On The Nature Of Faith

I recently posted some thoughts on the official view of Faith in the Order of the Sons and Daughters of Light, so I thought I might share them here also:

On The Nature Of Faith

Many Gnostics have a distrust of the notion of faith, often due to coming from a strict religious background which taught blind faith alone. Given this, faith is often discarded or treated as lowly, or, worse yet, as an evil, a distraction from Gnosis, or a sign of the inability to think or function properly.

We in the O.'.S.'.D.'.L.'., however, do not share this negative view of faith. We take a Valentinian approach, seeing faith as a starting point, in much the same way as the Valentinians of old considered the "psychics", the average Catholic Church member, to be members of the Church in the Outer, the forerunners of the pneumatics, the Gnostics - the members of the Inner Church.

Faith (Pistis) is, thus, a prerequisite of Gnosis. It is by faith, by belief in the practices, the scripture, the teachings, etc. of our path that we climb the Tree of Gnosis, that we ascend the Ladder of Light. It is our faith in our Gnosis that allows us to tap into the Spark of Divine Light within us, allowing us to embrace the Fullness of God.

Faith is Trust. I cannot tell you what Gnosis is. You have to experience it for yourself. However, you can trust my limited appraisal, just as you can trust the accounts of others who have experienced (and continue to experience) it. You can trust the teachings of the scriptures, regarding God, regarding Sophia and the Demiurge, regarding Christ. You can trust in the intrinsic spiritual value of humanity, of our oneness, or our ultimate origin in the Heavens, from whence we came, and whereto we go quickening. Faith is that Trust. It is not the Bondage from which we seek to escape, but the Bonding with that which we seek to escape to (God).

For more information regarding the O.'.S.'.D.'.L.'., visit our website here or our forum (with public section) here.