Modern Day Gnosticism
Gnosticism has for some time been considered an ancient religion. Everything about the religion depicted something that was from the “old world” and would not be relevant in society today. However, Gnosticism has made quite a comeback and its popularity is seeing an increase once again. This could be because of the Nag Hammadi Library, also known as the Gnostic Gospels, which were found in a town called Nag Hammadi in 1945. It is thought that this literature plays an important role in the resurgence of Gnosticism.
Those practicing Gnosticism today still hold dear the values that were once so dearly valued when the religion was more of a common practice. They still believe that the minds and souls of individuals are separate entities from anything physical, including the human body. The mind and soul are equal to the spirit, which is not a physical entity. Modern day Gnostics still believe that the Demiurge is evil and that he is responsible for everything in the physical world. Aeons are the gods that can help an individual achieve leaving the physical world behind and moving closer to the Supreme God after death.
The beliefs on how women were viewed in ancient Gnosticism vary greatly. Some writings about this time for the religion claim that women were treated as equals as it was the ability to achieve Gnosis, the superior knowledge, that determined whether one was superior or not and it was not based on gender. Other writings however, find that women were treated as the lesser sex in ancient Gnosticism, regardless of their ability to achieve Gnosis. Today women are treated as equals in Gnosticism and it’s believed that the woman, Mary Magdalene has always played a large part in the religion, second only to Jesus in the eyes of its followers.
There is a lot about Gnosticism depicted in popular culture today. Movies such as The DaVinci Code and The Matrix have some version of Gnosticism depicted in them. There is also more literature becoming available all the time regarding the Gnostic religion. Samael Aun Weor is a very important figure in the Gnostic religion and between the years of 1950 – 1977, he wrote approximately seventy books on Gnosticism and religion. His last worked was titled The Pistis Sophia Unveiled and is a modern day interpretation of what ancient Gnostic books entailed. This has become a very important element in Gnosticism as much of the ancient literature has been destroyed.
Ancient Gnosticism and the modern day religion are very much the same with only a few subtle differences. The largest difference is that after years of oppression and the Gnostic religion slowly becoming obsolete, the religion is beginning to rebuild and regain popularity along with a large following.