What's a Gnostic Story?

By a Gnostic Story I mean it’s a Story with Gnostic Themes. As I’ve stated before, Hussie calls Homestuck a Creation Myth- Think of it like the Bible, a story that tells us how the Universe came to be, our place in the Universe as people, and how to live our lives, Morality, Philosophy, that kind of stuff.

Gnosticism is a religious current that takes the concept of the classic ‘God’ and vilifies it- Instead, it tells us there’s a True God, Abraxas, the core of the World of Ideas, from which emanations flow, Aeons, all paired and complementary with each other. One day, however, the Aeon Sophia, accidentally creates an Aeon without a pair- Yaldabaoth. And by being Unpaired, it cannot grasp the World of Ideas. Left alone in the darkness, it likens itself to God, and creates the Physical World. As such, the Physical World is one of Darkness and Suffering. Bad things happen because the ‘God’ of reality is a False God, and it’s through the Realm of Ideas that we free ourselves from the oppressive reality and reach Sophia, the World of Ideas, and Abraxas. This is an oversimplification and may not be exactly 1 to 1 with actual Gnostic Teachings, but it’s a quick explanation of some core concepts.

Likewise- Homestuck is a Story that tells us how the Universe is Created. There’s the oppressive, Physical Reality and the World of Ideas, represented twofold, on one side with the World being Destroyed and SBURB as the escape route- Physically with Dream Selves, too- And on the other as well as with the Alpha Timeline and how they’re trying to just survive and be happy. Skaia parallels the Realm of Light, and likens the Aspect of Light to Ideas, and Caliborn doesn’t have Yaldabaoth for nothing, as he, as Lord English, becomes the Yaldabaoth of Homestuck’s Narrative, an all powerful deity that oppresses the characters within the setting with a cruel and grim reality they’re trying to escape from. There’s a lot more to this and I really recommend you check @revolutionaryduelist‘s blog, Youtube and Medium pages, because wow there’s some good stuff there!

On top of the themes in Homestuck, Earthbound and The Neverending Story are both stories with Gnostic Elements as well, and two things Homestuck really draws inspiration from, only tightening this bond.