{"id":10794,"date":"2026-07-01T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10794"},"modified":"2025-12-15T13:21:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T13:21:30","slug":"semiotics-and-history-online-course-consists-of-intertwining-strands-each-strand-contributes-to-the-whole-this-strand-reviews-a-book-on-gnosticism-in-modern-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10794","title":{"rendered":"Looking at Peter Burfeind’s Book (2014) “Gnostic America” (Part 26 of 26)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

0465 A type 1 Gnostic, who has been indoctrinated to be your Self<\/em>, has an ego that says, \u201cI am inadequate.\u201d Otherwise, why would I need a Self-help book, or a drink, or a hit? Why would Sophia call to me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sophia says, \u201cEscape. Return to the Monad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0466 A type 2 Gnostic, who may be so far into the conflict that the Self has won, projects her fallen ego<\/em> onto others.  She demeans others as puppets of a rigid, doctrinaire, paranoid, traditional, Yaltabaoth-worshipping superego<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ego of the Self-anointed<\/em> is no longer responsible for the Self.  The Self may use her body for whatever purposes suits her proclivities<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0467 What do I mean by \u201cher\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am \u201cshe\u201d when my Self is my normal context<\/em>.  My Self<\/em> is an image of Sophia<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If everything is determined by culture, why can\u2019t I declare my own culture?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Self-wish transforms into a program for development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My ego is like my ex-.  My superego is like his paranoid delusions.  My idreal<\/sup> is like a golden ring, serving as a gilded cage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0468 A type 2 Gnostic sees others as marionettes of Yaltabaoth and the Establishment<\/em>.  She stands beyond freedom and responsibility.  She serves another master.  She works for an institution.  She supports a cause. She stands righteous among the Self-anointed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She knows about Freud.  She adores Jung.  She is a Marxist.  She is a big government liberal, demanding sovereign power.  Does that make her il-liberal?  Not in a world where “liberal” means “anything goes”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sovereign power<\/em> constellates Personified Wisdom<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The type 2 Gnostic strives to grasp sovereign power.  She will master social evil. Her Self-wish is to control the builder gods and the Establishment, forcing them to work for her organizational objectives<\/em>. Her Self-wish is to regulate and educate the pathetic ego-driven masses<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is a post-religious social activist<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0469 A type 2 Gnostic will contextualize himself as a member of a New Age, the next emanation of the pleroma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0470 What do I mean by \u201chim\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is “he” the missing ingredient?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By \u201chim\u201d, I suppose, I mean Sophia-Self gives birth to… or rather, gives abortion to… the next Yaltabaoth.   She will put him into a cloud.   He<\/em> will create the next age, even if he<\/em> is a she<\/em>, whatever that means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0471 The next age comes in like a lion, then out like a snake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or, should it be, in like an ego<\/em>, then out like a Self?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

0472 Gnosticism is a religion of secret knowledge<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gnostic origin myth, itself, opens like lockbox, when the key is fashioned in truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0478 Ah, then, here we have it: What is truth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On one hand, the words of the Gnostic are never to be taken literally.  They are symbols evoking fantasies that inform the Self<\/em>.  The Self reads word-gestures. The Self relies on touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sophia interpellates the Self<\/em> through desire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, the possibilities inherent in the truth<\/em> support the perspective-level actuality of the Holy Spirit. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Father <\/em>virtually situates the Son<\/em> [redeeming] me<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0478 I can put my hands together, with this conclusion:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The origin stories of Gnosticism and the Bible both point to a transition from the Lebenswelt that we evolved in<\/em> to our current Lebenswelt<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gnostic origin story mythically re-creates a repetition disorder characteristic of unconstrained social complexity<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Biblical origin story mythically portrays the transition as an actual historic event<\/em>, serving as a fountainhead for disaster after disaster<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0480 Aren\u2019t both these origin myths about Original Sin?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0481 If so, then what does that imply?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

0465 A type 1 Gnostic, who has been indoctrinated to be your Self, has an ego that says, \u201cI am inadequate.\u201d Otherwise, why would I need a Self-help book, or a drink, or a hit? Why would Sophia call to me? Sophia says, \u201cEscape. Return to the Monad.\u201d 0466 A type 2 Gnostic, who may be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[619,11,592,6],"tags":[62,39,525,589,590,623,29,635,148,119,245,55,620,468,637,624,640,124,550,31,44,622,35,639,625,585,636,638],"class_list":["post-10794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-confounding","category-our-current-lebenswelt","category-semiotics-and-history","category-the-science-of-original-sin","tag-aristotle","tag-category-based-nested-form","tag-charles-peirce","tag-confounding","tag-entanglement","tag-ferdinand-saussure","tag-first-singularity","tag-gnosticism","tag-history","tag-human-evolution","tag-hylomorphe","tag-interscope","tag-kalevi-kull","tag-lebenswelt","tag-modern","tag-peircean-categories","tag-peter-burfeind","tag-philosophy","tag-razie-mah","tag-scholasticism","tag-science","tag-semiology","tag-semiotics","tag-sophia","tag-sphere-of-understanding","tag-tartu-moscow-school-of-semiotics","tag-totalitarian","tag-yaldabaoth"],"yoast_head":"\nLooking at Peter Burfeind's Book (2014) "Gnostic America" (Part 26 of 26) - 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