Post #363

"The Gnostics held that the essential nature of the human is divine. Mainstream orthodoxy, then as now, believes that the soul of the human is a creation, forever different in nature from the Deity. Not unlike Hinduism and Bud-dhism, who recognize a transcendental “Buddha Nature” or “Atman” respectively in the human, Gnosticism looks upon men and women as gods and goddesses who have forgotten who they are. Humans are caught in a predicament wherein the limitations imposed by physical existence are combined with a triple ignorance: ignorance of our origins, of our true nature, and of our ultimate destiny. It is from this predicament that the Gnostic aspires to be freed by Gnosis."