{"id":10717,"date":"2026-07-23T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10717"},"modified":"2025-12-15T10:53:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T10:53:23","slug":"looking-at-peter-burfeinds-book-2014-gnostic-america-part-7-of-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10717","title":{"rendered":"Looking at Peter Burfeind’s Book (2014) “Gnostic America” (Part 7 of 26)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

0105 In my example, I admitted to my so-called friend that he held a photograph of me.  My ego spoke in the Name of my Self<\/em>.  That is how my ego reckons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I felt that this was not really true, my phantasm was subversive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0106 Reckoning<\/em> goes with Yaltabaoth and the Establishment.  In their… er… my world, me in the situation<\/em> must be sensible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phantasm<\/em> goes with… what?… the fog that surrounds Yaltabaoth and the Establishment?  It goes with me sneaking under (sub-<\/em>) the current version of the sensible world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or maybe, like a bird, I fly above (super-<\/em>) the current version of the sensible world.  I look down at all the ego-driven mortals and think, \u201cIf I change their social conditions, then they would no longer suffer in their material concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0107 The ego has direct access to speech-alone talk.  The ego can explain what it is doing<\/em> and what it wants to do<\/em>.  The ego can say what it plans<\/em> and so forth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Self cannot explain what it is doing in speech-alone talk.  In this capacity, the Self is similar to hand talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0108 How does hand talk work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hand talk words image and indicate their referents.  They are also configured in a symbolic order<\/em>.  The symbolic order turns the manual-brachial gestures (and their iconic and indexal sign-objects) into a language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A symbolic order<\/em> is a finite number of elements (in this case, manual-brachial gestures) arranged as a system of differences<\/em>.  Once a symbolic order forms, then symbolic operations can be performed.  This is called \u201cgrammar\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, hand talk is more evocative than the symbolic operations of grammar<\/em>.  It is more than language.  It represents the world<\/em> through pictures and pointings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0109 By analogy, Sophia calls the Self with a grammar where images and indications serve as word-gestures<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, the first trait listed by Burfeind is this: The Monad\u2019s namelessness is a fundamental premise.  The Monad is beyond speech-alone words.  Yet, the Monad is linguistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0110 Certainly, this makes no sense to the ego-driven world that imagines that words refer to things and states of things<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The language of the Monad<\/em> is not supposed to make sense.  It is supposed to make nonsense.  The Self experiences a world<\/em> where hand-talk word-gestures<\/em> express things and states of things<\/em>.  Sophia<\/em> gestures to the Self<\/em> through the things of the world<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0111 In their own subversive ways, the declarations within the Monad<\/em> are sensible, even though they are detached from and hostile to the reality principle, idreal<\/sup><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0112 For example, when Sophia called me in the example, her gestures inspired me to flee to a world where friends do not lie to one another<\/em>.  This image supports idfantasy<\/sup>.  This image does not support idreal<\/sup>.  My own ego-reckoning demonstrated that I live in a world where friends lie to one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0113 The 13 traits of Gnosticism, listed at the start of chapter 2, describe the visual language of Sophia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0114 Chapters 3 and 4 of Burfeind\u2019s text portrays Gnosticism as a Christian heresy.  To me, Gnosticism is more than just a Christian heresy.  Christian heresies are one branch of Gnosticism.  Gnosticism is very old.  It was already present when Christianity arrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, my use of the term \u201cGnosticism\u201d is broader than Burfeind\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0115 Gnosticism is opportunistic.  Any system of organizations and institutions is vulnerable to Gnostic infiltration.  This includes institutions as varied as secular democratic states following the French Revolution (in the West)<\/em> and Islamic Autocrats (in the East)<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the West, the current manifestation is American Progressivism or Big Government (il)Liberalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the East, Burfeind mentions the Sufis of the 11th century, who were very similar to the troubadours and Cathars in the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0116 One of the wonderful points that Burfeind makes in his history is this:  The word \u201cheresy\u201d means \u2018choice\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0117 The Gnostic choice is the decision to listen to the call of Sophia and to undermine the functionality of the ego<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gnostic choice <\/em>places the Self into conflict with the ego.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0118 Christians call this choice heresy<\/em>.  Other institutions and organizations will attach different labels, such as the pleroma-inspired terms \u201cprogressive\u201d and \u201cnew age\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0119 For Christians, orthodoxy<\/em> aligns the Self with the ego.  \u201cOrthodoxy\u201d means correct practice<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, science and law have made great strides with orthodox practices, including \u2018experiment with controls\u2019 and \u2018trial before a jury of peers\u2019.  Unfortunately, these modern innovations do not have labels to apply to Gnostic penetration.  What are experiments without controls?  “Simulations”?  What are regulations when experts both accuse and judge their charges?  “Advocacy”?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

0105 In my example, I admitted to my so-called friend that he held a photograph of me.  My ego spoke in the Name of my Self.  That is how my ego reckons. When I felt that this was not really true, my phantasm was subversive. 0106 Reckoning goes with Yaltabaoth and the Establishment.  In their… er… my world, me in the situation must […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[417],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review"],"yoast_head":"\nLooking at Peter Burfeind's Book (2014) "Gnostic America" (Part 7 of 26) - An Archaeology of the Fall<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10717\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Looking at Peter Burfeind's Book (2014) "Gnostic America" (Part 7 of 26) - An Archaeology of the Fall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"0105 In my example, I admitted to my so-called friend that he held a photograph of me.  My ego spoke in the Name of my Self.  That is how my ego reckons. 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