Of the three entities that make up human life, namely: the human body, the human spirit and the human soul. It is only the latter, the soul, that Mandaean Gnosticism is truly interested in. The soul is the ‘gold in the mud’. This is the heavenly entity or component that transformed a creature, a beast, created from mud into man. It is this soul that up on completion of its brief sojourn on this earthly world, imprisoned in this earthly body so to speak, will continue to the World of Light from whence it came.
This in effect is the guiding principle, the core, of Mandaean Gnosticism. As with Gnostic teachings and belief, there is a continuous battle between good and evil, represented by the struggle between Light and Dark. The human soul is of the World of Light, and is eternal, while the body and the spirit are finite, destined for annihilation as is the world of darkness.
The soul is strengthened and empowered by Manda, Gnosis or Knowledge. Manda is attained by spiritual connection of the soul with the World of Light. There should be no intermediaries (priests, prophets or Messiah), and there should be no imposed physical acts to prove your Mandaeanism - it is a direct relationship between the Great First Life and the soul. Physical acts, like baptism for example, are at best symbolic of ones faith and, today, have lost any connection to their original source, value and meaning.
Mandaean Gnosticism is independent of lineage or geography. Mandaean Gnosticism was not a closed system, although has developed into a harsh discriminatory one. Moreover, Mandaean Gnosticism is not a religion, not by todays definition in any case, but rather is an idea, a notion or a simple principle. It is an acknowledgement that preservation and empowerment of the heavenly soul is achieved through Manda and everything earthly, physical and materialistic is finite and limited.
