Gnosticism (from gnostikos, "learned", from Ancient Greek: γνῶσις gnōsis, knowledge; Arabic: الغنوصية al-ġnūṣīh) is the belief that the material world created by the demiurge should be shunned[citation needed] and the spiritual world should be embraced (God's world). Gnostic ideas influenced many ancient religions which teach that gnosis (variously interpreted as knowledge, enlightenment, salvation, emancipation or 'oneness with God') may be reached by practicing philanthropy to the point of personal poverty, sexual abstinence (as far as possible for hearers, total for initiates) and diligently searching for wisdom by helping others. However, practices varied among those who were gnostic. In Gnosticism,
the world of the demiurge is represented by the lower world which
associated to the matter, to flesh, to time, to molecules and more
particularly to an imperfect world and an ephemeral world. The world of
God is represented by the upper world, and is associated with the soul
and perfection. The world of God is eternal and not part of the
physical. It is impalpable, and time there doesn't exist. To rise to
God, the Gnostic must reach the "knowledge" which mixes philosophy, metaphysics, curiosity, culture, knowledge, and secrets of history and universe.
Gnosticism was primarily defined in a Christian context. Some scholars have claimed that gnosticism predated Christianity. Such discussions have included pre-Christian religious beliefs and spiritual practices argued to be common to early Christianity, Neoplatonism, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, and Zoroastrianism (especially Zurvanism). The discussion of gnosticism changed radically with the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library and led to revision of older assumptions.
The demiurge is a concept from the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy for an artisan-like figure responsible for the fashioning and maintenance of the physical universe. The term was subsequently adopted by the Gnostics. Although a fashioner, the demiurge is not necessarily thought of as being the same as the creator figure in the familiar monotheistic sense, because both the demiurge itself plus the material from which the demiurge fashions the universe are considered either uncreated and eternal, or the product of some other being, depending on the system.
The word "demiurge" is an English word from a Latinized form of the Greek δημιουργός, dēmiourgos, literally "public worker", and which was originally a common noun meaning "craftsman" or "artisan", but gradually it came to mean "producer" and eventually "creator". The philosophical usage and the proper noun derive from Plato's Timaeus, written c. 360 BC, in which the demiurge is presented as the creator of the universe. This is accordingly the definition of the demiurge in the Platonic (c. 310–90 BC) and Middle Platonic (c. 90 BC – 300 AD) philosophical traditions. In the various branches of the Neoplatonic school (third century onwards), the demiurge is the fashioner of the real, perceptible world after the model of the Ideas, but (in most Neoplatonic systems) is still not itself "the One". In the arch-dualist ideology of the various Gnostic systems, the material universe is evil, while the non-material world is good. Accordingly, the demiurge is malevolent, as linked to the material world.
Ag·nos·ti·cism (
g-n
s
t
-sz
m)
Gnosticism was primarily defined in a Christian context. Some scholars have claimed that gnosticism predated Christianity. Such discussions have included pre-Christian religious beliefs and spiritual practices argued to be common to early Christianity, Neoplatonism, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, and Zoroastrianism (especially Zurvanism). The discussion of gnosticism changed radically with the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library and led to revision of older assumptions.
The demiurge is a concept from the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy for an artisan-like figure responsible for the fashioning and maintenance of the physical universe. The term was subsequently adopted by the Gnostics. Although a fashioner, the demiurge is not necessarily thought of as being the same as the creator figure in the familiar monotheistic sense, because both the demiurge itself plus the material from which the demiurge fashions the universe are considered either uncreated and eternal, or the product of some other being, depending on the system.
The word "demiurge" is an English word from a Latinized form of the Greek δημιουργός, dēmiourgos, literally "public worker", and which was originally a common noun meaning "craftsman" or "artisan", but gradually it came to mean "producer" and eventually "creator". The philosophical usage and the proper noun derive from Plato's Timaeus, written c. 360 BC, in which the demiurge is presented as the creator of the universe. This is accordingly the definition of the demiurge in the Platonic (c. 310–90 BC) and Middle Platonic (c. 90 BC – 300 AD) philosophical traditions. In the various branches of the Neoplatonic school (third century onwards), the demiurge is the fashioner of the real, perceptible world after the model of the Ideas, but (in most Neoplatonic systems) is still not itself "the One". In the arch-dualist ideology of the various Gnostic systems, the material universe is evil, while the non-material world is good. Accordingly, the demiurge is malevolent, as linked to the material world.
Ag·nos·ti·cism (
g-nst-szm)
n.
Garrulous: Given to excessive and often trivial or rambling talk; tiresomely talkative.
1.
The doctrine that certainty about first principles or absolute truth is
unattainable and that only perceptual phenomena are objects of exact
knowledge.
2. The belief that there can be no proof either that God exists or that God does not exist.
.
a. One who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God.
b. One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism.
2. One who is doubtful or noncommittal about something.
adj.
1. Relating to or being an agnostic.
2. Doubtful or noncommittal: "Though
I am agnostic on what terms to use, I have no doubt that human infants
come with an enormous 'acquisitiveness' for discovering patterns" (William H. Calvin).
ag·nosti·cal·ly adv.
ti·cal·ly adv.
Word History:
An agnostic does not deny the existence of God and heaven but holds
that one cannot know for certain whether or not they exist. The term agnostic
was fittingly coined by the 19th-century British scientist Thomas H.
Huxley, who believed that only material phenomena were objects of exact
knowledge. He made up the word from the prefix a-, meaning "without, not," as in amoral, and the noun Gnostic. Gnostic is related to the Greek word gn
sis, "knowledge," which was used by early Christian writers to mean "higher, esoteric knowledge of spiritual things"; hence, Gnostic referred to those with such knowledge. In coining the term agnostic, Huxley was considering as "Gnostics" a group of his fellow intellectuals
"ists," as he called themwho
had eagerly embraced various doctrines or theories that explained the
world to their satisfaction. Because he was a "man without a rag of a
label to cover himself with," Huxley coined the term agnostic for himself, its first published use being in 1870.
sis, "knowledge," which was used by early Christian writers to mean "higher, esoteric knowledge of spiritual things"; hence, Gnostic referred to those with such knowledge. In coining the term agnostic, Huxley was considering as "Gnostics" a group of his fellow intellectuals"ists," as he called themwho
had eagerly embraced various doctrines or theories that explained the
world to their satisfaction. Because he was a "man without a rag of a
label to cover himself with," Huxley coined the term agnostic for himself, its first published use being in 1870.
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