My Alawite brothers and sisters,
I greet you all with love and peace.
In the previous episodes, I spoke about the foundations of the Alawite faith—
about the relationship with the Creator, the Holy Trinity,
the concept of the outer and the inner, and the idea of reincarnation.
I also spoke about the Alawite shrines, and about the souls that have been purified,
refined, and have returned to unite with the Creator.
Today, I want to speak about the path of salvation in the Alawite Gnostic way,
and explain what this path truly is.
The Exoteric Path
The path of salvation has both an exoteric and an esoteric aspect.
The exoteric aspect can be seen through the public sayings of our Lord Jesus.
For example, in The Didache, it says in its introduction:
“The path of life is this:
First, love God who created you.
Second, love your neighbor as yourself.
What you do not want people to do to you, do not do to them.
Bless those who curse you, pray for your enemies,
and fast for those who persecute you.
For what reward do you have if you love those who love you?
Do not the pagans do the same?
But you—love those who hate you, and you will have no enemy.”
The first part of this saying means: let love fill your being.
The second means: do not let hatred or resentment rule over you.
These are simple and clear instructions—no laws, no rituals,
no standing or sitting prayers, and no false practices.
The same idea appears in The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 22,
when the Pharisees said to Jesus:
“Teacher, which commandment in the Law is the greatest?”
(The Law means the commandments and ordinances of the prophets.)
Jesus said to him:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Thus, the phrase “on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets”
means that these two encompass all laws and teachings.
The Inner Path
The esoteric path of salvation is beautifully expressed in the Gnostic Gospels,
especially in the Gospel of Thomas, which I have translated
and published on the website of the Coastal Gnostic Church.
The opening verse says:
“Whoever discovers the meaning of these sayings will not taste death.”
This means: not merely reading the words with one’s eyes or mind,
but perceiving their meaning through inner vision.
Verse 3 of the Gospel of Thomas says:
“The Kingdom is within you and it is outside you.
When you know yourselves, then you will be known,
and you will understand that you are the children of the living Father.
But if you do not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty,
and you are that poverty.”
This verse teaches that the Kingdom of God is within us and around us—
the state of union with God is within the human being and all around him.
It is not a distant place nor a far-off time; it is now,
in the awareness that you are from the Creator.
Salvation Is Simple Yet Elusive
The Gnostic path of salvation is simple yet difficult:
simple because you can read and feel it,
but difficult because reaching it requires will and insight.
The problem lies within us, and so does the cure.
As Imam ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib said:
“Your remedy is within you, but you do not perceive it.
Your illness is from you, but you are unaware.
Do you think you are a small body,
while within you is enfolded the great universe?
You are the manifest book
whose letters reveal the hidden.
Why seek from without,
while your thought is within you and you do not pronounce it”
In these few poetic lines, Imam ʿAlī summarized the essence of Gnosis.
He did not mention law, imams, or clergy.
He simply said: you have no need for anything external.
Everything is within you, and the Kingdom is within you.
The Kingdom Within
When Ali said “your remedy is within you and you do not see it,”
he meant that the path lies within, and what we need is inner vision.
There is no need for rituals or formal prayers,
no need for laws written by clerics on behalf of the Creator.
Unfortunately, after the coming of al-Khusaibi and the sheikhs who followed him,
many became preoccupied with rewriting Greek philosophy in a poor style
and applying Gnostic ideas to figures from the Prophet’s family or Shi‘ite history,
also in a weak manner.
But they neglected the essence.
Gnosis is not a religion of authority, nor a set of commandments.
It is a path that opens your heart and inner sight to yourself.
Seeking the Beginning, Not the End
Our problem is that we always try to see the end,
but the path of salvation begins by seeking the beginning.
In the Gospel of Thomas, the disciples said to Jesus:
“Tell us how our end will be.”
Jesus said, “Have you discovered the beginning,
that you seek the end?
For where the beginning is, there the end will be.
Blessed is the one who stands at the beginning,
for that one will know the end and will not taste death.”
Therefore, what we must seek is the beginning within ourselves,
not external religious laws made by men.
The Image of the Creator in Gnosis
In the Gnostic Gospels, the Creator is not a distant or wrathful god,
not a deity of reward and punishment,
not one who promises pleasures and threatens torment.
The Creator is the Origin, the Source, and Love itself.
So if we wish to find the path to the Creator,
we must look for beauty and perfection around us and glorify them,
for the Creator is Beauty and is Perfection.
True glorification of the Creator is not through repetitive outer prayers,
but by becoming a reflection of His qualities.
If the Lord is Love, then to unite with Him you must become love.
You cannot unite with the Creator while hatred dwells within you.
If the Lord is Forgiveness, then you must become forgiving.
If the Lord is beyond desire, then purify yourself from passions,
from desires of pleasure or of vengeance.
If the Lord is Eternal Light, illuminating the human heart and the world,
then you too must become light.
You cannot unite with the Creator while darkness remains within you.
When you live by these truths,
the divine light will shine through you and illuminate those around you.
Then you will yourself embody the meanings of the Christ,
drawing ever closer to Him—until you and the Christ are one.
No one should believe that the path of salvation comes through laws
written by clergy or religious authorities on behalf of God.
Gnosis says the opposite:
Your faith is within you.
Your knowledge of the Creator is within you.
And as Christ said:
“By their fruits you shall know them.”
Meaning, it is the fruit of your actions
that confirms the truth of your path.
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