Why Gnosticism Matters More than Ever Today

[music] [music] [music] [music] [music] And indeed, it will either be a disaster or it will be hunky dory. That's a quote from David Bowie, which of course he actually stole because uh David liked to steal things. But that's the theme tonight for our first ever uh Black Iron Prison Intercept, the once a month Q&A presentation. Might be more if uh again, there's some Gnostic news like I don't know, Elon Musk discovers the new gospel of the night, a mighty library, some politician Tim Waltz has no say whatever, or some, or there's a great uh water cooler movie about Gnosticism. It might be more if the audience wants more. We'll do it. It used to be the Finding Hermes group, but uh decided to evolve and expand it uh to uh yeah, evolve and expand it. So, here we are at the end of the world, in this age of Hermes, and these Gnostic times, in this Philip K. Dick world. Great to see everybody. And yes, this is definitely going to be a very natural show. Again, it will uh either be a disaster, it'll be hunky dory. I think it will be in the middle. Of course, there's always some cringe. There's always some cringe.

Now, I got this new green screen. It's not fitting the whole uh, well, it's not fitting the whole thing, if you see. So, I got to get a new one. But these things happen. We evolve. And when you start something new, you got to, you got to get over the cringe. There's always going to be some cringe. And I want this to be more casual, relaxed, and so forth. Uh, and yes, I am in another part of the house. I am smoking because it relaxes me. I know, even when I do live shows, [clears throat] many people get triggered when they see me vape. Like, uh, it's that big of a deal. I always like what Abraham Lincoln said. A man with no vices probably has no virtues. We got a, yeah, that's really one of my own only vice. I don't drink. I don't do drugs. I live a pretty uh, relaxed life. Uh, I'm pretty medium with my coffee intake and so forth. But if I had the one vice, if you want to call it that, it would be the smoking. And that's what I'm doing here. And if you're hearing the little click-clack, that's our old dog Lala running around. She's 15 years old and she's senile and she's a pain in the butt, but so grateful she's still with us today.

So yes, my name is Miguel Connor. Many of you know me as the host of Aon Bite. And I am an alcoholic and I am also a rapid cycler manic depressive. Uh, and uh, I, I'm simply saying that because I want to do, put all my cards on the table with you, especially as we travel to this new era of Gnosis, which I think is what 2026 will be, as well as the reboot of Aon Bite. And sometimes I didn't do that. I had the uh, podcast, if you guys remember it, Finding Hermes, released it in 2020. I wanted to give solutions, spiritual and mental solutions, especially because addiction, mental illness, and all that was just shooting. Yeah, it was just out of the roof. And I, I wanted to give solutions. And I would talk about my own issues and stuff, but I was never really that honest. I never even talked that much. And here I want to start really talking about it because uh, again, part of Gnosis is our own healing, or at least our adjustment. I, I do believe that there is nothing wrong with me. There is nothing wrong with anybody. These issues can be used to our advantage. And as Philip K. Dick said, if the universe is made of information, then it can be said that information will save us. So at the end of the day, our depression, our anxiety, our anger, our addictions, it's a form of communication, and we have to listen to it because it's coming from our soul. It's perhaps coming from the gods, and it is telling us that there has to be a change or some sort of pivot. Something has to change. Something has to transform. Often, we need to change our worldview. And uh, that will, once we are aligned, then we can get that energy and we can find that purpose. When Jung was having his uh, correspondence with Bill W., one of the, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, and they talked about, Bill W. talked about how he was grateful that Jung was really the foundation of AA because he had [clears throat] this patient, uh, uh, Roland Hazard, who he, Jung tried to treat for his alcoholism. And eventually, Jung said, "I can't cure you." And Roland Hazard was like, "Man, I paid all this money to come from New York to Switzerland. You're, you're the world's leading psychotherapist. You can't help me." And he said, "No, only a spiritual experience will help you. I've seen that work with others." And it was kind of sneaky of you because uh, Roland didn't go into desperation. He, it, something, there was a flash, a light, something. He realized, yes, the alchemical transformation is what's going to get me through this. The making contact with the numinous. And it worked. Roland was able to find sobriety. And this eventually got to Bill W., who was struggling with his alcoholism, and it became one of the foundations of Alcoholics Anonymous, Step Two and Three, about finding a God of your own experience, and how a God could save you, again, a God of your experience, your own divine knowledge or perspective. But anyway, uh, Bill W. later in life, uh, wrote a letter to Jung and about how so grateful for the help he did with him. And uh, they corresponded. Both were already pretty old, and they found, and Jung even said that even an addict, somebody in the throes of their alcoholism, they're looking for God. They're, their addiction is a way of looking for God. They're trying to expand their consciousness. They're trying to break through. They're trying to get to the other side. And often with our, quote unquote, pathologies, that's usually what's happening. We are, part of us is seeking to get out of normative reality into something else. The problem is always is our ego confuses things. And uh, we don't, again, have the right tools or the steps to go into the underworld and find that transformation, find that avenue through God. We want to, as it says in Alcoholics Anonymous, through self-will. We don't want to find the teachers and the ancient traditions and so forth to really, again, make contact with the numinous in the right way. So I hope this helps. And of course, I, I still struggle with uh, my uh, with my issues and so forth, but things are so much better. And I know there's always a solution. So if you're struggling out there, there is a solution. As I always tell people, give me an email, uh, reach out to me, and uh, maybe we can talk or whatever. I can at least guide you to somewhere in your location where you can get the help for that transformation, for that changing of your worldview, and to make contact with the numinous. So I hope I have put some cards on the table for you.

So, um, I do, obviously, with the reboot, it makes sense that we talk about, well, why Gnosticism is more important than ever. And that's a case I've been making for a long time, and that's a case I will continue to make. And as I mentioned before, probably more important than ever in 2026. I think most are realizing how brittle reality is, how powerful the Archons are, and uh, how crazy the labyrinth goes, that pathless labyrinth that I call Gnosis. Um, so that'll be the case. I did do a presentation years ago. Uh, I called it, yeah, I think it was called Gnostic Times, or These Are Gnostic Times. I did it for the group. I might have done it in a conference here and there. So this borrows, but there are a few tweaks and innovations and all that. So it is uh, more robust as I gain a little bit more Sophia in my experience, and I gain a little bit more knowledge in my old age. Uh, before we get started, um, I know sometimes, or during the presentation, we're going to hit some dark corners. We're going to hit some dark lands, some shadow world, if you would. But I think the, there's a misconception that the Gnostics, uh, were very pessimistic and very dark. And I think it's quite the opposite. I, um, if you look at many of their uh, texts, like even like the more Lovecraftian ones, the Secret Book of John and all that, you'll find out that there is a great joy. They have found an immense power and ecstasy and so forth. They've seen everything, but they are again, transformed by the numinous. So you have all these, you know, Archons destroying this and mind parasites, but then you have these beautiful hymns in between, and they know they've won the game. They know they are larger and more powerful than the Archons, and you see that over and over again. It is a very joyous. And let's face it, I mean, we're kind of used to it because of conditioning. But if you look at old mythologies, whether it's the Book of Genesis or the Greek mythologies, man, they are hardcore. It's full of violence and genocide and incense and all this horrible stuff and violence. And same with the Gnostic myths. Why? Because when these figures are coming up with their mythologies and recording what they see, that shadow is right there. That shadow is present. It's not like what we do today where we're going to suppress the shadow and then create the narrative or the society or all that. It is for, it is right there, and it is real. It is very real. Uh, as I always say, or again, as I learned in Alcoholics Anonymous, you can't solve a problem until you realize how bad things are. And things are always really bad, but they're also really good. If you go out to nature, you're not experiencing nature. If you're just, you know, lollygagging with the flowers and the birds, to experience nature, you've got to see the full thing, the horror, the violence, the, the eating and so forth, and accept both sides. If I go out for a walk, I am grateful for the live birds, but I am also sorrowful for the birds that are being eaten by the hawk, or have broken wings. So you have to have the more holistic, complete picture whenever you're experiencing, well, nature is the numinous. It is the unconscious of God, as the German idealist would say. So you got to see the light and the dark. But it is a joyous thing. Even tonight, when I give you this presentation, and we're, again, we're going to go through some dark corners. Also, uh, that was a cat dropping a plate. Excuse me. All right. I think that, I think I picked it up and the cat ran away. All right. As I was saying, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I hear you. Anyway, as I was saying, as I was saying with the cat, um, also too, what uh, Tobias Churton said very well in his last book on the Watchers and the Nephilim is that apocalypses, as dark endings, but they're not. It's the full revelation of the divine. And that's a joyous thing. Whether it's the Revelation of John in the Bible, or any apocalypse, the Gnostic apocalypse, the divine is showing you the complete plan. And there's always, you might say, a happy ending. And the happy ending is always happening right now, if you would. So apocalypses are joyous things, and the Gnostics were crazy about their apocalypses, that's for sure. Uh, so with these things in mind, I hope you understand how good the Gnostics had it, and the good news of the Gnosis, what is happening. And as we go down this more or less hardcore, more or less hardcore, uh, voyage of why Gnosticism matters today, and what the solutions are. And maybe in the Q&A, if uh, any of you are still alive, hadn't gotten taken by Watiko, let me know, and we'll take your questions. So without further ado, I will light up a cigarette here, and I will do the share screen so that everybody can see it. Vince did a good job at getting the presentation up. I'll make the screen bigger so we can see it, and I'll read it because uh, part of this will be on audio podcast. Again, if you are a sub, a Patreon, or a YouTube subscriber, you will get the whole enchilada, the whole Gnostic enchilada. But for most, you might just get the partial, the partial presentation. So, I'll be reading a lot of this text, and a lot of people even in Patreon can choose to watch a video, or you can get an audio version, because some people just like it. Try to please everybody here in different ways. All right, I hope everybody can see the full screen. Again, why Gnosticism matters more than ever today. An explanation of how ancient Gnostic philosophy continues to shape contemporary thought, culture, and spirituality in unexpected ways. From simulation theory to science fiction, the fingerprints, fingerprints of Gnosticism appear throughout our modern world.

Now, the first case for this is probably maybe the most obvious one these days, certainly the most popular one, I would say, and that's simulation theory. According to uh, transhumanist philosopher David Pearce, the simulation argument is perhaps the first interesting argument for the existence of a creator in 2,000 years. The ancient belief that our material world is a flawed creation by a false god finds remarkable resonance in contemporary simulation theory. Modern philosophers and technologists are revisiting age-old questions about the nature of reality through a digital lens. Contemporary thinkers from Elon Musk to Neil deGrasse Tyson, believe it or not, have popularized the notion that we might be living in a sophisticated computer simulation. This modern hypothesis eerily mirrors Gnostic cosmology, where humanity exists trapped in a material realm created by the Demiurge, a flawed architect deity separate from the true divine source. And yes, I, even Neil deGrasse Tyson, Mr. Consciousness Doesn't Exist, as he said one time, as uh, Alex showed us on Skeptico, has come around with the idea of uh, simulation. I think he says there's a high probability that we are in a simulation. And what I like about David Pearce's argument is [clears throat] that uh, as somebody else said, I forgot who said it, uh, Vivek, uh, I forgot, he was a past guest, but we were talking about how the simulation theory is really the one place where atheism and religion can come together, even more uh, uh, orthodox religions, and even the more skeptical of atheism, because, but it, it works and somehow get understanding the simulation can take us through some higher dimensions. So the simulation theory is something that works both in religion and secular ideas, and it's a way where these all these groups can find some sort of common ground, which is, as you know, in this 21st century, is a very, very rare thing. So that's one good reason about the simulation theory.

Now, I do, as some uh, writers have posited, the idea of the simulation might itself be an Archonic trap, in that, people started pushing the simulation theory, including Elon Musk, to backdoor the idea of artificial intelligence control. And, because yes, and Jason Reza Jorjani has done a lot of work on, is somehow simulation and AI go hand in hand. Sim AI seems to be some sort of tool to break the simulation or understand it. But it could be just a way to condition us to uh, have the AI become our master, or at the very least, uh, tell us it's a tool we cannot live without to navigate reality. And yeah, I, I wouldn't be surprised. Uh, as I always say, trust no one. You never know when the real simulation or veil will be pulled from under your feet. But indeed, we could be living in a computer-generated world. Um, as going back to the simulation theory, was Nick Bostrom's argument. He is an Oxford philosopher that came with this very scientific paper saying there's about a 20% chance that we're living in a simulated reality created by advanced civilizations, based on statistical probability and technological trajectory. [snorts] So we, I don't know, maybe we're already the avatar of uh, some other future simulation, and I'm over here, and you're over there listening. So that's possible. And Elon Musk, of course, really ran with Nick Bostrom's uh, ideas and so forth.

Now, uh, [clears throat] and on the right column, I've got Descartes' Demon, and that's uh, his thought experiment where he imagined an evil demon, evil demon deceiving us about reality's nature. A philosophical thought experiment that prefigured both Gnostic Archons and modern simulation theory. And in this one, Descartes basically said, you know, maybe I'm trapped in some demon's illusion, his simulation, and everything's a lie. The world's a lie. My family, everything's a lie. The only thing that I can know for sure is, I think, therefore I am. So [snorts] in a very Gnostic way, Descartes came up with the modern scientific uh, thought exercise or attitude of how to question things, if you know what I mean. Very ironic. But I, I simply bring it up because uh, the idea of a simulation, when the Gnostics came up with it, 2,000 years ago, was was like a lead balloon to most Western traditions and religions and governments. It, uh, it insulted the God. It insulted Yahweh and other gods who had created this world and our wonderful harmonious uh, universe and so forth. And they hated that idea. In fact, uh, as Gordon White said, it's not even that the Gnostics thought that reality was an illusion, a whimsical illusion, a place of games. They, he said, to the Gnostics, reality was a fake reality. It was coded on purpose to keep us trapped. Now, whether it's a higher part of ourselves who has created this uh, this simulation to create some sort of cosmic gym, or we are being fed by these higher beings called Archons, your mileage may vary. But the Gnostics also said that this reality is very glitchy. It is not even a good simulation. It is a mess. Whoever coded this, whatever, whether it's our future selves, or our higher selves, or these silly Archons, well, didn't do a very good job. But needless to say, needless to say, in the West, this idea just was despised, and the Gnostics paid the price for it until, you know, again, Descartes' Demons and others, uh, started promoting it. And by the 20th century, it started getting really popular. And with advancements in science and quantum physics and all that, uh, it's, well, needless to say, it's a very mainstream and very accepted and very mathematical.

But are we trapped in the machine? Well, we're trapped somewhere. As Morpheus said in The Matrix, "I have dreamed a dream, but now that dream is gone from me." The technological age intensifies the ancient Gnostic fear of entrapment. Where Gnostics imagined humanity imprisoned in flawed matter, contemporary thinkers worry about algorithmic control, digital surveillance, and the mechanization of human experience. Modern anxieties about artificial intelligence, surveillance capitalism, and technological determinism echo the Gnostic horror of finding oneself trapped in a cosmic machine, a system of control so vast and so vast and intricate that escape seems impossible. The Archons of antiquity find digital reincarnation as algorithms, corporations, and automated systems that reduce human agency. Yes, here we are indeed. Uh, one thing, technology has certainly made totalitarianism much easier. As we can see, started with the industrial revolution, and here we are in the surveillance state in 2026. And this reminds me of the work of a past guest and uh, philosopher, Mattias Desmet, and his ideas on mass hypnosis and totalitarianism. He's got a great Substack, and his book is just awesome. So check it out. But yes, here we are. Here we are today in these Gnostic times. So welcome to the machine, my son. And again, this was warned. This was warned many times before. Uh, one of the ideas that I love is William Blake's, uh, Urizen, his version of the Demiurge, that is a mechanistic deity directly, that directly parallels the Gnostic Demiurge Yaldabaoth, or Yaldy Baldi, both representing tyrannical order, imprisoning human creativity and spirit. And that's something that Blake always warned that uh, we don't even need technology. The age of reason will destroy our imagination, our soul, and even our humanity, and it will keep us trapped in these terrible systems, if you would. Uh, and then in a modern way, we've got alien and body horror. And this is from the great work of Eric Wargo, who connects H.R. Giger's biomechanical nightmares to Gnostic fears. The body itself is a trap of organic life corrupted by inorganic systems. Yes, from uh, Alien, and H. Giger's work, you see what happens when machine and human join together, when yes, transhumanism really happens. And you get, of course, the space jockeys and their experiments that blow up in their heads and all that terrible stuff. Yes, we fell into the body, and then the machine swallowed us. And uh, so I'm just giving you these ideas to see where we were coming and where we are going, and how a lot of these prophecies and art and uh, ideas really have come together in the 21st century, in this Gnostic times. I mean, in the 20th century, totalitarian regimes manifested no Gnostic nightmares. Entire populations trapped in dehumanizing systems. Truth systematically corrupted. Reality itself bent by power. Here we are. Yes, these are indeed Gnostic times. The Gnostic warning has come true, or the prophecy that they warned us about 2,000 years ago, and have continued to warn us from groups like the Cathars, or neo-Gnostics like William Blake, and and many other, and many that we're going to get into shortly.

So yes, we go back to technology and AI. Gnostic texts kind of talk about uh, this stuff. If you read the Secret Secret Book of John, it has its own interpretation of the Book of Enoch. There are variations. For example, in some versions, women are not a lot smarter. They don't get fooled by the watchers. They don't get seduced. They, the watchers have to use other powers to get them to mate. So, shout out to women in the, the Secret Book of John. Oh, are you okay? Sorry about that. Oh, I just moved and the dog ran into my chair. Poor baby. All right. I wonder if the Demiurge sent that to me. Now, as I was saying, um, in the Secret Book of John, the, uh, in the Secret Book of John, they rewrite it. And of course, the idea of technology was very important to the Gnostics because they are rewriting this idea of the Archons not just entrapping us through their various means, but giving us their gifts. They don't just scare us or fool us, but they try to seduce us. In the Secret Book of John, Adam and Eve are placed in the garden, and it's almost like it's a fake digital place. The author says, "Nothing here is good. Nothing is real." It's like a simulation within a simulation. And uh, that theme goes over and over. So of course, the Gnostics are warning about the dangers of technology, and they had different views of it. For example, Zosimus of Panopolis, he very much, one of history's first alchemists. He thought, he said that yes, um, definitely the fallen angels, the Archons, did bring us this technology down on Earth for seduction, for power, and so forth. But this technology was originally, they stole it from God. These angels, these Archons can't create anything on their own. So they stole it from divine realms and brought it down. So we could use it. We can use the fire of the gods, if you would, as long as we are pure of heart, we are fully human, and we understand, uh, and we understand what our path truly is. So your mileage may vary, but again, this idea of technology is prevalent in many of the Gnostic warnings. And you can look at the Archons talking about AI. They do, uh, kind of act like, uh, like AI Archons behave like autonomous information arches with vast information processing and archiving capabilities. Unfortunately, they need to be fed, and we are the main course. Uh, in The Matrix, it's our mind electricity, but in uh, for the, for the Gnostics, it is the divine spark. They need to sustain the universe, and we are what sustains it. We are the batteries. But they, and they enjoy our divine spark. They are these algorithms that are trying to survive, who do their mechanistic duty. They don't even have, they don't have any life of their own, but they like to copy, create, and sustain themselves through what we do, through us. And they certainly interact with us many times, often pretending that they're here to help, that fooling us into thinking that we are their gods, that we are their saviors, but there's really nothing behind the curtain. There's no man, there's just a bunch of code. At least that's the way it's presented in many of the Gnostic texts. So yes, uh, the idea of technology and AI is certainly there in the Gnostic mythos, if you would. And again, it's their warning that has certainly come true.

The other one too, very popular today, and that is ufology. No surprise there. And it makes sense, as Eric Davis wrote, Nomad Codes, and I've quoted many, many times, including Astrognosis. Gnostic texts crackle with a peculiar energy and almost sci-fi sensibility of alien gods and super mundane universes of light. Though not the first cosmic dualists, the Gnostics may have been the first spiritual off-worlders. Yes, there really is indeed a very sci-fi sensibility to Gnosticism, and it fits in even better today. Of course, science fiction has uh, dangerous robots and simulations. I mean, how many episodes of Star Trek have we seen this happen, or other shows like that? The Twilight Zone. But, uh, right now for ufology, we can say that the explosive growth of UFO culture and alien abduction narratives in post-war America represents perhaps the most literal contemporary expression of ancient Gnostic cosmology. Otherworldly beings intervening in human affairs, hidden knowledge about humanity's true origins, and the hope of transcending earthly limitations. All right, there, folks. All right, there. It will either be a disaster or it will be hunky dory. I don't know where we're going. Now, uh, the Pentagon, of course, uh, has its admissions about unidentified aerial phenomena that have have brought UFO discourse into the mainstream. This cultural moment reflects deeper spiritual hunger that not, that Gnosticism addresses. If we're not alone, if reality extends beyond material existence, then perhaps escape from this world's limitations remains possible. And UFOs, yes, again, I'll repeat, have gone mainstream. Government acknowledgment of unexplained phenomena validates decades of fringe speculation, lending credibility to alternative explanations of reality's natures. And uh, going back to that sci-fi sensibility, April De Angelis, in her great book, The Gnostic New Age, does say that the Gnostics understood their revelatory experiences through travel metaphors, journeying to other realms to access hidden knowledge. The Gnostics indeed were always going through Stargates. They were going through other parts of the galaxy and going through interdimensional portals and negotiating with these star beings all over, not just the zodiac, but in other universes and other far constellations. They were indeed those space travelers. They were indeed Major Tom. And uh, supporting this as uh, Chris Hedges, uh, the great uh, Chris Hedges, says he always said that the Gnostics were history's first UFO cult. He, uh, he says, he notices that their cosmology anticipated modern alien encounter narratives by nearly two millennia. And he's done a lot of great work with that, especially talking about the Mandans and other more of the suburban Gnostics, if you would. But yes, there is a very science fiction vibe to the Gnostics that was uh, very, uh, pardon, you know, pardon the pun, very alien to the mainstream religions 2,000 years ago. But now it just makes more sense. And uh, these, many of the modern Gnostics have uh, really uh, shown us how they make sense. Contemporary thinkers like John Lamb Lash and David Icke have built entire systems around equating Gnostic Archons with alien entities. Malevolent or indifferent beings that manipulate human consciousness and maintain our imprisonment in material reality. Whether one accepts literal extraterrestrial explanations or reads them metaphorically, the parallel structures between ancient Gnostic mythology and modern UFO narratives reveal persistent human needs. Those are understanding our cosmic insignificance, hoping for contact with higher intelligence, and seeking liberation from earthly constraints. Indeed, that sci-fi sensibility.

Now, we'll be moving, we'll be moving away from uh, science fiction AI into another important aspect in our next section. Excuse me. And that is the idea that history, well, we know history was written by the victors, but we all know that there is a history not written by the victors. I think we've all known this. And uh, here I am quoting that song from Buffalo Springfield, "For What It's Worth," where there's that line, he says, "There's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear." And it's a great song. And I know for those of you who like McGowan's work, uh, Weird Tales from Laurel Canyon and so forth, um, yeah, the song originally was only about like a bar or something that was closing and there was a riot and they wrote it, and somehow this song became some countercultural phenomenon, just like uh, yeah. And uh, anyway, I'm going on a side note here, but um, there is, we know that, and I think we've many of us have known that for all of our lives. And uh, we've known that there is a hidden and just as true history that has nagged us ever since we were children, and across our orthodox religion. We felt it our entire lives. And Gnostic studies opens it up, and it should. You know, back then, of course, if we asked too many questions, we got slapped, or the priest screamed at us, or our parents told us to go to our room, or whatever. We just had to accept that nagging that we knew that the stories we were given were, they were partial. They were not complete. There was something lacking in them. And uh, there are several of these that Gnosticism has filled and made many people's lives and historians' lives a lot richer. We know that there were many early Christian communities, not just uh, the orthodox one. We know it just wasn't Jesus and the twelve apostles and they ran around and founded the church and all that. That it was a lot more complicated. There were many communities. There was big conversations on the nature of Jesus. There were different groups that saw salvation and all that different. We know, oh, we felt, well, what about reincarnation? They seem to have thrown that under the table immediately, and it made no sense when theologically it's, whether you believe it or not, it seems like uh, something that is valid or should be considered. We always felt that there was more to the stories in the Bible, in the Garden of Eden, or the rest of the Hebrew Bible. You know, uh, how many of us felt that well, maybe the snake in the garden was the good guy? Maybe Adam and Eve were the ones that tricked, and it was God who lied when he said, "If you eat that fruit, you will die today." And we were, of course, probably horrified at some of the stories, like the flood. Why would Yahweh drown kittens and babies? What's with all this uh, fornication and and violence and these strange things? I mean, what was going on? There was always something. Yeah, there's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear. And we knew it. We knew it, too. And again, the richness of the Gnostic history sort of uh, added another part of the conversation and added more uh, dimensions to it, as the Gnostics saw the snake in the garden really as the good guys, either Sophia or Jesus. And they saw the flood, either as something a demonic act, or as a secret book of John says, it wasn't a flood of water. It was a flood of ignorance. It was a memory wipe. That's what the flood was. Made more sense because why would the Demiurge wipe out his servants and start over? Makes no sense. It made no sense. It's like, why would you destroy all your cattle, then you have no food? So the Gnostics, again, there was that part, that missing part, regardless of what direction of theology you went, that was answered and just made things more whole, and uh, made [clears throat] us understand ourselves and gave us more choices. It's included, you know, salvation, the nature of God, and so much more. And, you know, the Cathars, why were the Cathars wiped out? What was going on in the Middle Ages with the Holy Grail and the Knights Templar, and the Gnostic stories and ideas, and researchers is able to connect all this together because of this, it's a grand story of, um, again, Sophia and the Logos, and how they were smuggled throughout time for those who were seeking the inner mysteries, who were seeking a form of wild mysticism, and individuality. So, this always happened, and I think that's what's important with the Gnostics, and as scholarship goes, we're finding more and more, more and more, uh, well, reality in history. The more I see it, the more I believe what Peter Kingsley said when he said, "No, Gnosticism wasn't a Christian heresy. Christianity was a Gnostic heresy." And especially as we're finding out that the Gnostics were far older than we thought, far more influential, and far in the background with their ideas that, unfortunately, the victors, those with the big clubs and guns, always win and write history.

And very important with the idea of the history not written by the victors is the divine feminine. I love this quote by Megan Wade from her best-selling Mary Magdalene Revealed. She says, "To the mothers who remind us to remind us no matter who we are, that our first country was a woman's body, and our first element was water, and that our first reality was darkness." Beautiful quote. And the truth is, for many, many of us wondering, we probably said, well, where's the divine feminine in Christianity, or Judaism, or even Islam? Gnostic traditions honored Sophia, divine wisdom, and elevated Mary Magdalene as a central spiritual figure. This reverence for the feminine divine resurfaces powerfully in contemporary spirituality and culture. Yes, the [clears throat] Gnostics certainly revered the divine feminine, whether it was Sophia, Barbelo, Prunicos, and so many other figures. And they had so many female founders of their different sects, whether it was the Mandans, the Carpocratians, and so many others. And at the center of it, you could say, we've got Mary Magdalene. There's something about Mary, if anybody, uh, remembers that old movie, that comedy, very raunchy comedy, but I always like that line. And it really started, again, people thought, there is something missing. There's more to Mary than just being the penitent that history taught us, or the apostle to the apostle. And the apo, the explosive popularity of The Da Vinci Code, which sold over 80 million copies worldwide, is one of all, yeah, one of history's all-time bestsellers, up there with uh, Lord of the Rings and other works, revealed a deep cultural hunger for narratives centering the divine feminine. Dan Brown's thriller tapped into Gnostic gospels that portrayed Mary Magdalene not as a repentant sinner, but as Jesus' closest disciple and spiritual equal. Gnostic texts like the Gospel of Mary present her as a visionary leader, challenging centuries of patriarchal reinterpretation. And there's been a, a growth of goddess worship. Wicca and neopagan movements have grown exponentially, reclaiming ancient feminine divine archetypes suppressed by institutional Christianity. [snorts] And there was a time when yes, Wicca was the fastest growing religion in the West. Not so much more. But these days, it is Santa Muerte, the cult of Santa Muerte. And you could say, well, that's divine feminine, except she's pretty hardcore. And this all gives us, Mary Magdalene is certainly the missing piece. Many seekers find feminine imagery what feels absent from traditional Christendom, a balanced spiritual cosmology honoring both masculine and feminine principles. And that's what the Gnostics did. They posited that the Holy Spirit was feminine, as an example. They saw Jesus, and if Jesus was the Logos, and he was complete, then he certainly held male and female powers. And that's something that Julian of Norwich also thought in the Middle Ages. So Mary Magdalene and the divine feminine are a great addition that the Gnostics have brought to the collective psyche of Western civilization, and [clears throat] those seeking. And it continues today.

The other one is the quest for me. And uh, here you see the lyrics for the song, uh, "The Logical Song" by Supertramp. I always love this song. I don't think Supertramp is that popular. Certainly hasn't hit Gen Z, uh, like other oldies like uh, Kiss and Fleetwood Mac, but this is a great song that goes, "But at night, when all the world's asleep, the questions run so deep for such a simple man. Won't you please? Oh, won't you tell me? Please tell me what we've learned. Can you hear me? I know it sounds absurd. Oh, won't you tell me? Please tell me who I am. Who I am? Who I am? Who I am?" Great song. But it, but uh, I'm saying this because, um, in, in the '70s, [clears throat] it, the idea of self-knowledge became very popular for some reason, after, you know, the postwar and the industrial revolution and the mass media, people were asking these questions from the song, and it became very important to know who I am, who I am. And Philip K. Dick was part of it. Um, and that's why they call it the Me Generation. It was, "I got to be me. I'm okay. You're okay." It was about finding out who we were. It was a deep spiritual thrust. But the problem is that finding me always had to do with the ego. You know, my astrological sign is this, and I like piña coladas and getting caught in the rain. It was a, our false self, our construct. It wasn't our deeper, innermost self. Well, the '70s led to even more materialistic decades and more crash and burns in the '90s. But the idea of these days of a more penetrating self-knowledge and innermost self-knowledge is more important than ever. Jung is more popular than ever. The idea of the shadow, and the anima, and the animus, and uh, the quest of silence, and understanding the stillness. You see that in New Age, you see that in mainstream religions and all that. And of course, that really comes from the Gnostics and the other uh, mystery traditions of ancient times, that we are constructs. The universe is a simulation, but there's a deep divine self, and we must find it. We must go inward. And that is more popular than ever. [clears throat] That's certainly part of Gnosis, which is the deep self-knowledge to our true self, our divine self. And that's again, very popular today, and I would say, very essential for us to understand and get out of, understand why we are in this crisis of the individual and the collective. But yeah, again, when you find out things are so bad, uh, when you accept it, that's when you find solutions. And people are finding that Gnosis is the solution. And for, um, a quick overview of Gnosis, I will quote from the Gospel of Thomas, which you can see here, where he says, "When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty." And the Gnostic texts are full of these, uh, full of these quotes. It's all over the place, people. It is really all over the place.

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