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I'm starting to think that the gnostics were right, that the creator of the universe was fuckin evil. It's trapped us in a prison of flesh and suffering.
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Buddhists have a similar idea in which the neverending wheel of suffering, Samsara, is lorded over by a demon king named Mara. But Samsara wasn't created, it's just an endless cycle of suffering and dying.
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That's kind of like what the gnostics say. It's an endless cycle. One has to extricate themselves from it thru detachment, same as the Buddhists teach. Gnostics also say there is metempsychosis, where souls have to come back and deal with past karma.
Many Gnostic ideas came from Platonic thought, like the demiurge and transmigration. Greek and India shared between ~ 500-300 bce. So, Buddhism and Gnosticism are sorta cousins.
My issue with many of the Gnostic Gospels is the theism and reliance on Christ as Messiah.
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I'm just learning about gnosticism. I've recognized for a long time Christ was antinatalist. The gnostic doctrine really makes that component work. Christ was sent from the pleroma to lead seekers out of this material hellworld. Not thru faith but thru gnosis
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