Yes it is ancient and many misinterpret it to be a religion or dogma but what this movement aims to do is teach the individual that knowing G-d is an individual thing but that it takes constant effort.. and for some who do not know even what kind of practices or efforts to put in, it gives some guiding examples, but always emphasizes it is best to find your own way through these techniques.

~In beautiful ways we are the blossom of the evolved and the experience of evolving~

Gnosis means knowledge, and ideally this is what it's supposed to be about, knowing God :) Good luck!

If Gnosis is the futile substitute for the reality of knowing God, what is the reality of knowing God?

Why do I think that the reality of knowing God IS Gnosis?

Good question Scot.  There was a disconnect the moment man elevated "the quest" for knowledge above the faith of an intimate relationship with his creator.  That disconnect relegated man to helplessness in his mind.  The information age began at the fall.  The information age is the futile attempt to know God without a reconnect to God.  You think the reality of knowing God is Gnosis because you are attempting to know God by Gnosis(the information age mistake).  Knowing God is not you knowing God, but it is knowing that God knows you according to his intention and way.

Jim, reality is when your ideal is finally real.  When reality is revealed to you ideals are cast aside.  Good Wishes!

When you use the words constant effort, practices, find, and evolving, it sounds like religion to me.

I would respectfully ask then to define religion in one's own words. We will see that it is different across a broad statistic.

When it's meant to be one thing and the mind of the masses have turned into another thing very far removed from any real spiritual accomplishment, the definition changes to fit people's evolving ideas, and further away from any real science.

What most aim for here is personal and experiential knowledge of an occulted science behind human spirituality, to know ourselves, while some other people might just be curious to see what fits into their own presumptions, ideas, and philosophies.
When something doesn't fit into our intellectual misconceptions, we can often make the mistake of using it as a reason to be upset and then leave with a bad attitude but then what did we learn about our true self when our ego obscures reality?

I like what ronw put, "When reality is revealed to you ideals are cast aside..."
I would agree; However, what is the reality of our ideas? Such requires a gnosis/knowledge of ourself.
Some argue Gnosticism is that same Platonic approach but I can see knowledge itself is what inspired Platonism to begin with, but such never evolved out of the realm of personal philosophy.

Nothing can be known in truth, without applying things practically. We can not read something and know it, we can not speculate about it with our ideas and have anything be known, it has to be comprehended through experience using conscious awareness and intuition (Da'ath).

The Divine is not something that can be speculated about and be known, it must be experienced. We all have our own connection to it, our own "I am," the Being.

What everyone longs for is a personal, experiencial knowledge of The Divine One. What many aim for does not satisfy the longing.  Religion is the aim of man in his quest to know God experiencially.  Man sets his own parameters of his religion and then aims for the experience.  True knowledge is not man centered but is revealed by G-d.  The parameters are set by the one who is Divine.  Religion then is anything that is a process within man-centered boundaries that attempts to know the divine.

"When you use the words constant effort, practices, find, and evolving, it sounds like religion to me."

Are you saying we should find God without putting any effort in at all?! Sorry, but finding God without effort is what the illusion of religion is all about. Spirituality is about effort and a science of the divine.

Hi Ron,

I appreciate what you say about the disconnect between looking for God, and the intimacy of faith in God. That's very true. Considering such distinctions makes me feel most humble, I assure you.

The ancient bond between man and God is so deep and yet open, who of us can set prescriptions for it?

If I feel God's presence, having faith is hardly required. But if I don't feel the Divine, what then? Would looking for God be wrong? If I find God and still I keep looking - well, that could happen. My spiritual senses have to develop some.

But is God just some blanket of reassurances for suffering humanity, or does He also call for something from us, something along the lines of becoming fit to have the souls we have been given, to return with interest the principles He opened our living accounts with?

If you are Christian, you know the words of Jesus . . . "many are called but few are chosen."

Maybe Gnosis is not so much looking for God but looking to see if we ourselves are truly fit to be chosen.

It is merely my presumption, but also my hope, that there's room in God's greatness for many mansions of rest and peace, and also many mansions of adventure and exploration and discovery.

- Scot