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Christian Gnostics realize the world is an illusion where the Gnosticism is the Jazz of all religions. Both are
secret Church fights the Creator God individualistic yet communal with their
Creative Commons surroundings, extroverted with their innermost
passions, and seemingly wild yet contained in an
almost surreal framework. Both are adaptive, prone to improvisation depending on the audience, and
tend to borrow in order to improve their execution. Both have always thrived in the smoky, dark corners
of society, as well as in places of artistic explosions.
And as soon as the mind thinks it has a finger on Gnosticism or Jazz, they slide right out of its touch
and into another playful incarnation with serious undertones reflective of its shadowy origins.
In ʻThe Gnostic Religionʼ, Hans Jonas wrote that understanding Gnosticism requires a sort of musical
ear that should be continually trained.
That is not an easy feat in a world where mainstream faiths require individuals to play the role of a
mechanical Saliery instead of an ethereal Mozart, as represented in the movie ʻAmadeusʼ. And itʼs
certainly harder to understand any esoteric religion in a short attention-span world always demanding
easily-digestible lists.
But if a list is demanded on defining Gnosticism, it might as well come from a person whose first
passion was music-- Philip K. Dick, considered by many as the latest and greatest Gnostic bandleader.
Dickʼs visionary Gnosticism is best known from his novels (ʻValisʼ and ʻThe Divine Invasionʼ) and films
(ʻBladerunnerʼ and ʻMinority Reportʼ). Yet Dick spent much of life expressing his mystic discoveries in
his ʻExegesisʼ. Although the ʻExegisisʼ is a massive work, Dick managed to produce a list that might
satisfy those needing to perfect their musical ear.
Here are ʻThe Ten Major Principles of the Gnostic Revelationʼ, including the introduction and a curse at
the end:
The Gnostic Christians of the second century believed that only a special revelation of knowledge
rather than faith could save a person. The contents of this revelation could not be received empirically
or derived a priori. They considered this special gnosis so valuable that it must be kept secret. Here are
the ten major principles of the gnostic revelation:
ʻThe Ten Major Principles of Gnostic Revelationʼ is a superior catalog from an individual who possessed
that finely-tuned musical ear for understanding Gnosticism. But all lists on this artistic faith are
ultimately just musical notes flattened on a black and white canvass. The melody not only must be
understood but it must be experienced to gain its full rewards.
And if a person canʼt grasp Gnosticism after repeated sessions, then perhaps itʼs better to defer to what
Louis Armstrong once told a reporter:
"Man, if you have to ask what Jazz is, you'll never know."
However, there is a simpler list with one single line that the Orthodox and Fundamentalist can
understand: