"Gnosis is a Greek word for knowledge — not, in this context, knowledge in the sense of rational learning but intuitive knowledge reaching beyond the limits of reason to truths hidden from ordinary experience and intellect. One leading scholar of Gnosticism, Bentley Layton, translates "gnosis" as "acquaintance," comparing it to the French "connaitre" rather than "savoir." There can be no precise counterpart of so imprecise a term as gnosis, but we presumably ought to read into whatever word is used some sense that the Gnostic — the Knower — felt seized by a great truth that dominated his or her view of life and being. Gnosis was thought to lead to a unitive, or mystical, experience in which the composite world would be left behind and a primordial, undifferentiated Oneness regained. A close resemblance to Indian notions of "enlightenment," "illumination," and "release" is readily apparent, and … we will find many clues suggesting a strong affinity with Indian thought in at least part of the early Christian world. And the quest for an inner spiritual or mystical truth beyond the experience of worldly life is found among later Christian mystics, Muslim Sufis, Jewish Kabbalists, and various contemporary religious movements in the West."