Political Gnosticism Is a Modern Sickness

‘Wokeness” of all varieties, as my friend James Lindsay has noted, is a form of religious gnosticism.

What is gnosticism? Simply put, it is the idea that the material, visible world is an illusion — often a terrible one, designed to distract humans from reality with temptations like sex and false religion. Gnostic enlightenment involves learning to unsee the physical world, and instead focus on some deeper level of existence that underlies it like a net of tentacles: The path to this is most often thought to be a specific, Christ-centered or Book of the Dead–like system for pursuit of the True Reality.

About the Author

Wilfred Reilly

Wilfred Reilly is an associate professor of political science at Kentucky State University and the author, most recently, of Lies My Liberal Teacher Told Me.

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‘Wokeness” of all varieties, as my friend James Lindsay has noted, is a form of religious gnosticism.

What is gnosticism? Simply put, it is the idea that the material, visible world is an illusion — often a terrible one, designed to distract humans from reality with temptations like sex and false religion. Gnostic enlightenment involves learning to unsee the physical world, and instead focus on some deeper level of existence that underlies it like a net of tentacles: The path to this is most often thought to be a specific, Christ-centered or Book of the Dead–like system for pursuit of the True Reality.

About the Author

Wilfred Reilly

Wilfred Reilly is an associate professor of political science at Kentucky State University and the author, most recently, of Lies My Liberal Teacher Told Me.