Gnosis: A path to spiritual enlightenment

When Philip Hartman was a child, he was raised in a Catholic household. Through the teachings of his church, he came to love his religion for its beautiful symbolism, art and wonderful stories. But then came a point in his life when he just couldn’t make peace in his heart with the idea that the Dalai Lamas were going to Hell because they didn’t believe in the same God that he did.

That was when he found the spiritual teachings of Gnosticism.

“It follows the idea that all religions and mythologies, stories and philosophies can be synthesized into their core truths,” Hartman explained. “The idea is that the similarities are pointing toward personal truths that we can experience for ourselves, and that they are just expressed in different ways by different religions in different periods of times.”

Gnosticism refers to a grouping of ancient spiritual practices that revolve around the idea of gnosis, a Greek word meaning knowledge. Within the schools of Gnosticism, gnosis has come to signify a sense of mystical enlightenment or insight into one’s relationship with a divine being.

For Philip Hartman, his relationship to Gnosticism was found in the writings of Samael Aun Weor, the founder of the Universal Christian Gnostic Movement. His teaching, known as ‘The Doctrine of Synthesis,’ tells its followers that all religions are idiosyncratic expressions of the values of the human condition.

Hartman adopted Weor’s methodology to the point where he now works as the director at the International Gnostic Association for Anthropological Studies’ London, Ont. location. As the director there, he leads his current member base of approximately 25 people through weekly lectures on a variety of Weor’s theories about spirituality.

“We’re very experiential, so the idea is that you have to experience it all for yourself,” Hartman said. “So it’s all based on, ‘Here’s a lecture on a theory and now put it into practice in your own life and see if it holds true for you.’”

Candice D’Souza, a new student of Gnosticism from Toronto, felt that she was unable to fit the teachings into her daily life as she had learned them from the Gnostic Cultural Centre.

“Both the flowery and largely Christian language brought out the cynic in me, so I was not very open to it,” D’Souza admitted. “I realize now that this was likely just a way of the ego finding something wrong with it, so that it would not be threatened.”

Her attendance at the Gnostic Cultural Centre’s workshops at the North York Central Library was brief, but she says that she hasn’t closed herself off to the spiritual belief entirely.

“I do believe that the essence of all religions and spiritual traditions is the same, that we are all of the same source and return to it upon the death of our form,” D’Souza explained. “So I have not closed the book on Gnosticism. I may explore it further, maybe when I am more spiritually advanced.”

Rev. Mathieu Ravignat of The Gnostic Oratory of Saint-Sophia of the Divine Wisdom in Ottawa-Gatineau says that this type of questioning is very common among spiritual individuals, and that it is actively encouraged within his congregation on a regular basis.

“The fundamental belief is that conversation that we have with the divine is important to us and has to do with asking questions,” Ravignat explained. “So if you’re asking a lot of questions about your faith, you’re already being Gnostic in many ways. And if you believe that you’re allowed to, then you’re also being Gnostic.”

Ravignat’s church follows the French Gnostic tradition, which differs from the other strands of Gnosticism. The message at its core, however, revolves on the same tenets of understanding and acceptance for all spiritual individuals.

“One of the principal ideas that all Gnostics uphold is that we have a divine presence inside of us. Male or female, creation itself has a divine spark living within it all,” Ravignat said. “We like to teach this to people without any expectation that they become members of the church or Gnostics, and that’s kind of our mission; to make these methods available to people so they can experience what the divine means to them.”

For Ravignat, being a guiding figure within the church of French Gnosticism has greatly impacted his quality of life.

“When I’m interacting with the soul of another human being and another human being is interacting with mine, we all are participating in the same divinity,” Ravignat explained. “That’s a crucially important thing for me in my life. You can feel closer to God by feeling close to the soul of a person and people in general.”

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