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“But this I admit to you, that according to the Way, which
they call a sect, I worship the God of our ancestors,
believing everything laid down according to the law and
the prophets.” (Acts 24:14)
We may sometimes identify ourselves as Gnostics or
Christian Gnostics or Sophians, but we most truly
consider ourselves followers of the Way. Like the early
followers of Yeshua Messiah, our circles meet to pray and
mediate and share in sacred discourse. Each circle
celebrates the feasts or holy days in unique ways that
reflect the Holy Spirit's movement in our continuum at that
time. Our faith is a living one that grounds itself in spirit-
connectedness, personal experience, and direct
revelation.
The original "gnostics” did not view themselves as
gnostics, rather they were spiritual believers and mystics,
*followers of the Way*. The very view that St. Paul asserts
in his defense against Jewish religious authorities is that
of those spiritual “Christians” who came to be called
“gnostics” of various “sects” by orthodox religious
authorities.
Gnosis puts its emphasis on a direct revelation of the
Risen Messiah, and direct experience of the power and
illumination of the Holy Spirit, which was the very teaching
of the Way by the Master himself and the original
apostles. This experience of direct revelation and
illumination is the Way. We see this in the life story of St.
Paul, for example, for that exactly is how he becomes a
follower of the Way and a holy apostle of the Way,
through a very powerful spiritual and mystical experience
of the Risen Messiah, Hayyah Yeshua (the Living Jesus).
In other words, what orthodoxy sometimes referred to as
“gnostics” and “heretics” were actually followers of the
Way – which is the truth of “Gnostic Christianity.”
Indeed, we know this very well in our own lineage, for in
previous generations the name “Gnostic” or “Sophian”
was never used by our initiates and lineage-holders.
These are terms that came into use as reference points
for outsiders and newcomers, as a skillful means to
attempt to help them understand a very different form of
the Messianic movement or Christian stream; but in the
actual view of initiates or practitioners, however, we are
simply spiritual believers and mystics, followers of the Way.
What is meant by ... the Way ?
Within each and everyone of us there is this Light-
presence (indwelling Messiah) and Light-power (Holy
Spirit), and in the inmost part of our soul God and
Godhead indwells us – in that inmost part, our unique
essence or divine spark, we are inseparable from the Holy
Light of God, inseparable from God and Godhead, the
Divine; in the Way we are inspired, illumined and guided
by this Holy Light in us, which, being within everyone and
everything as well, is also all around us. In other words,
the way is living in this Spirit-connectedness – this holy
communion with the saints and angels, the Messiah and
Holy Spirit, and God, the True Light; this requires no
creed or doctrine, but only willingness to listen and hear,
and follow, the Spirit and Light of God, the Spirit of Truth.
This, in essence, is the Way and what it means to be a
follower of the Way.
Perhaps this might sound like something “new age,” and
often it is certainly mistaken for that – but, in fact, we are
speaking about actual spiritual and mystical experience,
and more so an actual expansion or ascent of
consciousness and process of self-realization, something
not so vague as “new age enlightenment,” but that is very
distinct and recognizable in the experience of it, and
something that comes with the witness of self-
transformation and divine illumination, as well as the
witness of the Holy Spirit in spiritual love and power.
As is well evidenced in much of modern Gnosticism, in the
midst of seeking to be “gnostic” it is very easy to miss
Gnosis or the Way – it is very easy to get caught up in
being a “Gnostic Christian” rather than focusing upon the
direct revelation of the Risen Messiah and the illumination
of the Holy Spirit, and unfolding our self-realization in the
Messiah (the generation of Supernal or Messianic
Consciousness). The truth is, though, to be “gnostic” is to
be a follower of the Way – the experience of the gnosis of
the Risen Messiah, the experience of higher
consciousness that reflects and expresses the power and
illumination of the Holy Spirit.
The truth is, in our experience of the Light Transmission –
the direct revelation of the Risen Messiah and Holy Spirit,
the deeper we venture into this spiritual and mystical
experience, the more we find that it transcends all terms
and definitions we might use, whether Gnostic, Sophian or
even Christian. There is just this Truth and Light, and it is
universal – cosmic and primordial.
We call that Truth and Light Christ or Messiah and God,
and the presence and power of it we call Holy Spirit or
Shekinah, but among various peoples it is known by
various names – in the end, though, it is the realization of
the True Light that matters, not the names and forms it
assumes.
As Adonai Yeshua teaches us, the Way is narrow that
leads to life and light – truly so, for it must be found,
known and understood, inwardly. It is known in the heart
and soul when we are able to transcend the egoistic self.
This becomes our discernment of teachings and practices
that are expressions of the Way – they encourage and
facilitate the transcendence of the egoistic self; in this
regard, names do not matter so much, for grasping and
name and form, and personal history, is the tendency of
the ego in order to sustain itself by reference points, “I am
this” and “I am that.”
Our true noble ideal is to be a follower of the Way in
whatever name and form that might assume with us – a
follower of the Spirit of Truth.
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