gnostic handbook

The Gnostic Handbook Page 12
...and each of these will trigger a certain association for you. For example, you would probably
relate the term Occult to something sinister and evil, and yet the word itself simply means
"hidden". Members of the medical profession, for example, use the term occult bleeding for
bleeding which comes from an unknown source. Hardly sinister or demonic I would suggest.
Again and again we must emphasise that to understand and appreciate the esoteric worldview
you need to put aside the associations, prejudices and pre-conceptions you have and consider
new meanings for the terms that are used. It is important for you to understand the language
we use in the context of how we use it, and not in terms of prevailing religious terminology.
We are not asking you to just accept everything we say or blindly agree with our redefinition
of old terms. What we are asking you do to is temporally suspend disbelief, enter into your
studies with us and only make a decision after you have seen the whole picture.
So let's consider some of the terms we have used and will use..
The term Gnosis comes from the Greek word meaning "to know", but it means the process
through which the seeker of spiritual wisdom experiences the divine and is transformed.
The teachings which make this transformation possible are considered Mystery Teachings because
they embody the most ancient wisdom, the essential essence behind the worlds religious
and ideological systems.
In this sense they are Esoteric, eso - meaning inner, they are the inner teachings that are behind
or beyond the secular, they are core religious wisdom available to the few.
They are Occult in that they are secret, hidden or unknown.
They are Religious in the sense that religion means "to bind back", "to return to the source or
origin". These teachings are those which lead back to the World of Ideals from which we have
become alienated.