Frithjof Schuon: Transcendent Unity of Religion (Preface)

Gnosis as I understand it is not a mystical term to confound the innocent, nor does it mean "special knowledge." It means knowledge simply, as in Paul's letters, or more accurately, direct knowing. Gnana, Gnosis, Rigpa, Pure Reason, Soul Vision, Vidya, Science, Chan and Zen are all words that mean this same thing. It is the Light of the Third Heaven, or Hall of Wisdom (from the Voice of the Silence), the Dharmakaya, or Causal level of Shankara.

The following by Frithjof Schuon explains and compares the differences and meaning of Gnosis, reason, and revelation:

"The transcendent character of metaphysical knowledge makes it independent of any purely human mode of thought... philosophy proceeds from reason (which is a purely individual faculty), whereas metaphysical knowledge proceeds exclusively from the Intellect [also called Intuition, the mental not the psychic sort]. The latter faculty has been defined by Meister Eckhart as follows: "There is something in the soul that is uncreate and uncreatable; if the whole soul were this it would be uncreate and uncreatable; and this is the Intellect."

"Since purely intellectual knowledge [ie, that which only meditation, gnosis or Pure Reason can reach- for the Intellect as he means it is the direct link to the Absolute in us] is by definition beyond the reach of the individual, being in its essence supra-individual, universal or divine, and since it proceeds from pure Intelligence, which is direct and not discursive, it follows that this knowledge goes not only infinitely further than reasoning, but even goes further than faith in the ordinary sense of the word. In other words intellectual knowledge also transcends the specifically theological point of view which is itself superior to the philosophical point of views, since like metaphysical knowledge it emanates from God and not from man; but whereas metaphysic proceeds wholly from intellectual intuition, religion proceeds from Revelation. The latter is the Word of God spoken to his creatures, whereas intellectual intuition is a direct and active participation in divine Knowledge and not an indirect and passive participation, as is faith. In other words in the case of intellectual intuition, knowledge is not possessed by the individual insofar as he is an individual, but insofar as in his innermost essence he is not distinct from the Divine Principle. Thus metaphysical certitude is absolute because of the identity between the knower and the known in the Intellect."

"The theological point of view because it is based in the minds of believers on a Revelation and not on a knowledge that is accessible to each one of them... will of necessity confuse the symbol or form with the naked and supraformal Truth....

"Intellectual knowledge proceeds neither from belief nor from a process of reasoning- it goes beyond dogma in the sense that... it penetrates its internal dimension... In order to be absolutely clear on this point we must again insist that the rational mode of knowledge in no way extends beyond the realm of generalities and cannot by itself reach any transcendental truth; it may nevertheless serve as a means of expressing supra-rational knowledge.... This resemblance.. is due to the fact that all concepts once they are expressed are necessarily clothed in the modes of human thought.... it makes use of rational modes of thought as symbols to describe or translate knowledge possessing a greater degree of certainty than any knowledge of the sensible order... When philosophy uses reason to resolve a doubt this proves that its starting point is a doubt that it is striving to overcome, whereas the starting point of a metaphysical formulation is always essentially something intellectually evident or certain, which is communicated, to those able to recieve it, by symbolical or dialectical means designed to awaken in them the latent knowledge that they bear unconsciously... and eternally within them."