Wild Gnosis
When I began to look deeply into Gnosticism – particularly Sophian Gnosticism – I found that underlying all the intellectual, spiritual and religious works and studies, the ecclesiastical rituals and ceremonies, the Eucharist, or all the aspects of the Bridal Chamber, there is a profound simplicity to the entire concept of its existence.
Tau Rosamonde Miller of the Church of Gnosis explains it this way:
"Gnosticism is better understood through art, music, and poetry and not through intellectual pursuit . . . . It is better understood in terms of Buddhism than of Christianity. I find that one of the simplest, truest ways of describing the experience of Gnosis is found in the lines of the Tao Te Ching, 'The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.' Just substitute "Gnosis" instead of "Tao". In this instance the terms can be interchangeable."
But the simplicity of Gnosticism might best be understood by the term Wild Gnosis. The concept of Wild Gnosis is beautifully described, once again, by Rosamonde Miller who coined the original term:
"Wild Gnosis can approximately be described as a direct, transforming, experience left untamed and unconditioned by cultural and socioreligious beliefs; the state prior to the interpretation of the experience; unconfined by concepts and images. Awareness of Wild Gnosis arises in a quiet mind, in a dimension not touched by chronological time. We find it when we are fully in the present -- not before and not later, but here and now."
Tau Rosamonde also refers us to the 16th century poem that describes the ecstasy of high contemplation, or the simple purity of Gnosis, I Entered Where I Did Not Know, by St. John of the Cross, translation by Willis Barnstone:
I Entered Where I Did Not Know
a poem by St. John of the Cross
I came into the unknown
and stayed there unknowing
rising beyond all science.
I did not know the door
but when I found the way
unknowing where I was
I learned enormous things
but what I felt I cannot say
for I remained unknowing
rising beyond all science.
It was the perfect realm
of holiness and peace
In deepest solitude
I found the narrow way;
a secret giving such release
that I was stunned and stammering
rising beyond all science.
I was so far inside
so dazed and far away
my senses were released
from feelings of my own.
My mind had found a surer way;
a knowledge by unknowing
rising beyond science.
And he who does arrive
collapses as in sleep
for all he knew before
now seems a lowly thing
and so his knowledge grows so deep
that he remains unknowing
rising beyond all science.
The higher he ascends
the darker is the wood;
it is the shadowy cloud
that clarified the night
and so the one who understood
remains always unknowing
rising beyond all science.
This knowledge by unknowing
is such a soaring force
that scholars argue long
but never leave the ground.
Their knowledge always fails the source
to understand unknowing
rising beyond all science.
This knowledge is supreme
crossing a blazing height;
though formal reason tries
it crumbles in the dark,
but one who would control the night
by knowledge of unknowing
will rise beyond all science.
And if you wish to hear:
the highest science leads
to an ecstatic feeling
of the most holy Being;
and from his mercy comes his deed:
to let us stay unknowing
rising beyond all science.
tr: Willis Barnstone 1968
In this light, Tau Rosamonde adds this lovely prose to the concept of wild gnosis and how it might contribute to a loving and peaceful human existence free from religious bigotry:
"Wild Gnosis is the experience of Gnosis left without explanation or description. As if it were a natural animal seen but allowed to continue free, in its original state, never caged and never named. Never creating a concept of the experience or clothing it with the robes of any religion, but allowing this experience to make a home within us where it can continue visiting and interiorly rearranging us with its Presence."
Sophian Gnosticism is rooted deep in the Feminine aspect, and is entirely contradictory to today's misogynistic and oppressive Patriarchal world and its social, political, and religious dogmas. Though this dilemma may matter little to the true Gnostic, whose esoteric knowledge of the Truth makes him indifferent – even apathetic perhaps – the world of humanity is and always will be at war with itself until the true concept of consciousness and knowledge (gnosis) of our transitional life here with Gaia somehow becomes fully understood by the masses, and comes to supercede all other concepts of spirituality and sexuality in a secular world. When that happens we will find felicity, peace, and love in the world.
Tau Rosamonde Miller of the Church of Gnosis explains it this way:
"Gnosticism is better understood through art, music, and poetry and not through intellectual pursuit . . . . It is better understood in terms of Buddhism than of Christianity. I find that one of the simplest, truest ways of describing the experience of Gnosis is found in the lines of the Tao Te Ching, 'The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.' Just substitute "Gnosis" instead of "Tao". In this instance the terms can be interchangeable."
But the simplicity of Gnosticism might best be understood by the term Wild Gnosis. The concept of Wild Gnosis is beautifully described, once again, by Rosamonde Miller who coined the original term:
"Wild Gnosis can approximately be described as a direct, transforming, experience left untamed and unconditioned by cultural and socioreligious beliefs; the state prior to the interpretation of the experience; unconfined by concepts and images. Awareness of Wild Gnosis arises in a quiet mind, in a dimension not touched by chronological time. We find it when we are fully in the present -- not before and not later, but here and now."
Tau Rosamonde also refers us to the 16th century poem that describes the ecstasy of high contemplation, or the simple purity of Gnosis, I Entered Where I Did Not Know, by St. John of the Cross, translation by Willis Barnstone:
I Entered Where I Did Not Know
a poem by St. John of the Cross
I came into the unknown
and stayed there unknowing
rising beyond all science.
I did not know the door
but when I found the way
unknowing where I was
I learned enormous things
but what I felt I cannot say
for I remained unknowing
rising beyond all science.
It was the perfect realm
of holiness and peace
In deepest solitude
I found the narrow way;
a secret giving such release
that I was stunned and stammering
rising beyond all science.
I was so far inside
so dazed and far away
my senses were released
from feelings of my own.
My mind had found a surer way;
a knowledge by unknowing
rising beyond science.
And he who does arrive
collapses as in sleep
for all he knew before
now seems a lowly thing
and so his knowledge grows so deep
that he remains unknowing
rising beyond all science.
The higher he ascends
the darker is the wood;
it is the shadowy cloud
that clarified the night
and so the one who understood
remains always unknowing
rising beyond all science.
This knowledge by unknowing
is such a soaring force
that scholars argue long
but never leave the ground.
Their knowledge always fails the source
to understand unknowing
rising beyond all science.
This knowledge is supreme
crossing a blazing height;
though formal reason tries
it crumbles in the dark,
but one who would control the night
by knowledge of unknowing
will rise beyond all science.
And if you wish to hear:
the highest science leads
to an ecstatic feeling
of the most holy Being;
and from his mercy comes his deed:
to let us stay unknowing
rising beyond all science.
tr: Willis Barnstone 1968
In this light, Tau Rosamonde adds this lovely prose to the concept of wild gnosis and how it might contribute to a loving and peaceful human existence free from religious bigotry:
"Wild Gnosis is the experience of Gnosis left without explanation or description. As if it were a natural animal seen but allowed to continue free, in its original state, never caged and never named. Never creating a concept of the experience or clothing it with the robes of any religion, but allowing this experience to make a home within us where it can continue visiting and interiorly rearranging us with its Presence."
Sophian Gnosticism is rooted deep in the Feminine aspect, and is entirely contradictory to today's misogynistic and oppressive Patriarchal world and its social, political, and religious dogmas. Though this dilemma may matter little to the true Gnostic, whose esoteric knowledge of the Truth makes him indifferent – even apathetic perhaps – the world of humanity is and always will be at war with itself until the true concept of consciousness and knowledge (gnosis) of our transitional life here with Gaia somehow becomes fully understood by the masses, and comes to supercede all other concepts of spirituality and sexuality in a secular world. When that happens we will find felicity, peace, and love in the world.
VVV
Copyright (©2008) Albert Lloyd Williams
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