/lit/ - Literature

My only exposure to "gnosticism" has been neo-gnostics like PKD, mckenna, eliade, and corbin. They've shaped a lot about my spirituality just through light readings and essays, and the general consensus I get from this "school" is that the solution to the problem of evil is confronting fear and cognitive dissonance, and beginning a quest (in the physical or imaginal realm). One poster used Job as an example, which is good, but I prefer Corbin's use of Attar and the grail cycle (which seems much more fitting for a literary board). The birds' quest in Attar's conference of the birds often confronts the problem of evil through the lens of love: the king who must communicate to his subjects through mirrors and (my favorite) the saint whose acolytes left him when he became a Christian, are great examples of romantic theology (which covers gnostic topics). The hoopoe often describes wrongdoing as a person's immediate and misguided understanding of love, helping the birds toward reaching the inaccessible simourgh. In a different but similar way that the many different interpretations of the grail quest allowed medieval authors to pursue spiritual quests that weren't within the normal christian conversation (hence why they aren't canonical texts). The end of the grail quest deals with transfiguration, cosmic revelation through eros, and then ultimately it's return to inaccessibility (the grail always disappears after being found and granting a revelation). Hence why I think these texts are a good gnostic experiment in constantly reevaluating one's relationship with symbols that surround him. The knightly quest is a quest against ignorance, not in pursuit of truth but boldly facing transfiguration/revelation in the face and learning from it.
Gnosticism doesn't solve the problem of evil, be evil is an obstacle not a force worthy of submission to.
John Carey's essay on the grail cycle in Corbin's thought and PKD's "how to make a universe that doesn't fall apart two days later" are both great reads if this is up anyone's alley.