When some people think of religious gnostics, they consider the 12th-century Cathars in Europe who, among other things, believed in truth that came from awareness rather than through the dogma of a hierarchy. The Catholic Church, by edict of Pope Innocent III–who seems to me to be very un-innocent–wiped out this group in 1229 through the genocidal Albigensian Crusade. Rome wanted a hierarchy with engraved-in-stone rules and anything else was called a heresy.

I interpret gnosis as awareness and think that those of us who think that awareness makes more sense that a hierarchy of preachers often get bad PR because people are quick to list the other beliefs of the Cathars which seem very strange to me.  If you watched the TV show “The Waltons” you may remember that the father didn’t feel his beliefs came from a church but through contemplation within nature. I feel the same way.

My distrust of authority included that of the church fathers–the elders and the deacons in the Presbyterian Church where I grew up. Sunday school and vacation Bible school teachers found me a challenge because I thought every person should find the truth in his/her own way and not through the promptings of teachers and pastors.

I was proud of the pastor of our church for threatening to leave if the church did not allow African Americans to attend. The church elders did not fight him on this, and we had a good many African Americans who came, (a) to see if they could, and (b) to see what was happening. Most did not come back because (if I may say so myself, Presbyterians are the most boring of all denominations) “nothing was happening.” They invited us to their church which presented an exciting experience!

At any rate, the Sunday school and Vacation Bible school teachers didn’t want me in their classes because they knew I was “trouble.” My poor parents heard more of their “concern” than I did, their son, for example, saying that the doctrine of predestination was preposterous. I said if the doctrine was true, we were all going to Heaven or Hell no matter what we did because our fate was already decided. The teachers had no answer for that. Now, I think the Presbyterians have moved away from that belief.

My teachers said I came to class to learn how to act within the scope of Christian beliefs. I said I already knew that and didn’t need another person presuming to tell me. That never went well. I maintained that we were taught to pray and to listen for a response. What more could we need?

And like John Walton on the long-running TV show, I found more answers in nature than in a building where I was told what to think and believe.  That’s gnosis and it combines with mysticism for individual transformation and knowledge.

–Malcolm