Even though people around the word have different words for "water," the substance and its importance remain the same. Similarly, everything that exists, on every level, may have different names or descriptions in our many traditions, philosophies, and sciences, yet the experience of reality is universal. Thus, there is a universal truth, a universal root for all knowledge. We call this root universal knowledge Gnosis, from the Greek word γνώσις, knowledge.

Definition and use of the word Gnosis:

1. The word Gnosis refers to the knowledge we acquire through our own experience, as opposed to knowledge that we are told or believe in. Gnosis - by whatever name in history or culture - is conscious, experiential knowledge, not merely intellectual or conceptual knowledge, belief, or theory. This term is synonymous with the Hebrew "Daath" and the Sanskrit "jna."
2. Gnosis is the method to acquire experiential knowledge of the highest levels of existence.
3. Gnosis is the core spiritual wisdom or mystical knowledge within all religions, philosophies, mystical traditions, psychological systems, etc. From this point of view, Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Krishna, Quetzalcoatl, and others were Gnostics who taught from their personal experience of the Divine.

Gnosis is the origin of every authentic science, philosophy, art, religion, school, and spiritual system of thought.

The objective of Gnosis is to give humanity a key with which every living being may assimilate the Christ-principle symbolized within the foundation of all the great religions of the world.  While the study of these materials will be helpful to the sincere student, they can only be comprehended if combined with practical application in one's daily life. That is because Gnosis itself is lived experience, and it must be experienced to be understood.