Depression and other mental disorders have haunted humanity from the very start of civilization, and are still a great enigma even in these so-called enlightened times. They are spiritual and psychic maladies that are potentially both destructive as they are misty trails to higher states of being. A new memoir by a best-selling author and highly regarded scholar turns an unsparing eye on his own struggle with psychosis and finds, within the very illness that causes so much suffering, the resources for deeper love, understanding of the human condition, and the liberation from interior Archons. In this work, he reveals not only his battles against a life and soul destroying mental disease, but how he used the wisdom of the Gnostics, the inspiration of great mystic thinkers of the past, and esoteric theologies to rise above the storms of despair and avoid being swallowed by the void of nihilism. And how he encountered the Grace of the Divine in the strangest places when he needed it the most, before he lost his life in more ways than one. A very important and powerful episode for any person who has been or is victimized by these disorders, as well as anyone who has dealt with them through family or friends.
Eric Wilson, best-selling author of The Mercy of Eternity: A Memoir of Depression and Grace
, Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy
, and Secret Cinema: Gnostic Vision in Film
, as well as Thomas H. Pritchard Professor of English at Wake Forest University.Eric's interview for The New York Times
. They were the greatest heresy of the Middle Ages, arguably an offshoot of the ancient Gnostics that undermined the authority of the religious and political powers of the time. Their bloody demise is one of the darkest moments in Christian history that still resonates today. We take a historical and esoteric safari of the Cathars, their history, theology, tragedy and whether or not they truly held some of the ancient treasures like the Holy Grail
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, as well as Professor of Religious Studies at Helsinski University. Our second part of our series dealing the elegant theologians and poetic philosophers known as the Valentinians. Founded by the enigmatic and brilliant Valentinus of Alexandria, the Valentinians threaded a fine needle between Gnostic heresy and Christian orthodoxy, adding new dimensions to both sides that changed the course of early Christendom. We take an intimate view of their creeds, practices and scripture. We comb the Nag Hammadi Library and beyond for a thorough inspection of the Valentinian flavor of ethereal Gnosticism; as well as explore the various Valentinian schools that frustrated Orthodoxy for centuries, from the cult of Marcus the Magician to the followers of Ptolemy and his grandiose cosmology. And lastly we study the cultural habits of the Valentinians who navigated the unpredictable Greco-Roman world and later the Christian Empire. We leave no Gnostic stone unturned, for our guest is considered one of the leading authorities in the world on Valentinus and the Valentinians.
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