![]() This does not mean to suggest that we should close our eyes to the sorrow and suffering in the world, nor live in denial of what is transpiring, as though darkness and evil, and all our troubles, will go away by ignoring them-it does not imply that we put on rose-colored glasses and say, "Everything is okay." Rather, it is speaking about an open-eyed optimism and a conscious response. Rather than live in fear and reaction, or focus upon a doom-and-gloom scenario, Christian Gnosticism proposes that we must choose to consciously respond by focusing on a new vision of humanity and the world-a vision revealed in the Gnostic experience of the Risen Christ. Gnosticism teaches us that we are cocreators of the reality we experience. When asked what Gnostics believe about "the Judgment," and if I believe we are entering into the times of the Judgment, in general my answer is, "Yes, I do." I believe we live in a time in which we must choose to invoke and embody the truth and light, and in which we must make wise judgments for our future-a time in which we must struggle to embody a Higher Consciousness, and seek a new orientation and motivation for human life and society. This, in essence, is the Gnostic Christian view of what is transpiring today-it is akin to the pains of labor in the process of giving birth to Christ Consciousness. In the midst of the present darkness, there seems to be an impulse towards an active and conscious evolution-an impulse seeking to give birth to a New Consciousness in humanity and the world. There is a Gnostic revival underway, as more and more people seek the deeper spiritual and mystical roots of their own Western tradition, and there is a revival of interest in all forms of inner and mystical spirituality. ![]() We live in tumultuous and uncertain times, yet these are powerful and precious times to be alive. The tumultuous times surrounding the events of the Gospel and the darkness that was moving in the world were completely integral to the divine revelation-as it was then, so it is now. If we wish to gain insight into this, according to Christian Gnostics, all we need to do is look back into the times of the Christ revelation some two thousand years ago. In the material world, according to Gnosticism, a greater light only becomes possible along side the movement of great darkness, and the potential for greater good is naturally the potential for greater evil. At the same time, however, there is equally the potential for great beauty and light to emerge. It is quite true that many things seem very uncertain as we enter into the twenty-first century, and there may well be a potential for far greater darkness and horror than we witnessed in the last century, with two great world wars and the use of the atom bomb. Yet, from a Gnostic Christian perspective, truly, these are powerful and precious times in which we are living-as much as there may be great darkness moving in the world, so also is there a potential for greater light. In Eastern traditions these times have been called the Kali Yuga, which means"dark age," and watching the events that are transpiring in the world and the trends we are setting in motion by our reactions, one cannot help but wonder what kind of future we are invoking, nor can one exactly argue with those who feel these times are dark and perverse. Gnostic adepts and masters speak of these times as a crossroads for humanity, and perhaps even something of an evolutionary crisis for our species and world. The same is true of Christian Gnosticism. ![]() If we look into the wisdom traditions of the world, we will find that many prophets and sages have spoken about the times in which we are living-both indicating the great challenges of our times and the spiritual hope that is in them. ![]() ![]() Many people write and ask me what I think about events in the world today and the times in which we are living, and specifically, they inquire into the into the Gnostic view of world events and the teachings of Gnosticism on the second coming of Christ hence, the view Gnostics hold of the Book of Revelation. ![]()
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