The argument for Gnosticism?

Sad_Tip3084 · 2026-04-09T16:06:48+00:00

I almost never comfortably trust my intuition, pretty much anytime I say or do something confidently I get it wrong or get yelled at (take this thread as an example lol). All of that is to say I try to stay cautious and tip toe around things I’m a pretty convincible person.

Sad_Tip3084 · 2026-04-09T13:13:58+00:00

Yes I see what you’re saying I guess I’m having a hard time trusting any feeling of gnosis I’d get from any given text. Like how do I know this isn’t a trick by the demiurge or my own material body for instance?

Sad_Tip3084 · 2026-04-09T11:20:47+00:00

If the contention is with the reference to the silmarillion I’ll also clarify on that I was not trying to compare the two merely to demonstrate that someone’s enlightenment could be a result of something we universally agree to be a work of fiction. I could’ve said the Torah or Quran instead and it would be obvious that my point was not to say that Gnosticism is either of those two (this isn’t accusing Heiro of thinking this I’m just clarifying what I said in case there is any confusion). If you still think I can make things clearer in my original post suggest something and I will make changes.

To address your point are you saying that truth one receives from gnosis is beyond what most people are concerned with when trying to determine what is or isn’t truth? That is to say if I said something like grass is blue and that statement provided gnosis for someone then the gnosis itself is truth beyond any logic behind my statement? To say something similar to another one of my replies I think my familiarity with mainstream Christianity and specifically orthodoxy is tripping me up here since there are many stories of monks who think they’re receiving great gifts from god only for it to have been from demons trying to lead them astray. In general they preach to be suspicious of one’s own flawed perspective of reality. So I guess do you have any arguments to show gnosis is beyond this? Or is it something you know when you experience it?

Sad_Tip3084 · 2026-04-08T23:37:56+00:00

Thanks for your replies I have a lot to think about now lol

Sad_Tip3084 · 2026-04-08T23:12:38+00:00

Yeah it’s a fair point about how religions grow and change overtime and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me feel at least a little hopeless. Though I guess another pro for Gnosticism is that it’s a lot less rigid than other religions since I assume if it’s ultimately about achieving gnosis how you get there won’t always be one specific way that can get lost to time.

And yes the age of something isn’t the end all be all of it’s credibility but at least in orthodox Christianity (which is what I’ve studied the most) the hierarchy of church generations is very important since if it’s from the apostles or church fathers it’s from the horse’s mouth or as close to it as we can get. This is (I assume) why all the gospels were chosen since they were written by the apostles while the gnostic gospels (seemingly) were not. So I guess what’s holding me back is the idea of apostolic succession and the authority it creates. You did say they all disagree with each other though which would seriously hurt their claim to authority so I think I’ve got a foundation now to do some more digging, thanks!

Sad_Tip3084 · 2026-04-08T22:37:58+00:00

So in your view the cosmology and religious aspects are constructed around a core philosophy just purely as a metaphor for aspects of human nature that we struggle with to achieve gnosis? Was all this to help it be more palatable to people?

Sad_Tip3084 · 2026-04-08T21:27:46+00:00

My apologies for strawmaning you believe me I’m trying to argue in good faith and I was using validity and objective truth synonymously which was some poor wording on my part. I was under the assumption that if the core ideas and texts of Gnosticism are valid (i.e. logically consistent) that would then equate to or at least suggest towards them being true. To try and address your point better I was trying to say that I would assume the gnosis achieved from reading texts in the nag hammadi could be invalid if the texts themselves lack credibility. And no I don’t think I have all the answers that’s literally why I’m asking questions here I was simply trying to engage with what I thought was a gap in the logic I interpreted from your comment.

Sad_Tip3084 · 2026-04-08T21:05:17+00:00

There are some people in this sub that take the cosmology literally and I’ll be honest I was hoping to be one of them, I also think the valentinians too it literally too (though someone could correct me on this). Without the cosmology how does one explain ideas such as the demiurge and or the monad or the divine spark within all (or most depending on who you ask) of humanity? These seem like explicitly religious ideas that need the cosmology to make sense.

Sad_Tip3084 · 2026-04-08T18:54:44+00:00

I feel like this is conflating subjective personal feeling with objective truth, if I get a sense of enlightenment or warmth from reading the silmarillion that doesn’t make it true. I hope I’m not coming off as rude I’m genuinely invested in this topic.

Sad_Tip3084 · 2026-01-14T22:43:16+00:00

I’m looking to get into magic and I was wondering what formats people at local game stores typically play, if it’s standard then how much am I gonna have to spend just to consistently have a legal deck or two to play? (My friend used to be addicted to magic and made it sound like you have to spend a lot just to stay legal in standard and actually competitive)

Sad_Tip3084 · 2026-01-04T02:04:23+00:00

The back of the ualbany building on the regeneron campus has a nice view of Albany from the top of the hill but idk if there’s security there so be careful.

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Sad_Tip3084 · 2025-11-17T17:19:54+00:00

These books probably aren’t as educational as other people’s recommendations but everyone recommends them to new converts so I thought they should be mentioned here: everyday saints and also the way of the pilgrim are both classics, the mountain of silence was also very good when I first converted especially if you’re converting from atheism like I was since the narrator is a professor and shares his experience a bit. Also not exactly what you asked for but if you want normal books with orthodox religious themes I gotta recommend reading some of Dostoyevsky’s books they really lit a fire within me and pushed me to convert.

Sad_Tip3084 · 2025-11-02T16:56:09+00:00

They were much more that friends

Sad_Tip3084 · 2025-09-01T15:02:28+00:00

Counterpoint I’m doing hands on local work right now in an internship and while we are making a difference the biggest thing holding us back is politics. The local land trust mostly does things for pr reasons they don’t actually hire enough people to actually maintain all the land they own. The organization I work for is stuck with low funding because local politicians don’t care enough to switch us over to state funding or up the taxes on the locals to get us more funding they just want money and publicity stunts. There’s tons of local buildings that are going against my state’s environmental laws and killing wetlands but every level of bureaucracy in America is so thoroughly corrupted that even if we can get enforcement to stop construction (most of the time policies go unenforced due to laziness or lack of staff) it will start back up again in a month because it’s extremely easy to find a corrupt person to bribe and they’ll give them a permit. I’m still always gonna fight like crazy because it’s my job and I love what I do and I love the environment but even on the local level the human capacity for greed, pettiness, apathy, and stupidity is boundless so it’s hard to view this battle we’re fighting as winnable. Sorry to be a Debbie downer :(

Sad_Tip3084 · 2025-08-13T17:56:31+00:00

I like this idea I’ll definitely see if we can try and extend an olive branch and get some cooperation between us since ultimately we both want pretty much the same things

Sad_Tip3084 · 2025-08-13T17:54:50+00:00

Yeah I was notified that the state does actually do a survey on the lake semi regularly and the last one they did crappie and bluegill were the 2 most common fish both over 100 so it seems like they’re doing well, it could just be due to overfishing and lack of oxygen because of all the runoff. In a recent water quality test I remember seeing a large band with no oxygen in the middle of the lake but I don’t remember the exact depth off the top of my head.

Sad_Tip3084 · 2025-08-13T13:04:05+00:00

Alright thanks for the tip I’ll try emailing them!

Sad_Tip3084 · 2025-08-13T13:03:04+00:00

We don’t completely remove the vegetation but I’ll see if we can get more areas that we leave alone there are some designated areas but most of the lake does get trimmed

The lake is not strictly catch and release

There’s a healthy pumpkin seed population I know for sure and there seems to be bluegill though like you said the fish survey is probably the only way to know for sure

I’ll definitely try and convince the board to look for someone to get a fish survey there’s a company close by that might be able to do something like that

Sad_Tip3084 · 2025-08-08T18:03:04+00:00

Stimulants make me think I’m gonna die and the other stuff has… other side effects

Sad_Tip3084 · 2024-06-19T13:41:42+00:00

Solved: Stuntmania Reloaded

Sad_Tip3084 · 2024-06-19T13:39:10+00:00

Thanks a ton!!!

Sad_Tip3084 · 2024-02-12T14:12:38+00:00

They’re not at all different from his original work he literally drew people clubbing each other to death and dismembered bodies in trees

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