/lit/ - Literature

>>20153165
Great, now read this

After reading this and also reading Hinduist and Buddhist scripture I can't figure out which model I should go with. The Dharmic one is more reassuring since it tells me in the end everything will be fine, but the Gnostic one is like a nagging suspicion in the back of my mind that makes more sense the more I ponder it.
Is there a book that might help me decide between those two worldviews? So far I've read pic related, the Bhagavad Gita, the Dhammapada and the Heart Sutra, and some contemporary commentaries.

Has anyone read this? Do you know any similar books worth reading, preferably from other traditions?

Are there any books that make the case for acosmism being divorced from pessimism?
From what I've seen, the two invariably go hand in hand in all religious texts (I've read suttas from the Pali canon such as the Majjhima Nikaya, pic related, and some related commentaries).
I'm curious to know if there ever has been a philosopher for whom the acosmic worldview did not lead to philosophical pessimism and lamenting the state of the world.

What is the basis for rejecting this other than "church said its wrong"?

Biggest filter of all time.

Thought I'd give this thing a go. What am I in for? I've always been intrigued by all the 'le funi demiurge' comics on /lit/. I think I'd appreciate the Neoplatonist underpinnings and the (pseudo) Indian themes of material illusion. Is there a specific book in the Nag Hammadi that tells the story of Sophia's aborted emanation who creates the world? And what texts / creation stories did Valentinus draw on, if any? He seems to be the most orthodox Christian of the Gnostics, unless I'm missing something.
>inb4 'go back to /x/'
but at the very least this is authentic early church literature, no?

Anyone have an opinion on this?

>>17256815
did you actually read the bible? Sounds to me like you only read the New Testament.

But if you like Jesus so much, you should read some of the non-canon books written about him, picrelated.

What is the definitive way to read the Nag Hammadi in English? I've been meaning to read through the Nag Hammadi Library for a while, but I recall that multiple sections of the only scriptures found were missing several passages because they were destroyed or illegible. At the risk of sounding like a braintet, are they difficult to follow as a result?

>>16457441
pic related

Is reading the gnostic texts a worthwhile exercise if you don’t believe this stuff?
And I never will, so don’t be like “oh yeah read them you’ll see the truth” I’m not going to become a gnostic I have no interest

God, don't you love it when christian-posing midwits immediately go for gnosticism because they can't handle any sort of theology that would require more than a page to explain? Gnosticism was the New Age hippie bullshit of its age, it attracts the same midwit fucks who think they managed to cut the gordian knot just so that they can feel "enlightened" and superior to everyone else. It's fucking hilarious that you guys lap it up all the same as the midwits you make fun of, like, imagine some schmuck in 4000 AD digging up a copy of "The Dharma Bums" by Kerouac or one of those Coleman Barks translations of Rumi and trying to use it as proof that he's above everyone else because reading those works of fart enlightened him not through any phony demiurge's blessing, but through the sheer power of GNθSIS. Get the fuck outta here.