Gnostic Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Ethics Assignment

Gnostic Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Ethics - Assignment Example For the Gnostics, therefore, the first cause of reality is a transcendental pure spirit that is nothing like what we know, it is a transcendental pure spirit that we can’t conceive with our senses. However, for the Gnostics, unlike many monotheistic religions like Christianity, the first cause of reality, the unknown God, is not a personal being; the first cause is an impersonal pure spirit. To account for the multiplicity of reality, especially the material reality, the Gnostics held that God did not create or fashion reality, the way Christianity teaches, but that the cosmos as we know it emanated from the undefined infinite. The Gnostics, therefore, are in some sense pantheistic, for they hold that everything emanated from the unknown God, and therefore everything has a spark of the pure spirit, unknown God. The Gnostics hold that Aeons, which are deific beings who exist between the pure spirit and human beings, are spiritual realities, and not material. One of the Aeons is the Demiurge, and according to the Gnostics, the material reality was created by the Demiurge and not by the undefined pure spirit directly. To account for how the spiritual Demiurge created the material reality, the Gnostics claimed that, the creation of the material world resulted from a flaw or a sin on the Aeon Demiurge. For the Gnostics, therefore, the material reality is flawed because it res ulted from the flaw or sin on the Demiurge (The Gnostic Worldview, web). For this reason, therefore, Gnostic held that nature is dualistic: the spiritual reality and physical reality. A critical look at the Gnostic Metaphysics shows that the main merit in the Gnostic view of reality lies in the Gnostic scholars attempt to account for the material world. The Gnostics, however, did not give a convincing account of the origin of material reality.  

Language development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Language development - Essay Example At this preliminary stage it is necessary to investigate the topic through a variety of means. Researchers suggest a number of strategies which may be effective in examining the topic. These include brainstorming, clustering and free-writing (Lipkewich and Mazurenko1999). Clearly, these strategies act as a measure of developing or restricting a topic. The more ideas that are generated at this stage the more structural focus the writer would obtain from this initial piece of writing. The purpose of this first step then is to establish some sort of structure to the ideas that are generated. Thus, if a writer decides to choose free-writing as a means of initiating the writing process then the writer may begin to write on a topic without interruption until everything the writer knows about the topic is exhausted on the paper. In this case there may no adherence to grammatically correct structures such as spelling, punctuation or even paragraphing. The words that appear on the paper would be an exact replica of the thoughts that flow through the mind. The second step involves the actual composition of the paper. Some writers use this stage as a means of creating a rough draft of the final paper. The previous stage which may or may not have included free-writing is the precursor to this writing stage where the writer brings some sort of focus to the writing. During this stage therefore the writer must adhere to the mechanics of writing which were previously ignored in the earlier stage. There is need to organize the work in terms of correct punctuation, paragraphing and other grammatical structures which may have been non existent in the previous stage. Consequently, the major purpose for this writing stage is to add content and organization to the work. The more time a writer spends on this initial writing stage the less work will be needed to complete the final draft. Revising, the third step in the writing process