The Aim

The Aim of the Gnostic Studies

To know who we are, where we come from and where we are going has always been the fundamental aspiration of the human being.

Gnosis addresses that primordial necessity. The Greek term gnosis means knowledge. To obtain an integral knowledge of ourselves and of the Universe around us, of our material and spiritual destiny, is the true aim of the Gnostic studies.

Nevertheless, it is clear that we cannot reach that knowledge by using ordinary intellectual means or by mere theorization or simple beliefs. Unquestionably, Gnostic knowledge always escapes the normal analysis of subjective rationalism.

The British Institute of Gnostic Studies provides its members with special methods and systems, so that every one of us can become free from all these scourges afflicting humanity.

In this respect, Gnosis invites us to understand that there is ‘something’ in us that is beyond our merely physical nature. We have a body of flesh and blood. That is obvious and anyone accepts that reality, but very few realize that we also have a personal psychology that can be modified.

People, as a rule, believe that they are only related to the outer world, but Universal Gnosticism teaches us that we are also related to an inner world or psychological space, which is invisible to the physical senses, but it is visible through what Eastern people call ‘the third eye’ or clairvoyance.

This inner world is far vaster and contains things that are more interesting than those existing in the physical environment.

Our thoughts, as well as our emotions, longings, hopes, fears, jealousy, frustrations, etc. are internal. They are psychological. They are not visible to the ordinary senses, and yet they are for us more real than the dining-room table or the living-room armchairs.

We certainly live longer in our internal world than we do in our external one. This being the case, as it is indeed, we attach, however, a greater importance to the physical world, to what is superficial, to what, as a matter of fact, has no importance.

Consequently, we live in an internal world that we are unaware of, each one of us being conditioned by his or her own subjective and selfish interests, passions, desires, worries, etc., suffering mechanically without knowing the reason or the purpose.

On the other hand, there are more internal senses than external ones, and some schools have methods for developing them. However, all of this could lead us to confusion and failure unless we begin by developing the sense of psychological self-observation.

The development of the sense of inner observation gradually leads us to self-knowledge, since it allows us to carry out a psychological inventory of what we have too much and what we have too little. When we reach this stage of self-knowledge, the other internal senses will develop extraordinarily.

Therefore, by self-discovering what we are internally and eliminating ‘that which’ is within ourselves and makes our life so painful, we will solve the enigma of our own existence and will develop all our latent possibilities. This is why we have been told:

‘O man, know yourself and you will know the Universe and the Gods’

British Institute of Gnostic Studies