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4. Gnosis Today

Gnosis Today

The title of Nemeta Course 4 states the intention of all material in this learning path: to treat the legacy of Gnosticism as a body of knowledge and practice that lives today, on contemporary terms.

Current with entering the fifth year of Nemeta, Course 4 continues to highlight the commentaries of the Maine professor on the Nag Hammadi Codices. The units come in blocks with block 107 containing texts 18 – 21. This material is continually in development and some units are made available before the entire block is complete.

As he has often stated, JLL would like to see the NHC commentaries appear in a book form, which would comprise three volumes following the original plan, shown below. JLL is currently writing T20 on the Apocryphon of John, one of the longest and most difficult texts in the collection. Commentaries 22 to 32 remain to be written.

Short of getting out the book versions, these commentaries are indispensable for anyone who cares and dares to investigate that rare source material. They stand as a legacy of JLL’s idiosyncratic efforts in Gnostic scholarship. If you care to look into the standard text, The Nag Hammadi Library in English, or even the longer scholarly edition of The Gnostic Coptic Library in five volumes with interfacing Coptic text, you are advised to read these commentaries first so that you can better navigate that obscure and perplexing material. If you have already attempted to read either of the above, it is likewise advisable to use these commentaries to make sense of what you have found there.

Other units in this course provide orientation for studies of Gnosticism, but not of course confined to the ancient material which is merely the background and is not required for the practice of the living Gnosis today. The -ism matters less than the reinvention of Gnosis for our time. Consequently, some units in this course are devoted to current-day practices rather than a retrospective analysis.

ORIGINAL PLAN

“The Mysteries and the Master”

1, Allogenes p 490 Allogenes
2, Apocalypse of Peter p 372 Apoc Peter
3, The Dialogue of the Savior p 244 Dial Sav
4, The Gospel of Thomas p 124 Gos Thom
5, Second Treatise of the Great Seth p 362 Treat Seth
6, Sentences of Sextus p 503 Sent Sextus
7, Teachings of Silvanus p 379 Teach Silv
8, Thunder, Perfect Mind p 295 Thund

“Ritual and Revelation”

9, 1st Apocalypse of James p 260 Apoc Jas
10, Apocryphon of James p 104 Ap Jas
11, Book of Thomas the Contender p 199 Thom Cont
12, Gospel of Philip p 139 Gos Phil
13, Hypostasis of the Archons/Reality of the Rulers p 161 Hyp Arch
14, On the Origin of the World p 170 Orig World
15, The Testimony of Truth p 448 Test Truth
16, Tripartite Tractate p 58 Tri Trac
17, Valentinian Exposition p 481 Val Exp

“The Sense of Cosmic Order”

18, Apocalypse of Adam p 277 Apoc Adam
19, The Second Apocalypse of James p 269 2 Apoc Jas
20, Apocryphon of John p 104 Apoc John
21, Concept of Our Great Power p 311 Great Pow
22, Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth p 321 Disc 8-9
23, Eugnostos the Blessed p 220 Eugnostos
24, Eugnostos parallel: The Sophia of Jesus Christ p 220 Soph JC
25, Exegesis of the Soul p 190 Exeg Soul
26, Gospel of the Egyptians p 208 Gos Eg
27, Gospel of Truth p 38 Gos Truth
28, Marsanes p 460 Marsanes
29, The Paraphrase of Shem p 339 Para Shem
30. The Three Steles of Seth p 396 Steles Seth
31, Trimorphic Protennoia p 511 Trim Prot
32, Zostrianos p 402 Zost

[spacer height=”12px”]These tables list the selected 32 documents in the reading plan, with page numbers in the NHLE, and if already added, but not necessarily published yet in Nemeta, the title will show in green text (a direct link to the unit – faculty members only have direct access if enrolled in the Gnosis Today course.)

ADDED 9 April 2022: Commentary and clarification on IQ relating to autism:

[spacer height=”12px”]Gnosis Today Introductory Talk (overview of the material in Block 101):

[spacer height=”12px”]Gnosis Today Audio Downloads here: 4 Gnosis Today Course Landing Page Audio Downloads

Gnosis today, as in the past, is a process framed by two factors: a method and a narrative. Ultimately, the method is instruction by the Light. The narrative frame that guides the knower/Gnostic is the Sophianic vision story, the FGS.

As to those who object that you cannot really know anything for sure, I respond: Then how can you know that for sure? The proposition of agnosis – admission of the inability to know – is a syntax glitch, a self-cancelling syllogism. The human mind is designed for logical consistency which, to be proven, has to be rendered in language in a clear and coherent way. You can only think as well as you can formulate your thinking in words. I said that years ago to my class at La Vereda in Santa Fe, and I stand by it today.

The Gnostic claims to know certain things, but not everything. Yet s/he knows those certain things with an emphatic certainty. Coupled with the confidence of knowing comes the commitment to self-correction, which I have demonstrated on numerous occasions. The Gnostic is not infallible, but superior in the intellectual description of what is known, what can be known, what is to be investigated and made known. The admission of unknowables is also part of this mindset.

Gnosis today is founded in the method and the narrative. A key proposition in the narrative states: the human species is living in a divine experiment in the hermetic vessel of the biosphere. How can you know that this is true, an objective fact? By engaging in the experiment on specific terms and instructions stated in the material on PT and applied noetics, you prove it is true by becoming a conscious instrument of the experiment. In short, you are the proof of the experiment.

The demonstration of gnosis is the intellectual gold standard for humanity: the practice and proof of it have to be demonstrated and in turn, shown to be transmissible.

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4. Gnosis Today: Course Curriculum

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