Dr. Jay Forrest

The Congress of Messina, meeting in 1966, made a huge mistake by defining “gnosis” as “knowledge of the divine mysteries reserved for an elite.”[1] Following their lead, many have continued to repeat this mistake. Gnosis, writes Elaine Pagels, “is not primarily rational knowledge.” Rather, it is “an intuitive process of knowing.”[2] It is, in the words of Bentley Layton, a “personal acquaintance with an object.”[3] In other words, gnosis is a mystical experience. As such, it is ineffable, that is, it is “more like states of feeling than like states of intellect.”[4] It is not the knowledge of anything, it is rather a direct encounter with God. But, gnosis also has a noetic quality. As William James rightly states, “Although so similar to states of feeling, mystical states seem to those who experience them to be also states of knowledge.”[5] They produce intuitions, a knowing beyond knowing. Two others things about gnosis. First, such experiences cannot be sustained for long. And s

Subject: Therapeutae and Therapeutrides Author: Philo Judaeus Date: 30 CE Editor's Introduction As is evident from the writings of Seneca, Epictetus and others, philosophy in the West ceased to be purely speculative, and dealt with moral and religious questions. This tendency toward the moral and religious was strengthened by the spread of Jewish and Christian teachings, together with the development of the Neo-Platonists toward mysticism, and the consequent mingling of western and eastern thought. Philo Judaeus lived in Alexandria, Egypt, from 20 B.C. to 40 A.D. He was a Jew in religion but a Greek in philosophy, and did much to promote this fusion of thought. The selection below describes the pre-Christian ascetics of Egypt. lt is important because it shows that asceticism was common in the deserts of Egypt even before the Christian monks and thus by no means peculiarly Christian. Therapeutae and Therapeutrides I. Having mentioned the Essenes, who in all respects selected fo

There are a number of people beginning the awakening process. This is a painful process of deconstruction of old belief systems. The story your parents, church, or society have told you begin to fall apart. It is helpful to know this is normal for those awakening from the Matrix. There are four stages of faith. First is simplicity, here everything is right or wrong. The main motive is about being right. The world seems simple, there is us who are good and them that are evil. The second stage is complexity. The clarity has blurred, and the focus is now on success and failure. The world is divided between winners and losers, and we are the winners. There is also an increasing independence. Doubt is a problem to be solved. The third stage is perplexity. Honesty opens one up to the complexities of the faith. One begins to see their own bias, and begin facing inconvenient truths. Black and white has blended into shades of gray. Life has now become a quest for the true and the real, wit

Whoever derides their neighbor has no sense, but the one who has understanding holds their tongue. (Proverbs 11:12) The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is even-tempered. Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues. (Proverbs 17:27-28) Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity. (Proverbs 21:23) “Keep silence for the most part, and speak only when you must, and then briefly.” —Epictetus “Speak only if it improves upon the silence.” —Mahatma Gandhi “Once you’ve matured, you realize silence is more powerful than proving a point.” —Unknown “Silence is the best answer for all questions. Smiling is the best reaction to all situations.” —Unknown “LAW 4: Always Say Less Than Necessary. When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem origin

A popular meme says: So if guns kill people, I guess pencils misspell words, cars drive drunk, and spoons make people fat.  Guns are designed to kill, pencils are not designed to misspell words, cars are not designed to drive drunk, and spoons are not designed to make people fat. But guns are designed to kill. That's their purpose. These things are not equivalent.  When guns are used to kill people it is a crime. When a pencil is used to misspell a word it is a mistake. When cars are operated by drunk drivers it's a crime. And when spoons are used to overeat it's an unwise choice. Notice that only two of these things kill people, and therefore are crimes. But only one of these things is designed to do so  Just as you need to have a license to drive a car, you should need to have a license to own a gun. And for the same reason. Both can kill people if they are misused. And just as drunk drivers lose their license if they drive drunk, people who are mentally or criminall