An Aesthetic Study Of Gnosticism

Gnosticism was a religious movement that emerged during the Roman Empire,with the dualism of acosmism as the basic ideological principle.Around the 4th century AD,it was gradually depleted by the Christian,but the study of Gnosticism was an important issue in Western.With the rise of the new era movement,modern Gnosticisms emerge around the world,and the influence of Gnosticism in the field of literature and art has become increasingly apparent.In this paper,based on the existing Gnosticism original texts,the core category "Gnosis" as the entry point,trying to clarify the aesthetics nature of Gnosticism,grasps its aesthetic connotation and performance,so as to systematically comb it.The research on Gnosticism aesthetics,on the one hand is to show its aesthetics and its aesthetic structure,on the other hand is to explain the reason why Gnosticism chose the aesthetic way to show its principles and what is the difference compared with the Christianity."Gnosis" is the core category of Gnosticism.Gnosticism extends the meaning of knowledge,that is,the expansion of knowledge from the level of knowledge to spiritual activity and practice,so that Gnosis is not limited to a type of knowledge,but also become a spiritual way,which is aesthetic.Gnosis is intuitive,experiential and purifying.From the division of the type of knowledge,the knowledge of the transcendence and the intuition of the essence of the human soul is a type of association with the aesthetic.People can't use the reason and logic to get the gnosis,but should be in the insight and experience that the way to listen to the call of the inner soul.The experience of Gnosis played a role of bridge between intuition and spiritual practice,and also is the key to the faith.The experience of Gnosis and that of aesthetic has a consistent mental state,the unity between the subject and the object,the interruption to the daily experience.Knowing itself has the salvation function,also is the same to the aesthetic function,that is:with practical and spiritual purification.From the aesthetic dimension of the study,Gnosis and aesthetics share the same transcendent field.Gnosis and aesthetics have a common transcendent field,but different directions.In theory,Gnosis and aesthetic have the different directions.From the doctrine,the transcendent path of the Gnosticism is ray,which departs from this world and does not return to the world.But in fact,completely out of the world of ideas and images are not really exist,it is impossible to achieve.Moreover,the Gnostics also acknowledge that the world is imitating the perfect upper world,and that human nature contains divine sparks,and that their rejection of the world is ultimately selective.Knowing the process of transcending the world is a negligible affirmation that reverses the twists and turns of rebuilding the human values,which is exactly the same as the path of the aesthetic loop.Gnosticism has the particular aesthetics.In the relationship between beauty and the God,Gnosticism affirms the existence of beauty and the form of beauty,that beauty is one of the essential attributes of God.In the relationship between ugliness and beauty,the ugliness is the opposite of the beauty.Unlike other religions,the aesthetic expression of Gnosticism is not only a means,but the aesthetic of itself.It is one of the fundamental attributes of Gnosticism.The dualism of Gnosticism is the cornerstone of its thoughts,giving its aesthetic connotation to antagonistic characteristics.It is manifested in the following aspects:the using of strong contrasting languages;the opposite character images;transcendence and degenerative confrontation,human soul divinity and physical material confrontation.Gnosticism used the aesthetics to fight against the tendency of logocentrism.Its aesthetics reflected in the use of the symbolic image,the dramatic narrative of the cosmic history,and the reversal narrative strategy of the Christian Bible.Gnosticism constructs a unique symbolic image system:"Alien " symbolizes the fundamental life experience of the world;the cage and the guest show the understanding of the world;calling and answering are the symbol to save and be saved in response to each other;the peeling and the soul soaring up is a symbol of the salvation process;pearls and emeralds symbolize the pure and precious divine soul.Gnosticism carries out the sacred narrative in a dramatic way.Mainly in:the mythological structure of the dramatic;good and evil conflict drama;the universe as a drama situation.Christian holy drama is a human-centered vision,the history of the universe and the development of the historical significance lies in the rescue of mankind.The focus of the Gnosticism cosmic drama is God's drama,which is carried out by God as the protagonist and center of the drama,which is produced and developed so that the final demise is only part of the drama of God rather than the protagonist.The Gnosticism intends to misinterpret and reverse the narrative of the Bible in its mythological narratives,which transforms the general idea of anti-cosmopolitanism based on Gnosticism.The doctrine of acosmism change the good nature of the whole universe from the Christian universe created by God to the evil nature.In Christianity Jesus is the son of the Creator,turning it into the light world,the Son of God,and coming to this world to save the world from the world.The roles in the myth of Eden,such as Eve or the snake,become the messenger of awakening Adam's spiritual sparks;reverse some of the narratives in the Bible,such as the question of Jesus 'children and the question of Jesus' Of Mary's attitude and so on.Gnosticism chose to confront philosophy with mythology,to aesthetic against rational thinking,fundamentally speaking,is against the classical spirit of the logocentrism.The Gnostics argue that spirituality is a potential spiritual power that transcends natural order and transcends the Creator's wisdom and control.In the spirit of transcending the anti-current order,the oriental perceptual intuition against the ancient Greek rational speculation,attempting to break the ancient Greek and Roman period increasingly rigid rational speculation of the shelter,the reconstruction of the vibrant and imaginative emotional thought paradise.Although eventually suppressed by the mainstream Christianity,but its spirit still exists in Western thought,in the era of rational and rigid time to reorganize the spirit of the times.Manichaeism in the West was considered heresy which was suffered oppression,but was able to survive in the east.From the aesthetic view,its emphasis on the role of art in the mission and the same as the Chinese aesthetic thinking is an important reason for a long time existence in China.For the doctrine,Manichaeism pursues the practice of asceticism.However,during the process of evangelism,Manichaeism emphasizes the use of various artistic means to convey religious thoughts.Mani thought it was important to the artistry of the book,emphasizing the beauty of the book and the exquisite illustrations;paying attention to the role of painting in the process of evangelism;religious rituals are full of artistic atmosphere.Manichaeism aborted a large number of Chinese Buddhist art modeling,techniques and symbols,casting a suitable for the expression of the core of the teaching and understanding of the Chinese.The cosmic dynamic model of the Manichaeism is divided into the evolution of the"yin" and "yang" in the traditional Chinese thought.The Chinese Manichaean classics used the scope of "yin" and "yang" to describe the cosmic generation.Manichaeism deals with the light and dark confrontation of the yin and yang,and takes the framework of the epistemology of Buddhism that is familiar to the Chinese intellectual world.In terms of the highest pursuit of beauty,the beginning and the end of the cosmic drama are the state of light and darkness in their fields,which is the highest state of beauty in the pursuit of Manichaeism in China and the beauty provide another form of expression.The convergence of the aesthetic paradigm and the convergence of the thinking patterns are the internal causes of the spread of Manichaeism in China and the fundamental factor in the flourishing development of Manichaeism in China.Modern social reality and cultural trends have once again aroused the resurgence of Gnosticism,its mythological archetypes,spiritual images into the literature and art,from existentialism to postmodernism,from literature to painting,from film and television to online games.Modern Gnosticism presents a different characteristic from ancient doctrine,weakening its religion and extreme asceticism,highlighting its aesthetic and spiritual practice.This change is both an adaptation to the modern social culture and the result of the transgression of Gnosticism.In short,Gnosticism takes Gnosis as the core point,with the myth as the form of expression,combined with the poetic language and the unique drama narratives,showing the different characteristics from classical and Christian aesthetics.This kind of aesthetic choice and construction affect many future cultural trends,constitute a dark line of Western cultural development,and emerged in different times.