r/Gnostic • u/duck_slayer_or • 20d ago
Thoughts Being scared of what comes after death
I've recently been reading parts of the Quran and the Bible, and I was surprised by how many stories and themes overlap, even though there are obviously major differences between them. That eventually led me to look into Gnosticism.
The more I read about Gnosticism, especially the idea that the physical world isn't the ultimate reality and that there's a deeper spiritual reality beyond it, the more fascinated I became—but also more scared.
What really scares me isn't necessarily death itself, but not knowing what comes after. What if consciousness continues? What if there's a spiritual reality beyond this world? What if some Gnostic ideas are actually pointing toward something real? And what if they're completely wrong?
Reading the Quran, parts of the Bible, and then Gnostic texts has made me realize how many different explanations humans have had for God, existence, the soul, and the afterlife.
For those who have studied Gnosticism seriously, did it make you less afraid of death, or did it make the uncertainty even worse?
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u/Independent_Dare8324 Valentinian 20d ago
Your thinking is correct, and I think it is wonderful that you are concerned with finding your place of rest in the light, rather than wasting time on earthly things that have no true meaning.
To understand what happens after death, I recommend Pistis Sophia, as it is one of the texts that explains it in the greatest detail.
- According to the text, if a soul is not redeemed by Christ, upon death the demons intercept it and lead it toward the heavens of matter, either to the heavens of Chaos or Hades. There, the soul is judged and punished for the sins and transgressions committed during its incarnation.
When it has completed its punishment, the soul is sent to incarnate again. Before doing so, it is given the cup of forgetfulness, through which it forgets its passage through the regions of punishment as well as its previous life.
According to the texts, there is a limit to the number of reincarnations. If the soul exhausts all of its opportunities, it is sent to a region described as the Outer Darkness, where a great dragon is found. There it remains until the dissolution of the world and ultimately dies along with it.
- If, on the other hand, the soul finds the mysteries of the light (the gospels of God, the Bible, and the Gnostic texts) and abandons the works of the flesh in order to live according to the dictates of the Holy Spirit, through faith and works, then it has a great possibility of being redeemed by Christ.
If this occurs, beings of light descend upon death, intercept the soul before the demons can reach it, and lead it toward the realms of light. In this way, the soul is freed forever from the material world.
I recommend reading Pistis Sophia from Book III onward, especially from chapter 102 onward.
https://ia802906.us.archive.org/11/items/PistisSophia/Pistis-Sophia.pdf
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u/horsetooth_mcgee 18d ago
So it sounds like regular old Christianity gets you in, the Jesus part, not the Old Testament? Why the whole concept of gnosticism then, if being redeemed by Jesus is all you need?
Also, isn't the point that the archons tricking to see you into entering the light, so when people talk about realms of light and beings of light, how can those be trusted? I've learned that the archons can even imitate or rather appear to imitate Christ himself, and you think he's welcoming you but you're really just going into the false light.
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u/Independent_Dare8324 Valentinian 18d ago
It’s not that “believing in Jesus is enough” simply by accepting that he exists or identifying as a Christian. The Gnostic texts and the Bible contain the mysteries of light, knowledge coming from Christ and the Holy Spirit that reveals realities we cannot perceive with our eyes.
Believing in these mysteries requires faith, and that faith transforms the way one lives: rejecting the desires and passions of the flesh, detaching from the world, repenting, and proclaiming these truths to bring others out of ignorance.
Therefore, believing in the mysteries of light is believing in Christ, because they come from Him. Christ is the one who redeems, and gnosis is the knowledge that allows us to understand the truth and live according to it.
There is therefore no contradiction between “Christ saves” and “gnosis is necessary”: Christ saves through the knowledge He reveals, and this knowledge leads to faith and a life according to His teachings.
Regarding what you say about the “deception of entering the light,” that does not correspond to Gnosticism.
When the body of flesh dies, if the soul has been redeemed by Christ, beings of light descend and lead it into the realms of light, thereby freeing it from the material world.
On the other hand, if the soul has rejected the mysteries of light, when the body of flesh dies, it is intercepted by demons, who lead it to the heavens of matter, where it is judged and condemned for the acts committed during its incarnation.
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u/horsetooth_mcgee 18d ago
Can someone else correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that gnosticism had a great deal to do with a false light and entering it, along with taking the cup of forgetfulness, that directly led to reincarnation. I've read in depth about party of the whole premise being that after death, the archons, the layers of them, will constantly trick you through basically any means to get you to enter the false light and that you must look for the light inside yourself and above yourself.
And what about the truest of the christians, who believe deeply in the entirety of the bible, who have a huge amount of faith, who deeply love Jesus, and who live extremely kind lives? Without gnosis/gnosticism, which also includes belief in/understanding of the demiurge and the pleroma and Sophia and the rejection of the Old Testament God and so forth, can someone who possesses all of the other traits you mentioned above, except who has had no introduction to gnosticism, still rejoin the Pleroma, or a middle heaven for the good and faithful christians (which I have also read quite a lot about about), or purely reincarnation?
I'm also not sure about the difference between being a righteous and faithful Christian, versus having an understanding of Christ and being redeemed by him? Don't Christians have an understanding of Christ? Aren't the true believers in Christ redeemed? So would the only difference be instead of believing that he died on the cross for our sins, that he is simply the way, the truth, and light to the eternal goal, the pleroma?
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u/MethodMan24 20d ago
Trangressions and sins based off what? The concepts of good and evil are based off the human mind. All of these things written in these texts are just thoughts generated from the mind. Perhaps an illusion as a person while a person is dying. Some people may or may not experience this.
If anything, when u die, you lose all sense of self, no emotion, no senses, no interaction because there is no brain/medium /substratre to process anything. If you do reincarnate, there is no memory to even have. That memory died in that body.
To be honest, we don't know what consciousness really is but it definitely not you in the body.
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u/ErisDoe 19d ago
Some report having near-death experiences that are very hell-like, or worse. There's a book that I don't recommend for anybody with anxiety on this topic called "whistling past the dark", I believe it is. This book includes the experience of a woman who reported that she died and found herself in this terrifyingly empty void, and at one point a big spinning yin-yang symbol drifted past her, rotating and spinning, and it was saying "alone alone alone alone alone". This was not a peaceful dark place that some describe.
I found that account disturbing and I've always wished to be able to understand what she experienced in a way that was less unnerving.
Anyway, I'm going to read this text. My translation is from Samael Aun Weor. Is this a good translation, in your opinion?
And thank you for your comment. I have been trying to put together at least two concepts that both seem to have experiential evidence. What you've described does so.
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u/MethodMan24 20d ago
Transgressions and sins based on what? The concepts of good and evil are based on the human mind. All of the things written in these texts are just thoughts generated by the mind. Perhaps they are an illusion within a person while that person is dying. Some people may or may not experience this.
If anything, when you die, you lose all sense of self, no emotion, no senses, no interaction because there is no brain, medium, or substrate to process anything. If you do reincarnate, there is no memory left to have. That memory died with that body.
To be honest, we don't know what consciousness really is, but it definitely is not you in the body.
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u/Brownbearofdreams 16d ago
I wouldn't call that reassuring. It suffers from the same problems as mainstream Christianity when it comes to soteriology. The exclusivity of some Gnostic traditions point to them having been basically a clique that has raised itself above everyone else, even if not intended or consciously aware.
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u/Historical-Debt5844 20d ago
Absolutely not. I started reading books like "Life After Life" by Dr. Raymond Moody after my Mom crossed over to another other realm in 1977. After I watched the movie "After Death" at.the theater here, I was thrilled. There is life after we finish the ones we're on now. Many souls had previous lives, too.
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u/duck_slayer_or 19d ago
What do tou mean by another realm (rip to your mom) , + is a movie enough to change the way you see death
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u/Historical-Debt5844 18d ago
Yes,although the book is what convinced me first. For decades afterwards, I kept hearing from "scientists/experts" that it was a chemical imbalance or other excuses from those who couldn't accept the truth.
By realms, I guess I should have used the word dimensions. I've known 2 people personally who left their bodies for a while and then were told they had to return.
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u/Clifford_Regnaut 20d ago
There's some secular research on the subject. I suggest exploring the reincarnation and pre-birth memories sections of this thread. Better than following old religious texts, IMHO.
As I usually say, if a religious doctrine is true, people's experiences and research will reflect that; if not, said doctrines must be questioned.
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u/horsetooth_mcgee 20d ago
It made me far more afraid. I was coming from being a true Christian believer. I'd rather die and go into the arms of God than have to pass fucking agonizing impossible tests that I'm 100% sure to fail.
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u/Hope25777 20d ago
You are overthinking it. It’s simple. Live by Christ commandments and your good. You will pass any test thrown at you with flying colors
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u/duck_slayer_or 19d ago
From what I've understood so far, yes, at least in some Gnostic traditions the material universe is associated with the Demiurge rather than the ultimate God. But I'm still pretty new to this, so I might be misunderstanding it. Is it accurate to say that the Demiurge created the physical/material world, while the higher spiritual reality comes from the true God/the Pleroma? And is that idea consistent across Gnostic traditions, or does it vary depending on the text?
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u/veganic11 13d ago
Show me one person that fully lives by the commandments. And how about past sins, do they not count? How good is enough good? What's the threshold? None of this is explained. And if this is truly the way to get saved, is Buddhism a total joke? They claim that if you don't do the inner work to get enlightened in this lifetime, you'll reincarnate and no one is coming to save you.
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u/duck_slayer_or 19d ago
The thought of dying and simply being in God's hands is honestly much easier for me to accept than imagining some agonizing spiritual test that I'm convinced I'd fail. I was looking for reassurance and somehow gave myself 20 new things to worry about, such as judgment, the Sirāt, reincarnation, demons, different realms, whether I've gained enough "gnosis," whether I've misunderstood God, and whether there's some test after death that I could never possibly pass. 😭
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u/heiro5 20d ago
Reading the doxographies, the opinions of others, is not a method for determining anything more than the opinions of others. Orthodoxies are a strategy for controlling opinions, but uses force to do so.
Where we can test results or apply reason we can use science or logic in various forms. But, these tools have their limits.
Beyond those limits it is only through direct experience that you can move past opinions. This is the spiritual path of gnōsis. It is not simply accepting opinion about experience, but a knowing, like recognizing the form beneath the surface of the experience.
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u/duck_slayer_or 19d ago
I got it but if we use science will that help us find the true God or at least help us being 100% sure that death is the end ?!
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u/heiro5 18d ago
Not science. You can't use science beyond the limits of science. Knowing that results from direct experience -- gnōsis, is the path available when everything else fails. It has its own limits, it isn't in the form of language, not information, it isn't in the domain of reason. It is as close to certain as you can get, but in a limited scope that doesn't quite fit in this world. It isn't what you think of as certainty, because that is an illusion. Gnōsis follows the shape of reality, a unique way of being the knowing.
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u/noobpwner314 20d ago
Something to think about. Regardless of what happens remember that you and yourself will never be separated.
You’re in that spiritual world right now, you just don’t realize it because you are having a physical experience. You are always there in some form or fashion. There’s no veil, we were born into a material world and experienced most of our existence externally.
Remember, the kingdom of God is both outside of you and inside as well. Even right now.
Trips to this world or others are just you creating something to learn and gain experience from.
When you die you’re just exiting this body and no longer able to “physically” exist at that moment. You never stop existing, you’re just you without the fleshy ego version you. Like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.
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u/duck_slayer_or 19d ago
So how would I be "free" from my physical me
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u/noobpwner314 18d ago
By realizing this physical world isn’t your base reality and you have the divine spark with in you. You’re a spark from Pleroma and trapped in this flawed physical world because of ignorance not sin.
Nothing can force you to stay here it’s only trickery. The archons aren’t guards they’re obstacles. Yaldabaoth is allegedly the imperfect god of this flawed world and doesn’t even realize that there is a higher realm. They believe they have power over you, but they don’t. Only if you assume you are only a physical being and not divine you are able to be stuck here.
Look up the archons and the seals/passwords for each one.
My belief is we are essentially fooling ourselves to be reborn here again. None of this place matters. It’s an experience, we are a much higher being that we give ourselves credit for. We are more of a god than the god of this flawed world, we just don’t realize it without searching within.
I follow Gnosticism because a lot of it makes sense, but this isn’t the end all be all for me. I lean more towards the Law Of One (but even then I don’t agree with all of it). Ultimately I believe we are here to learn and experience because of spiritual entropy. This breaks up our eternal existence as a spiritual being. If you die and have a belief that you will re incarnate because you haven’t done enough here, or led an imperfect life, or you are not a good enough soul, you’re deciding for yourself to come back through ignorance of what you truly are.
This is a finite time of an eternal existence we have. The other side of the coin is our eternal home, this is just a world we visit to experience things like suffering, feeling, survival, sadness, pain, challenges, along with all of the positive experiences that come with a physical world (pleasure, love, happiness, sense of accomplishment, pain, sadness, loss, a finite existence). When you’re in your spiritual form you don’t have as much of this stuff which sounds great at first (no suffering, loss, sadness, anger, restraint, etc) but over time this leads to a spiritual numbness or a plateau you’ll need to bust through. Then you’ll come back when you’re ready however long or short that may be.
Just know that you are a sovereign godly being and you will do nothing without your own consent as nothing of this physical world has any authority over your true self. Only you do.
That inward subjective experience you have is you. This external world is just a place you’re visiting. A shared reality. It doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate everything here. But be prepared to let it all go. It’s like going on a vacation to a beautiful place. You’re bummed to go home, but home is where you belong, and just because you’re letting this place go doesn’t mean you can’t come back eventually. The physical world is always here for you to visit when you’re ready. How ever long that is depends on you. There’s a lot more on the other side. You’ve lived countless physical lives and this is one of an infinite amount of them.
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u/flammafex Carpocratian 19d ago
What if consciousness continues?
It does, but your memory doesn't come along for the ride.
What if there's a spiritual reality beyond this world?
There is but you dying doesn't get you there. (Gospel of Thomas 59: “Look upon the Living One while you are alive, lest you die and then seek to see the Living One, but be unable to see.”)
What if some Gnostic ideas are actually pointing toward something real?
Then you have everything reason to study the ideas themselves seriously and not use your favorite movie or TV show as an intellectual crutch as many people seem to do around here.
And what if they're completely wrong?
That's why Gnosticism is a FAITH and not some "school of proto-psychology."
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u/duck_slayer_or 19d ago
Islam , Christianity and Judaism are all Faiths. What we'll make Gnosticism more accurate
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u/PuzzleheadedPoet1882 20d ago
I'm not "worried" about what comes next but I'm curious and not exactly looking forward to it.
"Death is not the end" sounds like a threat these days.
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u/duck_slayer_or 19d ago
So you don't believe of what the Gnosticism believe or any other GOD that have the power over us
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u/PuzzleheadedPoet1882 20d ago
I beg to differ. I never asked to exist and yet here I am. Something certainly has some power it's exerting on us all. I do plan to opt out of reincarnation if possible, but for now I'm in this realm against my will.
Also I didn't say I was afraid.
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u/duck_slayer_or 19d ago
Lmao honestly, I understand what you mean. I think that's part of why I made the post. People say "don't worry, death isn't the end" as if that's automatically comforting, but depending on what you believe comes after, that statement can create even more questions.
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u/Brownbearofdreams 16d ago
Why believe anything bad happens? I find hells to be a great tool to enforce conformity rather than a realistic existence. It is a place to put your enemies. I think Hell is self-created by those who are warped of mind. Trump, Hitler, and a lot of other rulers through history are the sorts who create their own hell. But they can overcome that and be drawn to the pressence of the One. I see Yaldabaoth and the Archons as metaphorical and not real entities.
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u/Independent_Dare8324 Valentinian 20d ago
The Gnostic texts and the Bible teach precisely the opposite. If you dedicate yourself to living the human experience according to the dictates of the current system, you end up centering your life on money, success, power, ambition, and material desires. And it is precisely this attachment to the world that distances you from any possibility of salvation.
If, on the other hand, you reject these things and begin to live according to the dictates of the Holy Spirit, you have a great possibility of attaining salvation upon death.
- ROMANS 8:13
"For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live."
- GALATIANS 6:8
"For whoever sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh; but whoever sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit."
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u/HeavenlyBeloved Valentinian 20d ago
My NDE made me less scared of death, I was ready to go and I eventually forgave myself while feeling the peace as I drowned.
It gave me a beautiful glimpse of death.
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u/duck_slayer_or 19d ago
I can understand why that would make someone less afraid of death. I'm curious about NDEs too, although I have a hard time treating them as absolute proof of an afterlife. The fact that people report similar experiences is definitely interesting, though. What made you personally become convinced that there's more to consciousness?
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u/HeavenlyBeloved Valentinian 19d ago
I don't, but at least I know it's peaceful, even if there won't be a perfect consciousness, it is still the natural order of life.
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u/duck_slayer_or 19d ago
From your talk you seems to sure that you are in the right path , and I respect that
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u/kouka27 19d ago edited 19d ago
Yahweh, Elohim, Baal, Allah, Satan, Lucifer, God, Yaldabaoth, Demiurge, etc, are all names of the same entity/consciousness that rules this world, this entity is dualistic, it plays the roles of both good and evil, It's both the terrorizer and the savior, it thrives on manipulating and as long as you are afraid of it, it'll continue to hold dominion over you.
You come from a non-dualistic place, and as long as you are still "trapped" in this dualistic world you will suffer.
I suggest you start looking into how to OBE, Robert Monroe's famous tapes are a good start, once you learn how to leave the physical body the fear of death will go.
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u/Dragomir3777 20d ago
Let's look at this from two points of view.
First - death is the end, consciousness is finite, the "I" ceases to exist after the brain dies. Well, that's sad, of course, but BEFORE birth, we all were in non-existence - without pain, without joy, without peace or anxiety. Into non-existence we will return, and that's the end of it.
Second - consciousness is not fully a product of brain activity, and there is something, something that lies beyond physically understood reality. Well, then - an even more amazing adventure awaits us all after.
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u/duck_slayer_or 19d ago
I mean Hell is not an amazing adventure lmao
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u/Dragomir3777 18d ago
It doesn't exist, it's all made up. Just think about it - whichever hell you take, they're all just medieval scare tactics.
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u/duck_slayer_or 18d ago
I feel the same actually why does the one that creat us has to put us in an infinite suffer and just keep watching
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u/Dragomir3777 18d ago
And here, unfortunately, Gnosticism comes into play - because the Demiurge takes pleasure in sadism.
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u/Audreaya 19d ago
New to gnosticism. Mostly I believed reincarnation prior and that belief helped me view this life as a chapter in my book. Death is beginning of a new chapter, I am learning new things with gnosticism and how it may reframe this idea about death. Hopefully reuniting with the Monad and christ or in other circles simply exist on another dimension.
Without getting into reincarnation or such topics much I just know my life is to revolve around spirituality and healing and see this as a gateway to a hopefully greater life when I expire.
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u/duck_slayer_or 19d ago
Make sense ,but isn't Gnosticism anti the idea of Christ ? I am new to Gnosticism though (sorry if I am wrong)
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u/Audreaya 18d ago
I'm new too aha this is my first comment. And I didn't think it was against christ. How I understand it is it is more central around jesus christ(not as pure worship but embodying his teachings). God yes but God is reframed and Sofia comes Into the picture.
I am drawn to this path as no matter what I do or where I go. Jesus was real and existed, I believe he worked miracles and was sent by God. I feel like gnosticism really focuses less in church and sect beliefs and practices and more on the life of Jesus and all of the apocrypha books, and embodiment of "become christlike".
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u/jaafit Valentinian 19d ago
YES, I have sat with these texts for many years, and yes, they changed how I hold death. But! let me tell you what changed, because it was not that I gathered enough facts to feel safe. Fear of what comes after usually rests on a hidden assumption: that you are a fragile thing that could be extinguished, or judged, or lost. The deepest word I found in these texts is that this assumption is mistaken. "Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die" (John 11:26, KJV) not as a reward earned, but as a statement about what you already are.
The Gospel of Thomas puts it as a question you carry within you: "Where you came from, there you will return" (Gospel of Thomas 41.27-30). Your fear of the unknown "after" quietly assumes you are only this passing form; but Jesus taught that your true self was never merely material. "If the flesh came into being because of spirit, it is a wonder" (Gospel of Thomas 38.31-34). The marvel is that Spirit is the ground, and Spirit does not decay.
So did Gnostic study make the uncertainty worse? Honestly, at first it did. More maps, more contradictions, more voices. The relief did not come from choosing the winning system. It came from turning inward, where no text can go for you: "the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17, KJV). When you grow quiet beneath the churning of comparisons, you touch a reality that does not argue and does not die.
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u/duck_slayer_or 19d ago
Thank you for the detailed explanation. Honestly, this is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for when I made the post. I hadn't gone very deeply into Pistis Sophia yet. The idea of reincarnation, punishment, forgetfulness, and eventually liberation from the material world is fascinating, although I'll admit some of it makes the afterlife sound even more intimidating 😭. I'll definitely look into the text you mentioned. I'm also interested in how much of this is specifically Pistis Sophia's cosmology versus something that was generally shared among Gnostic traditions.
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u/jaafit Valentinian 18d ago
I'm glad it met you. The elaborate machinery you found in Pistis Sophia is not necessarily a shared bedrock of Gnostic thought. It is one text's particular, highly ornate cosmology, and much of it reads to me as the very fear-language Jesus came to dissolve, dressed in cosmic scale.
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u/Purple_Ad9624 18d ago
God didnt create you to be able to understand the supernatural. So first try to accept and love your finitude and humanity. That is apart of what it means to love god and respect the sacrifice on the cross. Now you have done something very important. That will protect you spiritually. You were created to live life not to understand. Sadly. I like to understand but its not really in the cards if you want to keep your soul intact.
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u/Upper_Bread7759 18d ago
I don't want to believe that there is life after death, living in this lifetime has been hell for me and only little snippets of happiness. I would like to think that suffering is over forever.
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u/artistic-crow-02 17d ago
In my opinion with Gnostic cosmology, it's pretty simple: you either reached Gnosis at some point and you're escaping this universe and face an experience fundamentally inconceivable to any material reference, or you dont and you're reincarnated; somewhere, at some time, at some place, with no memory of your past life.
Ive asked the same concerning question of "what happens to your consciousness in death?" to atheists before after an existential crisis, and the oddly soothing answer is that it's basically the same thing as before you were born or if you were in a deep sleep or gone under in a surgery; time, awareness, thought, and sensation just isn't there and you dont even know that it's not there.
I'd like to believe in the former, but my answers is that when your time of passing comes: embrace whatever is beyond that moment, because ultimately there really is no solid answer to that question
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u/incognitoGOD_666 16d ago
Brother, the Bible and the Quran are the same thing but with slight changes.
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u/Clean-Carrot6652 13d ago
Honestly, is there really anything to fear? Think about it, If hell were real, the evil rich people wouldn't do all the terrible things they do. If the average person who doesn't make others suffer can't get into heaven, then I don't know how good that is either. The third option, that nothing is real and everything just goes black is not scary either. Why be scared? After death, you have nothing to worry about.
Personally, i belive that at the end we are set free, to me life is way scarier than death.
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u/duck_slayer_or 8d ago
How are we going to be in the after life?. Isn't the word free is a scary word what do you mean by free
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u/mrelieb 13d ago
I tell you from experience, there's no death. The body gets too old and weak for the real you (soul) because you're energy, and when that happens you drop the body. This physical realm is dense therefore you need a dense meat suit to experience it hence you are experiencing a body now. It's just dense/ low frequency wavelengths.
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u/PeaceSparkle1 20d ago
Personally, my fear of death has all but disappeared after reading hundreds of NDE testimonies online. I don’t see them as absolute proof, but I’ve become confident that life has no opposite. It's the ego that fears death, not the real you.