R. S. Martin Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Cool. Let us know what you find with this group. And you asked for a heretic saint? Yeppers. I've been trying to think of who to elect as the first heretic saint. Galileo maybe? He got the church P-O'd. Maybe one of my favorite philosophers Spinoza? He was excommunicated by the Jews. Anyone who can pizz off a religion like that can't be all bad. I was going to volunteer for a heretic saint. I think I'd make a good one except I haven't gotten around to dying yet. Is dying a prerequisite to even for heretic sainthood? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dagan Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 They sound kind of like Jedis (sorry, not trying to be glib): The Doctrine of One says very simply the Divine is Everything, and Everything is the Divine. Everything is the Great Mystery, and the Great Mystery is Everything. Everything is the Great Spirit and the Great Spirit is Everything. Everything is the Grand Architect of the Universe and the Grand Architect of the Universe is Everything. Everything else said about the Divine is a personal belief and a personal decision. In the Universal Gnostic viewpoint all these beliefs and all these decisions are correct for that individual but may not be correct for others. http://universalgnostic.com/one.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mriana Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 I'm a little late to a thread as usual... It is a personal spiritual quest for knowledge. It is what you want it to be. There are no rules that demand acceptance of religious instruction you cannot bring yourself to believe. Bullshit to some is knowledge to others. I haven't had an issue with them. In fact, I enjoy listing to Abraxas and his podcast http://www.thegodabovegod.com He has a very good show every weekend. I don't exactly ascribe to Gnosticism, but I can appreciate it. I will admit I do like the Gospel of Thomas sayings 3 and 77, but I do not interpret those two saying like others do. For me, heaven and hell or the kingdom are all right here on earth and humans make it one or both. I also agree if we do not know ourselves we do live in a form of poverty. I also think, whatever it is, it is within us and everything on earth and within the universe. The "it" is whatever you want to interpret it as, but this is where my liking for Taoism comes into play, in that to describe it, whatever it is, is not to describe it at all. All these human concepts of God, is not. They are just concepts. I truly believe those who say, don't know and those who know, don't say. I can't say, for I would not be describing it at all, but rather a neurological reaction to external stimuli. In other words, I do not have a God concept. As for Mary M, she was Jesus's how is it spelled in Greek, sounds like coin-no-nos, meaning his companion, close friend, associate. Nothing in the Gnostic gospels conclusively states she was his wife. A kiss in ancient times was a symbolical sign for information. So just because the Gnostic gospel say Jesus kissed her on the lips or vise versa, does not mean they were necessarily husband and wife. Remember Thomas kissed Jesus to implicate him as the one the Romans et al were looking for. Mary (Mother Mary) was basically the Sophia, Gaia, symbolically/metaphorically. I've studied this quite a bit and pulled from others who study it too, things that make sense or has meaning to me. I really haven't found any one scholar that agrees conclusively though. Spong tells me one thing, Robert Price may say other sometimes or he agrees sometimes, and the list goes on and on concerning agreement and disagreement on the subject of Gnosticism. The other thing, if you do find disagreement in what I say, it is because some of it is my own interpretation, mixed in this case, with the Tao and a little astrotheology/mythology (Sophia, Gaia) too. I don't stay exclusive with any one philosophy, but rather pull what jives with my thinking and interpret it my way, regardless if it agrees or not with others. I have a whole library of mythological/religious text. I take none of it literally nor do I believe any of it literally. IMO, it's all more literature filled with metaphor, symbolism, simile, allegory, and alike, some of it interesting and some of it not. I could rattle on forever, almost like Robert Price in his Bible Geek show: http://www.thebiblegeek.org Hey, just because one rejects religious ideology, doesn't mean they can't research, study, and/or criticize. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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