Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge. 

  --Kahlil Gibran 
 

 


 


Only crime and the criminal, it is true, 


confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; 


but only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core.

 

--Hannah Arendt


 


 


 


 


"Jesus said, `Blessed are those alone and chosen, for you will find


the kingdom. For you are from it, and to it you will return'" (Gos.


Thom. 49).


 


In our Yahoo chat room the other day, someone asked me about this


verse, and generally what it means to talk about "the chosen"


or "the elect" in a Gnostic context. This concept has been another


of the many subjects through which Christianity has attempted to


denigrate Gnosticism, in this case by suggesting that we Gnostics


believe that only a certain (small) class of people are capable of


gnosis, creating a kind of fundamental soteriological hierarchy. In


other words, this would mean that being "chosen" would be a kind of


volitional and constitutive act, presumably by God, without which


one cannot enter through the gate of knowledge.


 


There may indeed have been some Gnostics in the past who believed


this, and who suggested that initiates into their religious groups


could only be drawn from a very small "gnosis-capable" part of the


human population, so to speak. However, the earliest articulations


of Gnosticism, and pre-Gnostic texts such as the Gospel of Thomas,


suggest in contrast a radically inclusive version of "the chosen," a


version that is flowering again today in our neo-classical Gnostic


Renaissance. I would like to take a few minutes here to suggest the


outlines of this understanding, which I hope may be helpful for you


in considering the history and theology of Gnosticism, and your own


personal spiritual outlook.


 


While the limited, exclusive theory of "the chosen" is attributed to


Gnostics by mainstream Christians, it actually is far more clearly a


part of THEIR religious traditions. The notion of predestination,


in particular, has made this idea of "divine election" profoundly


volitional in its metaphysical origins and constitutive in its


metaphysical effects on human beings. What many do not realize is


that a fairly robust form of predestination continues to be


theologically present in the belief systems of many denominations


that no longer emphasize it publicly, such as the Catholic Church –


in the case of Catholicism, as recently as the Council of Trent that


followed the Protestant Reformation, a Catholic doctrine of


predestination was solemnly affirmed. I say this only in passing to


provide you another example of the many inconsistencies in Christian


denunciations of Gnosticism – although, as I have said before, we


should not expect to find any consistency, because Christian polemic


against Gnosticism is not fundamentally concerned with being either


rational or coherent, but rather with foisting off on Gnosticism all


the difficulties, repressions, and forms of guilt that have


accumulated over the centuries in the massive social and cultural


edifice that calls itself the Christian church.


 


Now, on to the contrasting INCLUSIVE theory of "the chosen." What


in fact does it mean to be chosen or set apart? Is this setting


apart purely self-referential, or does it have an object? In other


words, are we just chosen, or are we chosen FOR something? This is


the key distinction that allows us to make sense of the whole


concept. When we embark on the path of gnosis, we are responding to


the basic call of the spirit within us, and the spirit beyond us


that ultimately is God. Because of this response, we are chosen by


God and set apart to be as it were the avatars of the spirit in the


world. As we move forward toward enlightenment, we have more and


more responsibility for the actualization of our own spirits but


also for true spiritual compassion of those all around us. We


are "the chosen" not indeed as if those around us are incapable of


gnosis, but in fact to be the instruments by which their gnosis can


come about as well! This is, of course, not at all the same as the


mainstream Christian notion of conversion, because that is about


dominating the other, about forcing the other into your own


prefabricated "truth." Being called and chosen, we are to form a


kind of sacred river, flowing through the world with what looks to


those outside to be passivity and even surrender, but gently picking


up the salt of the spirit as it were on our way to the sea.


 


So, the idea of a certain "chosen" group does not necessarily mean


in any way that other individuals are incapable of gnosis, for it


seems certain that other human beings, who share the basic


experiences of life with us, must have those experiences rooted in


the same kind of spiritual nature. Rather, being chosen, or


constituting an "elect," is in many ways a practical description,


since most of the people around us, fully capable of gnosis as they


are, are held back by many painful and frightening things from


taking those first steps that set us apart at the very beginning.


This point is made clear by another saying from the Gospel of


Thomas, which is included in the canonical New Testament as


well: "Jesus said, `The harvest is great but the laborers are few.


Beseech the Lord, therefore, to send out laborers to the harvest'"


(73).


 


Look around you: how great is this harvest, how ripe the fruit of


human beings standing just on the front porch of enlightenment,


ready to take that first step through the door! How late the time


is, my dear friends, and how quickly the sands of time are falling;


look at the darkness descending and the blood-red sun sinking low on


the horizon, as our world is weighed down ever more by the pain of


violence and hatred. How many sit in the lingering twilight,


yearning for the night to come – for the pain of living in this


world without joining in the life of the spirit has become


unbearable without drugs, and distractions, and addictions that ease


the pain.


 


We have been called to be those laborers, to be those shepherds, to


live not only for ourselves, but for all. To be chosen is to be set


apart as a gift to others, not to be elevated above others. Pride


is extinguished in love, and the ultimate love leads us to the


sacrifice of the bodhisattva, to the sacrifice of Christ. While the


light is still with us, before the clock strikes the closing of the


day, let us seek love and the fruits of love. For truly "there is


light within a person of light, and that person lights up the whole


world" (Gos Thom. 24).


 


In Christ and Sophia,


 


Matthew