Finding Enlightenment
By J. Gordon Melton
Director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion, Department of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

In Finding Enlightenment, J. Gordon Melton, a respected scholar of traditional modern religions, chronicles the life of JZ Knight, her extraordinary experiences as the channel for the ancient warrior teacher Ramtha, and the school whose teachings are based on the ancient wisdom of Gnosticism. Located in Yelm, Washington, this esoteric mystery school was founded by Knight in 1988. Melton presents the Gnostic teachings of Ramtha and shows how the inner path of wisdom and knowledge is accessible to students today.

Melton introduces the reader to the history and principles of Gnosticism, and recounts the amazing and unexpected resurgence and revitalization of this philosophy in Ramtha's School of Enlightenment. From his own study of ancient Gnosticism, he recognized the Gnostic foundation of Ramtha's philosophy. Although strictly twentieth-century, this school encompasses all of the essential elements of Gnostic teachings: the unknowable impersonal point of origin; the unfolding universe; the emanation of the visible world; the seven levels of creation; and, above all, the promise of knowledge or wisdom (gnosis) to gain access to higher planes of existence.

This thorough analysis includes a description of how Ramtha instructs not simply through the transfer of information but by providing the students with the knowledge to gain direct experience through their subconscious minds. Melton concludes with a discussion of the inevitable criticism leveled at JZ and the decidedly nontraditional school. Having studied hours of Ramtha videos and participated in both beginning and advanced classes over a two-year period, Melton is uniquely able to provide a balanced, detailed account of the teachings and practices of Ramtha's School of Enlightenment.