaths flying through space. All is not lost, as they recite the words of Pistis Sophia (the Aeon who sacrificed her self as host to the abyss) in their texts:

>“An enlightened, immortal human exists before you and will appear within your fashioned bodies. The human will trample upon you as potter’s clay is trampled. And you will go with those who are yours down to your mother, the abyss. For in the consummation of your works, all of the deficiency that appeared in the truth will be dissolved. It will cease, and it will be like something that never existed.”
http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/origin-Barnstone.html

People believe that this immortal man of light is Pistis Sophia's consort, Kristos. With the rest of the Aeon's observing the unfolding drama on the outside, Kristos is known to incarnate within this matrix and spread truth and light to the rest of us. The story relates as any other Jesus-story; 12 disciples, death and resurrection, sent from heaven to earth in the form of man, visited by wise men at birth, claiming they existed before their birth on earth etc Krisha, Jesus, Horus, Buddah, Mithra, Osiris and more stories from around the world (with no contact to other civilizations) and throughout time recall the story of the man of light, here to bring truth.

If this version of reality is real, to me, it would be the most horrific (although it has a shred of hope and would be the most engaging/immersive story ever to be a part of). The Gnostic's got their information from small sects who would meditate in a circle laying down with their feet facing in. They would discuss what answers they received from their group meditations and then bring these "truths" to other sects in giant meets. They would then refine the collaborated insights into a single cohesive myth. Pretty interesting way to go about it, imo.


Other Sources:

http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/Hypostas-Barnstone.html

http://gnosis.org/naghamm/nhl.html

http://www.amazon.com/Not-His-Image-Gnostic-Ecology/dp/193149892X

I'm always doing some serious reading, LOL. Composite character means not real. And I am well aware of the purpose of religion is to control. Since you are also aware, you might also appreciate the work of Freke and Gandy that was recently recommended to me by a gnostic friend; I went with this one:

Jesus and the Lost Goddess: The Secret Teachings of the Original Christians

"In our latest book Jesus and the Goddess we explore how the Jesus story was only a part of a much greater body of Christian mythology, all of which combined Jewish and Pagan mythological motifs."

I will check out those subs. Thanks.

Completely normal. Techgnosis was pretty interesting for that part. Every new domain, like the wild west or the internet, is always seen as an almost religious heaven of freedom and equality. But sooner or later, business follows and the normal commercial systems are established. Then the masses move in.

But internet does indeed multiplies the winner-takes-all tendencies in all normal business by a lot. Second places don't really count in cyberspace.

Check out Alejandro Jodorowsky’s “Way of the Tarot”. I recommend really any of his books or any books by Tracy Twyman. Her “Baphomet: The Temple Mystery Unveiled” will give you quite a bit of information to immerse yourself into. Also maybe check out “Jung and the Tarot.” Enjoy!

Edit: I’ll add that I don’t always agree with Jodorowsky, sometimes his opinions are even mildly distressing to me. But his writing is worthwhile anyway, and there is much to learn even while observing his conclusions that I don’t share. :)

That's the beauty of being gnostic. You can do whatever you want! There is no authority or indoctrination that goes along with it like the exoteric churches.

Jeremy Puma wrote a book called A Gnostic Prayerbook: Rites, Rituals, Prayers and Devotions with various consecration methods as well as a lot of prayers and sacraments and other rites. Great book.

I'm merely pointing out one possibility however it's the possibility I believe has the highest probability of being true. You're trying to ask me what has influenced me in this direction. I would have to tell you it has to do with direct experience with phenomena that falls outside the realm of everyday ordinary reality. To go into it here would make too many people uncomfortable and since it was my direct experience it is not something easily provable or transferable. In other words I could tell you but you'd never believe me and I'd have no way to prove it, so I might as well not even go there.

I can however furnish you with reading material that may eventually help you have your own direct experience of non-ordinary reality which might lead to your own revelations.

some of these links will be amazon links but I'm not getting paid by them no worries.

You can do it with buddhist meditation here is a decent guidebook: http://www.interactivebuddha.com/mctb.shtml
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/

here are some other resources that may be helpful.
http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/nhl.html
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0880103728
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1882692047
http://www.amazon.com/Not-His-Image-Gnostic-Ecology/dp/193149892X
http://www.workofthechariot.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Cosmic-Trigger-Final-Secret-Illuminati/dp/1561840033
http://www.amazon.com/Valis-Philip-K-Dick/dp/0679734465
http://www.amazon.com/Tibetan-Dream-Yoga-Complete-Conscious/dp/156455743X

You could always just go the lazy route and eat 6 grams of dried psilocybe cubensis alone in a silent dark room. I hear that works for a lot of people but it's not really what I'm into. :)

good luck!

Oh, it's so hard to pick just three... but I would feel comfortable recommending these:

https://www.amazon.com/Prometheus-Rising-Robert-Anton-Wilson/dp/0692710604/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492139963&sr=8-1&keywords=prometheus+rising

https://www.amazon.com/Not-His-Image-Gnostic-Ecology/dp/193149892X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492139398&sr=8-1&keywords=not+in+his+image

https://www.amazon.com/Seth-Speaks-Eternal-Validity-Soul/dp/1878424076/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492140107&sr=8-1&keywords=seth+speaks

I try to read a little bit of everything, but the main topics I enjoy reading about are religion, history, philosophy, occultism/esotericism, parapolitics, UFOlogy, and psychology.

>>Much of the theology that got layered on top was similar to 'mystery cults'

I'm reading a pretty fascinating book about this right now, The Jesus Mysteries: Was the "Original Jesus" A Pagan God? It gets into all the ways the Jesus story is a recreation of Dionysus.

A great go-to book for a scholarly yet clear explanation of gnosticism is Kurt Rudolph's "Gnosis: The Nature and History of Gnosticism".

Also, a little known fact that might interest you is that the Codex Tchacos, the codex that brought us the gnostic Gospel of Judas, was found to also contain fragments referring to Hermes Trismegistus, thought to be from a Coptic translation of Corpus Hermeticum.

Indeed!

You might be interested in the book The Philosopher's Stone: Alchemy and the Secret Research for Exotic Matter by Joseph Farrell, the author of this blog.

It's unbelievable what may be happening behind the scenes.

I recently started /r/josephpfarrell too, he frequently discusses topics like this, all of which I find fascinating.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find.


amazon.co.uk

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I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

The Fall of Sophia: A Gnostic Text on the Redemption of Universal Consciousness https://www.amazon.com/dp/1584200006/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_CgimDbGWCBRKC

Would this be the one? Also curious of why you like it better? Any differences you've noticed?

You are looking for Gnosis of the Cosmic Christ by Tau Malachi.

This is a thick book, both in the number of pages as well as the information contained on those pages. Been reading it on and off for a while now. Incredibly well explained Gnostic/Qabalistic version of Christianity/Magic. There are lots of Magical practices or tweaked Golden Dawn rituals being interpreted through a different lens.

This book helped me (truly) rid myself of my ex-Christian stigmas. I did not expect that going into it. Grasping the depth of the Christian tradition and showing the Qabalistic nature of the New Testament really helped me reach back out to some of my Evangelical family. We can say similar things, pray, talk about "how good God is", and etc., but our dictionary is just a little different. I am still a Magician with my own daily practices, but one with a little wider field of vision. We aren't so different.

Worth the read.

You want to start by reading the following book, link at the end. Gnosticism is the search for knowledge, truth. The world that we exist in was made
By the demiurge (God) the demiurge came from the Pistis Sophia which in turn is an existence from the pleroma (the light the first existence etc) that touched the void (it gets messy and my memory is not complete, the book will explain). Now the demiurge creates because It has a sense of the pleroma but cannot be part of it. So in the end man was made and man has been given a divine spark in itself and that spark will eventually go back to the pleroma. The demiurge is evil and gives suffering. There are three types of humans, ones who have the truth inside them which they must share, ones who have the ability to listen to this truth and understand and ones who cannot hear or see this truth at all. It also deals a lot with duality of existence that is a major theme.

http://www.amazon.com/Gnosis-The-Nature-History-Gnosticism/dp/0060670185

It's hard to say how much of what I've learned is due to my natural inclination toward and desire for truth and how much is a product of my experience. For example if I hadn't realized feminism was BS (big lie #1) and been exposed to Ciprofloxacin (big lie #2: big pharma / modern medicine is corrupt), I'm not sure I would've seriously began my quest to find out what other big lies there were about the world. I also am lucky to have had the opportunity to spend time on this search, which has taken over half a decade. If my life had gone differently I may not have had such luxury. If I had been born in a different era I would not have had access to as much information. I could easily have been quite ignorant about all this. And part of me still hopes that all this evil is part of some grand plan to wake up the human race to knowledge and truth, but that we must go through some hardship to achieve it. That's what Frank Herbert's Dune series seemed to indicate. On the other hand that may just be wishful thinking, and it may very well be that the reason there are such huge gaps in false flags like 9/11 and the fake beheadings etc. etc. is that they are luring out truth seekers so that they may be eliminated, rather than trying to wake people up to the truth.

Based on some experiences I've had, I even now believe in the spiritual realm, though part of me still doubts it. Synchronicities do seem to exist. And so, too, do demons. If I had not had my own experiences perhaps I would not have researched these topics either, which seem to be a key part of the picture, that Jews alone are not responsible but that Yahweh / demons do indeed exist, that there are higher forces at work here. See also http://www.amazon.com/Not-His-Image-Gnostic-Ecology/dp/193149892X

I do struggle with hubris which is something I really had hammered home when I went through my spiritual experience. And while on one hand I love humanity on the other hand I hate the way most people behave and do have a superiority complex.

>It seems there's a strong contingent of TPTB that have very little interest in doing that. I do think that TPTB can't do anything to the part of us that survives the expiration of the physical vehicle, however, so they at least can't touch or effect that part.

I've heard tales that going into the light is a trap to ensnare us in never-ending reincarnation and that fraudulent spiritual entities pretend to be whatever deities we expect to find in the afterlife in order to trick us. It makes sense that the same spiritual entities who engage in trickery in the material realm would do so in the spiritual realm. As above, so below. And so when I croak I expect deception.

You can read a little about what I experienced and some speculation on what's going on here: http://unity7777.wordpress.com/2014/10/19/yahweh-isnt-a-god-its-a-hive-mind-alien-race-of-ankle-biters-that-only-has-power-over-you-if-you-let-them/

>If TPTB that are willing to kill off everyone who's not a "golden nugget", what do you think they'll do with those they find who are "golden nuggets"?

Some say we are in a period of "ascension" but the New Age movement does largely seem to be corrupted by NWO agents telling us to ignore all the facts that show evil is only getting worse and to believe that just praying and loving is enough to make things better, instead of actually doing anything real to fight against the evil. Then again the idea of successive reincarnations to teach souls to improve does seem like a possibility. On one hand you have the New Age and Gnosticism and Luciferian teachings that teach that men can become gods and on the other hand you have Abrahamic faiths which teach that men should never dwell into the spiritual realm because that is where demons reside. But I have a feeling we are meant to become more spiritual but that this also makes us vulnerable to attack by negative entities and that Abrahamic faiths and the scientific materialism of the world today are meant to keep us spiritually stunted because if we become spiritually attuned we may gain the power to resist the evil entities, a power which Gnostics who were wiped out by early Christians appear to have possessed. Then again I hate meditating heh and don't feel like taking the time to try to learn to move a psi wheel with my mind either. :P

Yes, the "elite" have sacrificed many Jews over the millennia for their plan. Most Jews are as much pawns as non-Jews are. And it benefits them to keep Jews hating "Gentiles" and vice versa. Not to mention the hatred they foster between whites and other races.

I'll check out the video you linked. I've followed Chris Jon Bjerknes' blog http://jewishracism.blogspot.com in the past.

BTW interesting stuff here too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L777RhL_Fz4

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26972493/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/earliest-reference-describes-christ-magician/

Jesus the Sorcerer https://www.amazon.com/dp/1869928954/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_0UH-BbHYBZC6G

A good place to start with Gospel of Thomas and of Mary Magdalene both can be found on Gnostic Gospel resource pages.

http://gnosis.org/library/marygosp.htm

This is a link to the secret Gospel of Mark which is actually just a letter giving evidence that the Catholic Church attempted to cover this all up http://gnosis.org/naghamm/gosthom.html

https://thegodabovegod.com/the-radical-way-gnostics-used-magic/

http://gnosis.org/library/secm.htm

https://youtu.be/h7P3yYMEYZM

The book of Issa this is a possible account of the Lost Years of Jesus

https://reluctant-messenger.com/issa.htm

Then there's this movie you could watch on Amazon for like $0.99 called Jesus in India. Here's the trailer for it.

https://youtu.be/fW3-4JXSSQg

I am still very new to the concepts, but I was introduced to Gnosticism by reading The Jesus Mysteries and Jesus and The Lost Goddess. The writing style is very digestible for a beginner IMHO. There is a third book i have yet to read, but I’ve enjoyed the first two so far. I’m not sure how much these relate to other gnostic resources, but they were a nice starting point. YMMV!

The Book of the Dead translated by E.A. Wallis Budge

Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World by Gerald Massey

Thrice Greatest Hermes by G.R.S. Mead

The recently published book "The Gnostic New Age" is a good introduction: https://www.amazon.com/Gnostic-New-Age-Countercultural-Revolutionized/dp/0231170769
It is written by one of the leading scholars in the field of biblical studies, and also has many references to gnostic themes in movies like The Matrix, The Truman Show and others.

There is a great book on this topic called The Jesus Mysteries

Great book on the subject:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0609807986?pc_redir=1410434314&robot_redir=1

I've been reading through Baphomet: The Temple Mystery Unveiled lately and it's an incredible insight into the history and beliefs behind Baphomet.

A great place to start with LaVeyan Satanism is The Satanic Bible

It's kind expensive but this book does a good job at explaining the fundamentals of Gnosticism

https://www.amazon.com/Key-Sethian-Gnosticism-postmodern-world/dp/8299824370

Hmm. Trying to find out more about the author and the CESNUR organization I ran across this:

http://www.kelebekler.com/cesnur/eng.htm

Not very encouraging.

EDIT: Jsut to be clear: The link above isn't about the author of the piece in question but about the guy behind the organization that put the piece online.

The guy who wrote the piece, though, is the author of what's billed as an "objective" book on Scientology, and of this peculiar book as well:

http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Enlightenment-Ramthas-School-Ancient/dp/1885223617/

I agree with the choices to avoid.

I would personally pick up The Jesus Mysteries: Was the "Original Jesus" a Pagan God?

Misquoting Jesus doesn't throw enough doubt for my taste.

I was brought up in an evangelical environment, and I had the same question for many years: What's the relation between astrology and Christianity? Do they exclude each other?

I found the answer in this book: "The Jesus Mysteries" by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy. It really set my mind free - even though it is more about Christianity than astrology.

https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Mysteries-Was-Original-Pagan/dp/0609807986

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jesus_Mysteries

> Paul wasn't a contemporary of Christ. He's not like Peter or James.

But Paul's writings were composed well before anyone claiming to be Peter or James put pen to paper. If there were oral or written traditions that spoke of Jesus' life, background, ministry, and/or miracles prior to Paul, then why the silence on such things in the Epistles? It doesn't matter whether Paul was a witness or not. Would you not expect even some of the basic preachings of Jesus attested in his writings, a word or two, an example of his life? Paul's silence on such matters is nearly deafening.

> I would be interested to know what writings show this. Even the gnostic gospels are more or less the basic same life story.

You can check out The Jesus Mysteries by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, Earl Doherty, or others on the Jesus Myth theory.

Wow, Schroeder has learned what Hegel already said a long time ago. Crazy. The Gnostic Return is real.

Most relevant text would be Techgnosis. I would also check out Strange Freqencies. Episode 41 of the Ultraculture Podcast features the author of strange frequencies and is worth a listen.

This idea is not very new.
This book documents how the origin of jesus is identical to a handful of pagan gods. Also here is the Wikipedia page

Two relevant books that I haven't read yet (they're on my very long list):

Jesus the Magician - Morton Smith

Jesus the Sorcerer - Robert Conner

Well...

The Gnostic Return is real.

I read a book about this called The Jesus Mysteries. It is among dozens of books that were influential in liberating me from the Bible, which ultimately liberated me from the JWs. This book really spoke volumes because having been taught so strongly all my life that paganism = BAD, wow, it was quite a slap to realize that Christianity itself was wholly a retread of... drum roll: that very same PAGANISM!

Unfortunately, Witnesses aren't encouraged to read books and here's a prime example of why. When you know too much, you see Christianity - and hence the JWs - in a different light. That's an existential problem for them. They fight it, you might say, in an almost cult-like manner.