The concept of personal gnosis, and more specifically Unverified Personal Gnosis, has always interested me, but when misapplied and misrepresented it kind of reminds me of charismatic Christians believing that if you are not filled with the Holy Spirit or speaking in tongues, you are not “really” in touch with the Divine.

Personally I am not fond of the term Unverified Personal Gnosis, as it is a rather redundant term - surely gnosis is usually both unverifiable and personal. Also, I believe it to be an euphemism - it is a way of avoiding talking about visions, dreams, meditation, trance, divination, evocation and invocation, etc because talking about those things flat-out may seem outrageous, trivial, if not simply delusional.

The whole concept of Unverified Personal Gnosis could also be kind of a divider: those, who experience dreams, meditation, trance, divination, evocation and invocation, versus the “serious” Pagans who experience gnosis – almost kind of a spiritual and religious “one-upmanship”.

Unverified Personal Gnosis or Unsubstantiated Personal Gnosis (or personal revelation if you prefer) is a label used to identify information gained through meditation, intense flashes of intuition, visions and other spiritual experiences. It thus indicates beliefs arrived at via “mystical” means, not ideas or intellectual conclusions reached from academic research. However, in all fairness, many Reconstructionists consider it highly important to label UPGs which cannot be substantiated by lore or research exactly as such, as this helps prevent misunderstandings about verifiable sources and preserves intellectual honesty.

Though it is unclear exactly who first coined the term UPG, consensus seems to be that the term and its variants originated in the Germano-Scandinavian Reconstructionist communities in the 1970s. The first written mention of the term appears to have appeared in Kaatryn MacMorgan’s book “Wicca 333: Advanced Topics in Wiccan Belief”, published in March 2003.

The same phenomenon has also been referred to as personal revelation, or, in a somewhat derogatory sense, “unverifiable personal gnosis”.

Gnosis is a Greek word, originally used in specifically Greek pagan philosophical contexts. Plato, for example, uses the terms “gnostikoi” and “gnostike episteme” in the text called Politikos. The word means the “knowledge to influence and control”. Gnostike episteme was also used to indicate a person’s aptitude.

Originally, the terms do not appear to indicate any mystic, esoteric or hidden meaning in the works of Plato, but instead expressed a sort of higher intelligence and ability analogous to talent. The term is used throughout Greek philosophy as a technical term for experience knowledge akin to wisdom. The Sanskrit term, gnana (gnyana, gyana or jnana), meaning intelligence or wisdom, appears to be related to gnosis.

Among the sectarian gnostics, gnosis was first and foremost a matter of self-knowledge which was considered the path leading to the goal of enlightenment. Through such self-knowledge and personal purification the adept was led to direct knowledge of the gods via themselves as inner reflection or will.

Gnosis was thus very distinct from the secret teachings revealed to initiates once they had reached a certain level of progression akin to arcanum. Rather, these teachings themselves were merely paths to obtain gnosis. Gnosis from this perspective being analogous to the words “occult” and “arcana”.

Plotinus expressed that gnosis, via contemplation, was the highest goal of the philosopher toward henosis. The goal of Henosis (Greek “unity, oneness”) is union with “the One” or “the Source”. To get closest to the Source, each individual must engage in Divine work (theurgy) according to Iamblichus of Chalcis. This Divine work can be defined as each individual dedicating their lives to making the created world and mankind’s relationship to it, and one another, better.

PERSONAL REVELATIONS

Related to the modern concept of UPGs, is theophany, from the Ancient Greek Theophaneia, meaning “appearance of God”, which refers to the appearance of a deity to a human, or to a Divine disclosure. This term has been used to refer to appearances of the gods in the ancient Greek and Near Eastern religions.While the Iliad is our earliest source for descriptions of theophanies in the Classical tradition (and they occur pretty much throughout Greek mythology), probably the earliest description of a theophany is in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and epic poem from Mesopotamia of the 7th century BCE.

At Delphi the Theophania or Theophanies was an annual festival in spring celebrating the return of Apollo from his winter quarters in Hyperborea. The culmination of the festival was a display of an image of the gods, usually hidden in the sanctuary, to worshippers. Later Roman mystery religions often included similar brief displays of images to excited worshippers.

Mystery religions were religious cults of the Greco-Roman world, participation in which was reserved to initiates, and these basically centred on Divine contact.The main characterisation of this religion was the secrecy associated with the particulars of the initiation and the cult practice, which may not be revealed to outsiders. The most famous Mysteries of Greco-Roman antiquity were the Eleusinian Mysteries, which were of considerable antiquity and predated the Greek Dark Ages.

The term Mystery derives from Latin mysterium, from Greek musterion (usually as the plural musteria), in this context meaning “secret rite or doctrine”. An individual who followed such a Mystery was a mystes (a mystic) “one who has been initiated”, from myein “to close, shut”, a reference to secrecy (closure of the eyes and mouth).

Divine or heroic epiphanies were sometimes experienced in historical times, either in dreams or as a waking vision, and frequently led to the foundation of a cult, or at least an act of worship and the dedication of a commemorative offering. An epiphany (from the ancient Greek “epiphaneia{, meaning “manifestation, striking appearance”) is the sudden realisation or comprehension of the (larger) essence or meaning of something.

So there is indeed more than enough “proof” that different forms of personal and group revelation have existed throughout history. But, while it is true that ancient literature is chock-full of stories of the gods interacting with people - mostly kings, heroes and beautiful women - the gods did not generally have regular dealings with “normal” people. So to me, at least, there is no reason whatsoever that this type of “personal contact” with the gods or spirits is necessary for the spiritual development of any contemporary Pagan.

TREAD CAREFULLY

Traditions with a mystical, ecstatic side, have, and need to have, checks and balances in order to remain healthy when it comes to unverified (personal or otherwise) gnosis. Similarly, those who work with trance states, journeying, and other forms of interacting with deities and spirits need to have a solid support system that they can turn to for feedback, grounded discussion of similar or shared experiences, and reality checks against the known lore and cultural knowledge.

It is important to consult with others who are more experienced about the information gained in trance- and ecstatic work. This is also why the reading in the traditional lore and texts can be important - it allows us to compare new information against a known cultural matrix to see if it fits.

It also helps to bear in mind that just because the ancestors are dead does not necessarily mean that they are any wiser than they were in life. Always test answers and information you gain from spiritual work against common sense and the known facts. It is also well known that some of the deities are tricksters as well, and while we may respect them, we cannot always trust them. It is vital to examine everything learnt before using it in ritual or bringing it to the community as anything other than our own unverified personal gnosis, or it will indeed be nothing more than unverifiable personal gnosis.

There are no dogmas governing our communication with ancestors, spirits and deity, and there are no filters by way of churches and priests that interpret the messages on our behalf. Remember that all of us have to throw out ideas from time to time because there is contradictory evidence in the lore and traditions or because facts stand against it.

As attempts at reviving ancient religions continue, the importance of being able to tell the difference between historically attested sources and modern, personal interpretations becomes more and more important - but also more and more difficult.

I do not have a problem with UPG for the most part. UPG can be plausible within reason. The key phrase here is “within reason”.

However, when UPG is utilised the sole mean to research religion it moves away from what I consider “within reason” for it becomes a crutch for improper research. Poor research leading to poor practice is not my only concern, but it also may reflect poorly on all Pagans as it may give the impression that many of us not only disregard history but are lackadaisical in our beliefs and practices.

When considering whether someone’s UPG may be worthy of inclusion in your spiritual practice, this may serve as a useful guide:

• No UPG should contradict known facts about the associated culture, and no practices based only on UPG should stand as more than modern inventions.
• If a belief or practice based on UPG does not contradict known facts, but cannot be verified within the same body of knowledge, it remains a modern invention.

While it is true that nobody can define another person’s gnosis, or how they experience their gods and spirituality, for it is uniquely each individual’s own, this does not mean that one should be accepting of everyone claiming to have had such an experience.

There are those who have no concern with the spiritual and emotional well-being of others, and these people are perfectly willing to spew spiritual-sounding rhetoric in an attempt to place themselves in a position of authority, or at the very least, they want to be seen as special by having their opinions more respected then others. Still, others are just downright delusional and dangerous.

However, on the other side of the coin, by setting the focus on text as sole arbiter, we also face the danger of leaving ourselves limited to two choices, reject or accept. Perhaps by recognising that spirituality and/or faith are equally useful in their social and moral functions as “sources of verification”, we may realise that there are in fact gradients of belief, beyond mere acceptance or rejection.

Gnosis should never be an end in, and of, itself, but rather the beginning of a journey and the beginning of a process of testing information through both academic research and spiritual practice.

Personal revelation, in all its forms, is spiritual knowing through spiritual growing. Even more importantly, it is knowledge that you are, rather than knowledge that you have.

PS: I decided to write this after reading a post on the net where a certain god and a goddess, "informed" a Pagan through personal gnosis that they liked chocolate, and that it should be served at sacrifices. My reaction was: "Yeah' sure. The gods have nothing better to do."

But then again, why shouldn't the gods like chocolate? :)

SOURCES:

http://neopaganmusings.blogspot.com/search/label/Neopagan;
http://www.paganachd.com/faq/intermediate.html#upg’
http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/glossary/g/UPGnosis.htm;
http://branruadh.blogspot.com/2006/02/laws-of-upg.html;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unverified_personal_gnosis;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophany;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Roman_mysteries;
http://bs-ba.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2366356546&topic=4800;
http://www.pathofeire.org/UPG.php;
http://www.ayrkain.com/blog/;
http://gnoscast.blogspot.com/2007/06/questions-personal-gnosis-religion....
http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/glossary/g/UPGnosis.htm;
http://maytheweed.wordpress.com/2009/12/13/upg/;
http://hellenismos.us/b/2008/01/upg-was-that-the-gods-or-that-meatball-s...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphany_(feeling);
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_Gilgamesh;