Gnosticism for a beginner

[Autistic_tendencies2]

Which texts should you read and study as an introduction

 

[Ishmael]

I myself have searched through some of this and found that it's not really a means to an end. There are not good, especially logical, answers for questions you have. The funniest part is that while there is a lot of truth in Gnosticism, it stems mostly from the things it borrows from Kabballah, Christ himself and many other divinely inspired texts/thoughts/opinions. I think the best thing to do would be what I did: If the flavor of Gnosticism you're into involves Christ at all (or even if it doesn't ), pray to him and see where it takes you. Pray for guidance while searching through the texts and pray for the truth to be revealed.

Some texts I read that got me to this point were among Jewish Kabballah (Which is basically just Jewish Gnosticism in many cases), the Gospel of Thomas and then some other generalized information about the beings and workings of general Gnosticism. I can provide links to both versions I read if you'd like. I would like to exercise caution, however; Kabballah has some very strange and messed up expansions and offshoots (itself being an evolution of Merkabah) such as the Zohar, and the explanations given for many of the inner workings therein are legitimately evil. It is very easy to be led astray by some of the information in these texts, whether that be through spiritual distortion or a fractured view of God, the world, mysticism, etc. There's a reason that the rules of the Hebrew/Jewish communities state you should be:
1. 40 years or older.
2. Male.
3. Sexually content.
4. Well studied in both Oral and Written Torah.

I am completely serious. This may drive you to make rash, false conclusions about certain peoples which is EXACTLY why these requirements were put in place. It's not because this stuff should be hidden from the public; it's that if you don't understand what you're looking at you will assume the worst. I myself did at first, which is why I took God's warning to stop reading it. The majority of the texts I were reading were not holy or divine, maybe INSPIRED, or legitimately in an attempt to appease God, but they were not the 'truth' or the 'way'. I've found as the more recent you get with Merkabah/Kabballah the more sinful, misguided, disgusting and idolatrous it becomes. It embodies sin in many ways and abuses the mind of followers attempting to legitimately reach God through what is framed as 'the reveled path'.

Some of the stuff in there is actually disgusting and should be condemned, is absolutely sinful witchcraft and those parts should be avoided at all costs.

 

[Autistic_tendencies2]

I myself have searched through some of this and found that it's not really a means to an end. There are not good, especially logical, answers for questions you have. The funniest part is that while there is a lot of truth in Gnosticism, it stems mostly from the things it borrows from Kabballah, Christ himself and many other divinely inspired texts/thoughts/opinions. I think the best thing to do would be what I did: If the flavor of Gnosticism you're into involves Christ at all (or even if it doesn't ), pray to him and see where it takes you. Pray for guidance while searching through the texts and pray for the truth to be revealed.

Some texts I read that got me to this point were among Jewish Kabballah (Which is basically just Jewish Gnosticism in many cases), the Gospel of Thomas and then some other generalized information about the beings and workings of general Gnosticism. I can provide links to both versions I read if you'd like. I would like to exercise caution, however; Kabballah has some very strange and messed up expansions and offshoots (itself being an evolution of Merkabah) such as the Zohar, and the explanations given for many of the inner workings therein are legitimately evil. It is very easy to be led astray by some of the information in these texts, whether that be through spiritual distortion or a fractured view of God, the world, mysticism, etc. There's a reason that the rules of the Hebrew/Jewish communities state you should be:
1. 40 years or older.
2. Male.
3. Sexually content.
4. Well studied in both Oral and Written Torah.

I am completely serious. This may drive you to make rash, false conclusions about certain peoples which is EXACTLY why these requirements were put in place. It's not because this stuff should be hidden from the public; it's that if you don't understand what you're looking at you will assume the worst. I myself did at first, which is why I took God's warning to stop reading it. The majority of the texts I were reading were not holy or divine, maybe INSPIRED, or legitimately in an attempt to appease God, but they were not the 'truth' or the 'way'. I've found as the more recent you get with Merkabah/Kabballah the more sinful, misguided, disgusting and idolatrous it becomes. It embodies sin in many ways and abuses the mind of followers attempting to legitimately reach God through what is framed as 'the reveled path'.

Some of the stuff in there is actually disgusting and should be condemned, is absolutely sinful witchcraft and those parts should be avoided at all costs.

At the essence I think they are Gnostic frankists, and they do orgies and a bunch of debauchery,
Maybe I’ll wait for the Kabbalah stuff yeah

 

[Sovereign]

I myself have searched through some of this and found that it's not really a means to an end. There are not good, especially logical, answers for questions you have. The funniest part is that while there is a lot of truth in Gnosticism, it stems mostly from the things it borrows from Kabballah, Christ himself and many other divinely inspired texts/thoughts/opinions. I think the best thing to do would be what I did: If the flavor of Gnosticism you're into involves Christ at all (or even if it doesn't ), pray to him and see where it takes you. Pray for guidance while searching through the texts and pray for the truth to be revealed.

Some texts I read that got me to this point were among Jewish Kabballah (Which is basically just Jewish Gnosticism in many cases), the Gospel of Thomas and then some other generalized information about the beings and workings of general Gnosticism. I can provide links to both versions I read if you'd like. I would like to exercise caution, however; Kabballah has some very strange and messed up expansions and offshoots (itself being an evolution of Merkabah) such as the Zohar, and the explanations given for many of the inner workings therein are legitimately evil. It is very easy to be led astray by some of the information in these texts, whether that be through spiritual distortion or a fractured view of God, the world, mysticism, etc. There's a reason that the rules of the Hebrew/Jewish communities state you should be:
1. 40 years or older.
2. Male.
3. Sexually content.
4. Well studied in both Oral and Written Torah.

I am completely serious. This may drive you to make rash, false conclusions about certain peoples which is EXACTLY why these requirements were put in place. It's not because this stuff should be hidden from the public; it's that if you don't understand what you're looking at you will assume the worst. I myself did at first, which is why I took God's warning to stop reading it. The majority of the texts I were reading were not holy or divine, maybe INSPIRED, or legitimately in an attempt to appease God, but they were not the 'truth' or the 'way'. I've found as the more recent you get with Merkabah/Kabballah the more sinful, misguided, disgusting and idolatrous it becomes. It embodies sin in many ways and abuses the mind of followers attempting to legitimately reach God through what is framed as 'the reveled path'.

Some of the stuff in there is actually disgusting and should be condemned, is absolutely sinful witchcraft and those parts should be avoided at all costs.

Its fortunate that you mention the age and experiences in which one becomes ready to study Kabbalah, even more so one should try to become ready in general.