Gnosticism Into the Mystical by Mike Kay
" The Gnostic is neither mad nor possessed, but is at heart a visionary who trusts his vision as something of far greater veracity than the blind fumbling of materially obsessed mankind."
The western world has murdered its’ mysticism. Centuries have passed with a successive and successful suppression of the mystical tradition. This murder has coincided with a deep plunge into the profane, the structure of addiction to substance. This plunge has resulted in a hidden belief, an actual terror that drives modern man insane. This insanity takes many forms, is inspired by many assumptions, yet ultimately is the error of worshiping the divinity of form.
Science is now picking the bones of this ancient mystical tradition. Here they have found keys they have distorted, in order to gain power for their benefactors, those who are fully determined to gain the means by which mankind is reduced to their playthings. These corruptors of tradition are not mystics; they have no respect for the soul.
Throughout history there have been those who had such respect, who spontaneously rekindled a Gnostic sensibility to conscious awareness. They reestablished the reality challenging mysticism of the Gnostics. In achieving this they returned to mankind a tonic and a cure to the oppression of the priests of form. Such a rebirth is occurring today.
All religious and mystical striving is based on the idea that something better than the present condition exists, and is attainable. Thus the goal of any particular group and/or individual must evince this idea of betterment. In conventional religion, the goal is to arrive at an agreeable living condition, which is generally taken on faith to be one that pleases the ultimate authority, and guarantees some form of reward. This is what people mean when they claim that religion is a moral guide. Its emphasis is on steering member behavior toward an ideal.
Religions usually have different goals than mysticism. Religion is primarily exoteric, concerned with behavior and conformity, while mysticism is esoteric, primarily concerned with the lived experience. Mysticism can exist within religion, as is common in Asia, yet where this occurs, goals assume a moral quality. Thus, Buddhism states its goals include an end to the suffering of all sentient beings. This causes mysticism to serve within broader religious, political goals. This reduces mysticism into a subservient branch of the religion. Here it should be noted that Christianity has destroyed its mysticism exactly because European mystics, such as Jacob Boehme have a history of being true to their realizations, rather than the decrees of the church.