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Gnosticism

Since the beginning, pure monotheism has fought a hefty battle with the forces of dualism. The starting point of the Gnostic-Dualist philosophy is to attribute substance, or an essence, to evil (or darkness). The solution which Gnostic-Dualism offers for the problem of the existence of evil is to say that it must exist within God, the Principle, whereas the theodicy (1) of orthodox theologies sees evil as the absence of good, which appears on the plane of existence, but which has no origin in Absolute Reality.

If both evil and good were absolute, but necessarily in irreducible mutual opposition, then the Principle in which they originate would be inconceivable because of its inherent internal contradiction. It is for this reason that the God of the various Gnosticisms has to be affirmed as being completely unknowable. Classical Ismailism, for example, called the Absolute Ghayb Ta'ala ("Supreme Unseen", "Supreme Void" or "The Great Absence", later called al-Mubdi' , "originator" or "principle"). This corresponds to the "Abyss" (Bythos) of Hellenistic Gnosticism.

It is common to all the Gnostic philosophies to propose that the world is the result of a conflict between the polarization of the two forces of good and evil within the world of emanation (2), a metacosm called the pleroma . As a result of this conflict, they say, the emanation known as the Demiurge creates the world. (The Manicheans see creation as a kind of of defensive tactic whereby the emanation of the "good" aspect of God takes refuge from attack of the "evil" one. Once hidden in the form of light, they say, God is then "liberated" by the realization and acts of the Gnostics, or "Knowers".)

In the Hellenistic mythological formulation, in this world there are fragments of the emanation known as Sophia, the Aeon who personifies "Wisdom"; Sophia knowing something of the unknowable God from which she emanated, tried to return to this God in a "hopeless leap" whose course was shattered by Horos , another Aeon who personifies limitation. The fragments of wisdom thus shattered reside in men - the Gnostics, the Knowers - who hear the call that tells them that they are "the son of a King" and "gold that has fallen into the world's mud". It calls them to throw off the impure "clothing" of forms and false, external knowledge, and to realize their "nature of light".

The world, however, like the unknowable "God" who contains within himself the two principles in mysterious und unfathomable union, also contains the two principles, but in conflict with each other. Thus, in a certain sense, the physical world too is "divine" or "absolute" or an "autonomous reality" (like modern science perceives it too).

In the "realized" consciousness the two principles can coexist, just as they do in the unknown God, and that "realized" consciousness is considered by Gnostics to be itself a hypostasis of the Divinity, or simply Divine.

The awakening call is an essential element in Gnostic mythology. On hearing "the call", the Gnostics form communities; their salvation lies in the recognition of the Divinity hidden in the world in the form of the Gnostic teacher; it awaits the end of the world, when the world and evil disappear and there remain, along with the Abyss, the principles of light and darkness, which when unmixed are neither good nor evil. However, their reward for waiting is salvation, which is nothing less than Deification.

Transhumanism and Gnosticism thus share the same goal: becoming like God. Both follow similar delusions and thus come to the same conclusion.

In Christianity, Gnostic-Dualism was very obviously introduced by the divine status of Jesus, but also e.g. by Paulus giving essence to evil, where he calls Satan the "God of this world" (2 Kor 4, 4).

In Islam, dualism creeped in through Ismailism (3), Manicheism (4), and Hellenistic philosophy (5) on which modern science is based. It took the "catastrophes" of the Mongol invasions and the Reconquista to stop the intrusions.

In Judaism, dualism creeped in through the teachings of the Kabbalah (6). It is this form of dualism, which uses modern science and technology as its vehicle, which forms the greatest fitnah (7) ever experienced, the fitnah of the Dajjal or the Antichrist (8).

Footnotes:

1. Theodicy is the "answer to the question of why God permits evil". Theodicy is defined as a theological construct that attempts to vindicate God in response to the evidential problem of evil that mitigates against the existence of an omnipotent and omnibenevolent deity.
2. Emanation is the origination of the world by a series of hierarchically descending radiations from the Godhead through intermediate stages to matter. As it emanates rather than it is created, it is real as well, or in other terms: divine, although in "diminished quality".
3. Especially the Fatimid dynasty in Egypt, which established the Al-Azhar University (always in opposition with the Abbasids and the Ayyubids), but also the Assasins, the Alawis, and generally the Sevener-Shiites, who also influenced the other Shiites, which is how the Shiite Imams got their quasi divine status, and why one must know the imam of one's time in order to be saved. The Druze are also a branch of the Seveners, along with some other gnostic sects like the Qarmatians that more or less influenced Islam.
4. Manicheism subverted all great religions under the guise of "mystical doctrine". The Abbasids had a power alliance with Manichean sects to overthrow the Umayyads. As a result, these sects gained considerable influence. The "mastermind" of the rebellion against the Umayyads, Abu Muslim, declared himself divine right after the rebellion, but was executed by the Abbasids before he himself could overthrow the Abbasids.
5. E.g. al-Farabi, Avicenna, Ibn Arabi and many others.
6. The first school of Jewish mysticism originated during the Babylonian captivity, the Merkava . Hellenistic thought was introduced e.g. by Philo of Alexandria and the kabbalist Isaac, the Blind.
7. Temptation, suffering, turmoil, trial
8. Antichrist' is not an Islamic expression. In Islam Al-Masih ad-Dajjal means the 'false Messiah'. The movement of Dajjal will be eventually led by the person Dajjal. We may also understand the term as the new superorganism, which is currently created.

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Next chapter:

Ad-Dajjal I. The Prophecies The goal of Dajjal is to gain total power on the physical, intellectual and spiritual plane. He must be invincible in political, economical, military and ideological terms. The summit of his power will be reached when he will be taken for the Messiah. In order to reach this, logically, he must impersonate what is expected and prophesied from the true Messiah...