So completely by coincidence, James Lindsay has just republished his lecture "The Negation of the Real" on his own New Discourses channel. Originally it was on another channel. So here's the link to the new video kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gtGPqpVendnSh58.html (He released this an hour and a half after I published this video! What are the odds!)

Really appreciate the use of 40k, meme imagery, and other artwork to both illustrate, add levity, and empathize and every combination! It takes a skilled orator to add levity and engagement without compromising their argument.

As a Religious Studies student and World War II history fanatic, my two life obsessions come together in this video!

Bro… i just found your channel… now my only question is: what do I tell my boss tomorrow when I don’t go to work because I stay home and do a marathon of your videos? Thanks for the amazing work…

Really very enlightening. Thank you. As a German Roman Catholic and Philosophy teacher (after a career in military and international affairs), this is truly a good summary of the Gnostic problem. It is vital in order to understand current affairs and history to dig deeper into people's believes, whether they be religious or philosophic. Also our current situation seems like a re-iteration of this theme...

Hey Tik, glad you decided to go through with the video despite the possibility of stepping on toes. And as a Christian I found it very interesting to see how Christianity relates to gnosticism, it was especially interesting to re-read John 1:3 as I had never realised what it had actually said before, goes to prove that we can always learn more.

More people need to see this, and James Lindsay's podcasts on gnosticism and the roots it has in the current climate. Once you realize that the reason all these awful ideologies operate a lot like religion is because they ARE a religion things start to make more sense and they are more easily combatible.

Note how Irenaeus of Lyons wrote several books called "against heresies" around 200 AD where he refutes the gnostics.

As a Christian myself, I love these types of videos. I read lots of bible lore and research demonology, I read a lot of intelligent design writers like Harvard PhD Stephen Meyr and Oxford professor John Lennox. In their books they speak chapters on how esoteric faiths drop one faith, only to pick up another one. As Tolkien said, Evil cannot create, it can only imitate what good has already created and corrupt it."

Hey Tik, here we go! ... As a Catholic who studies theology as a hobby, I have a few comments off the top of my head, for the sake of CURIOSITY, that I might make to give you a taste of the Catholic worldview (which is substantially different from the Protestant view and, therefore, I hope that they do not get frustrated or start a long discussion on the merits of religion itself, as the focus is Gnosticism and nothing else), aiming for, and nothing else, to incite a light, as one cannot study theology without touching Gnosticism in some way or moment (and I am even grateful that you have brought into focus this problem that we, Catholics, have been fighting on for a long time, inside and outside the Church). Over the centuries, the Church has waged a constant struggle against countless Gnostic heresies, each one putting on a cover and generally making use of either the old paganism and philosophies of distant origin from Greece, or the pagans who invaded Europe during the the Middle Ages or, and perhaps more relevantly today, a countless number of secret groups and sects from Renaissance onwards. It is worth mentioning that, as an exemple pointed out in your video, there was a number of theologians and other priests and bishops, especially as scholasticism decayed after Saint Thomas Aquinas, and came the Black Death and the Western schism (culminating in the deplorable 15th century), who were all certainly traitors to the doctrine of the Church that, later and together, many ended up literally schism on the Protestant Reformation. Anyway, it is not new that the Church is attacked from the outside and from within, as well as the West (the Freemasons, as mentioned in the video, waged a long fight to demolish the old order and especially its values, achieving great success). I think it's worth mentioning that a brief search on crappy Wikipedia will give to you a list of condemned heresies that have Gnosticism in their veins. Gnosticism, which can be seen as man going by his strength and his knowledge to God, with human action at the center for his salvation (not needing grace or Divine forgiveness) tends, in my view, together with another cancer that is Nominalism (the killer of theology and classical philosophy), to create in man a fetishism for idolizing knowledge and with it manipulate all creation to either annihilate it (the Cathars are an example), or alter it to “evolve” (thus entering Millenarianism, another heresy!,) falling on the idea that man, like a machine, can be psychologically predicted, controlled and changeable by eugenics/transhumanism; falling into a determinism by excluding the ontological being of things; falling on ideas such as economic, social and even religious control; and falling on a progressive worldview, where everything that happens is “to a better world that is coming”, as if the perfection of life on earth was up to man himself to create it (man bringing paradise to earth), always through a revolution (today with subversion), which is a sudden and violent change of things, from which something better will come out of the carcass of the old (that is like killing and killing to create a world of good men)... In the case of socialism in its forms, I see Hegel as a screaming pivot of the gnostic vision cautiously applied to a philosophy already made with a dangerous matrix as it's base... Anyway, this is a gigantic topic that I am not qualified for and I also speak from the head, giving an opinion... It is worth mentioning, as a detail, that Saint Augustine was especially a Manichaean (a type of syncretist Gnosticism (it seems that ALL Gnosticism is syncretist, because yes, it is a parasitic religion-philosophy)). And regarding his criticism of Saint John (and here comes the religious controversy!,) no Saint in the Church can be perfect. Saints make mistakes in theological (not doctrinal!) matters that are not serious, which is easily proven by observing all the theological discussion in the Middle Ages between them. Sainthood is correlated with one's morals, faith, and love, not knowledge. Furthermore, Saint Augustine was contemporary with the Church's discussions to form the Biblical canon, and there were, at that time, an enormous amount of discussion and trouble about it (including heretics such as the Gnostics themselves within the Church arguing the intrusion of a bunch of apocryphal books, which were a bunch of contradictory crap, in the New Testament). I, personally, find it absurd to impute a heresy to Saint John (or even Saint Paul), both because of the action of the Holy Spirit in them (yes, I have faith) and because the former lived with Christ, listening to explanations directly from him. On the day of Pentecost, all the present disciples of Christ received the Holy Spirit and, therefore, knowledge and some divine interpretation (Acts 2.4 Including that “they spoke in other tongues.”) The problem is not in receiving information from God, since there are countless examples of important people in and out (by miracles) of the Bible who received something, even a single word (which constitutes “information”). Gnosticism is not just about information, but also about action to accomplish something supposedly prophesied. In no way does the Church try to accomplish with her own strength what is written in the Book of Revelation, and no one in their right mind should try to do so. As it is common in all heresy, excerpts from the sacred scriptures are kidnapped to support a crazy belief, denying other beliefs in return and, if possible, using the prestige of saints, theologians and pastors of the Church. Then comes the question: If it is a problem of interpretation, how to verify if a Protestant pastor or a Catholic priest is Gnostic? The doctrine of the Church, supported by tradition and the later Bible, not by the mouth of a priest or a pope (who can say a lot of nonsense)... But if I follow this road, we’ll go outside the topic. As I said, Tik (or any other patient reader), I just wanted to sum up my side. I still haven't watched the lecture that was recommended in this video (it's too long!,) and I won't give sources because this text shouldn't be taken seriously... I find it interesting for someone to touch on a subject as forgotten today as Gnosticism, as I have the impression that only half a dozen of traditional Catholics still remember that this curse of thought still exists… Anyway, sorry for the bad english.

Well, TIK, I have come to your video by a recomendation from a brazilian booktuber. Using Eric Voegelin, Joachim of Flora, and the witings of Mein Kampf you made a tremendous and amazing work! Congratulations!!!!! Sometimes, when discussing about the failures about reasoning with socialists, I remind to colleagues "You're using the wrong key. You're trying to reason to someone who is a BELIEVER, deaf and blind to reason". And your video is incredibly direct to the center of the question.

The leap from, 'gnostics like to be prophets' and 'St. John wrote a prohetic book' to ' St. John was a gnostic' is quite the jump...

This is fascinating! I grew up in Scientology, and through this i can see that Scientology is in the same religious category as well.

Watching from Hong Kong. Stayed up to watch the new episode just in time of being released. TIK is simply the best and most analytical KZfaq channel out there. Thanks for your hard work week by week!

Your videos on gnosticism and the dialectic of history are absolutely wonderful and I've enjoyed watching them very much. Although, I must point out a few inaccuracies that I noticed, particularly as it pertains to the relationship between gnosticism and Christianity (I'm too lazy to check if someone else has already pointed these out). First, I think there may be some confusion at certain points as to whether you are talking about the Gospel of John, or the Book of Revelation (also called Apocalypse), which is also traditionally ascribed to John. Second, in Voegelin's book (p. 109 in the print edition), he does not claim that St Augustine condemned the Book of Revelation wholly, but rather condemned the literal interpretation of a 1 000 year reign of Christ on Earth, which is today believed by a lot of Protestants who subscribe to the idea of the Rapture. Apocalyptic literature in both Judaism and early Christianity purposely employed a rather mystic style like this, but addressed issues that affected the community of the faithful in that particular time. So, on the face of it, Revelation appears to be gnostic, but the 1 000 year reign John describes is more likely referring to the time of the Church on earth before the Second Coming of Christ. Moreover, in the concluding parts of John's gospel, he stresses the bodily aspect of Christ's resurrection, something that early gnostic heretics denied, as they said the Resurrection only took place spiritually. Also, as far as I know, John never says anything about the serpent copulating with Eve, I think that's part of the gnostic Jewish Kabbalah. Finally, while I do agree that gnosticism is parasitic and latched onto Christianity from its beginning, to suggest that St John and St Paul are gnostics would be to argue that gnosticism is an intrinsic part of Christianity by their writings being included in the canon, but this is simply false. Paul warned of the second coming, sure, but Christianity is far from intrinsically gnostic. The central claim of the religion is based on the public revelation of the person of Christ as opposed to secret knowledge given to a chosen few. Plus, Paul (whose letters were written before the gospels), was likely aware of gnostic teachings and condemned them in 1 Timothy and Titus. That's also not even mentioning St Irenaeus of Lyon and the Church's numerous condemnations of Freemasonry and modernism. Another noteworthy point is that I think it's also important to differentiate between mysticism and gnosticism, because gnosticism is inherently mystical, but mysticism is not inherently gnostic. There is definitely a rich history of Christian mysticism (e.g., Augustine, Teresa of Avila, etc.), but while their beliefs were mystical, they were also in line with Catholic orthodoxy. Not sure if you care about this, but just thought I'd mention it 🤷‍♂ Thanks again for the videos!

Paul and John were explicitly anti-gnostic.

In the last video TIK was concerned that all these masterpieces will be lost when KZfaq pulls the plug. I think it's important that these videos are transcribed and printed to keep them as true artefacts. I am sure that the TIK-Tech community could arrange to do this or download and retain the videos on separate platforms.

I learned SO much watching your video. Wow. I am a Muslim and have always been curious/unnerved/unsettled by this tendency which you taught me is gnostic. You just earned a new subscriber. Thank you for your work and wisdom, and the patience which you demonstrated while describing complicated history. Going to watch more of you videos now. God bless.

Honestly, this is mind-opening. Color me mind blown. Thank you for explaning Tik.

I always felt that there was more to National Socialism as what we've been teached in schools and could read in books. This explains a lot!!

Excellent work TIK, This is really quality assessment. I really truly have enjoyed your politics content and hope/wish only to see your channel grow even more. You have expanded my understanding with the 4hr national socialism video and now this too, to shed light on the life views of said ideologues. you are producing a work I feel is critical to also understanding our place in contemporary politics. Clarifying the fundamentals of socialism whilst understanding true history. Of course Gnosticism still being a framework some subscribe to this day. Be blessed. I and many others have respect for you. 💥

OK, hit the brakes for moment on St. John. John's epistles attacked early Gnosticism explicitly. The Revelation of St. John is NOT THE SAME as the Gospel of John (which in turn is not the same as the epistles - 1st John, 2nd John, and 3rd John). And no, St. John did not believe all those Gnostic heresies TIK mentions, he attacked some of them in his epistle letters. The "Revelation of St. John" has often been questioned as potentially pseudopigraphic, and therefore noncanonical, but it echoes much of what was revealed in the Old Testament books of Daniel and Ezekiel, so most Christian Churches accept it. And nothing in The Revelation is openly Gnostic, so it can be argued that the Gnostics simply laid claim to it in order to make their own beliefs appear orthodox (not to be confused with Orthodox).

Sounds interesting, not many other content creators talk about this topic!

i think you might be misinterpreting that mein kampf quote about self-censorship. hes saying that not everything you read is useful, but people who are so consumed with reading end up disconnecting themselves from reality because they are incapable of identifying what is worth preserving in their quest for knowledge. the act of reading is that quest, but it often falls short when you lose sense of the real world happening outside your window.

Thanks for such a thought provoking video! I've always interpreted his idea of the usefulness of reading as coming from a place of pragmatism. Not necessarily self censorship, but from the perspective of a man that knew exactly what he wanted to accomplish and used the framework of that vision to gather and organize information in his mind.

This was also discussed in Leftism: From DeSade to Marx, H;tler to Marcuse. Socialism may as well be another form of Gnosticism

45 years ago--in college--we went through the concepts behind secret societies, mystery religions, Mesopotamian and Egyptian history and the prof took us through various writings spanning a time from roughly 1200 BC to the 1970s. I walked away from that semester with a new appreciation of the enlightenment as well as where these political ideologies come from. What I found most interesting was that for the most part, no one in those movements is aware of any of this. In fact, they often attribute to open religions and societies these attributes of being "secret gnosis". In its most current form (wokeness), it goes even a step further and ascribes every act of every person from the mundane to the remarkable to this membership in the "evil" groups. This is why the entire woke mindset is so appealing to the so called elites--it is a basis of power--and the hoi polloi because it gives them someone to blame for their own inadequacies. For a true history scholar, one might study up on Nimrod...

I remember being a 4th year IR/PoliSci major taking an entry level world religion class and going completely overboard when our first assignment was writing 1-2 pages with the prompt "what is a religion?". It proved to be a far less simple task than it seemed and i ended up struggling to cut parts out and shorten ideas because i couldn't provide an answer I was satisfied with in anything under 6 pages, and even then I felt like I could have blown past 10 pages and still not feel like it was adequate. The biggest problem is that a definition of religion will either be very restrictive and leave out things that are widely accepted as religions (some don't have gods, some don't have a creation myth, some don't have unified belief, don't have spiritual hierarchy, don't have prayer etc. etc.) and especially once you start looking into something like Confucianism as a religion, the floodgates open. You start realizing that almost any political issue, party, movement, etc can start to display religious properties that become more pronounced the more people's convictions about it grow stronger. If people can become so dedicated to a political idea that they evangelize it's 'truth' to non believers and would be willing to die for it, no matter how rational or nonsensical the idea is, to them, even if they don't realize it, it has become a religion for them. It's a very hard idea to put boundaries on, but it seems so reliant on individual belief that just about any idea could potentially become part of a religion if someone makes it one.

My long form term paper at university for “political theory” tackled the very issue you discuss here & given the eponymous title of “Hegelian Gnosticism & Nazi Germany”. My claim turned only slightly fewer heads than arguing Hitler was a socialist of the left on the political spectrum. You did a great job here in this video and included Eric Voeglin’s seminal work on thrbd

I cannot stress more how important these videos about the various forms of socialism are, in this time we're living in. You're an invaluable resource.

It should be noted that the swastika is not just a Hindu symbol. There have been swastikas found on Norse artifacts as well, and it has roots in pagan spirituality seemingly, though scholars don't appear to be certain as to what it meant to them. Norse Magic and Beliefs did a video covering that topic.

Gnosticism actually finds its way into the church quite a bit. I frequently find myself reminding fellow Christians that we're Christians and not Gnostic. We believe in a God of spirit, who created the material world to be good and blessed. We believe in the Incarnation, when the God became man and in flesh walked among us. We believe in the Resurrection of th dead, where the physical body will be raised and reunited with the spiritual.

Really good video, but you should make a video on how Talmudic Judaism is extremely gnostic, even moreso than modern Christianity. Knowing this paints a fuller picture regarding why Mr. H hated them so much (gnostics hate other competing branches of gnostics), but criticizing this religion in this way is especially perilous on KZfaq.

Wow TIK, this is incredible. I really think you should look at this in more detail and bring us a docuseries about this topic, it is complex and i think it deserves it. I'm sure we, your viewers, will love it. Love your work

You are the professor I always wished for but never had. It’s insane this content is free. Never stop broadening our horizon. Thank You.

Because Gnostics adhered to concepts written in John's Epistle does not mean that it was influenced BY Gnostics. Moreover, the redemption of mankind through Christ Jesus's death and resurrection is found throughout the New Testament, therefore, it is silly to say that the idea of that came because of Gnostic ideology. If so, then one would have to conclude that ALL of Christian doctrine is "Gnostic." Moreover, it isn't the writings of John in the New Testament that say Eve "made out" with the serpent, but rather it is found in the *Apocryphon of John,* which was written BY Gnostics in the Second Century AD. This is what Eric Voegelin is talking about when he speaks of any links between St. John and Gnosticism. The *Apocalypse of John* is a different matter altogether. Nowhere in it does it speak of Eve or the serpent. There is an inference to Mary and a dragon (satan), but not Eve and the serpent. The Apocalypse of John (aka The Revelation of John) speaks of an ending of the "age of man" when Satan will try to stamp out all of God's influence in the world, a bewildering number of Saints will be martyred for their faith, and Christ himself will return to set everything right once again, a return that the entirety of mankind will witness as it occurs, explained clearly in Matthew 24: 23-27, *23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25 Behold, I have told you before. 26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.* Also, it says in the Apocalypse of John 1: 7, "Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen." (In other words, the "second coming" will not be a secret, private affair. Everyone will know it's happening all at the same time) The Gospel of John, John's three letters to the early church preaching AGAINST Gnostic heresy, and the Apocalypse of John have nothing to do with "Gnostic influences" that crept into the Christian scriptures. Anything that Gnostic writers wrote in support of anything John wrote also denies the heart and context of what he wrote, which is like Hitler trying to look "Christian" while being in complete conflict with Christ himself.

24:02 im curious if you think theres any relation between the 3 eras and klaus schwabs "4th turning". Im going to assume your already familiar with his books or at least the concept on them.

Nowhere in Scripture does John preach the false doctrine of the serpent having sexual relations with Eve. And when Paul warned about false doctrine and false teachings creeping into the church, he was talking about the gnostics. Neither Paul nor John were gnostics and preached none of its doctrine. Btw: Great presentation. I always sensed a certain religiosity about National Socialism, and this video provides the insights that elucidate that idea. I'm looking forward to future videos on the topic.

I'm in a sort of minority, an atheist conservative, sort of, I'm somewhere between conservative and libertarian, but I'm definitely an atheist and I'm definitely not on the left. It's very bizarre to see the overwhelming majority of atheists replace traditional religion with a creepy, cult like attachment to politics. It really makes no sense, "I believe in science, I'm too smart to believe in fairy tales like those dumb Christians, but also, men can be women and socialism will definitely work this time."

The Swastika wasn't and isn't exclusive to Hinduism and its derivatives. Several cultures including Native Americans have had swastikas as an important symbol.

Who are your critics? I want to listen to their arguments, because I haven't decided that you are right.

In the defense of Revelations: the book is very clearly against Gnosticism, as the main claim of the 1000 year old reign and many more, is that humans try to create heaven oj Earth and God crush them. Its not humans, who make God come down, and its not humans reaching out to God.

I've researched a bit into this sort of esoteric/gnostic/hermetic history and religion over the last years and I gotta say a lot of the things that were previously unexplainable to me suddenly started making a lot of sense. Glad to see it is not just me.

All three form of socialism, communism, fascism and nazzism, have utopian elements in them. As such they all have strong religious connotations. Even their hierarchical structure resembles religious principles, particularly in Catholic church. This is probably why so many catholic prists are ideologically on the left spectrum of politics.

Thanks TIK. I've read many of Voegelin's books and peruse his "New Science of Politics" about once a year. That said, I diverge from his interpretation of John and Paul. Since John's Apocalypse was mystical it is highly symbolic in conveying difficult supernatural ideas. Hence not meant to be taken literally in every aspect, especially the idea of the Millennium. Any religious notion can be warped. But putting aside theological questions, Voeglin's exploration of gnosticism in politics is spot on. Have been enjoying your exploration of its relevance to utopian ideologies.

Thank you TIK for another extremely interesting and fascinating video on a topic that you do not hear about from mainstream historians. Your five hour video on “ Hitler was a Socialist “ and the follow up videos were excellent. I referred my mother to them as she is currently in the process of obtaining a history degree now that she is retired. Thank you 😊

Great video, Tik, but I really have to disagree with you on implying that John was a gnostic. John fought against the early gnostics that were trying to claim that Jesus was a spirit and didn't have a physical body

Ancient pagan philosopher Plotinus also commented on the Gnostics, being highly critical of them, in his book "Against the Gnostics". He accused them of taking pagan terms and concepts and corrupting them in a disgraceful profane way. Because for Plotinus the Creator (Demiurge) entity who is conflated with Zeus / Jupiter, is benevolent instead of evil, and the world isn't evil in on itself because it was made to be evil by an evil entity, but people decide to make it evil by being evil themselves, which is being away from divinity.

Although I find it notable for you to dig this deep through the relations of national Socialism and Gnosticism, I have some problems with this video. Firstly, I find it difficult for me to call Gnosticism a religion. I think it's undeniably a form of spiritual knowledge and beliefs but I think it's a bit outstreching concepts to call it a religion in the same sense that christianity, judaism or islam are, basically social institutions, centrally organized, which I don't think is the case with Gnosticism. Also, when you say gnostics infiltrate other religions and corrupt them, do you mean to say those religions are only corrupt due to the influence of gnostics? I certainly hope not. And, for last, and making the assumption that you care, I think you should avoid too much dramatization when reading quotes, mainly the Hitler ones. It sounded a bit too much 'Darth Vaderic', if you allow me the neologism.

22:40 was when all the pieces fell into place for me. Looking back to when I was at catholic school and religious I was quite confused. The amount of sense this made is incredible.

You look a lot better/healthier for taking that break from the Stalingrad series. You obviously know better than I do, but it seems to me (in my limited Stalingrad knowledge) that you have done enough on that series. I’m sure there are several final events needed to wrap a nice bow around it but you do look so much healthier and more energetic and enthusiastic. Your content is awesome and very informative. Don’t listen to the haters. You do you in good faith and with positivity and let the vocal few haters do them and ignore their negativity. By acknowledging and responding you play in to their hope for justification and acknowledgement of their beliefs and messages. Kept up the good work TIK!!

Recently subbed and awesome work once again Tik on backtracking a whole belief system. Curious if a future video covers the role of romanticism and the Volk movement. If you do, I highly recommend the work Nazi Oaks by R. Mark Musser. Very eye-opening.

I somehow came across this video, and you provide the missing puzzle piece to my studies over the years for my question of WHY. I was on the right track intuitively but needed the facts to solidify it. I am subscribed now and am looking forward to seeing more of your other videos. Thank you for your good work. PS do you cover how far back the idea of "pure race" goes back, if it existed before the Nazis in any of your videos?

I have to say I would not have expected this exploration of gnosticism from TIK, who was one of my military history subscriptions years ago. He just burst unexpectedly into another area of my interests. Yet it makes sense because we want to understand what drove people to do the things they did in war, to understand the impact of their ideas on events and motivation, to try to get inside their imagination. That's always a dangerous endeavour because the risk you run is simply projecting all your own stuff on to others and claiming you understand them or seeing peripheral similarities between different movements and ideologies that really don't mean that much. Then the labels you give them start obscuring things more than illuminating them. But there is the common stuff of our shared humanity in this and I suspect he's on to something real. I was made to read Eric Voeglin decades ago by Prof. Tom Langan. I have to say that reading it now is a brutal reminder that the younger me didn't have the imagination to be able to appreciate what I was reading then. I think that growing in empathy and humility have really helped me to better understand and appreciate the past. And for me those are not primarily intellectual virtues.

As a christian who has studied church history, I have always seen some gnostic elements in National Socialism. This is truly a very interesting topic. Thanks for the great video. And btw, not all christians believe that Christ will reign on earth for a 1000 years. Many such as myself who are amillenial believe the 1000 years to be symbolic of eternity, so we see the 1000 years as Heaven. Eternity with God. I don't agree the Bible itrself includes gnosticism, but it was a plague in early christianity and most early church fathers devoted themselves to refuting them.

Recently, I've asked a christian what exactly reality is. He described it to me this way: "reality, and especially matter, is the place from which god has stepped back." to me, this sounds very inviting to gnostic thought, or even outright gnostic in nature.

On the question of whether Hitler was a Christian, he is widely quoted as saying "The only prophet I ever respected was Mohammed." No one who says that would consider themselves a Christian or would be considered a Christian by any denomination.

I dunno. This feels like the 1930's equivalent of searching through Hitler's Google history, seeing he clicked on a couple of anime links and thus concluding he was a major weeb. (Disclosure: I like Tik's willingness to take unpopular stances. I just think the Nazi occultism-adjacent topics go too far in conflating a taste for certain aesthetics with defining belief systems).

Don't worry, this is just to make clear something you brought up =] The reason why Gnosticism is seen as heretical - even with Augustine and such =] - is that God created the heavens and the earth and call it good and created Man and call it very good. The material is a creation of God and should be honoured as such. The issue is when you make the material way more than what it is supposed to be and especially when it runs contrary to God. That's the nutshell version =]

Thank you so much for the information in this video, I mean it sincerely. I was looking into Gnostic and hermetic teachings and I still want to learn more. I’m at a point in my life where I am trying desperately to find anything even close to truth and this video helped me a lot

I came here because I love military history and stayed because you are a hell of a historian.

The use of the 'hindu' swastika, and the choice to use it by Hitler was unrelated to Hinduism entirely. The 'Hakenkreuz' was in use in ancient European art quite a lot too well before Hitler used it as his movements symbol. Also I recommend a book called 'In His Own Words: The Essential Speeches of Adolf Hitler.' While the publishing company is quite sketchy, it provides a good, easy-to-access record of his speeches from different periods of his career. It is also impartial, for the most part.

“A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.” Thank you for this video TIK. I hope more people start talking about Gnosticism and its relatives. This line of thinking is on the rise in the West and it should not go unnoticed.

20:00 Which John was a gnostic? Also, where is the “ridiculous fables” quote from?

Sorry to say this, but the information in this video has no basis in reality.

I appear to be here early. It seems to me that a lot of ideologies are like religions - they have their own canon, their own couple of holy books, their own set of rules telling you how to life your life and how your society should function to achieve a goal. Many even have their own holy person. People will treat ideologies like faith in how arrogant they'll be when faced with evidence that contradicts what they believe and many will double down on their current worldview. Both are substitutions for philosophy - hell, Christianity grew popular due to being a sort of "philosophy for the commoners", and I believe ideology to be the same. I must go to school now, but this is a general thought I've had for a few months.

I have been feeling very down lately about the state of the world. I feel this video has eased my thoughts somewhat. It is relieving to have a name for the ideas poisoning modern thought, even if Gnosticism is an imperfect label. It makes the problem finite. Thank you.

This was really enlightening, I might have to watch it again a couple more times to make sure I didn't miss anything. 😁 I have a Question for you, it seems you have studied a whole lot, and I have been seeking the Truth for a long time, I found many Religious Books that "label" themselves as "The Truth" yet with a little deep study I find they are usually nothing more than elaborate fairy tales. IN YOUR OPINION, considering everything you have Studied, which Religion or Teaching do you feel comes Closest to the Ultimate Truth?

Absolutely brilliant understanding of immensely important subject matter, well done mate.

I heard of all of those... over 20 years ago, when the internet was beginning, there were a lot of personal pages about Gnosticism and Hermetism. I thought these religions were well known by anyone that is interested in history and religions.

I absolutely love all your economics videos and as some who's actually read and had interest in hermeticism and gnosticism i really love how all my interests get merged (you even managed it include Warhammer refs so it feels even more geared for me)

If any body knows the chanel, the library of alexandria, that uploads talks by manly p. Hall, is he talking about this "religion"?

Hello TIKhistory, Today I had the serendipity of KZfaq browsing to find your channel. I'd like to suggest a new title for this video: On Reading Mein Kampf -- The REAL Religion Behind National Socialism." I just started reading MK and your thoughts on it have given me a useful perspective to understand it -- as a bible, of sorts. When I saw your video's title as posted, I simply was curious to learn more about socialism. The pic of AH in the thumbnail clued me in to the National Socialism topic, though I didn't expect MK to be a part of the video. Insights much appreciated. Best, RG

Hegel and a lot of the German philosophers were actually very open about being influenced by this whole philosophy/religion. My seminary professor calls it the perennial philosophy which I think is probably the best term for it since it covers everything from the gnostic cults to the swath of "spiritual but not religious" types that all adhere to the same core pantheistic mystical content

This subject seems to be one that few attempt to delve into. I really like the fact that you aren't afraid to address the topic of the occult and such related topics. I'd love to see more videos regarding forms of occultism, what you think of them, and their impact upon history as well as the present day. Your Stalingrad series is simply amazing, I swear I'll be telling people to watch it for a long time to come. You're the real deal TIK.

I think the real problem with the book of revelation is that it supposedly predicts a thousand year reign when it really just uses symbolic language to say that the church will endure even after the persecutions under emperor Nero. Like most apocalyptic writings it uses extremely colorful language to comment on current events like a very very massive meme

When you say saint John are you referring to the apostle John? At 38:36 You say that John believed that Eve had sex with the serpent. I'm not aware of any scripture that say's that. Can I get a citation for that one?

​ @TIKhistory I deeply appreciate your dedication to this topic, your description of the Gnostic religion was highly informative in regards to how it all correlates to the modern "ideologies" and institutions that stand for these absolute "truths" that no one can question (and if you do you are working in union with the ultimate evil).

As I watched this I started thinking of a video from another KZfaqr, Crecganford, and his video of the earliest creation myths that gave rise to the Indo-European Gods. Particularly, the creation myths often involved twin brothers and a cow that symbolize the first king, the first priest, and the first sacrifice. And more importantly, the number 3 springs to mind as this triangle of spirituality continues on till the present. And then one realizes, that these gnostic religions have existed amongst humanity since even before we first started telling stories around the campfires of the Russian Steppes, 10's of thousands of years ago.

This is quite possibly the best argument against Gnosticism that I've heard. I still resonate much more w gnostic mindset, too each their own. Nonetheless, well done sir. You have a new sub from me.

Assassins and Templars in the Assassins creed games make so much more sense now. Turns out their fight was based on real life after all

Ahhh, when a depressing Monday becomes a Friday afternoon/ Thank you TIK!

That thumbnail is pure gold 😂

I was partially raised by some Objectivists, a lot of the arguments made by you and James Lindsey make perfect sense. It's like a lot of the weird religious parts of the collectivist political structures were identified by Rand and Peikoff, but not completely. Tying them to gnostic faith seems to complete some puzzle pieces.

I’ve head MK is badly written. What are your thoughts on the translation and is there another translation apart from the James Murphy one?

I would have to say that I am not convinced by this one. I am currently a history and religious studies double major and have learned about the gnostics before, especially in regards to early Christianity and the Nag Hammadi codices and so on. It seems evident that 'gnostic' was never a label for an actual religion, but a label for a massively diverse group of weird occult-ish mystic types including those that were considered heretics, those that weren't, and everywhere in between, such as Origen. That's why the Bauer thesis ('modern Christianity is just the ancient denomination that won politically against the gnostics') fails, because there is zero evidence that the gnostics were ever unified at all in any organization or theology (even the Nag Hammadi codices were probably owned by Pachomian monks, who weren't heretical). The gnostics definitely existed as how you speak of them, but they were extremely marginal, on a wide gradient, and didn't have any agreed upon ideas. I think it would be possible to consider that Hitler, Stalin, Marx, and so on received the intellectual strands of gnosticism in postmodernism and the remnants of historical theory that you discuss, but to say that they were all explicitly in the gnostic 'religion' I think is too far of a jump. Perhaps they had such a 'mindset' of believing they had the completely correct worldview, but it seems perfectly possible to me from the quotes you supplied that Hitler was simply speaking in religious metaphors as a means of getting across big ideas in a fancy way. Even if he didn't believe in God, using Biblical archetypes to exaggerate things to the highest possible degree, and in a reference that all his listeners would understand, seems realistic. .. Anyways, thanks for the great videos!

I love these topics. Very in-depth and thought-provoking. Thank you.

Perhaps the reason those texts are 'terribly written' is because they are written in a different language and we are reading translations. 📚

I'm not going to lie, I always thought it was a Christian backed faith due in no small part to some of the quotes used in this video. But, with some of the context added, this makes far more sense. I always assumed there was some disconnect somewhere between the Christian and Jewish gods somehow. This removes the need for that and packs things up rather neatly. Very good presentation.

This video is a masterpiece, an Opus Dei. Mystery and drama mixed with history, informative, very entertaining while still being factual.

When I saw TIK mention James Lindsay, I said aloud, "YES!" It's great to see this meeting of minds finally. This Gnostic religion is perhaps the greatest scourge against humanity. Note that Lindsay sides with Christianity because it is trying to protect humanity from Gnosticism. By the way, I would disagree that John is Gnostic. He is actually writing from the ancient context that we mostly have lost. Gnostics just seized upon his work and called it Gnostic, based on misinterpretation. However, scholars who study ancient contexts have recovered what may be the most accurate understanding of the Christian Bible. Among them is the late Michael Heiser (he died just this Feb 2023). I invite people to look him up. I guarantee you, once you find him work, it isn't Gnosis - it's much better!

TIK converging with James Lindsay! Nice! Keep up the good work!

I feel like that quote on Hitler taking what was useful out of books can also be interpreted differently though, rather than self-censorship as him just picking out what he finds useful to remember or something.

TIK Swastika is not HINDU its INDO EUROPEAN swastikas are present in ancient roman, greek, celtic and germanic art.

Fasinating. In one German lit class I had, we covered Schlegel and Schleiermacher and Hegel and Nietzsche (none of them in detail of course) and frankly, trying to keep them all straight was a bit overwhelming. I'll have to go hit Wikipedia. btw, it's yo-AH-khim (Joachim)

Hi Tik. I really enjoyed the video! I would suggest you have a deeper look into Christian Orthodox Theology (the original christian theology, not catholic nor protestan). You will found a great amount of similarities between that and Gnosticism. Terms used, the concept of uniting with God - called Theosis in the orthodox church etc. I hope that in doing so you will come to realize why Gnosticism was considered a christian heresy back in the early days of Christianity and that the things that it supports, while they might sound strange and weird to you because of your cultural UK (I assume protestant?) background, they are not particularly strange to someone of my background - I come from a country that is Christian Orthodox mainly. Having lived in a western european country for nearly a decade now, I have seen how easy it is for people from catholic/protestant countries to reach very odd conclusions based on information about concepts they do not understand fully, because they have no cultural exposure to them. If only more western europeans looked in orthodox christian theology, a lot of confusion would go away, especially about Ghosticism and the other ancient relations.

the christian god and the muslim god are not one and the same. the details in the scripters of both religions differentiate the two

Given the way anime pfps react when you criticize mustache man, or point out the fact the NSDAP was leftwing, yes, it is like a religion

I'm only just past the halfway point of this video and I already know I'm going to have to re-watch this one at least a couple times more to fully grasp the concepts you're going over. I have a feeling you're about to start me down a rabbit hole TIK. Gnosticism seems to been popping up with increased frequency lately which is making me think it's time to do a deep dive on the concept. Fascinating video TIK!

34:47 how does that dispel the idea that Hitler was a Christian? Plenty of Christians say that same garbage all of the time (at least here in the United States). I used to be a Christian; that sort of language/sentence/quote would have seemed normal to me.