Getting a Grip on Gnosticism with Innerverse's Chance Garton | Over Sharon #065
I joined Sharon and Brandon on the Over Sharon oversharing show for a return visit to talk through Gnosticism, ancient mythology, and why simulation theory feels so believable to so many people.
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In this episode
Core themes
Gnosticism as a loaded word
Brandon described two uses of the word Gnosticism, one involving a demiurge and a Yahweh who was actually the devil, the other a set of ancient wisdom a person might use in daily life, and he said the two often get confused. Chance agreed that the term was loaded and noted that Gnostic refers to knowing, meaning firsthand experiential knowledge. He separated the simulation theory version, which he called a twisted inverse Gnosticism, from the pattern based approach he associated with Marty Leeds. Chance proposed that a look at the historical record might clear things up and asked the hosts where they wanted to begin.
Alexandria and an ancient universal system
Chance described a possible universal system of priestcraft tied to megaliths, seafaring, calendars and astronomy, and he pointed to a shared alphabet and the story of Lionel Wafer as evidence he found suggestive. He then traced a line to the college of Alexandria, which he presented as an early credentialing institution and the source of schools such as the Therapeutae and the Essenes. Chance cited Reverend Robert Taylor and Eusebius to support his reading. He framed the history as open questions for researchers and said every group contained both good and bad.
Asceticism, suffering, and a victim mindset
Chance argued that asceticism, with its idea that the best people suffer the most, matched the belief in an evil creator who trapped divine sparks, and he saw the same pattern in doctrines like original sin. One host described how questions about circumcision and scripture began an unraveling of literal belief, and Chance said such practices felt like indoctrination from the start. A host linked dogma to a victim mindset that needs both a scapegoat and a hero, and the group agreed that trauma and guilt did not motivate people well. Chance added that he was not painting any single religion as the culprit.
Simulation, hypocrisy, and media
Chance asked why simulation theory was so easy to believe. The hosts answered that video games and movies made it relatable and that a simulation excused people from personal responsibility. Chance added Baudrillard's idea of hyperreality and argued that mythology is itself a form of media. He read Noah Webster's 1828 definition of simulation as feigning and linked it to hypocrisy and to the Greek word for an actor. He said that the more people believed things that did not match nature, the more the natural world felt unreal to them.
The demiurge and the name Jehovah
Chance described the demiurge as the craftsman aspect of a three in one pattern that he found in many mythologies, citing potter and maker figures from several cultures. One host suggested the demiurge could be read as a public servant, a boogeyman that a victim minded society needed, and Chance embraced that reading. Chance also proposed that the four letters of Jehovah could be read as Eve, meaning life or existence, and that the opposer would then be non-existence. He said he could not prove his metaphysical ideas and treated them as educated guesses.
Quotes
“It seems that there's two different types of Gnosticism when people are talking about Gnosticism, it's either A or B. A is this one that's like there's this demiurge and Yahweh is actually the devil and all this stuff.”
“Mythos is media. Someone telling you a story around the campfire is a form of media, believe it or not.”
“Truth is everything that exists, so you cannot describe it or define it in a way that actually wraps your arms around truth, and the circumference, and exactly what it all is. Same with God. So we can really only describe the infinite by what it is not.”
“The world and nature is some kind of fallen twisted creation of an evil sub creating god. Is there any narrative more complete to the victim consciousness than that? There is no escape.”
“This book that I read, I heard about it through a Crow episode. It's called The Secret Society of Moses. This was very enlightening to me and caused me to really look at the Bible in a different way, in a not take it so literally way.”
“I don't discount someone who knows for themselves something that we all can't know. That's fine. But it doesn't mean that that gets to be made into a religious dogma that everyone else has to believe because you're the special one or whatever.”
“I happen to like it here, and I happen to have noticed that the more I appreciate it here, the more awesome it is here, and so I'd like to see how far we can go with that story.”
“I think we're in the womb right now dreaming of ourselves, and then we die slash are born, and then that's a womb, and then we die slash are born, and then that's a womb. And I think it's like a fractal. Wombs all the way down.”
