Saturday, August 20, 2011

Pre-Christian Era Gnostics

The Roman Vitruvius writes: "Let no one think I have erred if I believe in the Logos."

Orpheus was claimed to have said, "Behold the Logos divine. Tread well the narrow path of life and gaze on Him, the world's greatest ruler, our immortal king."

Logos is described by the earliest Church fathers(whose doctrines directly stemmed from gnostic ideas!) such as Clement and Origen, as being the "Idea of Ideas," or God's primal thought. As if the Oneness of God were a thought or idea that we can barely describe because the actuality of it is so complex. Or so simple and profound that it does not yet have the ability to be described in any spoken language we possess. It's like saying that you remember the first breath you took once you left your mother's body. Was it conscious or not? What were your first thoughts? Again, the idea of the birth of life itself is so immense that most gnostics are left writing poetry and riddles.

It's interesting because gnostics across the globe who have come to gnosis alone and in solitude, once they begin talking to one another they speak the same language. They use similar metaphors to describe their journey or the feeling of closeness to the All. So there is something they all share; something innate, intimate and abiding; patiently waiting for the right moment to spring forth. I believe it is the very thing Orson Scott Card wrote about in his line of Ender's Game books: the philotic web theory.

Heraclitus said in the sixth century BC, "Logos is shared by all," and "Having hearkened not unto me, but unto the Logos, it is wise to confess that all things are one."

Origen also said, "As our body, while consisting of many members, is yet held together by one soul, so the universe is thought of as an immense living being, which is held together by One Soul- the power and the Logos of God."