--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <snip> > However, if you're about to dive into gnosticism in > hopes of finding parallels to Eastern mysticism and > unity, you'd best prepare yourself for a shock. > *Nothing* could possibly be more dualistic than > gnosticism; its very philosophical foundations are > called 'dualism.' In the strictest forms of gnos- > ticism, not only is there no concept of Unity, it > was believed that the realms of spirit and matter > were *so* different that the latter was not even > created by God. Really. Earth and all the material > world was created by Satan or the Demiurge (depending > on who you believe and what you read). It's a fas- > cinating and interesting study, but prepare yourself > for the *opposite* of unity, not its personification.
Actually, if you have a reasonably good grasp of the Advaita brand of Unity, in terms of the nature of its apparent paradoxes, there are more parallels than you might think at first glance, sort of lurking beneath the surface or between the lines. It's not totally clear what early-Christian-era Gnostics actually believed, however, given that most of the contemporary accounts of it were written by orthodox Christians who were rather strenuously advocating *against* it; they tended not to portray its doctrines in the most favorable or reasonable light. (Kinda like trying to evaluate TM by reading the posts of TNBs...) At any rate, on alt.religion.gnosticism, possible parallels to Eastern thought come up on a fairly regular basis, but the self-professed Gnostics on the group typically become enraged at the very suggestion. On the other hand, they're not very familiar, if at all, with Advaita. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
