Why are so many movies going Gnostic? |315|

Why are these gnostically-themed movies so popular? What are they tapping into both in us and our culture? What do we need to listen to and know about the message they're sending us?

"Gnosticly-themed movies" I assume means movies where the social order is not what it seems to be and the leaders are not who or what they are thought to be. This would be a gnostic theme because gnostics believe the world was created not by a perfect benevolent God but by a lesser flawed being, the world is thought to be unreal and itself flawed and unpleasant.

In our society today, many people don't trust their knowledge about the world. They don't trust government, science, or journalists, there are no real leaders only elites pandering to the masses for their own personal gain.

Movies about fake leaders and lies about the social order resonate with how we feel about society today and are analgous to the gnostic ideas of a flawed creator of a false world.
 
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"Gnosticly-themed movies" I assume means

Basically, "Gnostic-themed movies" are those which promote the Gnostic idea that humans can become "Gods" if they eat of the Tree of Knowledge as The Enemy recommended.

Each person must employ their Free Will and Reason to decide for themselves if that is a wise course of action.

The fact that the same people who promote all manner of anti-human degeneracy also promote the Gnostic idea indicates to me that maybe it's not a good idea.
 
Basically, "Gnostic-themed movies" are those which promote the Gnostic idea that humans can become "Gods" if they eat of the Tree of Knowledge as The Enemy recommended.

Each person must employ their Free Will and Reason to decide for themselves if that is a wise course of action.

The fact that the same people who promote all manner of anti-human degeneracy also promote the Gnostic idea indicates to me that maybe it's not a good idea.

I thought Gnosticism is much more about declaring the world as a construct of the demiurge and not the true God.
 
...the world as a construct of the demiurge and not the true God.

It's both. There are umpteen kinds of Gnosticism, but most flavors say that Lucifer / ha-Satan (The Enemy) / The Light-Bringer is actually Man's friend, attempting to illuminate Mankind in order to help us achieve apotheosis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apotheosis

Each person must employ their Free Will and Reason to decide for themselves if that is a wise course of action.

The fact that the same people who promote all manner of anti-human degeneracy also promote the Gnostic idea indicates to me that maybe it's not a good idea.

In the movie The Matrix, Neo ("The One") achieves apotheosis after he confronts The Demiurge (the Architect) in the course of completing his Hero's Journey.

Architect_%26_neo.png
 
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It's both. There are umpteen kinds of Gnosticism, but most flavors say that Lucifer / ha-Satan (The Enemy) / The Light-Bringer is actually Man's friend, attempting to illuminate Mankind in order to help us achieve apotheosis.
I don't know a lot about the gnostic texts but one interesting point is that the canonical bible doesn't seem to equate Lucifer with "satan" anywhere at all. It seems to have been a churchy thing but I might be mistaken. I do know that Lucifer is the Roman god of knowledge and that pagan gods were frequently demonised by Jews and Christians alike. Lilith and Baal-ze-bub are two such examples. I know it was a little off subject but I thought it might be interesting.:)
 
The fact that the same people who promote all manner of anti-human degeneracy also promote the Gnostic idea indicates to me that maybe it's not a good idea.

I'm not sure we can judge whether an idea is good or bad based on who accepts it or promotes it. I don't think everyone promoting gnostic ideas is promoting anti-human degeneracy. Being a rebel against authority and structure can be good or bad depending on whether the structure and authority is good or bad. If the structure and authority is corrupt and overbearing, you are under the demiurge and identifying as the rebel trickster is Christ. If you are under the wise benevolent king, then identifying as the rebel trickster is devilish.
 
It's both. There are umpteen kinds of Gnosticism, but most flavors say that Lucifer / ha-Satan (The Enemy) / The Light-Bringer is actually Man's friend, attempting to illuminate Mankind in order to help us achieve apotheosis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apotheosis

Each person must employ their Free Will and Reason to decide for themselves if that is a wise course of action.

The fact that the same people who promote all manner of anti-human degeneracy also promote the Gnostic idea indicates to me that maybe it's not a good idea.

In the movie The Matrix, Neo ("The One") achieves apotheosis after he confronts The Demiurge (the Architect) in the course of completing his Hero's Journey.

Architect_%26_neo.png

I'd be curious to hear your opinion of The Lego Movie as it is one of my favorite recent "gnostic" movies. :)

I think it illustrates the two structural extremes in amazing clarity: you have the tyrannical Demiurge which is Lord Business and you have the opposite extreme in Cloud Cookoo land. You have the unlikely hero Emmet (I'm it) who follows Lucy (Lucifer) down a rabbit hole where he has a psychedelic initiation after which the "Piece of Resistance" is stuck to him prodding him on to his own apotheosis / NDE achieved by willingly giving his life to save many in his epic battle with the hyper-rational perfectionist controlling Demiurge who wants to glue all the Legos in a state of perfection thereby ending the cycle of destruction and re-creation - life and creativity.

So the movie is clearly telling the gnostic story but also a modern social commentary full of satirical criticisms of the anti-human degeneracy and corrupt institutions that have infiltrated western culture: everything from rigged voting machines to the welfare state, over priced coffee, empty pop culture, the lying news media, and military industrial complex.

I think that Lucifer symbolizes many things and can symbolize goodness in its late stages and also evil in its early stages. Lucifer is light and beauty but also deception and narcissism. Knowledge and wisdom, but also puffed up rationality and crafty deviousness without heart or love.
 
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the canonical bible doesn't seem to equate Lucifer with "satan" anywhere at all. It seems to have been a churchy thing

That is true. Lucifer = Satan is a huge mess. Every flavor of religion has their own conception of this character and how he relates to Dualism; Yin/Yang, GAoTU v. Demiurge, etc.
 
I'm not sure we can judge whether an idea is good or bad based on who accepts it or promotes it

I believe you can. If you notice that the same people who promote Heroin enjoyment and car theft as a career also tend to destroy the lives of their family and die young and violently, it's Reasonable on your part to conclude that those activities might best be avoided. I had to learn this the hard way.

I notice the culture creating authorities of Hollywood promote massive amounts of anti-human degeneracy. I believe in evaluating the goodness of a thing en toto, or holistically. This is often a difficult calculation.

Rebellion against evil authority is a good thing, and not unique to Gnosticism.
 
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