01:15 Introduction
Gene: Hello Dave.
David: Hello Gene.
Gene: You ready to talk about Gnosticism?
David: I am. But, as always, before we get started, I want to remind everyone that Show Notes, Chapter Markers and Transcripts of all of our episodes, are available on our website - WayOfTheHermit.com. Also, in the Show Notes this time, I’ve added a link to a “Deep Dive” page that provides an in-depth discussion of many of the topics that we discuss in the episode. That’s something new, so check it out and see if you find it useful.
Anyway, In our last episode, we talked with Worshipful Brother Ben Wallace and Most Worshipful Brother Shaun Bradshaw, the authors of the book “A Path To Providence.” And we got to see them again, a few weeks ago, when Gene and I attended the “2024 Southeastern Masonic Symposium & Harmony” in Asheville, North Carolina. Gene, do you want to say a little bit about that event?
Gene: Sure. It was a very interesting event. It was held in the Asheville Masonic Lodge, a really beautiful building by the way…
David: And I think that it was also being streamed.
Gene: It was.
David: And there were both men and women in attendance, too.
Gene: Yes, which was cool. But anyway, Ben gave a talk on “Sacred Space” and Shaun was the Keynote Speaker. He talked about the “Hero’s Journey”. Both were great talks.
David: They were, but really, all of the talks were really good. The other speakers were John Gilbert, who talked about a linguistic discovery he’d made about the Emerald Tablet of Hermes, Jamie Paul Lamb gave a very entertaining talk on Solomonic magic, and Clint Green discussed the "The Archetypal Temple", your interior Temple.
Gene: And, Ike Baker, who also put together the event, gave a talk on the history and meanings of the primary symbols of the Western Esoteric Tradition. And, I wanted to point out, that his name, which I’m assuming that’s his quote-unquote “public name”, Ike Baker - that’s a word play on the term in Kabbalah - “Aiq Bekar”, which is the “Kabbalah of Nine Chambers”.
David: Yeah, I caught that. And he mentioned that he had a book coming out, as did some of the speakers. I will link to the Symposium website in the Show Notes for anyone who would like to find out more about any of those speakers, or about the event. Ike Baker also hosts a podcast called Arcanum.
Gene: Yeah. I’ve been listening to it and man, it’s good. The episode with Chuck Dunning, the author of “Contemplative Masonry”, which Ben and Shaun include in their curriculum, it’s incredible.
David: Yeah, I listened to it, too and I feel the same way. I’ll link to both that book and the Arcanum podcast in the Show Notes. And both are highly recommended.
Gene: Yes.
04:03 Why Gnosticism?
David: Alright. Well, it’s time to really go into the topic that’s going to be the theme of our season - Gnosticism. And, the reason why we’re dedicating this season to Gnosticism, is that, based on the research and work that we did, this is where the Scottish Rite system leads you to.
Gene: Right.
David: And I want to say, right up front, that we’re using the term “Gnosticism” in a very broad way in this episode, but we will define how we’re using that term as we go along. So, we talked about Gnosticism in several of the Scottish Rite degrees last season, but primarily in the 17th, 26th, the 32nd Degrees, and in the Epilogue. But in the 32nd Degree, Master of the Royal Secret, we basically equated the Scottish Rite with the Gnostic theology of Light and the emanations, or Aeons, through the Encampment Diagram, which is the culminating symbol of the Scottish Rite system.
Gene: Yeah, you can read that diagram as corresponding to the Gnostic conception of the Aeons, with each emanation being another layer in the diagram, like white light refracting through a prism. That’s pretty sweet actually.
David: It is. Especially since we didn’t really know that, until we got to the end.
Gene: Yeah.
David: Anyway, we talked about Gnosticism mainly in the 17th Degree, and how existing Jewish symbols and motifs became part of the Gnostic tradition that Pike describes, primarily around the beginning of the common era. And most of Pike’s discussion of Gnosticism, is taken from writings of Philo of Alexandria, who was a prominent Hellenistic Jewish philosopher, who fused Greek philosophy with Jewish theology.
Gene: Here’s a quote from “Morals and Dogma” in the “17th Degree: Knight of the East and West”, talking about Philo. It says: “Philo represents the apex of Jewish-Hellenistic syncretism. His work attempts to combine Plato and Moses into one philosophical system. His ethics were strongly influenced by Pythagoreanism and Stoicism… (He) regards the Bible as the source not only of religious revelation, but also of philosophic truth; for he claimed that the Greek philosophers' ideas had already been laid out in the Bible… Philo's allegorical interpretation of scripture… interprets the characters of the Bible as aspects of the human being, and the stories of the Bible as episodes from universal human experience.”
06:33 Freemasonry and Gnosticism
David: OK, let’s break that down a bit and talk about the various elements of Pike’s understanding of Philo and how they influenced the Scottish Rite system. First, I think, once you’ve take a serious look at the Scottish Rite, the similarities to Gnosticism are obvious. You can see how heavily Pike was influenced by Gnosticism in his formulation of Freemasonic philosophy and symbolism, and how he wove it throughout the degrees. But, we’re not the first people to make that connection.
Gene: No. Brother Arturo De Hoyos, the Grand Archivist and Grand Historian of the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite, who created the Annotated Edition of “Morals and Dogma”, has pointed out the Gnostic themes in Pike's work and their influence on Scottish Rite philosophy and ritual. And Chuck Dunning, who we mentioned earlier, his stuff is definitely Gnostic-ly oriented… if that’s a word.
David: Today it is. Yeah, and Timothy Hogan. I think he actually says that he thinks that Freemasonry is a modern form of Gnosticism, in his book “The Alchemical Keys to Masonic Ritual.”
Gene: Interesting that he would go that far. But, personally, I think he’s right.
David: Me, too. Brother Brandon Lewis, from Prince Hall Affiliation, turned me on to Timothy Hogan’s books, and told me to start with “Novo Clavis Esoterika”, because it includes several of the books that are sold individually, and it has the one we just mentioned, “The Alchemical Keys to Masonic Ritual.” So, for anyone who wants to follow this up, I’ll pass on Brandon’s advice - Timothy Hogan’s work is great, but before ordering from his catalogue, check the table of contents of “Novo Clavis Esoterika” because it includes many of the other books.
Gene: Sounds like I need to get “Novo Clavis Esoterika”.
David: That’s what I did. It’s only available in hardback, but it looks great. I linked to it in the Show Notes for anyone who’s interested. But anyway, let’s talk about the elements of Gnosticism that are reflected in the Scottish Rite system, and the philosophy of Freemasonry in general.
Gene: OK. Where do you want to start?
David: I’ve got a quote from “Morals and Dogma” in the “17th Degree: Knight of the East and West” that says - “The writings of the Apostles… in addressing themselves to mankind in general, enunciated only the articles of the vulgar faith; but transmitted the mysteries of knowledge to superior minds, to the Elect, - mysteries handed down from generation to generation in esoteric traditions; and to this science of the mysteries they gave the name of Gnosis.” And, in this episode, we’re going to talk about the main concepts of Gnosticism that are incorporated into Freemasonry.
09:21 The Perennial Philosophy
David: Gene, will you again start us off?
Gene: Sure. The main concepts that we talked about relating to Freemasonry last season were, basically, the concept of the Monad, the One, the source of everything. And then the concept of Emanations, or how the Infinite or spiritual, interfaces and interacts with the finite and material. And then there is the inherent dualism of a spiritual and material reality, after the One Light gets refracted, or descends from Heaven to Earth. I mean, that’s the “Reader’s Digest Condensed Version”, if you will.
David: That was good. We’re going to spend most of this season fleshing that out. But, I’d also add that the whole system implies an allegorical reading of religious and spiritual texts.
Gene: And a belief that the people who wrote those books weren’t idiots, or crazy.
David: Right. It’s funny how people will put Plato and Aristotle, and other quote-unquote “serious philosophers” on one shelf and then writers of texts considered religious or spiritual on another, thinking that they obviously are either simplistic or deranged, mainly because they don’t understand how to read it.
Gene: Yeah.
David: You know, the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins is one of those people. But anyway, I was going to say, that you have to understand that they are talking, in a very subtle way, about interior experiences, that lead to an experience that’s called Gnosis, which means “knowledge”.
Gene: An inner awakening… and the end goal of the Great Work, the Holy Grail, right?
David: Right. It’s called by many names, but to achieve Gnosis, and to be able to express it in the world, is what’s called in Alchemy, the “Projection of the Philosopher’s Stone.” To wake up and to be able to wake others up. And, in the context we’ve been talking, which is Freemasonry, it’s what Masonry and the Scottish Rite point to. It’s beyond individual religions.
Gene: It’s what Pike kept calling the core truth of the Perennial Philosophy, which we related to the third, successful, attempt to raise Hiram, and the Third Temple, and the different names of God you’re given in the various degrees. And it’s also basically, the recovery of the Lost Word.
11:37 The Monad
David: Right. All of that. So anyway, let’s hit those four key points, just quickly. The Monad, Emanations, the allegorical reading of sacred texts, and the whole concept of Gnosis. Just quickly, to set the stage.
Gene: OK. I’ve got a quote from the 17th Degree that talks about the Monad. It says - “To Philo, the Supreme Being was the Primitive Light, or the Archetype of Light, Whence the rays emanate that illuminate Souls. He was also the Soul of the Universe, and… his Powers and Virtues fill and penetrate all… He is without beginning, and lives in the prototype of Time.”
David: Which means outside of space and time, but, again, as we talked about in the last season, then the question becomes how does something infinite and outside of space and time, interact with a finite world. Or even, how can we conceptualize the infinite, something unbounded in space, or something that seemingly isn’t born and doesn’t die, something eternal?
Gene: For us to make sense of it, we have to cut it up or compartmentalize it, you know, create a mental map and stories that explain it. This is how Gnosticism relates to Kabbalah, it’s visualized something like a step-down transformer, that keeps occluding the light, so to speak, until it descends into the material world, where it’s mostly darkness, but with a spark of the infinite light inside, that wants to return.
David: And that Light is refracted through seven heavens, or planetary spheres, in the Gnostic myth, like through a prism. And that analogy carries through to the lower seven Sephirah in Kabbalistic Tree of Life, which as we’ve discussed, is the reason for all the sevens in religious and philosophical writings.
Gene: And those seven lower spheres in the Tree of Life, are like seven veils, or occlusions. Each of them is a kind of refraction of the Pure Light, with different properties, or qualities, that esoterically represents a particular force within a person, a diversion of the light, if you will, in your inner world, your microcosm, and also, by extension, in the world at large, the macrocosm.
David: Right. And those forces are also anthropomorphized in spiritual texts as gods and goddess, or as Aeons and Archons. Or Angels and Demons… or Djinn… all the spirits. Everything that you want to give a philosophical form to, so you can sort of calculate with it.
Gene: Yeah. They are intended as mental maps and archetypes to help understand consciousness, human thought and behavior.
14:16 Duality
David: Exactly. And another one of those templates, is the concept of contending forces, the eternal warfare between the Light and the Darkness - Duality.
Gene: Which we spent a lot of time talking about… about how basically all cultures throughout the world, created myths that represent this basic conflict. It was usually two brothers, like Osiris and Set, in Egyptian mythology.
David: Or Ahura Mazda and Ahriman, in Zoroastrianism. But, its esoteric significance is that it’s a basic duality that we feel and live out - Light and darkness. The known and the unknown. Our conscious mind and experience, and out subconscious and unconscious, that are, whether we realize it or not, often in conflict.
Gene: And bringing an end to that war, is Gnosis. The wisdom of our true selves, the Light and the Dark, basically what Jung meant by Individuation. Bringing what hides in the darkness, into the Light. The Masonic quest for “more light.”
David: Right, uniting the Dark and the Light in a new synthesis, a new sense of who you are. Which is a gradual, what you would call, an alchemical process. One that gradually brings more things that have been hidden from you, or that you’ve hidden from yourself, into the light of conscious awareness. I’ve got one more quote before we move on.
Gene: OK.
15:42 Allegories and Symbols
David: It’s from “Morals and Dogma,” still in the chapter on the 17th Degree. It’s talking about the Essenes, but it makes the point I wanted to make. It says - “The writings of the Essenes were full of mysticism, parables, enigmas, and allegories. They believed in the esoteric and exoteric meanings of the Scriptures; and, as we have already said, they had a warrant for that in the Scriptures themselves. They found it in the Old Testament, as the Gnostics found it in the New. The Christian writers, and even Christ himself, recognized it as a truth, that all Scripture had an inner and an outer meaning.”
Gene: “Milk for babes and meat for the strong.” The ones that can “handle the truth”, not to go all Jack Nicholson, but anyway, I have a quote about that.
David: Go ahead.
Gene: It says - "Let men of narrow minds withdraw with closed ears. We transmit the divine mysteries to those who have received the sacred initiation, to those who practice true piety, and who are not enslaved by the empty trappings of words or the preconceived opinions of others.”
David: You’re told that all through the Masonic lectures and rituals. That the real secrets are hidden behind symbols and allegories.
Gene: Which people want to point to as like, how Masonry tries to hide it’s secrets.
David: Well, there are reasons for that. The main one being that it’s the only way to communicate those kind of secrets. Most people can’t hold up a clear mirror to themselves right off the bat, it’s like we have to make realizations about our true nature over time. And the symbols have a way of doing that. They mean different things at different points in the process.
Gene: That’s true. But also, another reason for hiding the message, was that during at least part of Freemasonry’s history, and since the 4th century or so, up until, maybe the 18th century, so for almost 1400 years, you might face very serious repercussions for holding any view of spirituality besides the orthodox one. You could be excommunicated, imprisoned, tortured in the most gruesome ways imaginable, or even put to death, as was the case with the Knights Templars and Jacque de Molay, which we talked about last season.
17:58 Gnostic Heresy
David: Right. Which brings us to the question of - what was considered so heretical about the idea of Gnosis. What did the church find so threatening in it that they felt the need to grind it under heel like they did?
Gene: It’s a complete change in spiritual authority really, from exterior to interior. That you have to find your own spiritual “Middle Pillar”, your inner sense of sacredness and balance. And that forms your pivot point, your fulcrum for acting in the world.
David: Yeah, that’s the real difference, I think. It’s what’s really meant by a “New Order for the Ages”, in my mind. A totally different perspective from what, was then, and maybe still, is considered dangerous. It’s an idea that actually is more radical than people give it credit for.
Gene: True. Even to the point of, if you’re going to map Light and Dark or Good and Evil, as the only labels - who is cast in the role of Satan, the Adversary in a given scenario? Who really represents the forces of Light, and who opposes the Light, at a given time?
David: We’re going to go into that question more in the next episode, but the short version of it, is that the traditional church hierarchy has ruthlessly attempted to destroy any trace of the this doctrine of personal Gnosis, of a personal experience of, and relationship with divinity. From burning the tens of thousands of texts in the Library of Alexandria, to killing anyone who espoused those heretical beliefs for almost 2000 years, and destroying, or at least removing from public circulation, any documents that talked about it.
Gene: It’s basically the power and might of the Roman Empire, re-directed into the spiritual tyranny of the Roman Catholic Church, which ruled with the same sort of “Iron Fist,” but really, on a much more deeply personal level. What the writer Philip K Dick called, the "Black Iron Prison.” They dictated what you had to believe, on pain of death.
David: And even what thoughts you were allowed to entertain. You might get thrown in prison, like Galileo, or burned at the stake like Giordano Bruno, for just thinking science-y thoughts, right?
Gene: Right. It was a serious thing, to think for yourself and not just accept what you were told… or at the very least, you were expected to act like you accepted it, maybe while hiding your real intentions behind a veil of symbols and stories that are unintelligible, except to those who possess the key that unlocks its meaning.
David: And that key, is the context within which to frame the symbols and stories. And, it’s what really made Gnostic beliefs heretical. They believed, and I’m using that term “Gnostic” loosely, because, as we’ll discuss later, that’s a very broad term… but anyway what made those beliefs heretical was that they subverted the whole church hierarchy, which also means the church’s authority and power over your soul, and hopefully, to even overthrow the entire structure that could literally burn your body, which in a very visceral way, also was symbolically dooming your spirit to hellfire.
Gene: Yeah, I never though of it like that, but yes, sending a message. “We can doom you to hell!” Meaning they speak for God, and your personal experience is insignificant.
David: And that’s the heresy right there, to dare to have a personal relationship with God, to recognize yourself as one of God’s Sons or Daughters, instead of just reading stories about it. To see that you’re living those stories. They’re not about actual events, well, they may include some historical stuff, but the symbolic and allegorical parts, are about you… your life… and your mind.
Gene: It’s focused on the interior, the esoteric, what’s called the microcosm, our inner world… not exclusively, but first and foremost. Because we always experience everything through our mind, and so really, only experience the outer world, the macrocosm, as a reflection, which goes back to that thing about the Lodge being the reflection of Solomon’s Temple.
David: Yeah. Before moving on, I want to point out that because of this basic conflict about authority, and how dangerous these beliefs were considered, worthy of excommunication, imprisonment, torture, or even execution, that in spite of all that - Gnosticism is often presented as an “early form of Christianity”. But that’s glossing over the fact that Gnosticism, and the organized forms of Christianity, that stress conformity, and the authority of the Church over personal revelation, were, and still are, two opposing and rival philosophies.
Gene: And the brutal and repressive forces of the Church won. I mean, it almost completely wiped out all traces of the existence of the existence of this other way of approaching spiritual texts, as having personal and immediate relevance. I mean, very few Gnostic texts survived, until the 1946 discovery of the Nag Hammadi texts, which we’re going to get into later this season.
23:13 Gnosis
David: Yeah, we will, because those texts were really important because they reintroduced into the public consciousness, ideas and conceptions of the stories in the Bible, that the organized church had done such a great job of suppressing for so long.
Gene: And like you said, they present a very different view of the many of the Biblical narratives. Like how many of them frame the God of the Old Testament as the Demiurge, a deity that wants to keep humanity enslaved and asleep, like sheep.
David: And also, in some of the Gnostic texts, the serpent in the Garden of Eden, is equated with Christ and the Logos, the one who brings Knowledge, Gnosis, to humanity, to free us from prison of the Demiurge.
Gene: And, it’s easy to see why those kind of ideas and stories were considered to be in conflict with orthodox church doctrine. I mean, they seem to be complete opposites, some of them anyway.
David: Right, if you read them literally, like they are talking about real people and events, some of them seem like complete opposites. But, it’s like we said before, to the uninitiated, meaning the ones who don’t have the key to understand the symbolism, it looks completely different than to those who know what it’s talking about, and that’s the case here.
Gene: It’s allegories and symbols, stories meant to point to interior experiences and revelations.
David: And the ones who followed these allegories and symbols, and applied the knowledge they gained along the way, the ones who finally had the experience of Gnosis, that inner awakening, were called “Knowers”.
Gene: And, that’s another difference that sets the quote-unquote “Gnostic Path” apart from the orthodox or traditional religious path, based primarily on tradition and knowledge revealed to someone in the past, a set of rules and dogma you have to adhere to, versus a personal experience of revelation. You know, it’s the difference between believing in something, as opposed to actually experiencing it.
David: Yeah. And once you’ve actually experienced something, when you have real “knowledge” of a thing, as opposed to just a belief, no one is going to be able to argue you out of what you know from first-hand knowledge.
Gene: That’s right.
David: Do you have anything else before we wrap up?
Gene: Just one more thing. It’s a quote we used in an earlier episode, but it bears repeating. It’s a quote about the psychologist Carl Jung, from Stephan Hoeller, about how Jung incorporated Gnostic concepts into his psychological theories. It says - “Jung was instrumental in calling attention to the Nag Hammadi library of Gnostic writings in the 1950's because he perceived the outstanding psychological relevance of Gnostic insights". Jung's reflections had long been immersed in the thought of the ancient Gnostics to such an extent that he considered them the virtual discoverers of 'depth psychology'... In the light of such recognitions one may ask: "Is Gnosticism a religion or a psychology?" The answer is that it may very-well be both.”
26:18 Conclusions
David: And that’s a good quote to end on. So, what are your final thoughts?
Gene: I guess, I’ve been thinking about the difference between people who would consider themselves to be on a Gnostic path, and again, I know that’s a vague term, but I’m using it to mean, those who are looking more inwardly for their compass, their direction, instead of looking to those in authority. I mean, that takes courage, I guess… but it’s something I’ve just sort of always felt.
David: Me, too. And I think that’s true for many people. You can often tell at a young age that a kid, and I was one of those kids, is going to have to experience things first-hand in order to learn.
Gene: Right. You’re going to have to occasionally put your hand right on the red-hot stove, even though you’ve been told it’s hot!
David: Exactly.
Gene: And, if you continue walking that path, which can be long and dark, to quote our tag line…
David: Yeah.
Gene: …but it’s true, because if you’re doing it right, if you’re really waking the walk, and not just talking the talk, sometimes you really are on your own. It can get pretty dark, man.
David: I know. But, the reward for going that way is that you get first-hand knowledge, which is more solid… you might even say, a “cornerstone.” And I’d also say that by trying to have a personal experience of Divinity like that, instead of just accepting the pre-packaged version, it’s like, the fruit you gather, by going that route, is a continual unveiling.
Gene: Which is the esoteric meaning behind the different names of God you’re given in the various degrees of the Scottish Rite. If you’re working at it, you can get closer and closer in your conception of that mystery, but you never ever, quite get there, and you can’t.
David: Like it was said about the prophets, you can’t see God “Face to Face.”
Gene: Right, not in this life anyway. It’s always through a conception of your mind, which is constrained.
David: So to me walking the Gnostic path means that you, personally, have to walk the same path that the prophets did, not just read their words, and nod your approval.
Gene: Yeah. They just point the direction, but you have to walk in that direction. You have to do your own mountain climbing and testament writing.
David: I agree with that. You have to write your own testament, meaning that you have to develop your own spiritual understanding if you go this route. But I’d add that, to me, the Gnostic path is not about reading the right books, or even writing your own books, but coming to realize that you are the book… and to open the “seven seals” of that book, the book of “you”, is the Great Work.
Gene: To “Know Thyself”.
David: Right. To achieve Gnosis. To wake up to who you truly are.
Gene: Wake up. That’s a good place end.
David: It is. So, join us next time as we begin our trek along the Gnostic path, by looking at the history and significance of the Nag Hammadi texts.
