Questions for Gnostic Believers

RANT ALERT

So, in response to Tamahu's cliff hanging post, I jumped into Kabbalah and Gnostics over the weekend, and ended up learning half of the Hebrew alphabet along the way. Regardless, from what i now understand, it is the Gnostic belief (regardless of which religion you choose to follow, alchemy, hindu, buddism, etc) in order to build your inner energy you must refrain from having orgasms. Only then can the path back to heaven be walked.............So is everyone on this thread following this chaste path?

Well this has left me with quite the mind screw. While I guess I can see some of the reasoning for this, and when diving into the actual letters of the Torah, it seems compelling, if not crazy interesting.

However, this line of thinking contradicts the existentialist philosophy I have utilized the majority of my life, and I must disagree with the basic premises the Gnostics use to proove their theory. IE, humans are disgusting polluted byproducts of gods light; all of our instincts are evil and against gods will; the earth is a living hell and all of the pain is a byproduct of sex. So basically, Gnostics are masochistic, "whipping themselves" for impure thoughts?

So if I were to take the Gnostic belief as true, then I would also have to acknowledge that I am being punished here in a living hell, likely to be taken to the Eighth Sphere where my soul will be crushed up and reused for as astral soil, due to poor decision my ancestors made in some other demension?(Or did I make the decision) But most importantly, if we were at one point adrogynous and perfect in the higher demensions, then why would God seperate us from ourselves and create the sexes, which apparently was the root of the whole problem? If our goal is to "return to god' atop the Tree of Life, wouldn't the goal be androgyny again? Wouldn't that contradict Gods will if he is the one that seperated us from ourselves in the first place.

Oh yeah, and why are all of the gnostic arcanes only being shared now? The guy on gnosticteachings.org seems to believe that the world is now beyond repair and they are giving these secrets out now, so maybe a few of us can save ourselves.(If true) Thanks a lot gnostics gurus, maybe if you didn't hold the purse strings to the sacred knowlege so tight, we wouldn't be in the mess. So really the Gnostic "masters" are guilty of the sin of pride, for failing to share this important knowledge, because they want to be the only ones to be "masters"

I know this probably isn't the forum for this, but I just needed to get it out there. It has been a long weekend.

reply to post by yoyoma15


This train of thought, linking sexuality and sexual acts to religion in these ways is starting to bother me.
When one adapts the archaic, and bordering on superstitious belief that his eternal life and soul is somehow wrapped up in and contingent upon what he does in his short some seventy-something years in the flesh, it can become a very neurotic and dangerous practice.

When a male believes he will go to hell if he becomes sexually aroused by anyone other than his wife, the next thing you know he orchestrates religious teachings that require women live their lives in black/tents/prisons, to assist him in saving his soul from hell.

It's heinous, and ignorant.

Sexual suppression and oppression lead people to obsess about it, which is not something it was intended to be. If you are thirsty, and have no water, you will begin to obsess about water. When it is plentiful, you don't give it a second thought.

There are people who even place sexuality in their "heaven". Sex with no physical body? I doubt it. The hormones that jump-start those desires will be absent in a spiritual body. Hopefully, there will be much more interesting things to do. (Travel the universe? Who knows?)

Think about it. Sex is for procreation, and we are physically wired to find it pleasurable, in order that we might repeat the act, to continue our species. It is a simple human drive, like hunger. Strong at times, yes, but it was designed to be that way. Again, like hunger. Without food, we will die. Without sex, our species will die.

It's not that complicated. Again: It is the way we are wired. It serves a biological purpose as do our feet; our eyes, our liver.

As far as being in "hell". Seriously. Don't you think if you were in hell you would know it? Do you feel like you're in hell? Of course not. It's absurd.

Common sense. That's all it takes.

I know this is not the route you wanted your thread to take, but here it is.

/rant

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I know this is not the route you wanted your thread to take, but here it is.

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Actually this is exactly the type of response I was looking for. I am just looking for other people's thoughts on it, what ever they maybe.

reply to post by yoyoma15

Thanks a lot gnostics gurus, maybe if you didn't hold the purse strings to the sacred knowlege so tight, we wouldn't be in the mess. So really the Gnostic "masters" are guilty of the sin of pride, for failing to share this important knowledge, because they want to be the only ones to be "masters"

I believe that gnostic teachings have always been readily available to anyone who has been receptive enough to benefit from them. The masters cannot be blamed for the scarcity of souls who are willing to embrace the teachings.

If anyone thinks that Madonna is capable of refraining from having orgasms then you are sorely mistaken.

this topic has always been strange... seems to me like if a god views orgasms as bad, why then,create the effect.
perhaps its more a resist the urge to lust?

reply to post by yoyoma15

However, this line of thinking contradicts the existentialist philosophy I have utilized the majority of my life, and I must disagree with the basic premises the Gnostics use to proove their theory. IE, humans are disgusting polluted byproducts of gods light; all of our instincts are evil and against gods will; the earth is a living hell and all of the pain is a byproduct of sex. So basically, Gnostics are masochistic, "whipping themselves" for impure thoughts?

The gnostic mysticism with which I am familiar acknowledges all of man's natural instincts, but at the same time offers methods whereby the practitioner gradually gains mastery over the mind, and thereby has complete control over those instincts and sense pleasures. It is not that sensual urges are evil in themselves; it is just that for someone who is on a meditative path, over-indulgence in the senses causes dissipation of spiritual energy and makes it difficult to withdraw all the consciousness from the body to the eye centre. In pleasure, the energy currents flow down and out, in meditation the currents flow up and inward. If you're trying to go in one direction, you'll never reach your goal if you go in the opposite direction.